DEBORAH SMITH LEEDS
The facts: Deborah Smith was born in
1685 in Burlington County, New Jersey and died as Deborah Leeds in
1748 in Atlantic County New Jersey. She was a Quaker and married
Japheth Leeds giving birth to 12 of his children. Deborah was
(possibly) the daughter of Daniel Smith and Mary Murfin. There is
much speculation and much of the details may have been lost to time.
In those times it was an old practice to name the first son after the
parents, which in her situation was not true. Deborah named her first
son Robert, and her sixth son, Daniel, bore the name of her father.
Japheth's father was also named Daniel. Her first child Mary was born
1704, and her last known child by Japheth, Hannah, was born 1726.
