THE LEVERTON FAMILY
INTRODUCTION
In early 1973 I was in the last year of my 14 year service with the Royal Air Force. Work was very quiet and to pass
the time I did a lot of reading. After reading a book on genealogy I began to get interested in the subject. It seemed
to involve so many interesting subjects; history, geography, research, detective work and personal interest.
I decided to research my own family history and over the next few weeks I read every book I could find on the
subject. I soon realised that with a common name like ROBERTS, and originating from London, I was in for a difficult
task. I therefore decided to "practice" on my then wife, who was a local Cornish woman with the maiden name of
LEVERTON.
After the initial task of gathering information from her family, I went to the Bodmin register office to get a
certificate. The Registrar showed me where the index and certificates were kept and said I could help myself! After
looking through the indexes, I found there were very few LEVERTONS, and guessed they were probably all related. I
therefore decided to copy all the LEVERTON certificates in the Bodmin register office, and this I did over the next few
weeks on my days off. After copying 22 birth, 16 marriage and 30 death certificates, the Registrar said he would have
to charge me for one certificate, 2/6d (12p)! (They are now £7 each)
Thus started my new hobby (for hobby read obsession), with the LEVERTON name and I have since spent almost every
moment of my spare time researching the name. I spent the next two years researching the Cornish LEVERTONS, and in
1975, whilst on a visit to London, I looked in the General Register Office index of births, marriages and deaths. There
didn't seem to be that many LEVERTONS listed, so I decided to research all LEVERTONS everywhere. In 1976, during a
quiet spell of self employment, I went to London and started copying the LEVERTON, and various similar spelling, entries
from the General Register Office index. At the end of the first day I had not progressed very far, so the next day I took
a tape recorder and this proved ideal. In the evenings and weekends I would copy the tapes into a book to clear them for
the next day. At the end of a month I had finished and came home with over 8,000 births, marriages and deaths, a few more
than I had anticipated!
The next few years were spent entering all the information onto two card indexes, one arranged by name and the other
by year. By this time I had made contact with many LEVERTONS throughout the World and spent a lot of time researching
for them.
Having been trained in electronics in the R.A.F., in 1980 I built myself a small computer and soon realised the
potential use in my research. In 1982 I built a larger computer and spent the next few years entering all my
information into it. In 1986 I purchased a larger computer with disc drive, along with a printer. Thus ended years of
sorting, writing, and drawing trees. Unfortunately, this was before the time of commercial genealogy programs so my
research was entered into a word processor and is not in GEDCOM format. I do not now feel inclined to retype over 5000
pages of information into a GEDCOM program! Apart from that I think my system is better than a GEDCOM. The file size of
a direct line is still small enough to e-mail, but contains far more information than a GEDCOM. Anyone wanting a complete
tree can have it on CD ROM.
In 1993 I retired and was able to spend more time on research. In 1997 I obtained copies of all the wills at the
National Probate Office, over 600, and was lucky to get them at 25p a sheet as they are now £5 each. In 1999 I went on
the internet and am in contact with LEVERTONS worldwide.
In March 2002 I started converting my files to HTM format so they can be viewed in a web browser. This involved
inserting over 75,000 hyperlinks and scanning over 2,000 documents. I completed this task in August 2002 and I think the
1,500 hours spent was well worthwhile as all the files and trees are now linked together rather than having to search for
and open individuel files. I am also able to incorporate photographs, certificates, wills and other documents into the
files. Also any computer with a web browser will be able to view my files. Previously only computers with my particular
word processor could view them. Also in August 2002 my partner retired, so I will no longer be spending all day every day
researching LEVERTON.
In November 2003 I
finally put all my research on the internet at: www.leverton-genealogy.com
I AM NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVELY RESEARCHING THIS
NAME BUT I WILL UPDATE CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS AND ANSWER QUERIES
I have traced all living UK LEVERTONS back to the early 16th century in 5 trees. 2 from Devon, 2 from Lincolnshire,
and 1 from Nottinghamshire. My aim now is to trace the tree of every living LEVERTON in the World, and to this end I am
still working. I have spent many weeks in each of the record offices in London, Lincoln, Nottingham, Exeter and Truro,
and also spent time researching in USA.
I have recorded over 120 different spellings of the name during my research, but all are now spelt either LEVERTON,
LEAVERTON, LIVERTON, LIFFITON, LEVITON or LEVENTON. A branch from Devon spelt LEVATON died out in the 20th century. There
is another living family spelt LAVERTON originating from the Somerset/Wiltshire area, but may have originally come from
Devon. I have not researched this branch. There are other living families spelt LEVINGTON and LEVERINGTON but these
originate from Norfolk.
Since the end of the 19th century there have been several immigrant families with similar names: LEVETON (Norwich
and Birmingham). LEVITEN (Leeds). LEVITON, LEVITAN, LEVITTON etc. (London). Many of these have since changed their
names to LEVERTON and thus caused me some problems.
THE LEVERTON TREES
The trees are laid out in a way which may be unfamiliar to some people, but this is the only way to display such a
large amount of information in such a small space. It is also possible to add further information without having to
redraw the tree each time as in conventional layouts. The earliest person on the tree is placed at the top left hand
side and each generation is offset four spaces to the right. To assist in following this layout, each name is preceded
by a generation number. Number 1 is the earliest person, all 2's are his children, all 3's are his grandchildren, 4's
his great-grandchildren etc. If you mentally rotate the tree 90 degrees clockwise you will see the similarity to a
conventional layout with the earliest person at the top and each generation lower down the page. As an example, to
trace the direct line of a person in generation 5, from that person go up the tree until you come to the first 4. This
is their parents, now carry on up the tree to the first 3, this is their grandparents, now move up to the first 2, this
is their great-grandparents, and finally to number 1 which is their great great grandparents and the earliest person
traced in their tree.
The information has been gathered from the General Register Office index to births, deaths and marriages: parish
registers: census returns: the International Genealogical Index: birth, death and marriage certificates: the National
Probate Index: wills: deeds and leases: monumental inscriptions: newspapers, books and directories: subsidy rolls:
muster rolls: protestation return: hearth taxes: poll taxes: and more recently the internet and CD's. Over the years I
have also been supplied with a great deal of information from other LEVERTONS and their descendants.
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DUE
TO THE VAST AMOUNT OF INFORMATION I HAVE COLLECTED OVER A 33 YEAR PERIOD, THERE
ARE BOUND TO BE MISTAKES.
THEREFORE
PLEASE CHECK MY REFERENCES BEFORE ACCEPTING YOUR PARTICULAR BRANCH OF A TREE AS
ACCURATE.
***********************************************************************************************************
To keep the trees uncluttered and easier to follow, the only information given on each person is as follows: Date
and place of birth or baptism. Date and place of marriage. Date and place of death or burial.
Each name is followed by a hyperlinked number (underlined in blue). Clicking on this number will take you to the
LEVERTON FILE (see below) of that person, which contains more detailed information.
A Wife has the same number as her husband. An "L" in the left hand margin signifies the person is still living (males
only).
After 1837, where a $ sign is used after the date, the information has been extracted from the index to births,
marriages and deaths, at the General Register Office, London.
Names are spelt as recorded at the first event (usually baptism or birth). Many people were baptised, married and
buried with three different spellings of their name.
Naturally none of the trees are complete and there are many names for which there is not a death (for males), or a
marriage/death (for females). These persons may have emigrated or their marriage or death not yet found by me. Any
information that is not already on the trees, such as exact names, dates, places, occupations, etc., will be greatly
appreciated.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TREES:
Aus. Australia b. born bp. baptised bur. buried
C. circa (about) Can. Canada d. died des. destroyed
div. divorced em. emigrated GRO. General Register Office (formerly St.Catherine House)
HT. hearth tax return IGI. International Genealogical Index (Mormons) lic. licence
m. married MR. muster roll NSW. New South Wales NZ. New Zealand
oc. occupation PR. protestation returns PT. poll tax returns rem. remarried
RC. Roman Catholic RO. register office SA. South Africa sp. spouse
SR. subsidy roll USA. United States of America W. will
THE LEVERTON FILES
These files are all hyperlinked from the trees. Every LEVERTON has a unique number which is a combination of the
tree number and their number on that tree, e.g. D1/140 is the person who has the number 140 on tree D1. The files
contain detailed information about each person on the tree and have hyperlinks to parents, children, certificates, wills,
photographs and other documents. Some of this information requires explanation:-
BAPTISMS, BURIALS AND PRE-1837 MARRIAGES:
The Parish Churches were supposed to have recorded these from 1538, but many did not start until much later. Also
some of the earlier registers have been lost or destroyed.
These have been collected from four main sources:
1) Extracted by me personally from parish registers.
2) Copied from the International Genealogical Index. (IGI)
3) Given to me by other persons.
4) Copied from transcripts or printed indexes of parish registers.
I CANNOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF ANY PARTICULAR EVENT. Mainly because in the early days I did not keep a record
of where I acquired the information. I know the IGI is not always accurate, other people's research is not to be relied
on and many of the old registers are difficult to decipher.
YEAR and DATE: Until 1752 the new year began on 25 March. This can cause problems, e.g. if a baptism was 25 Feb
1690, it can be written by some people as 25 Feb 1690 or by others as 25 Feb 1691 (adjusting it to the present
calender). To avoid confusion, the correct method is to write 25 Feb 1690/1. Any baptism before 1753 with a date of 1
Jan-24 Mar (inclusive), should therefore have a dual year. If it does not, then it has not been checked by me and you
may have to look a year either side to find the correct date.
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS 1837-DATE:
Extracted from the indexes to births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales registered at The General Register
Office, London. The indexes are in years with 4 quarters to each year: MAR: Jan-Mar. JUN: Apr-Jun. SEP: Jul-Sep. DEC:
Oct-Dec. The YEAR, QUARTER and DISTRICT are when and where the event was registered and is not necessarily the exact
year and location of the event. Some events were not registered until the following quarter, and some not registered
at all! The VOLUME/PAGE is used for ordering certificates from The General Register Office. I have not given the
Volume/page No. after 1993.
BIRTHS: It was not compulsory to register births before 1875. Up until JUN quarter 1911, only the name and district
are given in the index. From the SEP quarter 1911 the maiden name of the mother is also given. This can be cross
referenced to the marriage index to find the name of the father.
MARRIAGES: Up until 1911, only the name and district are given in the index. From 1912 the surname of the spouse is
also given. By searching this surname for the same district, volume and page number in the index, the Christian name of
the spouse can be discovered.
DEATHS: Up until 1865, only the name and district are given in the index. From 1866 the age at death is also given.
From the JUN quarter 1969 this is replaced by the date of birth.
CENSUS:
The census has been taken every 10 years since 1801 (apart from the war year of 1941). The first 3 were only counts
of people. The 1831 census gave names, but no other information. The first useful census was 1841. Census returns are
not available to the public for 100 years.
The census was taken on the following dates: 6 Jun 1841, 30 Mar 1851, 7 Apr 1861, 2 Apr 1871, 3 Apr 1881, 5 Apr 1891
And 31 Mar 1901. In 1841 the information given is: Name. Age to nearest 5 years. Occupation. Whether born in the county
of residence. In 1851, 61, 71, 81, 91 and 1901 the information given is: Name. Relationship to head of house. Whether
Married, Unmarried or Widowed. Age. Occupation. Place of birth. Some of the information from the 1881 census is from
The Mormon index, similarly some of the 1901 info is from the PRO online index. Both of these indexes contain many
mistakes.
WILLS:
Since 1858 copies of all wills have been kept at The National Probate Registry in London, the originals being kept
in the local registry. These wills are indexed by years. Prior to 1858 wills were deposited in various places and can
be very difficult to locate. All the Devon wills and some of the Cornwall wills were destroyed in the blitz on Exeter
in the War but copies from 1858 are still available at The National Probate Registry.
SUBSIDY ROLLS 1332 and 1524-1527:
The Lay Subsidies are some of the earliest records available to the Genealogist. They show returns of taxes raised at irregular intervals on entire populations of villages and towns by the reigning monarch when in special need of revenue. Only the very poor were exempted from this tax.
MUSTER ROLL 1569:
Muster rolls were lists of able-bodied men, between the ages of 16 and 60, who were called (or liable to be called) to arms. A man's income determined what arms or armour he had to provide, and some rolls may indicate either his income or the arms.
PROTESTATION RETURNS 1641:
The English Revolution (1640-60) began in November 1640 when Charles 1st. summoned Parliament to help him out of a financial crisis. Charles was very unpopular and was forced to agree to radical reforms which gave Parliament a more prominent roll in the constitution.
The political crisis escalated and the "Long Parliament" split into two opposing parties in the Autumn of 1641, forming the King's party of Royalists (Cavaliers) and the Parliamentarians (Roundheads), who demanded further political and religious reforms. The events of 1640/41 led to the Civil War which began in August 1642.
It was agreed and ordered on the 3rd May 1641, that every Member of the House of Commons should make a protestation (declaration of loyalty), which the House of Lords also agreed to the following day.
The Commons ordered the printing of the protestation and preamble on the 5th May 1641 and this was distributed by the Members to their counties. The Protestation was to be made by everyone and the Rectors, Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor had to appear before the Justices of the Peace in their Hundred to make their protestation and, on returning to their parishes, any two of them were to witness the taking of the Protestation Oath by all males over the age of 18 years. All names were listed and anyone who refused was to be noted.
The protestation itself reads:-
I,-------- do, in the presence of Almighty God, promise, vow, and protest to maintain, and defend as farr as lawfully I maye, with my Life, Power and Estate, the true Reformed Protestant religion, expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England, against all Popery and Popish Innovations, within this Realme, contrary to the same Doctrine, and according to the duty of my Allegiance, His Majesties Royal Person, Honour and Estate, as alsoe the Power and Privileges of Parliament, the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subjects, and any person that maketh this Protestation, in whatsoever he shall do in the lawful Pursuance of the same; and to my power, and as farr as lawfully I may, I will appose and by all good Ways and Means endeavour to bring to condign Punishment all such as shall, either by Force, Practice, Councels, Plots, Conspiracies, or otherwise, doe any Thing to the contrary of any Thing in this present Protestation contained: and further, that I shall, in all just and honourable ways, endeavour to preserve the Union and Peace betwixt the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland: and neither for Hope, Feare, nor other Respect, shell relinquish this Promise, Vow and Protestation.
POLL TAX 1660:
This census was taken in 1660 for tax purposes. It lists all persons over the age of 16 years liable to pay tax. It would appear that the ordinary person had to pay 1/- (5p), whereas the persons with more land paid more.
HEARTH TAX 1662/1664:
The Hearth Tax was an attempt to tax people according to their wealth, working on the principle that the wealthier they were the more hearth’s they would have in their home. The tax and variants were in existence for several decades. The records for Cornwall 1662 have been published. It was often found that people had stopped up hearths after the first taxation in order to reduce their tax.
INFORMATION FOUND ON INTERNET:
As web pages come and go, I have not put any references to information I have found on the internet. Any good search
engine will find the site if it still exists. In any case check original documents as information on the internet tends to be copied and mistakes perpetuated
MISC:
If a person is still alive, or suspected of still being alive, then their name is followed by "(Living)". Occupations etc. in brackets ( ) refer to the person named at the top of the file, and not to the person on that line.
As I only research people with the LEVERTON surname, I am
not interested in wives prior to marriage, or females after marriage.
INFORMATION TO FIND:
At the bottom of each file is a list of information still to research. If I have finished researching an individual
then their name is followed by "(Complete)". Basic information needed for females is as follows:
a) year and place of birth and proof of parents. This can be as simple as an entry from the General Register Office
index after 1911, or if before 1911 some other proof of parents such as a baptism, birth or marriage certificate, or a
census which shows them with their parents, or a mention of relationship in a will.
b) year and place of marriage or death
For males, I require:
a) as above
b) if married, year and place of marriage and name of spouse. names of all children.
c) year and place of death
d) year and place of death or remarriage of spouse
Apart from the above basics, any further information I find will be included in the files.
SURVIVING LEVERTON FAMILIES From
information available to 30 Jun 2006
By using baptisms, marriages and census returns, especially the 1881 and 1901 census indexes, I have compiled 5 trees
into which all LEVERTONS living in England in 1901 can be fitted. It therefore follows that all LEVERTONS living in
England today should fit into one of these trees. However there are 3 problems:
1) Descendants from 1901-1911 births.
After 1911 the mother's maiden name is given in the GRO index to births, by cross-referencing this name with the
marriage index anyone born since 1911 can be put into a tree. This leaves the problem of those born between 1901 (the
last available census) and 1911. The only way to determine which tree they belong to is by obtaining certificates or by
getting information from the families. Many of the Levertons born between these years have not yet been fitted into one
of the 5 trees.
2) Descendants from unknown males.
Couples who live together and start a family without getting married. The mother's maiden name given in the birth
index cannot be cross-referenced to a marriage, therefore I do not know the name of the father and cannot fit them into
one of the 5 trees.
3) Descendants from unknown females.
The single unmarried mother. The mother's maiden name in the birth index is given as LEVERTON, but I do not know
their Christian name and, as above, cannot fit them into one of the 5 trees.
All these families can be found in the MISC trees.
DEVON: Trees D1
and D2
The Devon families originate from LIVATON hamlet in South Tawton parish, near Okehampton. The family in tree D1
migrated northwards before parish records began, first to Bondleigh, Iddeslegh and then later to Dolton. The family in
Tree D2 stayed in South Tawton until the middle of the 16th century before migrating, first one branch west to Cornwall
between 1569 and 1574, then one north to North Tawton, Winkleigh, Sampford Courtenay and then south to South Devon.
Up until the 17th century most of the two trees are part fact and part educated guesswork due to three factors:
1) The destruction of all the Devon wills, and most of the Cornish LEVERTON wills in the wartime blitz on Exeter.
2) The lack of early Parish Registers, particularly St.Eval and St.Merryn where the LEVERTONS settled in Cornwall.
3) The duplication of Christian names in the same areas at the same time.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE:
Tree N1
The Nottinghamshire family originates from the villages of North and South LEVERTON, near East Retford. All living
Nottinghamshire LEVERTONS can be traced back to one person.
LINCOLNSHIRE: L1
and L2
The Lincolnshire families originate from LEVERTON village near Boston. Tree L1 is the main Lincolnshire tree. L2
originates from Norfolk but is probably related to L1. This is my least researched tree.
Tree Earliest traced person Number of living males Total number of
in tree Levertons in tree
DEVON
D1. JOHN LEVADON 1525 Iddesleigh (now LEVERTON and LIVERTON) 129 787
D2. JOHN LEVATON 1524 South Tawton (now LEVERTON, LIVERTON LEVITON
and LIFFITON) 256 1893
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
N1. ROBERT LEVARTON m.1569 Weston (now LEVERTON and LEVENTON) 266 1837
LINCOLNSHIRE
L1. ROGER LEVERTON m.1613 Fishtoft 126 627
L2. MARTIN LEVERINGTON m.1780 Doddington (now LEVERTON) 34 202
TOTAL 811 5346
For each of the above three counties there are also MISC trees D0, N0 and L0. These are all the LEVERTONS born in
the relevant county who cannot be fitted into the main trees for one of the reasons given above, and also very early
families that don't appear to have descendants. M0 are families born in other counties but must fit in somewhere.
Tree D0. MISC. Devon 11 207
Tree N0. MISC. Nottinghamshire 56 409
Tree L0. MISC. Lincolnshire 9 263
Tree M0. MISC. Other counties 72 403
Also: FRANCE: Tree F1
F1. JACQUES LIVERTON m.1762 Probably originating from Devon 1 12
And: U.S.A. Tree U1
USA JOHN LEVERTON d.1764 Queen Annes County,MD.(now LEAVERTON, LEVERTON
LEVETON and LEVENTON) ??? 2023
The only information I have, is that supplied by other people. Needs a tremendous amount of research.
GRAND TOTAL
960 8663
Allowing for the American branch, which I have not researched, it is probable that there have been less than
10,000 LEVERTONS ever, and that there are less than 1500 living males worldwide.