Percival Levett

Percival Levett (1560 - 1625) was an early merchant and innkeeper of York, England, Sheriff of the city, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=cbAuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA323&lpg=PA323&dq=%22percival+levett%22&source=web&ots=t9E-tSA9Gt&sig=9f6TKNygRoz7rpHQUaiJTHscL-w&hl=en History and description of the ancient city of York, William Hargrove, William Alexander, York, 1818] ] member of the Eastland Company and father of English explorer Capt. Christopher Levett.

Levett was born in Harewood, Yorkshire, and removed early to the city of York, where he was listed as a freeman in 1581, and where he served the city as chamberlain and subsequently Sheriff in 1597. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=LboHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=%22percival+levett%22&source=web&ots=ckCOL1chJX&sig=cVKSBhhlUK7cp7DriZ6qPa6u_oc&hl=en Walks through the city of York, by R. Davies, ed. by his widow, Robert Davies, Chapman and Hall Limited, London, 1880] ] His daughter Ann married another York Sheriff, Christopher Topham (father of Member of Parliament Christopher Topham), and on his death married Dr. Joseph Micklethwaite. [ [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/MIs/ARY/YorkMinsterBurials1a.html The Register of Burials in York Minster, Robert H. Skaife, The Mount, York, GENUKI.ORG] ]

The ancestors of Percival Levett came from Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, and they shared a coat-of-arms with the Levetts of Normanton, High Melton and Hooton Levitt, Yorkshire, indicating that a cadet branch of the family probably relocated to Bolton Percy during medieval times.

Levett was a contributor from York to the Queen's Loan in 1590. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=-BgHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA372&lpg=PA372&dq=%22percivall+levet%22&source=web&ots=1cPwM-zwJu&sig=UHMc4TYAjspw4ZOLMhB077kFbGQ&hl=en Chapters in the History of Yorkshire, James Joel Cartwright, B.W. Allen, Wakefield, 1872] ] He was a member of the Eastland Company, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=sL4KAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=%22eastland+company%22+levett&source=web&ots=scSYOWvcSe&sig=w8iRRZXs3ZyX2Cix_J8jtfiqEB4&hl=en The Acts and Ordinances of the Eastland Company, Maud Sellers, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, London, 1906] ] an English company established in the sixteenth century in an attempt to wrest some Baltic trade from the Hanseatic League.

Percival Levett was buried at St. Martin's Micklegate in York on February 13, 1625. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=hkjQ90cX71oC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=%22percival+levett%22&source=web&ots=MmizrfqudT&sig=aei301xEoHcRTjIO5XDEoYQsaKw&hl=en The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Vol. LXVII, Published by the Society, Boston, 1913] ] Levett had done well enough as a merchant to acquire the title of gentleman, a title he assuredly was born without, and sold his home in Coppergate, in central York, to Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of York. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=QTQGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=%22parcivall+levett%22&source=web&ots=lrTxJMVt18&sig=7ZI4cSdU0UDHnO9SdcPLbvx2PoA&hl=en Archaeologia Aeliana, or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Vol. V, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, J.G. Forster, 1861] ] Levett's sons, aside from Capt. Christopher the explorer, also became merchants, including his son Percival, a merchant at Beverley and York. [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=48281 'Percivallus Levett, mercator, fil. Percivalli Levett, generosi,' Register of the Freemen of the City of York: Vol. 2: 1559-1759, Francis Collins, 1900, British History Online] ]

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