The Leybourn Pioneers of Toledo, Ohio
Early Toledo History
The Toledo area was largely occupied by bands of the Native American Odawa tribe prior to General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The battle ended the Northwest Indian War, resulting in the Treaty of Greenville a year later. Thousands of Native Americans were forced to relocate to Kansas and the strategically and agriculturally important "Black Swamp," along the western shore of Lake Erie, was opened for resettlement. A band of Odawa, led by Chief Pontiac's grandson, Ottokee, retained islands and shoreline along the Maumee River after the Treaty of Greenville and War of 1812, but left for Kansas in 1839.
Lucas County was established by Ohio in 1835 during the Toledo War, an armed confrontation between the State of Ohio and the Michigan Territory over the 468-square mile "Toledo strip." By December 1836, President Andrew Jackson forced a compromise, and while Michigan gained the Upper Peninsula, Ohio retained the Toledo strip. In 1837, two small settlements on the Maumee River's north bank, Port Lawrence (1817) and Vistula (1833), were merged to incorporate Toledo.
Ohio History Connection/Remarkable Ohio: http://www.remarkableohio.org/picture.php?/5675
The First Naturalized US Citizen in Lucas County, Ohio
John Leybourn was born November 22, 1800, in Staindrop, County Durham, England. He was christened Christmas Day, 1800, at Staindrop. While no records have been identified, John likely emigrated first to New York, then Ontario, Canada, with his parents (William Leybourn and Ann Oates) and three siblings Stephen (b. 1802), Elizabeth (1805) and Anthony (1809), after the War of 1812.
John married Jane Burton in Essex, Ontario, Canada, on September 30, 1823. The family story says John, Jane and their one year-old, William, left Amherstburg in 1825 on a rowboat, using her shawl for a sail. John rowed while Jane bailed water with one hand - holding the baby in another. Reaching the mouth of the Ottawa River, they sailed up Ten Mile Creek before making landfall. He built a log cabin on the site before erecting a more comfortable home.
John served as Constable and in 1836, was the first foreign resident granted United States citizenship in Lucas County. He died March 4, 1838.
The American Civil War and Major General Burton
William Leybourn, son of John Leybourn and Jane Burton, was born July 19, 1824, near Mercer, Ontario, Canada. As a child, he walked a mile and a half to school. His father, John, died when William was 13. Mother Jane Burton remarried John's brother, Anthony. William managed the family farm from 1862 and married Sarah Ann Wilson June 18, 1873, in Monroe, Michigan.
William enlisted as a Private in Company I, 130th Regiment of the Union army's Ohio Infantry, serving May 2, 1864, through September 22, 1864. The unit performed guard duties at several Union installations in Ohio, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. William would participate in the Grand Army of the Republic society the remainder of his life.
William's brother, Samuel Leybourn, was born in Canada in 1826 and worked as a butcher on the Leybourn farm. He married Sarah Alvina Jeffords on February 18, 1847, at Monroe, Michigan. They had two children: John Burton Leybourn, b. c. 1850, and Letta Leybourn, b. c. 1855.
Samuel served as a Captain, also in Company I, 130th Regiment of the Union army's Ohio Infantry, from May 2, 1864, through September 22, 1864. He married Nellie Wilson October 2, 1882, at Seneca, Lenawee County, Michigan. Samuel died February 25, 1895, in Toledo.
William and Samuel's brother, Stephen Burton Leybourn, was born June 14, 1836, on the Leybourn farm in West Toledo.
He moved to Denver, Colorado, where he enlisted as a Private in Company A, 3rd Regiment of the Union's Colorado Territory Infantry. It later became the 2nd Regiment of the Colorado Cavalry. Stephen Burton Leybourn died August 8, 1889, and was buried at the Salt Lake Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
William, Stephen and Samuel's uncle, Robert Taylor Burton (brother of family matriarch, Jane Burton), was born in 1821 in Amherstburg, Ontario. He became an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) in 1838, and was a friend of Brigham Young.
In addition to Robert Taylor Burton's role as a Major General in the United States Army, he became a Bishop in the LDS church. Major General Burton died November 11, 1907, and was buried at Salt Lake Cemetery in Salt Lake. His 2nd great grandson, Harold David Burton, served as the 13th Presiding Bishop of the LDS church.
The Leybourn Fruit & Dairy Farm
John Leybourn petitioned four times (to the Michigan Territory, Monroe and Lenawee Counties in Michigan and Lucas Co., Ohio) before receiving a United States land grant for 80 acres in 1831 and an additional 40 acres in 1835. This roughly corresponds with the area in west Toledo between Sylvania Ave. on the north and Hillcrest Ave. (Woodlawn Cemetery) on the south, and between Wallwerth Dr. on the west and Hazelhurst Ave. on the east.
John established a fruit and dairy farm that would be owned by the family until son William's death in 1909. When John died in 1838, his will dictated wife Jane Burton's use of the farm for her life, after which time it would be subdivided between John and Jane's sons, William, Samuel and Stephen.
After William Leybourn's death in 1909, several homes stayed in the family for decades, but the remaining land was subdivided to create the Almeda Heights development and sold. In addition to the 120-acre farm on Sylvania Avenue, Anthony Leybourn owned an 8 acre parcel which is now part of the west section of Collingwood Cemetery, as well as 80 acres in Marshall County, Indiana. Nellie Wilson, Samuel Leybourn's widow, owned a parcel across Phillips Ave. from Collingwood Cemetery.
 1882 Map of Leybourn Farm |  1900 Map of Leybourn Farm |  2017 Map of Former Leybourn Farm |  2017 Map of Toledo and Former Farm |  Leybourn House, 19373928 Burton Ave., Toledo, OH |
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 Leybourn House, 20113928 Burton Ave., Toledo, OH |  Leybourn FamilyOn porch of 3928 Burton, c. 1908 |  Leybourn FamilyOn porch at 3928 Burton, c. 1908 |  Family matriarch, Jane Burton1806-1881 |  Leybourn Cottage, 1937Previously located at 3930 Burton Ave., Toledo, OH (Demolished) |
 Brick cottage, 3502 Watson Ave.Built c. 1870 |  Plaque affixed to brick cottage3502 Watson Ave. |
The SS Noronic
The youngest of William Leybourn and Sarah Wilson's children, Samuel Arthur "Art" Leybourn, was born January 22, 1883. He married Elizabeth Esther "Bessie" Skinner on December 14, 1904. He worked as a bookkeeper, accountant and business owner. Art and Bessie enjoyed cruise vacations and on Thursday, September 15, 1949, boarded the SS Noronic at Cleveland with more than 100 others from northeast Ohio. "The Queen of the Lakes" made its voyage from Cleveland, docking at Toronto by 6 PM Friday, September 16.
Around 2:30 AM, passenger Don Church followed the smell of smoke to a locked linen closet. After alerting a bell boy to obtain the closet keys and open the door, a backdraft ignited the deck's cherry and oak floors that had been cleaned and polished with lemon oil the previous 36 years. Eight minutes after the fire began, the ship's whistle alarm was found to be malfunctioning and the ship's fire hoses were inoperable. Within 15 minutes, firefighters racing to the scene reported three upper level decks of the ship in flames. Many passengers suffered smoke inhalation and died in their cabins, or perished trying to escape the ship. Only one deck - quickly consumed by fire - offered a direct escape. Other passengers jumped into the waters of Lake Ontario or climbed crowded, rickety fire ladders to safety.
 SS Noronic, Toronto, 1930 |  SS Noronic, Cleveland, 1949 |  SS Noronic, Toronto, 1949 |
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Family members and friends scoured newspaper lists of survivors. Art and Bessie's children, Leslie, Charles and Alice, went to Toronto. Charles would eventually identify the bodies of his parents, which were returned to Ohio December 12. "Multiple severe burns and shock" were listed as causes on their death certificates. Art and Bessie were among 118 passengers who died. One of the ship's crew, Louisa Dustin, died from injuries sustained in the fire.
The SS Noronic's fate marked the end of decadent Great Lakes cruising as more stringent emergency procedures and regulations against wood constructed passenger ships were implemented in 1950 to prevent additional disasters.