Freeland David Leslie, M. D.

    Freeland David Leslie, M. D., a leading physician of Milton, was born June 29, 1858, in Patten, Me., son of Sylvester Z. and Isabel L. (Huston) Leslie, both natives of Maine.  The Leslies are an old Scottish family; and this branch in America is traced back to the Rev. James Leslie, who came to New England with his wife, Margaret Sherar, about the year 1728, and settled at Topsfield, Essex County, Mass.

    From James Leslie, through his son George, his grandson William, and William's son, Samuel Chase Leslie, the line descends to Sylvester Zina, father of Dr. Leslie.

    The Rev. George Leslie, born November 25, 1727, was graduated at Harvard College in 1748, ordained to the ministry at Linebrook in Ipswich, Mass., November  15,  1749,  had charge of the church there thirty years, was then dismissed at his own request, and was installed July 12, 1780, as minister at Washington, N. H., where 'he discharged his duties with faithfulness and great acceptance until his death, which occurred September 11, 1800."   The headstone which marks his grave, placed there by vote of the town, contains this epitaph, showing the estimation in which he was held by the friends who knew him best: 'He was a man of brilliant genius and great learning and eminent in piety and morality."  Further interesting particulars concerning him may be found in Felt's History of Ipswich, Mass., and the History of Washington, N. H.

    He married Hepzibah Burpee, daughter of Deacon Jonathan Burpee, and had eight children - George, Jr., David, James, Jonathan, William, Hepzibah, Joseph, and Mehitable. David Leslie, the second son, was the father of the Rev. David Leslie, horn in 1797, who in 1837 was sent as a Methodist missionary to Oregon, where he assisted in forming one of the first Protestant churches on the Pacific coast, and  aided in founding Willamette University.

    William, fifth son of the Rev. George Leslie, born in Ipswich, Mass., resided for some years in Cornish, N. H., the home of his wife, Mary Chase, who died at the early age of twenty-three years.  Their children were: Betsy, Mary, and Samuel Chase, who is the fourth in the line now being considered.

    Samuel Chase Leslie, born September 17, 1791, married Mary Eliza Thomas, of Claremont, N. H., and lived successively in Salem and Haverhill, Mass., in Lincoln and in Patten, Me., where he died, April 20, 1845. His wife, born November 26, 1792, died December 29, 1847.  Their children were: William, born January 29, 1818; David T., born July 19, 1819, who was educated at West Point, served in the Mexican War, and was killed at Matamoras, January 20, 1847; Esther Ives; James B.; Samuel C.; John P.; Sylvester Zina, born July 12, 1831; and Mary E., born in 1835, died April 29, 1857.   Sylvester Zina Leslie married October 7, 1855, Isabel Leighton Huston, born January 21,  1835. They had two children, namely: Freeland David, the special subject of this biographical sketch; and his sister, Ida May, born in Patten, Me., February 5, 1860

    When in his eleventh year Freeland D. Leslie removed with his parents to Boston, Mass.  He attended the public schools in that city, including the English High School, and subsequently pursued a course in medicine in the Boston University School of Medicine, where he was graduated in 1879.  Beginning the practice of his profession in Canton, Mass., in June, 1880, he remained there for five years; and at the end of this time he went abroad, and took special lecture courses in the hospitals at Vienna and Berlin, spending two years in Europe.  In 1888 Dr. Leslie came to Milton, where he has since been assiduously engaged in the practice of medicine, becoming so well and favorably known in this region that comment upon his skill seems needless. Having found time to be interested in many things not directly within the pale of his professional duties, he is now on his second term as a member of the School Committee, and he has also served on the local Board of Health. He is a member of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic  Medical  Society;  of  Macedonian Lodge, F. & A. M., of Milton, of which he was first Master; and of Dorchester Lodge, I. O. O. F.

    Dr. Leslie married Georgiana Shepard, daughter of James S. Shepard, of Canton, Mass.  They have three children: Bernard Shepard Leslie, born in London, England, December 2, 1882; Howard Clifford Leslie, born in Milton, Mass., Sunday, November 4, 1888; and Freeland Huston Leslie, born in Milton, November 7, 1890.  The Doctor and his family reside on Brook Road. 

From BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Volume XXV.
Containing life sketches of leading citizens of Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Pub. Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1898
All biographical information is provided by the subject or family member, reviewed and edited by them before going to print.