Name: Thomas Leighton 
Year: 1640 
Place: New Hampshire 
Source Publication Code: 1262 
Primary Immigrant: Leighton, Thomas 
Annotation: Date and place of settlement or date and place of arrival. Names not restricted to the Order of Founders and Patriots of America. 
Source Bibliography: COLKET, MEREDITH B., JR. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975. 366p. 
Page: 175 
Name: Thomas Leighton 
Year: 1672 
Place: New England 
Source Publication Code: 1936 
Primary Immigrant: Leighton, Thomas 
Annotation: Excellent directory of the first settlers of New England. Drake's additions and corrections (no. 1666) are found in the G.P.C. reprint and in no. 9151, Tepper, Passengers to America, pp. 468-470. 
Source Bibliography: FARMER, JOHN. A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New-England; Containing an Alphabetical List of the Governours, Deputy-Governours, Assistants or Counsellors, and Ministers of the Gospel in the Several Colonies, from 1620 to 1692; Graduates of Harvard College to 1662; Members of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company to 1662; Freemen Admitted to the Massachusetts Colony from 1630 to 1662; With Many Other of the Early Inhabitants of New-England and Long-Island, N.Y. from 1620 to the Year 1675 .... Lancaster, Mass.: Carter, Andrews, & Co., 1829. 352p. Reprinted with additions and corrections by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1964. Repr. 1976, 1983. 
Page: 175 

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Per Introduction to A Leighton Family History, written by Mary Louise Leighton-Ford, "As you will notice there have been three generations of Leighton's added prior to Thomas I, abt 1604. A lot of people don't believe they belong there; but some do, and here is the story. 
      You will notice that Thomas' father, Alexander, was a Professor and Clergyman, and that 'our guy' was illiterate! (a pretty good case against), and that his brother was the Bishop of Glasgow (another pretty good case against) and the fact that no one can positively link them in Scotland!! It simply comes down to; Glasgow lost a Thomas Leighton about the same time a Thomas Leighton from Glasgow emerged in America and that Glasgow, at that time, was a very small city and not likely too many Thomas Leighton's. 
      Now literacy in those days was probably rare. Why would anyone pickup and leave the comfort of an a alliterate England, to come to America as a farmer; facing hardships of gigantic proportion and Indian for supper! It would seem to me that an illiterate, underachiever like Thomas would make the perfect specimen, with the perfect reason to get away from the probable degradation he would face from the overachiever he left behind. 
      Another plus, He seemed to have some equity (bankroll) on his arrival. So the fact that one brother 'was' and the other 'wasn't' doesn't seem out of the question! 
      He may have been illiterate, but in the Dover Neck community, he was a leader; a trait that 'pops out' in this kind of situation. He seemed to know right from wrong, exactly the person who came out of 'that other' environment.Per Introduction to A Leighton Family History, written by Mary Louise Leighton-Ford, "As you will notice there have been three generations of Leighton's added prior to Thomas I, abt 1604. A lot of people don't believe they belong there; but some do, and here is the story. Mary Louise Leighton-Ford "Keeper of the keys" 
      

More About Thomas Leighton, Sr:
Census: 1633, Came to US from Scotland