A. B. LEEDY.     Farming has constituted the life work of A. B. Leedy, who is now the owner of a good tract comprising one hundred and nineteen acres, situated in Jefferson township, Richland county.  He was born on a farm in this county, Oct. 18, 1840, a son of Daniel and Saloma (Brown) Leedy, the former in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1796, while the mother's birth occurred near Canton, in Stark county, Ohio.  The father had been previously married, this union being with Susanna Hulsinger, also of the Keystone state, and by that union there were five children, all of whom are now deceased.  The father came to Richland county in 1821 and here entered land from the government and removed his family to this tract in September, 1824.  Upon this tract he built a log cabin in which he lived until 1859 and here engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his remaining days, or until his death, which occurred Jan. 16, 1873.
     A. B. Leedy, whose name introduces this review, is one of a family of ten children born of the father’s second marriage, but only two of the number survive, his brother being Levi Leedy, a farmer residing near Fremont.  Mr. Leedy was reared in the usual manner of farm lads, working in the fields during the summer season, while during the winter months he attended the common schools, wherein he mastered the branches of learning taught in the schools at that early day.  He remained with his father until the latter’s death, when he came into possession of one hundred and nineteen acres of land, which he has improved and on which he has since made his home.  He has placed the land under a good state of cultivation, so that each year it returns to him golden harvests as a result of the care and labor bestowed upon the fields.
     It was on the 11th of August, 1862, that Mr. Leedy put aside all business and personal considerations and offered his services to the government in defense of the Union, becoming a member of Company E, One Hundred and Second Ohio Volunteers.  He participated in many hotly contested engagements, among these being Athens and Pulaski.  He served for a period of three years and at the time of his discharge was serving as corporal.
     Mr. Leedy chose as a companion and helpmate for the journey of life Miss Mary Oldfield, to whom he was married on the 24th of March, 1867, and to this union were born the following children: One who died in infancy; Elma, the wife of George Steckler; Silas, at home; Lientellas, deceased; Melvin, who has served as assessor of Jefferson township and is at home; Lewis, who has also passed away; Walter, deceased; Noah, who is engaged in railroading; Elmina; and two who died in infancy.
     Mr. Leedy is in accord with the principles of the republican party, but is not bound by party ties, voting rather for men and measures than for party.  He is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic and with Jefferson Grange.  His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor, and today he is numbered among the substantial citizens of Richland county.
Source: History of Richland Co., Ohio - Vol. II - A. A., Graham & Co., Publishers. 1807 - 1880 - Page 580

AARON LEEDY.     Aaron Leedy was one of the honored pioneers of Richland County, Ohio, a man respected and honored wherever known and most of all where he was  best known.  He was born Apr. 21, 1832, and was the youngest son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Zook) Leedy.  His life record covered seventy-five years, six months and seven days, and he passed away Oct. 28, 1907.   His early youth was spent upon a farm near Ankenytown, Ohio, and throughout the greater part of his life he successfully followed the occupation of farming, although to some extent, especially early in his life, he worked at the carpenter’s trade.
     On the 13th of March, 1856, Mr. Leedy was married to Elizabeth Garber and for about a year they lived upon her father’s farm, after which they removed to a farm in Berlin township, Knox county, Ohio.  In 1860 they took up their abode about three miles east of Bellville, and in 1863 in company with his brother-in-law, David L. Garber, Aaron Leedy purchased a farm that had formerly been the property of his father-in-law, Samuel Garber. While he made the tilling of the soil his chief life work he possessed much natural mechanical ability and could do almost anything with tools.  He worked at the carpenter’s trade, operated a water mill and afterward a steam sawmill, also operated threshing machines and did other work along mechanical lines.  He led a busy and useful life and he won a fair measure of success, so that for many years he was enabled not only to enjoy the necessities but also the comforts of life.
     Unto Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Leedy there were born six sons and three daughters: Byron, born Mar. 11, 1857; Elmina who was born June, 28, 1859, and died in 1866 at the age of seven years; Eugene R., born Feb. 16, 1861; Clement, born July 5, 1863; Albert, Feb. 7, 1867; Bertha, Mar. 30, 1871; Alfred, June 2, 1873; and Herbert; and Maude.  All are now married with the exception of Bertha and Herbert.
     In 1866 Mr. Leedy united with the Universalist church of Bellville and remained one of its faithful and helpful members throughout the remainder of his life.  He contributed liberally to its support and he spent much of two years as the active member of the building committee while erecting the house of worship at Bellville.  He also was a charter member of Jefferson Grange and served as its first master following its organization, Oct. 9, 1873, while later at different times he again served as master.  His greatest interest aside from his business and his church was in the Grange.  He was prsident president of the Patrons Mutual Relief Association from June 4, 1844, until Jan. 12, 1899.  Very fond of music, he taught singing schools in the early days and was an active member of the Grange Band for years.  He was always interested in young people and "the boys” were ever welcome at his home.  They would frequently gather there in the evenings and he would sit and sing with them for several hours at a time.  While he was never a great talker, he was a most hospitable man and his wife shared with him in extending the hospitality of their home to their relatives and many friends.  He believed in the religion of living rather than of creed and he earnestly put forth effort to encourage the good that he believed was in every individual.  His life was fraught with many good deeds and characterized by kindly purposes and honorable motives.  He passed the Psalmist’s allotted span of three score years and ten and at his death left the memory of an upright life and a noble example which is well worthy of emulation.
Source: History of Richland Co., Ohio - Vol. II - A. A., Graham & Co., Publishers. 1807 - 1880 - Page 858

JAMES ABRAHAM LEONARD.     James Abraham Leonard, superintendent of the Ohio State Reformatory at Mansfield, was born on a farm in Black Log valley, near Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Sept. 12, 1854, and is of English and Scotch-Irish parentage.  His father, Captain Leonard, was born Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and was of English descent.  Upon reaching manhood he engaged in the iron and steel industry, with which the family had been connected through many generations.  At the outbreak of the civil war he entered the army as a member of the organization known as the Bucktails and served as captain until the close of hostilities.  The last year was spent in special service in the west under General Thomas.  His service was often of the most arduous nature but he never faltered when duty called and throughout his entire life has manifested the same loyalty in citizenship.  After the war he again engaged in the iron and steel business but on the opening of Oklahoma he went to that territory as one of its first settlers and took an active interest in the development of the new town of Edmond, serving as its mayor during the entire period of his residence there.  He was also one of the founders of the State Normal School at Edmond and in fact was largely instrumental in securing its location there.  Later he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he is now living retired, at the age of seventy-six years.  His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Wallace White, was born near Londonderry, Ireland, and came to America about 1850 with an aunt who located at Three Springs, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania.  Her parents were of sturdy Scotch-Irish stock and Mrs. Leonard was a woman of extraordinary strength of character, strongly influential among her children, her sons especially having the greatest respect for her opinions.  She left her impress for good upon the lives of the many with whom she came in contact, and her death was therefore the occasion of deep regret when she passed away, at Detroit, Michigan, in December, 1907.
     James A. Leonard is the eldest in the family of four sons and three daughters, of whom six are still living, and he is the only one of the brothers who is not connected with the steel and iron industry.  The second son, W. R. Leonard, of Youngstown, Ohio, is president of the Wilkins-Leonard Hardware Company of that place, also engages in banking and for two years was county auditor; S. C., of Detroit, Michigan, is now general manager of the iron and steel department for the American Bar & Foundry Company, also president of the American Bar Iron Association and is prominent in educational work, being president of the school board of Detroit; John D., of St. Louis, Missouri, is general manager of the Helmbacher Iron & Steel Company and very prominent in Masonic circles; Mary A. is the widow of S. B. Lantz, of Detroit; and Frances J. is the wife of Millard Walker, general manager of the Foster Lumber Company at Norton, Kansas.
     James A. Leonard spent his boyhood to the age of fifteen years upon a farm, and his earliest recollections have to do with events of the Civil war, in which he took deep interest.  His grandfather was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln and had named our subject in his honor.  On the third day of the battle of Gettysburg he took his grandson to a point near their home, where they sat and listened to the heavy firing.  He received his early education in the country schools and there learned the self-reliance to which he accredits his success in life.  He afterward pursued a course in a private normal at Worthington, Ohio, and subsequently was a student in a private business college.  In keeping with the traditions of the family, he was required to enter the mills after he left school and learn the iron and steel business.  When he had mastered it, however, he turned his attention to educational work, to which he devoted the succeeding twenty-five years of his life, in the mean time receiving the degree of A.M. from Mount Union College, in 1885.  He proved a capable educator, teaching in the district, township and city schools of the state, giving twenty years of active service along educational lines in Youngstown.  During that period Mr. Leonard was also county examiner for nine years and served as principal of ward schools and the normal training department for several terms.  A year after his arrival in Mansfield he was tendered the office of superintendent of schools at Youngstown, which offer appealed to him very strongly, because it came as a unanimous expression from the city in which he had spent his early manhood.  However, his sense of right would not permit him to leave the reformatory in which he had be come intensely interested.  His work here had won the hearty approbation of the governor and board of trustees and he felt that it was his duty to remain where his service was proving a benefit to the state at large.
     Previous to his arrival in Mansfield Mr. Leonard served for three years in the United States Interior department with Secretary Noble, and his labors were a helpful and influential factor in the establishment of schools of letters and industrial training schools for the Indians.  In 1897 President McKinley tendered him the superintendency of Indian schools but he declined because the faithful discharge of the duties of the position would necessitate his almost continuous absence from home.  He has delivered lectures before teachers’ institutes throughout the middle west and his last educational work, before entering the reformatory, was in the normal training school of Youngstown, Ohio.  In 1901 he was appointed superintendent of the Ohio State Reformatory.  He immediately entered upon his work there and during the succeeding seven years his labors have given the utmost satisfaction to all concerned.  The reformatory farm comprises five hundred .acres of land and has been a source of revenue to the state as well as a means of discipline and training for the prison population.  In the year 1906 the farm netted a profit of ten thousand dollars.  In this connection Mr. Leonard said, “While it is very gratifying to learn that the farming operations are valuable from an economic point of view, this, after all, is a minor consideration when compared with the value of the farm as a means of discipline and training.  A study of the farm report will reveal the fact that we have endeavored to produce everything which it is possible to raise in this region, and it is needless to say to those experienced in agriculture that such returns from two hundred and fifty acres of land, actually available, would be impossible if intensive methods were not employed.  While the trusty system has rendered our farming operations much more profitable from an economic sense, and much more valuable for purposes of education and training, the moral gain alone justifies the system.  The self restraint necessary for these young men to resist the temptation to run away, and the moral stimulus that comes by imposing upon them responsibility in assignment of duties, results in the development of a degree of moral stamina that justifies an early parole and increases very appreciably the number of young men from this institution who become good citizens."
     The reformatory idea originated nearly a century ago in Europe, but it made little progress until quite recently.  Its highest development in the United States is seen in such institutions as that at Mansfield, Ohio, and Elmira, New York.  In some respects the former is unique, and work is there being done which has brought to it the attention of all interested in the introduction of humanitarian and progressive principles in such institutions.  The system employed at Mansfield is largely the creation of the present superintendent.  That system is builded upon the conviction that while there are, many among a prison population who are outside the zone of corrective influence, there are still greater numbers who can be improved or reclaimed by the personal interest and encouragement of officials and the application of wise reformative regulations.  Mr. Leonard is the apostle of hopefulness in prison management.  He has an abiding faith in humanity.  He believes that in most offenders against the law there is a preponderance of good and that in the worst criminal some wholesome quality may be discovered.  To repress the evil inclination and develop the manhood, self-respect and self-reliance of the unfortunates committed to his care is the policy along which Mr. Leonard has been working for several years.
     For thirty-three years Mr. Leonard has been in the public service.  Nearly all of his work has been of an educative character and has had to do with the physical, mental and moral development of those who have come under his care.  The influence of his work and the results of his labors are immeasurable, but, as Browning puts it, he ‘‘has been awakening the little seeds of good asleep throughout the world.’’  While not a practical politician in the sense of being a worker in organized political ranks or in an untiring search for office, he has nevertheless taken a great interest in public affairs and is a stalwart champion of republican principles.  He is a member of the Prison Congress and National Association of Charities and Correction.  He gives deep and earnest thought and most careful consideration to, and he has written and read before the public, many papers on reform work which have been widely published both in this country and abroad.
     On the 29th of July, 1885, in Youngstown, Ohio, Mr. Leonard was married to Elizabeth Annette Treat, a representative of the Treat family of Connecticut and later prominent among the early settlers of the Western Reserve.  She is a direct descendant of Robert Treat, who for forty years was governor of Connecticut, and also of George Clinton, the first governor of New York and twice vice president of the United States.  Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have two daughters and two sons: Elizabeth and Laura Annette, who are students in Oberlin College; and James A., and George Todd, who are students in the Mansfield high school.
     In his fraternal relations Mr. Leonard is connected with Masonry and has attained the Knight Templar degree.  From the age of fifteen years he has been a member of the Methodist church and is serving on the official board of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Mansfield.  His religion is of the most practical character and is manifested in his untiring, devoted and consecrated effort for his fellowmen.  He possesses a hopeful optimism, for he believes that good is in each individual and that proper environment and encouragement will bring it out.  Thus he is working steadily toward making the world better.
Source: History of Richland Co., Ohio - Vol. II - A. A., Graham & Co., Publishers. 1807 - 1880 - Pages 951-954

WILLIAM L. LEONARD.     William L. Leonard, occupying an enviable position in business circles in Mansfield, was born at Mason, Warren county, Ohio, Apr. 16, 1854.  The family is descended from old colonial New England stock.  John Leonard emigrated from Addison county, Vermont, to Warren county, Ohio, in the last years of the eighteenth century and purchased land of the government.  His sons were Lucas, Joshua and John, and the first named was the grandfather of William L. Leonard of this review and the father of Francis and William Leonard, late of Warren county, Ohio.  Lucas Leonard was united in marriage to Maria Mason, a daughter of Major William Mason, the founder of the village which bears his name.  He is mentioned prominently in Howe’s History of Ohio.
     Francis Leonard, father of William L. Leonard, was a substantial farmer and a man of great energy and force of character.  He died in 1865.  His sons are; W. L. Leonard, of Mansfield; Dr. W. W. Leonard, of Akron, Ohio; and Commander J. C. Leonard, of the United States navy.  Another son, Charles, died in early manhood.
     William L. Leonard was educated in the schools of his native county and when still quite young went to Cincinnati to complete his education in a business college.  On the 1st of January, 1876, he arrived in Mansfield and has since been one of the best known residents of the city.  He was first connected with the passenger business of the Erie Railroad, and later he became a partner in the firm of Mills & Ellsworth, shaft manufacturers.  When this enterprise had grown to large proportions, a stock company was formed, and for two years Mr. Leonard filled the office of its president.  He is still a director and a large stockholder in this prosperous company, which has become one of the important productive industries of the city.
     In addition to Mr. Leonard’s present interests in manufacturing, he is also engaged in the real-estate business, being the senior member of the well known real-estate firm of Leonard & Bowers.  Personally he owns considerable real estate in Mansfield and during his long residence in this city has always been an alive, energetic and up-to-date business man.  While promoting individual affairs he has never been neglectful of his duties of citizenship and has cooperated in many movements for the general good.  While he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, nor has he desired positions of political preferment, he was nevertheless elected to serve for two terms in the city council and has always been a champion of those measures and movements which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride.
     In 1877 occurred the marriage of Mr. Leonard and Miss Etta Taylor, a daughter of Johnston Taylor, one of Mansfield’s pioneer residents.  Mr. Leonard has one son, Wellington T. Leonard, the well-known newspaper man, and one grandson, Wellington Calvin Leonard.
     Mansfield has been helpful to Mr. Leonard, for he has here prospered and acquired wealth, since he cast his lot with her people, and in reciprocation he has been equally helpful to Mansfield, doing much to promote the city’s growth and improvement in various ways.
Source: History of Richland Co., Ohio - Vol. II - A. A., Graham & Co., Publishers. 1807 - 1880 - Page 1127-1128