Robert Thomas Leslie

Born 25 OCT 1763 Augusta Co., Virginia. Died 1822 Pike County, Kentucky. He was the son of William Robert Lesley and Elizabeth Buchanan.

He married Elizabeth Compton. Born 1763 Virginia. Died 1837 Pike County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of John Comptom and Rebecca.

Children of Robert Thomas Leslie and Elizabeth Compton are:

1. Hannah Leslie. Born 22 MAY 1789 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 1834 . 2. Elizabeth Leslie. Born 29 JAN 1791 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. 3. Adah Leslie. Born 20 MAY 1792 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 1887 . 4. Allen Leslie. Born 9 JUL 1793 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 10 JUN 1879 Johns Creek, Pike Co., Kentucky. 5. Rachel Leslie. Born 31 AUG 1794 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. 6. Jemima Leslie. Born 4 JUL 1796 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 3 JUL 1875 . 7. Cynthia Leslie. Born 3 MAR 1798 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 1840 . 8. Esther Leslie. Born 17 MAR 1799 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. Died 11 SEP 1857 . 9. Milton Leslie. Born 29 NOV 1800 Bluestone, Tazewell, Va. Died 11 SEP 1857 Danville, Vermillion, Illinois. 10. Harvey Leslie. Born 5 FEB 1802 Bluestone, Wythe, Virginia. 11. Pharmer Leslie. Born 22 MAY 1803 Johns Creek, Floyd Kentucky. Died 22 OCT 1883 Kentucky. 12. Amos Leslie. Born 25 MAY 1804 . Died 1849 . 13. Martin Leslie. Born 14 NOV 1807 Johns Creek, Pike Co., Kentucky. Died 5 MAR 1859 Danville, Vermillion, Kentucky. 14. Luna Leslie. Born 30 JAN 1809 Johns Creek, Floyd Kentucky. Died 2 NOV 1887 .

Siblings of Robert Thomas Leslie

1. Nancy Leslie McGuire. Born 1756 Augusta Co., Virginia. Died 14 AUG 1841 Logan Co., West Virginia. 2. Elizabeth Leslie. Born 1758 Augusta, Bluestone, Virginia, USA. Died 1837 . 3. John Leslie. Born 23 OCT 1760 Augusta, Bluestone, Virginia, USA. Died 7 MAY 1841 Lawrence, Kentucky, USA.

“Robert Lesley was a tall, raw-boned man of great strength and courage. He was made captain of a company of men to defend the settlement on the Bluestone. On one occasion, about 1790, he led his company against a band of Indians then invading the settlements and camped in a cabin twelve miles from the fort, on the Bluestone. The Indians came and Lesley gave the command to another and hastened home to protect his wife and his two children.

Later Lesley pursued the Indians who had killed families on Tug River. Robert found them scalped and mangled. He pursued the Indians further. They had broken scissors and left one blade upward on a log. Robert stepped on it and became so badly wounded that he couldn’t go further. He had to be taken home and the expedition abandoned.”

(History of the Leslie family, by Wm. E. Connelly 1916. Excerpt taken from Family Scrap Book of Esta Leslie Evans.)

Robert Lesley was also made a member of the Wythe County Militia in 1790, the same year as his brother John, He was made a Corporal at the first setting up of the force for the newly-formed county. The above quoted writing indicates that he was promoted to Captain.

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Wm. Lesley and Son Robert Leave the Bluestone

According to early writers, the Lesleys made several expeditions into the region west of mountains, in the state which later became Kentucky. Authorities differ as to the exact dates of these settlements but some place them as early as 1789 on Pond Creek, now in Kentucky. They are said to have planted corn and other grains and to have pushed on further in their explorations, but were driven back by the Indians and were unable to harvest their crops. They were said to have returned again in 1791 and to have at that time explored the region in Kentucky where they later made a permanent settlement. Other writers give later dates for these explorations. I quote from one of these:

“In 1798, Robert and his nephew William McGuire made and improvement at the mouth of Pond Creek, on Tug River, on the Kentucky side. They planted corn, potatoes and turnips. Later in the year they descended Tug River to the Great Burning Spring, where they camped. One night McGuire was sent to the river for a bucket of water. He saw a large elk come into the river and swim to the Kentucky side, and he called his uncle. The elk turned back and was going up the river bank when Lesley got into sight, but he fired and killed the elk, Hunters were camped at the springs, and they did not know who had fired. They thought it might be the Indians, so lighted the springs; the gas flamed high, lighting up the countryside. Next morning Lesley made a raft and crossed the river and secured the carcass of the elk.

“Lesley sold his improvement at the mouth of Pond Creek to a man named Stafford. On October 10, 1802, Robert Lesley and father left their homes on the Bluestone to make settlement on John’s Creek, in what is now Pike County. They took their families with them. Robert Lesley had examined the country in 1801.

“In the spring of 1802, he had bought land and cleared a portion of it and planted it in corn. He left his crop in care of a man named Guilkef, whom he had known on the Bluestone. When he came back with his family and his father and family, they made the settlement known to this day as the Leslie Settlement.”

(Source: History of the Leslie Family, by William E. Connelly, 1916, Ibid.)

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Read the complete History on William and his descendants taken from Ruths book here

Leslie~Lesley by Ruth Cleaveland Leslie

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The Leslie Cemetery
Located at The Leslie Settlement, Mountain Pub Golf Course
Lower Johns Creek, Pike County, Kentucky
Off of Route 194

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Robert Leslie & Elizabeth Comptons Burial Markers

This War Marker is placed on Roberts tombstone

Sources:

Title: “Lesley--Leslie, a history of two hundred years in America , 1755-1955 :

William Robert Lesley and Elizabeth Buchanan Lesley and their descendants”

Author: Leslie, Ruth Cleveland

Publication: 1955

Media: Book

Text: Information on William Robert Leslie and Elizabeth Buchanan, stating births, deaths, marriages. A genealogy book.