Samuel Leffers spent 58 Years in Beaufort as schoolmaster, surveyor, Clerk of Court, merchant and planter. He left his signature for generations to come.
Leffers was born November 7, 1736 in Hempstead,
Leffers came to Beaufort in 1764, at age 28, as the “sober and discreet qualified man” recruited to teach at the Beaufort school. He married Sarah Hampton (1739-1808) November 30, 1766 in Straits, Carteret County, NC. Sarah was the daughter of Beaufort cornwainer (shoemaker) Thomas Hampton.
In James Winwright's 1744 Will, he made provisions for "the building and finishing of a creditable house for a school & dwelling house...to be erected and built on some part of my land near the White House..." Leffers most likely lived on this property near the White House when it came to town in 1764. (At the time there were only a handful of houses in Beaufort.) What was his "dwelling house" may have been destroyed by fire when the British burned the schoolhouse in 1782.
Leffers purchased lot 12 New Town (southwest corner of Front and Live Oak streets) September 13, 1775 from town commissioner for 30 shillings proclamation money; a provision in the deed required Leffers build a house within two years or the deed would become null. (deed bk 1, pg 159) On September 12, 1776, Leffers sold this lot including a "singular premises" to Daniel Guthrie for £3 proclamation money. (deed bk I, pg 251):
To all people to whom these Presents shall come Greeting. Know ye that I Samuel Leffers of Carteret County in the province of North Carolina schoolmaster for and in consideration of the sum of three pounds proclamation money to me in hand paid by Daniel Guthrie of the place aforesd. The receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge. Do hereby grant bargain sell convey and confirm unto the said Daniel Guthrie his heirs and afsigns forever one certain lott or half acre of land situate in Beaufort town in the County aforesd which lot is known and distinguished in the plan of the said town by the No.12. of the New Town, and was granted to me the said Saml Leffers by the Commissioners of the said town by a deed bearing date, the 13th September 1775. it being the original entry. To have and to hold the said lot or half acre of land, together with all and singular the premises, and privileges...in witness hereof I the said Samuel Leffers have hereunto set my hand and seal this twelfth day of September, One thousand seven hundred and seventy six. This deed was registered/proven in the June 1778 court.
What has been designated as the Samuel Leffers Cottage circa 1778 was donated by Leffers' descendants and moved to the Beaufort Restoration Grounds in 1983.
"Leffers Cottage"
To all people to whom these Presents shall come Greeting. Know ye that I Samuel Leffers of Carteret County in the province of North Carolina schoolmaster for and in consideration of the sum of three pounds proclamation money to me in hand paid by Daniel Guthrie of the place aforesd. The receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge. Do hereby grant bargain sell convey and confirm unto the said Daniel Guthrie his heirs and afsigns forever one certain lott or half acre of land situate in Beaufort town in the County aforesd which lot is known and distinguished in the plan of the said town by the No.12. of the New Town, and was granted to me the said Saml Leffers by the Commissioners of the said town by a deed bearing date, the 13th September 1775. it being the original entry. To have and to hold the said lot or half acre of land, together with all and singular the premises, and privileges...in witness hereof I the said Samuel Leffers have hereunto set my hand and seal this twelfth day of September, One thousand seven hundred and seventy six. This deed was registered/proven in the June 1778 court.
Leffers Cottage - 146 Turner Street
However, an analysis of the fabric of the house, by the Architectural Research Department of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2012 Field Study in Beaufort, revealed a building date of 1840-1850, some two or three decades after the 1822 death of Samuel Leffers:
Originally, the house consisted only of the front portion, which measured a little over 21 feet in width and 17 feet deep with a habitable half-story above stairs. The original plan consisted of a central doorway flanked by two windows on the front façade, which led into a large heated room measuring 13 feet in width and 16 feet in depth. The exterior chimney was located in the center of the gable end (the present brick chimney is a modern replacement). A doorway into a smaller unheated room opens opposite the fireplace. This space is less than seven feet in width. The stair to the half story originally opened in the main room in back corner of this partition wall between the rooms. It was a winder staircase that turned and ran back along partition wall to unheated spaces upstairs.
Sometime in the late nineteenth century, a ten-foot deep shed was constructed across the backside of the house. Originally it was divided into two rooms, the back door of the main house opening into the larger of the two unheated rooms. At that time, the original staircase was reworked so to run in a straight flight from the back shed room to the garret above. The old doorway from the main room in the front was blocked with circular sawn lath and plastered over. All the framing of the shed consists of circular sawn timbers.
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In 1795, Samuel Leffers purchased the 25-acre "White House" property, including the house, windmill and other improvements, from Elias Albertson Jr. for 350 Spanish dollars. That same year, Leffers advertised the windmill for sale. Over the next few years he added to the property by purchasing adjoining acreage.
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| "Hammock House" - early 1900s |
"My situation at present is agreeable, my new house is calculated to my fancy and pleasantly situated, we have a fine prospect of the Sea, in front have a good garden and spring of water and are about 200 yards from the eastern most boundary of Beaufort town."
Leffers' new house, known today as the "Hammock House" was built about 300 yards east of the "White House," which was 100 yards west of the town boundary, the boundary described as "100 yards to the eastward of the hammock that Thomas Austin formerly lived on." (Detailed research contained in Historic Beaufort, North Carolina.)
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| Painting by Mary Warshaw |
Below are some interesting snippets from Leffers’ letters to his brother John– written between 1800 and 1821:
……1800 My situation at present is agreeable, my new house is calculated to my fancy and pleasantly situated; we have a fine prospect of the Sea, in front have a good garden and spring of water...I live retired and amuse myself with my garden, my writing desk, my books and a walk to town as fancy directs……
…… The crops of corn are supposed in general to be better than ever was known and every other production of the earth uncommonly good…I have sent Samuel with his uncle Thomas Duncan, to assist in doing my business……
…… I wrote my own Epitaph some years ago (1806), and altho` it may never be engraved on stone you may read it for your amusement as follows:
PRAISES ON TOMBS ARE VAINLY SPENT
GOOD DEEDS ARE MANS BEST MONUMENT
…… April-1809 Government have had a Fort [Hampton] erected here, the work has been going on for 6 months past…The winter has been cold and stormy but tolerably healthy- provisions are plenty and cheap- and every housewife is busily employed in clothing her family in homespun and altho` goods are scarce the prices are low and the sale dull……
…… My little family continues as before with the addition of George Dill who lives with us and serves to run errands and do little jobs about house……
……1811 The alarm of war is amongst us and a Battalion of the new raised Militia are to be posted here and at Fort Hampton
……1814 When I wrote you last I was a boarder in the house that I formerly owned where I continued till about 20 months ago, when as Samuel had taken a house in a pleasant situation on the waters of the Straits, I agreed to live with him……
…… 1815 I am within a few weeks of finishing my 79th year and altho` I am blessed with a good degree of health the infirmities of age are daily reducing my strength and I can perceive my mental powers also are fast declining there fore you need not be at a loss to account for the imperfections of my letter……
……1820 After I recovered from my sickness and found I had still to live I thought it might be most for my comfort to have a home of my own in a retired situation to spend the remainder of my days without being beholden to others. I therefore purchased a house and small farm at the Straits……
…… Aug.1821 I enjoy tranquility of mind and being at peace with the whole world I wish well to all the human race... I have made my will……
……Nov. 1821 I am alternately stronger and weaker at short intervals I can plainly perceive that I (am) gently descending from my present stage of life……
Leffers died a year later on October 7, 1822 , about one month short of his 86th birthday. He was buried in Beaufort's Old Burying Ground.
The children Samuel Leffers and Sarah Hampton (1739-1808), as noted in family trees and in Maurice Davis' History of the Hammock House:
- George (1767-1793) married Hannah Gibble about 1791 and was lost at sea. "They had only one son, Samuel II (1792-1875), who studied medicine under Dr. John Poythress, who had a private infirmary in Beaufort before his death in 1813. In 1811, Samuel II married Sarah Brooks of Straits, where he established his practice. Richard (1832-1912), the youngest of their seven children, also became a physician and practiced at Straits for many years."
- Asa (1769-), "the second child of Samuel and Sarah, also married a girl named Hannah and also died at sea." (Davis)
- Susanna (1771-1808) first married Isaac Hellen in 1787. After Isaac's death, she married William Thomas.
- Mary Ann (1773-1816) married John Dill in 1793.
- Sarah "Sally" (1776-1850) married Williams Brooks in 1811.
