My Genealogy Hound

Robert A. Leonard, a successful tiller of the soil and a prominent stock dealer of Norman Township, is the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Walls) Leonard, and the grandson of Robert Leonard, who was one of the pioneers of Dent County, and whose history appears elsewhere in this volume. Joseph Leonard was a native of North Carolina, and came with his parents to what is now Dent County in 1833, where he married, and afterward settled near Salem, where he died in 1878, at the age of sixty-five. He was a carpenter, and built some of the first houses in Salem. He was justice of the peace for many years, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother was born in Tennessee, and came with her parents to Dent County when young. Her father afterward moved to Laclede County, where he died. She is still living, is about seventy-six years of age, and has been a member of the Methodist Church for many years. She is the mother of ten children, five sons and five daughters, Robert A. being the fourth. He was born in Spring Creek Township, Dent Co., Mo., in 1844, and received a good practical education in the common schools. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in Company E, Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, United States Army, and operated mostly in Arkansas and Mississippi. He was in the battle of Brown’s Prairie, Ark.; was in many skirmishes, and served until the close of the war. He was mustered out at New Orleans, July 25, 1865. He then returned home, and November 4, 1868, he married Miss Mary McCaupin, a native of Tennessee, who came with her parents to Dent County when a child. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Leonard, who lived in Texas Township until 1882, when they moved to their present farm on Dry Fork. Here they have 320 acres of land, with about 150 under cultivation, and Mr. Leonard has done a great deal in improving the stock of the county. He is a stanch Republican politically, casting his first presidential vote for Gen. U. S. Grant in 1868; is a member of the G. A. R., Agricultural Wheel, A. O. U. W., and he and wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for a great many years. Mr. Leonard has spared no pains in educating his children and in the general upbuilding of the county.