This is the story of the Leland Family of Virginia. This story was begun by John Augustine Charles Leland in the 1930's to trace the Leland Family. He published a manuscript in 1953 which encompassed all that he had accomplished. When  J.A.C. began this he was a salesman for a pottery company out of Zanesville, Ohio, he traveled considerably and had the great fortune to meet with many family members throughout the country. He had no internet, no cell phone and no interstate highway system. The job he accomplished was admirable and extremely complete.
              
     I began with his manuscript and my first computer access in 1997, and with the help of many cousins have worked on this family ever since. Thanks go out to Robert Earl Leland, who was the first cousin I met on line. He is the source for discovering our Huguenot ancestry. He is the one who contacted Guildhall in England and received the birth, baptism and ordination information on the Reverend John Leland of Wicomico Parish in Northumberland County, Virginia.  To Ann Leland Williams Bender, whose has done extensive work in understanding our French ancestry. To Martin Leland Collier, who had vast knowledge of the Missouri line of the Leland family of Judge John Dudley Leland. To the late Baron Pierre Louis d'Aulnis De Bourouill, 1918-2012, with whom I corresponded and who helped to clear some of the confusion and extend our d'Aulnis lineage. To my sister, Margaret Louise Leland Duvic, who started me on this quest, and sent me the manuscript of J.A.C. Leland. To Leland Potter, Jane Potter Hundley & Katharine Potter Bowen, with who I received encouragement and information on the Potter side of the family. To the members of Fabricius Baldwin Mathews Leland's line, Arlene Drennen Thayer, Chester Whitten, Jr., who directed me to the cemetery in Cambridge, Maryland where Fabricius is buried. To Gerda Meijer, who sent me the extensive d'Aulnis line on the other side of the ocean. To the late Jack McClelland, who helped me discover that John Drish Leland, was also know as John Dudley Leland, further extending that naming pattern, To Jonelle Horner Meredith, the wife of cousin William Gordon Meredith, who helped in filling in the "Texas" line of John D. Leland. To Melvin "Ed" McLester, who contributed most of the McLester information. And to countless others who have contributed, corrected and encouraged me along the way.

     Ann Bender and I finally met in Virginia in 2011 and talked about getting all of this information put down in some form in order that it may be passed on. It has been two generations between the time J.A.C. published his manuscript and we began this addition. We hope there is a generation right behind us to continue, but it will probably be the generation after that fills in additional information. I am going to go through this beginning with Pierre, who was born at the end of the 16th century and bring it forward one generation at a time. The editing is likely to take forever. Keep checking the website as I will announce each posting there.

    There are many questions I have still not answered, there is the story of the "Dainty Kerchief," that was known to most of the family in the 40's, was there an actual kerchief? Dr. William Archibald Leland had a set of dueling pistols, at least one of which was seen by J.A.C., where is this pistol? Harry Lee Leland, son of Dr. William A. Leland, is last found in Lancaster County, Nebraska in 1885 married to Orpha Higgins, then nothing. Morgan Clements Leland, another son of Dr. Leland, supposedly marries Margaretha Kemmler, but there is no record of him after 1870, still single.

     I have four generations before Pierre, but the documentation is sketchy. The first is:
 Jean d'Aulnis, de PondevieSieur de Pontdevie, Chevalier de L'Order of St. Jean de Jeruzalem, Prieure d'Aquitaine, b. c1500.
        Jehan d'Aulnis, Sieur de Pontdevie, Chevalier de L'Order of St. Jean de Jeruzalem, Prieure d'Aquitaine, b. c1520   
                Charles d'Aulnis, noble et paissant, seigneur de Pontdevie et de Puychabot, b. c1550. First protestant in family.
                        Pierre d'Aulnis, "procureur fiscal a Saintes", b. c1573, married Mathurine Chenu and had:

Richard McLester Leland III
23 May 2013