The Leslie Family

Daniel McCauley was the second son of Brian “Barney” and Ann (Miller) McCauley. He married Francina “Siney” Baker, the daughter of Jethro Baker, a Revolutionary War Patriot. The Tucker County, West Virginia McCauley family descends from Daniel and Francina.

Francina had a brother, Nathan, and a younger sister, Lydia. Lydia married Robert William Leslie, a self-taught clockmaker and silversmith. For the Tucker County McCauley descendants, Nathan and Lydia would be great granduncle and great grandaunt. Their children would be distant cousins. (For me, that is 4th great-granduncle and 4th great-grandaunt and 1st cousins 5x removed.)

18Th Century Watchmaker Working

At the time of the Continental Congress, Robert Leslie operated a watchmaker’s shop in Philadelphia. He became friends with many members of the Congress and was personal friends with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson and Franklin

Robert and Lydia had four children: Eliza, known as Miss Leslie; Charles Robert, an artist born in London; Thomas Jefferson, a West Point graduate born in London; and Patty, who married Henry Charles Carey a book publisher and writer.

Henry Charles Carey

Robert Leslie died, in 1804. After his early death, Lydia, in order to support herself, opened a boarding house. Having lived twenty years beyond her husband’s death, Lydia passed away in 1824.