Unknown Leeds (1735)

Born 1735 in Leed's Point, Atlantic, NJ

Ancestors

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Jersey Devil Leeds is a part of New Jersey history. Join: New Jersey Project Discuss: New Jersey

Biography

Jersey Devil Leeds is Notable.

Jersey Devil was a Friend (Quaker)

YouTube Video: Devil Legend

YouTube Video: Investigation

This Profile Represents an Actual Person

The first name is a fictional legend.

The child attached to this story is real. His/her name is unknown, but it is the 13th Leeds child. How the Jersey Devil story began is not known, only a matter of speculation. Jersey Devil is not the preferred name the child, parents or family would use.

The Jersey Devil, the supposed mythical creature of the New Jersey Pinelands, has haunted New Jersey and the surrounding areas for the past 260 years. A popular origin of the story is as follows: "It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, stated that this one would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. "Mother Leeds" has been identified by some as Deborah Leeds, on grounds that Deborah Leeds' husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote in 1736, which is compatible with the legend. Most likely, the 13th child was born disfigured and died soon after birth or was stillborn.

Skeptics believe the Jersey Devil to be nothing more than an imaginative invention of the early settlers, spookey stories created and told by Pine Barren residents, "Pineys", as fireside entertainment. Others believe the story was fabricated by political foes of Daniel Leeds, the father of Japhet Leeds & there are those who actually believe in the Jersey Devil. To this day, the story is a common topic at camp fires. Joseph Bonaparte, the former king of Spain and the brother of Napoleon, leased a country house near Bordentown from 1816 to 1839. He reported seeing the Jersey Devil while hunting game one day in the Pine Barrens.

Most certainly there were no witches in the family. The family , extended family and friends were practicing Quakers. They were also connected to the prominent Somers family who were also Quakers.

Sources

• http://theshadowlands.net/jd.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Barrens_(New_Jersey)

• http://www.prairieghosts.com/jerseydevil.html link does not work Mar 2021, Wayback Machine does not recognize it either

• http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/08/the_forgotten_political_feud_t.html