Stephen Greenleaf (1628 – 1 December 1690) was an American colonial politician and soldier. He was one of the nine original purchasers of

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

Island. A number of his descendants became prominent in North American society.

Life

Stephen Greenleaf was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England to Captain Edmund Greenleaf, an original settler of Newbury,

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

. The Greenleafs migrated on the ''Mary and John'' from England in 1634 during the

Puritan migration The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

.Greenleaf, Jonathan; 1854; ''Genealogy of the Greenleaf Family''; New York; E.O. Jenkins Publishers. In 1651, Greenleaf married Elizabeth Coffin, daughter of Tristram Coffin, in Newbury. In 1659, Greenleaf and Elizabeth's brother Tristram Coffin Jr. put their money together to purchase Nantucket Island; however, neither moved to Nantucket during their lifetimes. Nantucket island was left primarily in the charge of Elizabeth's father.Hinchman, Lydia; 1896; ''Early Settlers of Nantucket''; Cambridge; J. P. Lippincott Co. From 1676 to 1686, Greenleaf served as deputy to the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

for Newbury. After ten years service in politics, he was appointed captain of the militia. It was in this capacity that he joined Sir William Phips's expedition to take Quebec from the French. However, Greenleaf and his ship were lost at sea near

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

on the return of the failed invasion.

Family connections

Greenleaf descendants include poet

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

, US Rep. Halbert S. Greenleaf, Judge

Simon Greenleaf Simon Greenleaf (December 5, 1783 – October 6, 1853), was an American lawyer and jurist. He was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts before moving to New Gloucester where he was admitted to the Cumberland County bar. Early life and legal c ...

James Greenleaf James Greenleaf (June 9, 1765 – September 17, 1843) was a late 18th and early 19th century American land speculator responsible for substantial of the newly designated capital of Washington, D.C. after 1790. A member of a prominent and weal ...

, Rev.

William Greenleaf Eliot William Greenleaf Eliot (August 5, 1811 – January 23, 1887) was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, and also contributed to the foundin ...

, Abigail Maria Schoeller, and poet T. S. Eliot.

References

People of colonial Massachusetts 1690 deaths Members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives 1628 births {{Massachusetts-politician-stub