My Genealogy Hound

CLAYTON D. LEONARD is a gentleman who has secured and is now maintaining an excellent reputation for the quality of the cheese he manufactures. He is a son of James P. and Clarinda (Scribner) Leonard, and was born at Gowanda, Cattaraugus county, New York, March 3, 1852. Simeon Leonard, the paternal grandfather, was born in Oneida county, this State, in 1791. He was a farmer, and moved to Gowanda, N. Y., and from thence to Angola; then to Tidioute, Pa., where he died in 1873, leaving four daughters.

James P. Leonard was born at Gowanda in 1826; he was a shoemaker, and married Clarinda Scribner in 1847, by whom he had one son, our subject, and one daughter, Ella, born at Gowanda in 1849; she married Lorenzo E. Avery, a bookkeeper of Angola, Erie county, N. Y., and has a son, Guy L., born in 1874, and an infant daughter. James P. Leonard died in 1855, and his wife followed him in 1860.

Clayton D. Leonard was educated in the common schools and at the Griffith academy in Springville. His father died when he was but three years of age, and he lost the counsels and love of his mother when but eight. In 1867, when but fifteen years of age, he began to learn cheese-making at East Otto, Cattaraugus county, and remained there two years. He then went to West Otto and Collins, where he followed the same business. He came to Cherry Creek in February, 1879, and since that date has been engaged in making full cream cheese. He is sole proprietor of the Linwood combination of cheese factories. The average production has been six thousand boxes or about four hundred thousand pounds per year, and the market has been found in the New York wholesale houses. Mr. Leonard also handles a great deal of cheese on commission, and is considered one of the best buyers in the State. His cheese is made from milk furnished by farmers. Mr. Leonard keeps the books, each farmer’s account being separate, sells the cheese, and receives one dollar and twelve and a half cents per hundred pounds for his work. He has taken care of himself since he was fourteen years of age, and is known as a hustler in business circles. Politically he is a democrat, and has served on the County Democratic Committee since 1887; is the Worshipful Master of Cherry Creek Lodge, No. 384, F. & A. M., and also holds membership in the Equitable Aid Union and I. O. O. F.

On July 9, 1874, he was united in marriage with Harriet L. Peck, a daughter of Reuben and Mary Eleanor (Raynor) Peck, of Warren county, Pa., and has had four sons: Harley L., born December 10, 1875; Harry L. (dead); Roger L., born June 24, 1886; and Morris M., born July 29, 1888. Mr. Leonard is a generous-hearted, companionable gentleman, a number-one business man and a good citizen.