My Genealogy Hound

Abner H. Leonard, farmer and stock raiser of Spring Creek Township, was born in Iredell County, N. C., in 1827, and is the son of Robert and Cynthia (Johnson) Leonard. Robert Leonard was born in North Carolina in 1781, and the mother was born in the same State, but was about ten or twelve years younger than her husband. She was an orphan, and was Mr. Leonard’s second wife. Mr. Leonard removed to Gilmore County, West Tenn., about 1833, and came to what is now Dent County, and settled on Spring Creek, near Salem, and was one of the first white settlers of the county. He improved a good farm, where he died January 5, 1857. He was fond of hunting, and spent much time in this pursuit when game was plenty. The nearest post-office was Steelville, and they did the principal part of their marketing at St. Louis, where they went with their ox teams, carrying with them hides, furs, beeswax, wheat, etc., which they exchanged for groceries, etc., enough to last the family a year. They were generally fourteen or fifteen days in making the trip. The next day after Mr. Leonard arrived in Dent Coumty he started through the woods to borrow or buy some corn. There were no settlements near him, and to prevent getting lost he blazed the trees as he went along, so that he could follow them in getting back. Joseph S. Leonard, the great-grandfather of Abner H. Leonard, was a native of Ireland, but came to America prior to the Revolutionary War. His son William, who was the grandfather of Abner H., was living at Wilmington, N. C., during the Revolutionary War, and when Robert was but seven days of age the British captured the city, but the father being sick the family was not molested. He was a rope-maker by occupation. The mother of our subject died in 1844. Mr. Leonard was the father of eighteen children, nine by each wife. Abner H. Leonard was the fourth child born to the last marriage. He was reared in the wilds of Dent County, where there were no schools until he was nearly grown. He never attended school but a few months, and the principal part of his education was obtained by the light of the fire place in the evenings at home. The woods at that time were full of bear, elk, wolves, panthers, wildcats, etc., and young Leonard spent a great deal of his time in hunting; was an unusually good shot, and many deer fell at the report of his gun. In 1850 he married Miss Mary Ann, daughter of John and Anna Stagner, who were natives of North Carolina, and who afterward moved to Kentucky, where Mrs. Leonard was born. About 1840 Mr. Stagner moved to Salem, and afterward spent a few years in Southwestern Missouri, but later returned to Dent County, where both died, on Dry Fork, the mother about 1856 and the father about 1866. He was the first justice of the peace, and married the first couple in Spring Creek Township. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To Mr. Leonard and wife were born seven children, four now living: John W., William R., James F., and Eliza Ellen, wife of John A. Jones, living on her father’s farm. The same year of his marriage Mr. Leonard settled on his present farm, which consists of 280 acres, with seventy-five under cultivation. He served about three years in the Federal Army, Company D, Thirty-second Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and operated in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, under Sherman, and was in the first engagement at Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and was in all the Georgia and Atlanta campaign to the sea. He was at the grand review at Washington, D. C. He was discharged at Louisville, Ky., July 18, 1865, was never wounded nor captured during service. Politically he was formerly a Whig, his first presidential vote being for Gen. Tayler in 1848, but he is now a Republican. Mr. Leonard has spared no pains in educating his children, and is justly proud of his efforts in that direction. He and wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church since soon after the war, and three of the children are members of the same church. Mrs. Leonard has been almost blind for ten years.