The following is my transcription of a typewritten manuscript, a copy of which was supplied to me by Ann Gill of Desoto County, MS.  The source may have been Thomas Dunlap Leonard, son of Robert and Rachel Dunlap Leonard; but Joseph J. Gill, husband of Angelina Moore, actually wrote the manuscript.  The legibility of that original document and its state of preservation at the time of the typed transcription are unknown.  It’s apparent upon reading that some passages are probably out of order, and that the transcriber was having difficulty deciphering the commas and periods.  It’s thus impossible to tell now whether any anomalies in spelling and punctuation are those of Leonard, Gill, or some modern typist.  Because of its already adulterated state, I’ve decided to add my interpretation to the earlier ones by modernizing spelling and punctuation minimally to make reading and comprehension easier.  I’ve approached the material as though it had been dictated to me.  No words have been changed except where clearly indicated.

The manuscript often jumps erratically from one branch of the Leonards to another, then back again. I suspect that the order of original handwritten pages had become confused, and that the typist attempted to reconstruct the order.  I’ve not changed the order in any way, but have inserted bracketed and italicized comments occasionally to minimize the reader’s confusion.

If you know more about this manuscript, its author or history, please contact me and I’ll make corrections or additions accordingly.

Biography of the Leonards

The object of this biography is for the information of our family and for future generations to be able to trace back their ancestral lines.  It is also for the present and future generations to know of the excellence or our family, by the perusal of these pages.

The inquiring reader will find very many of the noblest families of men and women that have lived on earth.  It carries the reader back to the old time ladies that performed their part in the practical duties of life as wives and mothers with that degree of faithfulness that the scripture requires them to do.  As evidence of their faithfulness, I can attest that out of about thirty granddaughters of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, all without exception that have married made model wives and mothers, bringing their children up to those high principals that constitute the God‑loving Christian.  I have been personally acquainted with the grand‑ and many of the great grandchildren and know whereof I speak.  All the men have acted well their part; the sons and daughters of other families that have been engrafted in our families have brought no dishonor to our name. Our fathers have been supports of morality and the Christian religion, honorable and industrious.

We have been patriotic and ready to serve our country and neighbor in every good work that had for its object the improvement of society and happiness of man.  We have answered the roll call from the year 1750 to 1865 and our blood has been spilled from Camden, North Carolina[1] to Charleston, South Carolina, from Gettysburg to Savannah, Georgia, from Perryville to Mobile, Alabama, from Virginia to Monterey, Mexico.  We have fought England and France in 1760 and 1776.  We fought England in 1814.  We fought through the Creek War, at Taladega, Horseshoe Bend of [the] Coosa River in 1812.  We fought at New Orleans and Eufaula[2] 1814.  We fought the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1836.  Our blood has been spilled on Texas soil from 1836 by Mexicans and Indians to the close of those memorable conflicts which ended with Zachariah Taylor's war with Mexico.  We were represented in that army at Monterey by my brother Wm. R. Leonard and Asa Doggett, my brother-in-law, also Ben Sills another brother-in-law.

We now ask the present and future generations, to treasure and hand down to their posterity their name as free from stain as we have kept it for them.

I can further attest that we have had but a small amount of drunkenness and its attendant evils to complain of.   No lawlessness, but law abiding citizens.  This will apply with equal force to those who have married into our families. 

Now my dear readers search these pages for good.  If you find anything worthy of imitation, note it; if any errors, pardon them and accept the good.  If [I] have done anything good I am amply rewarded, and now let me take my leave of you now in the 74th year of my life.  May God bless all the good that has been written and pardon the errors, Amen

About the year of our Lord 1750, three brothers, William, Robert and Samuel Leonard, emigrated from Ireland to America.  Robert[3] settled in Maryland, William[4] in North Carolina and Samuel in Georgia.  Of the two latter I know but little.  I have through my life met Leonards that trace back to the North Carolinas and Georgia. I have not met any of the names that could not be traced to one or the other; consequently I am of the opinion that all the Leonard’s in the United States sprang from those three brothers, not withstanding the name is spelled different by many, vis., Leoneard, Lenord, Lineard, and Lenard.   All of these spellings are used in my own line (that of Thos. Leonard).   I shall give the life of Robert[5] Leonard in the war of 1760 between England and France.  He fought with England as well all the colonies in America was under the English government.  He was at the battle of Quebec.  His discharge as a soldier of the English Army is yet in existence.  I have seen it; it is in the family of Griffith Leonard of Tennessee.[6]

When the war took place between England and the colonies of America he rebelled against England and fought with America and was killed at the battle of Camden, leaving a widow with four children.   He married [an] English lady named Prichard early after her arrival to America.  We have not the history of the Prichard family.   She brought up her four children in Maryland, giving a limited education, such as the opportunities of the times afforded of that age.  Yet of one thing we are sure: that she was a lady of great moral worth of character, from the moral training that her children exhibited in their lives. Through a long life it has been my privilege to live with and enjoy their society for twenty-five years of my life.

Robert was the oldest child, then Thomas, then Samuel, then Mary.  I will give the tradition of Robert first.  He married a Miss Kate York of Maryland and moved to Lincoln County, Tennessee with Thomas and Mary, who were married at that time, about 1806. They settled on one of the prongs of Cane Creek where they brought up a large family, seven sons and three daughters: William, John, Robert, Riley, Campbell, Thomas and Samuel, Honor, Polly and Anna.

William their oldest married a Miss McBride of Lincoln County, Tennessee about

the year 1816.  He brought, up a large family.  The children made good citizens and were farmers [in] Giles and Marshall Counties.  I know but little of them.  The old Capt. Bill Leonard as he was called lived to a good old age.

John and Robert Leonard left their parents in Tennessee about the year 1816 and went to Illinois.  If they ever married, it is not known to me; yet I find the name in Illinois and Missouri, in all probability their descendants.  Those I hear of and have seen, some are men of standing, one a lawyer, one a Baptist minister.

Thomas Lawan Leonard lived to be old and died in Huntsville, Alabama where he had lived for thirty years of his life.  He never married.  Campbell lived to be old, never married, died in Louisiana.  Lemuel[7] never married.  He died near Shreveport, Louisiana.

Riley married a Miss Norwood of Lincoln County, Tennessee, by her had two or three children.   She died; her father took the children and moved to Missouri.  Riley’s second wife was a Miss Elisabeth Mathews of Tennessee, daughter [of] John Mathews of Virginia.  Riley had three sons and two daughters by her.  William was the oldest, Lemuel and Freman Good the youngest.  Elizabeth was their daughter; one daughter died in childhood.  William was is the Confederate Army and died.  Lemuel and Freman are with their mother near Tuscumbia, Alabama.  Riley died about the year 1860. 

Honor Leonard, the oldest daughter, married Hayes Blair of Tennessee about 1817, had one child by him.  When he died, she then married William Mathews and moved to Lawrence County, Alabama where he died leaving her with several children.  She was a real energetic woman, brought up her children to industry.  Nothing further is known of them.

I do not know who the other two girls married.

All of old Uncle Robert’s family were farmers.

Samuel Leonard the younger [brother] of Robert and Thomas remained in South Carolina.  He married a Miss Lawan.  By her he had two sons, George Lawan Leonard and Samuel, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Belinda.  George and his two sisters came to Tennessee with their uncle and aunt leaving their parents and Samuel behind.  George took care to bring the old man Calahan’s daughter Susannah for a companion before leaving the Old Palmetto State.  In this choice he exhibited his good sense as in many other acts of his life.  She was a truly good woman, every way worthy of George.  I will here take occasion to say George L. Leonard was a worthy citizen in the strictest sense in point of natural endowments.  Nature has bestowed a very liberal share of intellect which he cultivated to a good state of usefulness to himself and family and neighbors, performing the part of an enterprising citizen.  In laying out the little village of Petersburg, Lincoln County, Tennessee, he owned the land, laid off lots and sold and built himself.  It was there he lost his first wife Susannah.  It was there he married Mary Ann Gilbert for his second wife, another good wife.  She was the daughter of the Rev. John Gilbert of old Lincoln.

He moved from Petersburg about the year 1838 to Dallas County, Texas, located on the west side of the Trinity River, where he died several years after, leaving his widow a good home with comfortable surroundings and a family of four promising sons to take care of and comfort in her old age.  I believe she is living at this writing 1883.  George L. Leonard professed faith in Christ and was baptized in Tennessee in early life.  He died a member of the Christian Church in Dallas, Texas.

I will now speak of his children by his first wife.  Eliza Ann married a Mr. Scott of Lincoln County and lived there a number of years.  Further I cannot say of them.

William his oldest son was a sprightly and promising young man around Petersburg in 1830 to 1838.  He married Miss Elizabeth Bryan, had two or three children by her when she died at Petersburg.  He then married a Miss Cole, a daughter of James Cole of Mulberry in Lincoln, moved to Texas with his father, settled in Dallas, where he was elected Sheriff of Dallas County, which office he held for several years.  He finally left Dallas with his children, went further west and died.  Further particulars of his family are not known by me.

Adaline the second daughter was an amiable young lady, with good attainments, in her father’s family in Petersburg in 1833-5.  I knew her well and cannot say enough for her in point of loveliness and practical usefulness in her father’s family and in society.  Her praise was sung by all her acquaintance.  She married about the year 1836 to a Mr. Dolly, moved to Texas with her father; but little is known of her subsequent history.

Mahulda married in Lincoln to a Mr. Cole, a brother of their brother William’s wife.  They went to Texas.  Silas the youngest child of George L. Leonard by his first wife, married in Dallas and lives there yet.  He is a very steady and good man, has made a good living, has no children, is a member with his wife in good standing in the Christian Church.  George L. Leonard had by his second wife four sons and one daughter.  She died before marrying.

John was their first son.  He acquired a liberal education, read law, was admitted to the bar about 1860.  He graduated with high honors, commenced practice with high prospects.  The Civil War came on, he took up arms as a Captain, so distinguished himself as to be promoted as adjutant on Gen. Hood’s staff when the war closed.  He was at his post and surrendered with Hood’s army.  Immediately returned to Texas, took a position in a dry goods store as a clerk in the town of Port Sullivan in McClain County where he made such a reputation as a business man that he was offered a partnership without money on his part with a man of capital.  The new firm was known as Inglehart and Leonard, commencing business in a family wholesale grocery and dealing in exchange.  This business continued two years and closed in Grosbeck on the Texas Central R.R.  Capt. Jack continued in the banking business.  He had married a lady of some capital at Hearn station [on] the T.C.R.R.  Her maiden name was Hearn.  There were several of the Hearn family at Hearn.  Capt. Jack formed a partnership with Capt. Adams, who also married a Miss Hearn.  Those two gentlemen continued in that business in Dallas to the death of Captain, which death occurred in the summer of 1883, having survived his wife about 18 months.  They left only one child, a son, who inherits a fortune of about $250,000.  Thus lived and died Captain Jack Leonard in the prime of life.  His death was a great loss to the businessmen of Dallas, Texas.  I knew him well as a child in Petersburg.  I knew [?] as a soldier, as a merchant, as a banker and as a man I cannot say too much for Capt. Jack.

Frank Leonard married a daughter of Henry Miller near Dallas before the War Between the States, took arms and died of sickness, left no children.  She was a worthy lady, beloved by his brother and mother.  I have been in their family and found the widowed mother-in-law and the widowed daughter-in-law with younger boys an excellent and interesting family.  I have not heard from the ladies for several years. 

Washington Leonard was a soldier in the artillery company in Bragg’s army through the war.  I do not know if he has married.  He was a worthy young man.  Joseph Leonard was dissipated, otherwise a young man of fine abilities, gentlemanly to a high degree and of fine business capacity.  All of George L. Leonard’s children inherited a fine order of talent, capacitated for the highest sphere of usefulness to themselves and country.  They grew up in the wilds of Texas, had frontiersmen for companions.  They had none of the advantages that Dallas presents now; they were grown before Dallas commenced growing.

George L. Leonard had two sisters Elizabeth and Belinda.  Elizabeth married in South Carolina to a gentleman by the name of Robinson.  He died in a few years thereafter; his widow came to Lincoln County, TN with her brother George until her death, which took place near Dallas, Texas.  She has no child.  I knew her well; she was a model woman through her life, lived and died an exemplary Christian.  Belinda Leonard married a man of Giles County by the name of Beal about the year 1817.  I have only learned that they raised a large family.

This closes the line of Samuel Leonard’s sons, brother to Robert, Thomas, and Mary, children of Robert Leonard, one of the three first spoken of.

I now take up the sister, Mary, old Aunt Campbell as she was familiarly called, who is buried in the Leonard Cemetery.  She was the only sister of Robert, Thomas, and Samuel.  She married a Scotchman by the name of Collin Campbell.  They moved to Lincoln County with their relatives about 1806.  All settled very close neighbors.  Aunt Mary never had any child.  She and Uncle Campbell lived to old age.  The old man was thrown from a horse and killed leaving an excellent history as a pious and consistent Christian throughout life.  This man was a British soldier.

Aunt Mary Campbell moved to Petersburg.  She and Elizabeth Robinson spent several years with George L. Leonard.  When he left for Texas about the year 1838 Aunt went to live with William L. and Hannah Moore near Petersburg where she died about the year 1840.  Thus lived and died those two pious and exemplary Christians after a long lapse of time.  My heart fills with thanks to Almighty God to know that their blood comes through my veins.  I have ever felt it an honor and a blessing to be allied by consanguinity and affinity to all I have written about.  I have been personally acquainted with all but the first three brothers and their wives.

I have just read in the Galveston News of the death, by suicide, of Gilres [?] Leonard of Dallas, Texas; cause unknown.  He was 68 years old.

I now take up the line or branch of Thomas Leonard’s family, Thomas, who was brother to Robert, Samuel and Mary Campbell.  He married Miss Hannah James of Maryland about the year 1775.  I have no tradition of her parents, except their nationality, they were Welsh; but Hannah was born and raised in Maryland.  Her deportment through life afforded the strongest testimony of the excellencies of her family as a pure branch, as she could not have sprung from any other than a family of high moral culture.  I was acquainted with her for thirty years of my life, during which time I carefully observed her deportment as a wife and mother, as a grandmother, surrounded with numerous share of grandchildren to watch over and instruct.  Her admonitions and instructions to all her grown up children and small grandchildren, all received her counsels from off a heart burning with love.  Her husband reverenced her, her children idolized her until death, her servants and neighbors held her in high esteem.

Thomas Leonard, her husband, and her and family constituted a God loving family.  Then they came to Lincoln County in 1806, their children were grown.  Three of them were married.

The blessings and sentiments contained in the 128^th Psalm may with propriety be applied to their family, also the same blessings are clearly verified in their children and grandchildren, vis., “Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord and walketh in his ways for thou shall eat the labor of thy hand.  Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee, thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the side of thy house, thy children like olive plants round thy table.  Behold that thus shalt the name be blest that feareth the Lord.”  Can any one of the older and thinking ones of their descendants say that these promises does not apply to the family of Thomas and Hannah Leonard?  Has not their example been a light to us that knew them?  Have we not remembered their teachings a thousand times through our lives?  Does not the [?] by precept and example of the parents extend to the children to the third and fourth generation of them that love the Lord, as well as to those that hate Him?  I love to know that I have descended from such noble spirits.  I love to know that their offspring have inherited their noble disposition and have been guided by their teachings.  I love to know that all of their children learned to love and obey the God that they loved, and taught their children and grandchildren to love to know, that every grandchild that ever saw and heard their counsel have become Christian.  Not one exception I knew them all.  I love to know that so many branches that have been engrafted in our family partake of the spirit and fatness of that spirit that has guided our ancestors into the spirit of life which was in Jesus Christ, that has made us free from the law of sin and death.  I rejoice to know that olive branches have engrafted in our family that the blessings promised in the same 128[th] Psalm will apply with equal force as to any of our family, and I pray that the blessings may never cease.

After living in Maryland for several years after their marriage in 1775 and the birth of several children they moved to South Carolina, left there in 1806, came to Lincoln County, Tennessee, settled the place now occupied by the widow and children of Griffith Leonard where they lived and died.  Thomas Leonard died in April 1832 leaving his wife a widow with comfortable surroundings and in [the] care of her son Griffith Leonard and Hannah Moore her daughter to take care of her through life, which duty they performed with care to her and a pleasure to themselves.

Before they left South Carolina their three oldest sons married wives of South Carolina, best daughters though a separate family.  I say best family from the fact that their subsequent [?] as wives and mothers warrants me in saying so.  Such noble women could not have sprung from a mean and course family.  I knew them from early marriage to old age.  I knew their children and their family and am happy to know that the nobleness of character that guided all our ancestors in the ruling principle throughout our entire family: a strict adherence to the truth, industry and honesty.

Robert was the oldest child, born in Maryland the 14^th of February 1777.  Married Rachel, daughter of William Dunlap in Abbeville District of South Carolina on the 17^th day of March 1807.  He moved with his father to Lincoln County, Tennessee and settled on Cane Creek half a mile above Petersburg; subsequently moved to middle Alabama, settled in Perry County where he lived from 1818 to 1824.  He then moved to Madison County in 1824, lived there until 1840, then to Texas, settled in Cherokee County where he died on August 4, 1844 in the 67^th year of his age.  He was a hatter by trade, also a farmer.  His life was spent in usefulness to his neighbors, his country and his family, teaching his children the importance of industry, honesty and truthfulness.  At all times he with his wife taught their children the importance of the Christian religion which all had embraced before their death, but two, and they have embraced since the death of their parents.  Robert was a truly good man, good husband, good father, good citizen.  He was my father and Rachel, his wife, was my mother.  Language will fail me in attempting to portray her excellencies.  She was brought up in the faith and membership of the Presbyterian Church and strictly adhered to their discipline in the government of her family, teaching them to observe the commandments of our Savior.  She ruled her children in love and impressed on their minds at their earliest age those high-toned principles of love to God and love of his services, and to search his words of truth for their guide through life.  She became convinced of the importance of immersion as baptism when she was about 40 years of age, when she and her husband were buried with Christ in baptism in Flint River, Madison County, Alabama.  She lived to see all of her children members of the Baptist Church, but two, and they followed in her footsteps after her death.  She died in Cherokee County, Texas in the year 1862 in the 62[nd] year of her life and was buried by the side of her husband in the town of Rusk in Cherokee County, Texas, after having spent a long life of usefulness to her family, neighbors, and church.  Thus ended the life of a God-loving woman.

Mary Perrin, the first child of Robert and Rachel Leonard, was born July the 14^th 1808.  She married Elias Nelson in Madison County, Alabama in the year 1827.  They moved to Cherokee County, Texas in the [year] 1840 where they brought up their family of three sons to years of maturity.  They lived together as husband and wife 57 years.  Elias died in April 1883 about 87 years of age.  Elias Nelson was an excellent man, had the confidence of all who knew him.  He died as he had lived, a pious member of the Methodist Church, a good citizen, a good farmer.  He left Mary with a comfortable home and support with their youngest child to take care of her.  She is now living and in her 76[th] year.  She has followed the footsteps of her mother, is truly a good woman full of energy, of strong faith in the gospel plan of salvation.  Her two oldest children, a son and a daughter, died in early life in Texas.  Her next two, William and John, went to California in 1848, and have never returned.  Thomas her youngest son lives with her, has a wife and three children.  He is a good man in the strictest sense of that term.  He lives on a farm near Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas.   P.S. He died the 20^th of November 1883; his mother Mary died the 15^th of November 1883 in the 76^th year of her age. 

I, Thomas Dunlap Leonard, was the second child of Robert and Rachel Leonard.  I was born in Tennessee January 8^th 1810.  I remained with my parents in Madison County, Alabama where I was brought up until I was 22 years of age.  I then learned a trade.  I married Miss Frances Irby of Madison County, Alabama near Huntsville.  In her I found a most congenial companion.  She possessed the true characteristics of a Christian wife.  We had three sons and two daughters.  Three of our children died in early life; then death took her from me on the 31^st of August 1847.  The loss of her blasted all my earthly happiness.  It was a loss I could not, nor did not, repair.  I moved to Texas in the year 1856.  I educated my two older [sons] Robert Hall and Malcolm Martin at Baylor University and at Waco.  At the commencement of the Confederate War, they both took up arms.  Robert went to Virginia and was in the Fourth Regiment, Hood’s Brigade, went through the war and was surrendered to Grant by his Gen. R.E. Lee.  Malcolm was killed near Atlanta, Georgia.  He was in the 7^th Regiment, Granbury’s Brigade.  He was a good man, a good soldier, a consistent member of the Baptist Church at Waco, Texas.  Robert, having read medicine before the war in Waco, was prepared to practice in his regiment and brigade in Lee’s Army.  He had charge of the ambulance corps and preformed his duties of that office to the satisfaction of his superior as well as his fellow soldiers.  He returned to Waco in 1866, continued the practice of medicine.  He died in Milum County in the year 1867.  He was a man of promise, and in his death I lost my last child.  I am now 75 years of age, a lonely old man.  Blank—[8]

Charlotte Leonard, my sister, married John Woodall in Madison County, Aabama.  She had three children, then died in Texas.  Her two sons are dead.  They were soldiers in the Conferate Army.  They were good moral boys.  Their sister Rachel Woodall lives near Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas.  I do not know what has become of her father, John Woodall.

Sister Sara married Asa Doggett of old Lincoln County, Tennessee.  They moved to Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas in 1840.  They had two sons and three daughters.  The sons were soldiers in the Confederate Army and were killed, good boys and good soldiers.  The daughters married.  One married a Mr. Lancaster of Dallas County, Texas.  Her husband is dead leaving her with two children.  They live in Lancaster near Dallas.  One of the girls married Mathew Williamson.  He died in Corsicanna, Navarro County, Texas.  Rachel Doggett married Thomas Kyle.  They live in Corsicanna.  Asa Doggett has lived in Rusk from its earliest existence.  He married the second time.  His second wife was a widow, an excellent lady.  They both live yet this 1883.  He is a good citizen and a good man.

Tiney Riley Leonard, my fourth sister, married in Rusk to a Mr. William Johnson.  He is a lawyer.  They have but one living child, a daughter, Sara.  She married a merchant in Texarkana.  All live somewhere in northeastern Texas.  I know but little of them.

William Rinaldi Leonard married Miss Alabama Martin of Rusk, Texas in the year 1856.  They have had twelve children; seven are living.  Three oldest daughters have married.  Mary, their oldest daughter, married Lee Wilson of Waco, a man of good habits.  They have three children.  Louisa married a Mr. James Hickman, a steady man.  Martha married Jake Hickman, a good man.  He died in about three years leaving Martha a little home in Waco, with two little sons.  Clifford, Elmore and Eliza Jane are grown, not married.  Robert is about grown, Sally is about 14 years old, [and] Frank, the youngest, [is] 4 years old.  William Leonard[‘s] family have well done their part, made good citizens.  William has made an excellent citizen, a good soldier in the early struggles of Texas under Sam Houston, then under Zachariah Taylor in Mexico was at the Battle [of] Monterrey, also a soldier in the Confederate Army.  He with all his family are members of the Baptist Church at Waco.

Caroline, the youngest child of Robert and Rachel Leonard, married Benjamin Sills in Cherokee County, Texas.  They had three daughters and two sons.  They moved to Waco in 1857 where they brought up their family, which is a credit to themselves.  Ben Sills died about the year 1870.  He was an excellent man, had many friends and few enemies, if any.  Caroline is a noble specimen of a woman.  Her family is a credit to her for their nobleness of character and womanly disposition.  They have made wives for their husbands that husbands are proud of.  Their son Willey is a sprightly young man, a saddler by trade.  He is promising.  Minerva Sills married C.N. Curtis, a native of North Carolina.  He is one of Waco’s best merchants, a real business reliable in every respect.  They have three children.  Erline Sills first married Jabes Johnson of Waco, a merchant.  He was reliable and a good husband.  He died after a few years leaving Evalen near ten thousand dollars, no children.  She subsequently married a native of Georgia by the name of Huff.  He is a farmer.  They have three children.  Evalen is a model wife.  They live in Waco.  Elmina Sills married Lancaster Casida of Waco.  He lived about two years when he died leaving Elmira[9] with one child and a home with $5,000 in money.  The child has since died.  Elmira is a truly good woman and a member of the Baptist Church in Waco.  Caroline Sills and her daughter[s?] are members of the Baptist Church, Waco.  Her children have good livings.

Thomas, the second son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, married Sarah Lauderdale in South Carolina, moving to Lincoln County, Tennessee with his father in 1806.  In 1818 he moved to Limestone County, Alabama where he brought up his family, eleven children.  He accumulated good property.  In 1838 he moved to Cherokee County, Texas, settled near Alto where he opened a good farm where he lived to be over 90 years of age.  Sarah died several years before him.  Thomas’ daughters all married in Limestone County, Alabama.  He brought up an excellent family.  He was one of Limestone’s best citizens; no man stood higher as a good man than Thomas Leonard.  His wife was his equal in all the duties of a companion.  She by her example and precepts impressed her good qualities on her daughters so firmly as to prepare them for all the practical duties of good housewifery.  I had the acquaintance and have been in all their families and know them to be excellent ladies.  They in turn taught their children to recognize all those high-toned principles that constitute good citizens and Christians.  All their daughters are dead but one, Syntha, their fourth child.[10]  She lived near Alto, Texas where she has lived for 44 years.  I will say more of her in the proper place.

Thomas and Sally Leonard’s oldest child, a daughter whose name was Alitha, was born in South Carolina about the year 1803.  She was married to James Birdwell in Limestone County, Alabama.  He was a farmer and a sober, steady man of good habits and of good family.  Moses Birdwell, his father, I was well acquainted with and know him to be a good citizen.  James Birdwell came to Louisiana, east of Red River in 1840 where he and Alitha both died in a few years, having three daughters that had married and four younger sons that were not grown.  All was of good habits.  I have not known anything of them for 40 years.

Hannah Leonard married William Fletcher of Limestone County, Alabama.  He was a farmer and of good family.  They left Alabama in the year 1834 to go to Arkansas, took cholera on the way.  Both died the same day, leaving four small children who were provided for by their father’s relatives in Arkansas.  Further is not known by me.

Willey Leonard married James Deavenport, a farmer.  She lived but a few years, had three children.  Deavenport moved to Polk County, Texas.  Further is not known.

Syntha married Jonas Denton of Limestone County.  She had two children, after which he died in Limestone County, Alabama.  Syntha married John Blanton in Mississippi, then moved to Texas; settled in Rusk, Texas.  After the birth of several children Blanton died leaving Syntha with a good home and comfortable surroundings.  She has brought her family in good credit.  I have seen them frequently through later years.  She has three sons, one of which is married.  Her daughters have married, one of whom is in California.  One of the Denton children died in childhood, the other married Charles Polk of Cherokee County, Texas.  He is an excellent citizen.  Syntha is now 74 years old.  Her life has been spent in discharge of all those practical duties inculcated by her mother.  In her it can be truly said of her: Thou has well done thy duty to parents, thy husband, thy children and thy neighbors and thy God.  Come up higher and enjoy the mansions prepared for thee.

Matilda Leonard married Cordy Clifton of  Limestone County, Alabama.  He was an energetic farmer and of good habits.  He lived but a few years, had a few children.  Matilda left Limestone and went to north Mississippi to live with a younger sister.  I have no further tidings of her family.  Mariah Leonard married Marmaduke Johnston of Cherokee County, Texas.  He lived but a few years.  I know nothing of her children if she had any. 

Minerva married Samuel Johnston of Limestone County.  He was of wealthy parents, who was of good standing.  All their family were good old fashioned people.  Samuel Johnston moved to northwestern Mississippi many years ago.  Further I know not.

Mahala, Sally and Martha [11]died in early womanhood.  Alfred married Harriet McGawhaw of Cherokee County, Texas.  She lived but a few years and died childless.  Alfred lived in northeastern Texas.  Thomas married in Alto, Cherokee County.  Both died in a few years.

Thus ends the children of Thomas and Sally Leonard.  I am not in possession of any information as to their grandchildren, yet they had a goodly number.  The old people lived to see all but two of their children buried, namely Syntha and Alfred.[12]  The old people lived many years as consistent members of the Baptist Church, as did the greater part of their children.

John Leonard[13] married Hannah Fowler, daughter of Joshua Fowler of South Carolina about 1808; moved to Madison County, Alabama where he lived until 1830 when he moved to Limestone County, Alabama where he lived until death, which occurred about 1847 or 1848.  Hannah his wife died in Madison County about 1828 or 1829.  Their children were born near Madison Crossroads in Madison County.  John lived through life as he had been reared up by his parents, a lover of all the ennobling virtues that constitute a good child, a good husband, father and citizen.  I was intimately acquainted with him the last twenty years of his life.  He taught me many valuable lessons of his life.  He was governed in all his actions through life from the noble principles of Christian spirit; truth and honesty was his motto.  When I look back at the characters of old acquaintance, John Leonard stands side by side with the best of citizens of old Madison County, Alabama.  When I look back from my old age my heart swells within me of love and admiration for the excellencies of John Leonard.  Aunt Hannah was truly his peer in all of the excellencies of wife, companion, mother and citizen.  The character of her daughters prove the excellencies of the early training of the mother.  Their deportment gives a better comment on the life and character of their mother than I can give.

Alpha their oldest daughter married Stephen Adams, a lawyer of Winchester, Tennessee.  He was an excellent man.  He moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he practiced law, was elected to judgeship in [the] circuit court, then elected a member to the Congress of the United States.  He filled all those offices with satisfaction to his friends and honor to himself.  Alpha had one child, a daughter, who lived to womanhood and married a gentleman by the name of Weatherall near Aberdeen, Mississippi.  Alpha died in early womanhood.  She had the praise of all our family of being a duplicate copy of our and her grandmother.  I knew her well and heartily endorse the sentiment.  Judge Adams married the second time.  I know no further of him.

Elmina, the second daughter, first married Dr. Stephen Griffith of South Carolina.  I knew him well.  He was a model of a gentleman in every respect, possessed fine natural endowments which he had cultivated in the purest paths of virtue for excellence in life and eternity.  He lived about a year after his marriage with Elmina, died with bilious fever in Madison County, Alabama.  Elmina had one child by him who lived to be grown when he died.  She married Mr. George Fisher, who moved to Shelby County, Tennessee near Memphis where he lived for several years and finally died.  Elmina had several children by him, four daughters and one son.  All received a fine education and have made useful women in the church and in society.  Too much cannot be said for her oldest daughter, Elizabeth Johnston of Memphis.  She stood at the head of useful organizations of ladies in Memphis.  She died in 1883 much regretted by all who knew her.  She left her husband J.C. Johnston, a merchant, with several children.  Elmina Fisher has lived an excellent life.  It may well be said of her that she has nobly performed her part as a wife, as a mother and a Christian and is ready to be offered up and taken up to a better inheritance that awaits her.   Elmina has three married daughters living in Memphis.  Alpha Barbaree married J. R. Garrison, a native of Alabama, a merchant of good standing and [a man who] commanded the respect of everyone who knew him.  He died March the 1^st 1865, leaving Alpha with one child, a son, whose name is ______[14].         John H. Fisher, born in Tennessee, a steady man of fine business habits, stands high among businessmen.  His business he has been engaged in for a number of years past affords the highest endorsement of his integrity as a businessman (that of a cotton buyer).  He could not hold such a position if he did not possess all the high-toned qualification[s] that constitute the true gentleman in the strictest sense of that term.  He must be a man of fine perception, fine discrimination, fine culture of mind, prompt and quick in action, correct in his judgement of cotton, honest to a cent, trustworthy in every respect, to hold such a position.  To be deficient in any one of those qualifications would be to his discredit, consequently his removal.  He married a Miss Bettie.  They have three sons and one daughter.

Elizabeth Leonard, third child of John Leonard, married Thomas M. Norris of and in Madison County, Alabama in the year 1834.  He was a farmer and truly a good man.  He left Alabama in 1847, came to Grimes County, Texas.  After a few years [he] settled in Waller County where he lived until death, which occurred Sep. 23, 1878.  Thomas Norris won for himself by an honest and industrious life of 30 years, an enviable reputation.  His advice and counsel was sought by his neighbors in many cases of trial and trouble.  He had so studied the practical duties of man with reference to his Christian duties as to make him by the aid of his Bible to give good advice to his family and neighbors.  Their confidence in him gave weight to his advice.  He was an active deacon in the Baptist Church for many years.  He performed the duties incumbent on him with pleasure and was never more happy than when in the performance of his Christian life.  He died in the 76[th] year of his age.  His family, the church and neighbors alike sustained a great loss in his death, but he gained and came in possession of a better inheritance that shall not fade away. 

Without explanation, the narrative now reverts to finish the children of Elmira Leonard Griffith Fisher.

Miss A. C. Fisher, third daughter of George and Elmira Fisher, married B. F. Huller, a native of Virginia, a high-toned Christian gentleman, also a Mason of high standing, also a manufacturer.  They have one son. 

Georgia[15] Fisher married Mr. B. W. Capps of Tennessee.  An industrious mechanic, [he] stood as high as a member of the Methodist Church and is a good man in society.  They have one child. 

Alpha Barbaree Garrison has one son, now a young man just entering the practical duties of life with fine attainments as a businessman, has the confidence of his employers to an eminent degree, and [is] held in high esteem by his acquaintances and relatives.  He is truly a worthy young man of promise, a source of joy and comfort to his widowed mother.  She is truly proud of such a noble specimen of a son and gentleman.  She feels she has an arm to rely on going down the steps of time.  Garrison is now a bookkeeper in the cotton firm of G. Fall and Company, which position is a high endorsement of his moral worth of character and qualifications as a young man of merit. 

Mrs. Lizzie F. Johnston[16] has seven children named respectively ------ left to the care of her husband P.O. Johnson[17], who is capable of providing for them [their?] comforts as the best of fathers; yet the care of such a wife and mother cannot be filled.  It is hard to tell who feels the loss the greatest, the children or the husband.  It is a loss that society may bear, but a good husband cannot be reconciled to such a loss.  He has to submit, but cannot become reconciled to the loss of [his] children’s mother.  There is a void in everything around his once happy hearthstone.  He sees it in the children; he feels it in every moment of life.  He feels that all sweet prospects of life is blasted, withered, faded and gone forever.

The author now returns to Elizabeth Leonard Norris, third child of John and Hannah fowler Leonard.

Elizabeth F. Norris still survives her husband, and is in [her] 70[th] year.  She was truly the better half of Thomas Norris and a duplicate copy of her grandmother Leonard.  Language fails me to portray her excellencies as a wife, a Christian mother and a lovely neighbor.  She seems to have cultivated all the Christian graces to such perfection as to keep the love of her Savior and His cause before her eyes in all her actions with all her family, and especially two little motherless granddaughters left to her care by a dying daughter.  She lives as to be ready at an hour’s warning to obey the Master’s call to go up higher.  I love to know that such close ties of consanguinity exist between us.  I love to enjoy the spiritual blessing that we have with each other in our old age of loneliness of life.  I love to contemplate the blessings that are in store for her, myself and many of our dear ones that have gone before, and will follow after us.  I love to know that Thomas and Elizabeth Norris so lived in life as to impress their noble principles in the minds of all children and grandchildren that they too may follow the footsteps of their ancestors in the noble virtues that constitute the true Christian, the true wife, mother, child and citizen. 

This Elizabeth Norris had six daughters and two sons.  Elmira married Thomas Bell of Waller County.  He was a farmer.  As a citizen he was esteemed very highly for his generosity and honesty, industry and usefulness amongst his neighbors.  His virtues were many, his faults were few, and they not intentional.  He was shot by an unknown outlaw in Hempstead in January 1878.  He nor his friends had not a moment’s warning of his death; no known cause for the shot, but a willful shot of a bad man.  Elmira is an excellent Christian woman; possessed the excellent characteristics of her mother.  She toils hard to bring up her children in the knowledge of all the virtues that will tend to make good citizens, Christians and companions of them.  She has five sons: James, Leonard, William, Robert and Thomas.  Her daughters are Elizabeth, Martha and Lee.  James Bell is a steady young man; has just married Miss Taylor.  Elizabeth Bell married John Keneda, a farmer of steady habits, promised to become a good citizen.  Betty his wife is a good woman, wife and Christian.  Miss Lee Bell married Mr. Bee Herd, a young man of industrious habits and of promise.  Lee makes a good wife.  They have one child.  Martha Bell is an excellent lady, has been raised by her grandmother from childhood, is still with her to take care of her grandma till death, for which duties she is so eminently qualified.  Leonard Bell is a youth of fine promise, of industrious and steady habits.  William Robert and Thomas are small boys and of spriteliness of character. 

Alpha Norris married Wash Doss, a farmer of steady habits.  They had six children, four sons and two daughters.  Alpha died in 1877 leaving a small child.  Her children married respectively.  [?]  Robert is dead.[18]

Thomas and Elizabeth Norris had a daughter and son to die in childhood in Alabama.  They had a daughter Maryann that died in Texas in her 13^th year; also a son that was born in Alabama to die in Texas in the year 1861.  He was in the 19^th year of his age.  His name was Robert Milton. 

Anna Norris married William A. Doss, a nephew of Was Doss.  He is a farmer and of industrious habits.  They had two children, daughters Terry and Mary.  Anna died in May 1879 leaving her husband and two little children in the family of her mother.  Anna was an amiable young woman, possessing all the excellent traits of character that constitute a good wife, mother, child and Christian.  She loved the altar of prayer that she had been brought up to love and reverence.  Her heart seemed to me to be an altar of holy incense, ascending to her Savior at all times.  I cannot say enough for her.  Her children are in the hands of their father and grandma to be taken care of. 

Martha A. Norris married William D.G. Anderson, a son of Samuel Anderson of Walla County, Texas.[19]  Martha inherits the excellent characteristics of her parent, ardently loves her parents and family, loves her husband, honors him with holy reverence.  She cannot do enough for her children.  She teaches by precept and example the importance of obedience, industry and economy.  She teaches with her husband the indispensable necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and practical godliness in life.  The altar of prayer is steadfastly a fixture in their family.  It is a part and parcel of their education from the parents of both parties through their long lives.  They have five children living, daughters; one son who died in infancy.  William D.G. Anderson is a man of great energy, of high moral culture which is inherited from his parents and their excellent teachings.  He is a good man, a good farmer, a good citizen, a good Baptist and a minister of the Gospel.  The parents are sparing no pains to bring up their children for the best usefulness to the church, society and themselves that education and industry can make them.

Mary Eta, the first child of William and Martha Anderson, was born October 18, 1867.  It has been my fortune to be intimately acquainted with her for five years, and it is an exquisite pleasure to me to say I have never known a more worthy young lady.  She has inherited the energy of her father and is well tempered with loveliness of disposition.  She is actuated in all her deportment from a Christian spirit.  Forbearance is the ruling virtue with her.  She is of fine order of intellect and is very studious in the cultivation of it.  Her future is brilliant.  May the Lord ever guide her and keep her from evil. 

Elizabeth Gibony Anderson was born May 25, 1871.  She is a very spritely child, a true lover of books.  She is of fine mind and promises scholarship.  Barbara A. Anderson was born December 8, 1873.  She inherits the energy of the Andersons, is above the average in point of education of her age.  She is lovely and of fine promise.  Vernilla Anderson was born May 30, 1876.  She is the most brilliant child of her age I ever knew.  With the education I hope she will get, she will make a woman that her relatives will be proud of.  Thomas Porter Anderson was born September 13, 1879 and died in infancy.  Willy Anderson was born October the 25[th], 1882.  She is the most perfect model of nature I ever saw.  She is at this writing fourteen months old.

Hezekiah, a son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, died at the home of his parents in Lincoln, Tennessee about the year 1816.  He was grown, not married.

Samuel [died] at and near the same time.  He was just about grown.

Collin Campbell Leonard, son of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, was born in Maryland, brought up in South Carolina, married Miss Jean Williams of Tennessee about the year 1817.  I have no knowledge of the Williams family.  They had only two children, a daughter and a son.  I am under the impression both children are dead.  Aunt Jean died and Uncle Collin moved from Lincoln County to McNairy County, west Tennessee.  He married the second time, had seven children by her.  I met with two sons on the battlefield of Perryville, Kentucky.  I have no further knowledge of his family.  Uncle Collin was dissipated (drank) in early life.  He was a good soldier in the Indian War of 1812 to 14.  He was a true friend to friends and bitter enemy to his enemies.  He possessed noble generous principles.  His latter life was a steady habits.  He became a member of the Methodist church and a preacher before death.  His sons informed me that their father was dead.  Nothing further is known of his family.

The manuscript now takes up the children of John and Hannah Fowler Leonard once more.

Hannah Leonard married Alfred Lamb of Limestone County, Alabama.  Alfred was a farmer of good habits.  He was a grandson of Moses Birdwell, whose son James married Alitha, Thomas and Mary Leonard’s daughter.[20]  Alfred Lamb died in Shelby County, Tennessee leaving Hannah with one child, a daughter.  Her name is Mittie.  Both mother and child lived with Elmina Fisher until December 1883 when they moved to their sister Martha Leatherwood near Tupelo, Mississippi.  Hannah is a noble specimen of a good woman, possessing to an eminent degree those noble traits of characteristics of her parents and sisters.  Her daughter Millie[21] is a [?] following the teaching of her mother and aunts, guided by the word of God, into the paths of those excellent virtues that alone constitute the good woman.  She is self-denying for her mother’s sake.  She feels that it has come to her time to bestow that care on her aged mother that her mother bestowed on her in infancy.

Martha Leonard married John Leatherwood of Lincoln County, Tennessee about the year 183__.[22]  He was a farmer of good family of old settlers on Elk River.  He moved to Mississippi, is still a resident citizen near Tupelo, sustain[s] a good reputation.  They had several sons and one daughter.  Martha is another good specimen of a good woman, wife and mother.  Martha Leatherwood’s daughter married a Mr. Bowen who lives near her parents, had children and died in the year 1883.

Mary Leonard [married] Nepthaline Lynch of Limestone County, Alabama.  Lynch was a farmer and overseer of high standing.  A man of good family; I knew the father and his sons.  Mary had children, I knew not how many.  She died in early life.  What I have said of her elder sister may strictly apply to her.  Further is not known of her family by me.

Sarah Leonard married Abner Lauderdale of Limestone County, Alabama.  He was a son of John Lauderdale, who was a brother to Sally, wife of Thomas Leonard.  Abner was of good family and a man of good habits.  Both Abner and Sally are dead.[23]

Robert, son of John Leonard, was an educated man of fine promise.  He married Miss Collins of Limestone County, Alabama, near Elk River.  Robert taught school throughout life.  He taught in Mississippi several years.  His first wife died; he then married her sister.

As it fell to the lot of South Carolina to furnish the three eldest sons (Robert, John and Thomas) of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, so in turn it fell to the lot of old Kentucky and old Lincoln County to furnish one of their best sons and daughters for companions for the remaining son and daughter to them, which part of duty she performed with equal credit to theirselves and happiness to our family, which their conduct in acting well their part in society around old Petersburg abundantly testifies.[24]

Griffith J. Leonard remained with his parents until their death, bestowing that care on them that was essential to their happiness in old age.  Having by inheritance and cultivation obtained those high-toned traits of character that fitly qualified him for the practical duties of life as a good citizen, husband and father.  His neighbors can all testify to his excellencies of character with pleasure.  His children proved the excellencies of their parents.  Griffith Leonard was a superior order of intellect, [but] had no opportunities of school in early life to improve his intellect.  He was a self-made man and had acquired a fine degree of practical and useful knowledge.  A man of high-toned moral principles, not capable of condescending  to any low degrading act under any circumstances.  He was a true patriot through life.  He fell from an unerring rifle shot of an Indian warrior on the furious battlefield of Talledega, Alabama in the year 1812.  It pierced his neck and passes through, from which wound he recovered and lived to marry his peer [25]and bring up an excellent family.  He also accumulated a good home, a good large tract of Tennessee[‘s] best land for his amiable widow and children.  He leaves them as his parents left him vis., with [a] high-toned sense of moral training to qualify them for usefulness to society, themselves and their God.  He died in the year 1864, being in the 77^th year of his age.  Thus ended the long and useful life of Griffith J. Leonard, leaving his amiable wife with a large family to care for at the end of a cruel war that had devastated nearly every ordinary comfort of life, and in the midst of a helpless people as herself.  Yet she by inheritance and education had a good stock of industry and economies to draw from that she has brought up her excellent family in credit to herself and to her departed husband.  She has demonstrated these excellent traits of character inherited from her parents and by education that so fitly qualified her for her duties as mother to her children, and her labors has been crowned with success.

Nancy Porter was a daughter of Stephen and Mary Porter, born January 10, 1818.  They were the best of citizens; lived up to those excellent rules of discipline that so eminently qualified them for usefulness in life to themselves, families, neighbors and their God.  Stephen Porter’s excellent example will be remembered by his acquaintances with pleasure as long as their lives last.  It affords me pleasure now to look back over half a century when Stephen Porter assembled his family and visiting neighbors around the family altar for prayer night and morning.  His Godly influence was felt by his neighbors during life, and after death he was missed by all.  He has gone to his reward of a good man.  May his posterity emulate his worthy examples.

Griffith and Nancy Leonard had three sons and six daughters: Mary Hannah, Samuel James, Alpha, Sallie Porter, Thomas Bunian[26], Martha, Nancy, William Stephen and Maria Bettie. 

Mary H. married Dr. John Cowden in the year 1856, January 8.  Mary is a noble Christian woman, fine intellect, a model wife and mother.  Dr. John Cowden is a very popular and useful physician doing a very extensive practice, a high-toned Christian gentleman, a leading spirit in his neighborhood, always taking great interest in school and education.  They have ten living children and two died in infancy.  The names are Viola, Josie, Myrtle, Charley, Eugene, Ida, Maud, Lela, John, and Sallie Bett.  Viola married John Marsh and has three sons and one daughter.  Josie Cowden married Daniel Bills, a man of good family, a farmer.  They have five daughters. 

Samuel J. Leonard married Clemy Cowden in 1865.  They have five sons and three daughters, vis., Emma, twins James and Norris, May, John, Thomas, Mattie Cella and Robert.

Samuel J. Leonard is a very industrious, good  farmer and citizen, a member of the Christian Church.  He was wounded at Murfreesboro, served as a soldier in the Confederate War.  His wife is a good woman of fine mind and education.  They rule their household with Christian propriety.

Alpha Leonard married Worth Cowden in the year ______.  They have one son and one daughter, and Apha died leaving her two children quite young.  She was possessed with many worthy traits of character, was a member of the Methodist Church.  Her husband is an industrious, prosperous farmer, a good man.  In the death of Alpha was manifested the complete triumph of the Christian faith.

Sally P. Leonard married Amos C. Davis in the year ______.  She is an amiable Christian woman possessing all the traits of character that make a woman lovely; a member of the Methodist Church.  Amos is a good, noble man, industrious and truly a good farmer.  They have no children.

Thomas Bunyon Leonard married Mary Endsley in the year 1874.  Thomas studied medicine and is an excellent physician, is a very enterprising, useful citizen, a practical man.  His wife is of excellent family, an agreeable wife and an amiable woman.  They have three sons and one daughter.

Mattie Leonard married Frank Woods in the year 1875.  They had only one son, Ross.  Mattie died when Ross was but a child.  She was a consistent Christian woman called to leave her husband and babe by that awful scourge to the human family, consumption.  She bore her afflictions as only a Christian can; died in the triumph of the Christian hope.  She joined the Presbyterian Church with her husband who was a kind and noble-hearted Christian gentleman, was as kind in acting the part of a tender father to his lovely motherless boy.

Nancy, William Stephen and Maria Bettie are still single, living at the old Leonard homestead with their amiable and worthy mother, administering to her wants.  William Stephen is a good farmer, a useful citizen and held in high esteem by his relatives and neighbors.  It can be said of Griffith J. and Nancy E. Leonard that they raised their children so as to be ornnaments to the church and to society, each one filling with honor their respective sphere; and it can be truthfully said of them that they are an honor to their noble parents, and surely they can rise up and call their parents blessed.

Hannah Leonard[27] married William D. Moore of Kentucky in the year 1817.  He was a house painter and cabinet workman equal to any of his day.  He was a man of superior genius of mind.  His natural endowments were above the average.  He cultivated it to a general usefulness in practical science.  He was a good farmer, a fine judge of stock, which he had a fine taste for and cultivated successfully.  He was truthful, honest and reliable in every sense of the term.  He accumulated a good living, raised a family of six children, vis., Angeline, Thomas D., Alpha, Alitha, William G., Margaret and Amanda.  He died in November in 1856, leaving Hannah with a competency and with her most amiable of children to take care of her in old age, which duty they have performed to credit to themselves and satisfaction to their aged mother, who still survives and is now 69 years of age; now living with her son-in-law and daughter, Joseph J.S. and Angelina Gill.

Hannah was the only daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard.  Language fails me to portray the excellencies of this good woman; neither can her neighbors or children do her justice.  She has lived for seventy-five years[28] near where she now lives, saw Lincoln County when it was a can brake infested with bear, wolves, deer and many other wild animals.  Right around Petersburg and Cane Creek all of her age have gone across the river.  She is left as a lone tree of the forest but must soon fall and go to join her loved ones that have gone before and must follow after.  She has an inheritance awaiting her that is far better than anything she has ever realized on earth.  I rejoice to know that the hand and heart of their daughter[s] have been sought by the noblest sons of Tennessee; also that their sons sought and obtained their equals in the daughters of Tennessee.

Angelina Moore married Joseph Gill on the 11[th] of December 1834.  This marriage was evidently made up by the divine will of God.  Such concord and unity does not often exist in the married life as has existed in their marriage.  Yet it may exist and does exist as the ruling principle where the moral training has been perfect with both parties as it was with Joseph and Angelina Gill.  The discipline that Christ gives by his Apostles for the government of his church commences in his spiritual born subjects: first to govern our passions, then and not until then are we capable of governing our family [and?] children.  Then we are prepared to make useful members in Christ[‘s] Kingdom.   Hence we affirm that the discipline given by Christ and his Apostles is as essential to [the] health and perpetuity of our families and church as faith in the atoning blood of Christ is to saving of the soul.  This discipline has been the study and unceasing practice of Joseph and Angelina Gill.  Through their lives the blessings contained in the 112[th] and 126[th] Psalm [s] may well apply to them.  They have seen [29] their children’s children and have lived to see their children take their stand in society and in the church with credit to themselves and honor to their parents.  They are now far in the advance of life, having accumulated a liberal supply of the comforts of life and ready to meet their Master’s summons to come home.  They have five sons and three daughters: William Thomas, Robert Levi, Alpha Moore, Mollie Young, James Andrew, Henry Bascom, Joseph Franklin, Sallie Hannah and Oliver Fletcher.[30] 

First son William Thomas was born in Lincoln County January 15, 1836; married Mary T. Lloyd[31] of Huntsville, Alabama December 13, 1859.  He felt himself called to preach, having professed a Christian faith when quite young.  He joined the Tennessee Conference of the M. E. Church South, in which he spent several years in labor abundant bringing many into the church.  It may be truthfully said that he was an energetic, zealous minister.  He having been instrumental in having three elegant church houses built in Marshall County, Tennessee, one at Lewisburg, the county seat.  One is called in honor to him Gill’s Chapel.  He then transferred to Southwest Missouri Conference where he has been equally fortunate in bringing in many to the church.  He is held in high esteem of his members, and those without the church have a high respect for him.  He and Mary have had eight children given them: Anna, who died in infancy, Jo Lloyd also died in infancy, Lula Bettie, Mattie Joanna, Fannie who died at two years old, Suella, Antenia and Tomie Lloyd.  Five daughters [are] living.  Mattie Joanna married October 1, 1883 to Harrison Hupp of Otterville, Missouri, where they now live.  Mary Lloyd, wife of Rev. W.T. Gill, is an excellent Christian woman ruling her house with diligence.  His wife of a high-toned Virginia family had a good education and giving aid and encouragement to her husband in his ministerial work.

Robert Levi died before three years of age, a lovely and beautiful cherub.  Alpha Moore Gill still single living with her parents, a subject of affliction all her life.  Mollie Y. Gill is still single and living with her parents, has devoted a good many years to teaching school, has been a successful teacher and highly appreciated by a large circle of admiring friends, has traveled some and formed a large circle of loving friends, has an amiable disposition, of fine natural talent and acquired intellect.

James Andrew Gill obtained a good education, read medicine and attended one course of lectures, was taken sick and had to abandon his studies, suffering two years of extreme pain and died September 23, 1870 lamented by his heart stricken parents, brothers and sisters and a large circle of friends.  He had many noble traits of character and was beloved by all.  If he left an enemy, it was not known.  Said to his teacher shortly before his death that all was well; said to his older brothers that life was more to be dreaded than death.

Henry Bascom Gill was married to Mary P. Yowell July 31, 1873, has two lovely daughters, Mattie Young and Elizabeth Estella.[32]  Bascom has a strong, mature mind, is of graceful form, pretty fair attainments and with proper culture would be intellectual, has a native mechanical talent, has a lively, cheerful disposition.  His wife is of an old Georgia family of no small degree of talent.

Sallie H. Gill was married to George C. Gillespie of Lincoln County October 29, 1879, has two lovely daughters, Catherine and Angeline.  Sallie is of lively, cheerful disposition, amiable character and of a bright intellect.  Her husband is kind and affectionate in his family and is of a good family on both sides of his parents.

Oliver F. Gill was married to Mary Elizabeth Warren November 22, 1882, have one lovely boy named Jo. J. Savantha, five months old.  Oliver is of steady habits, works on a farm, takes great pleasure in his occupation, is living with his parents and strictly adheres to the advice of his father.  His wife is the daughter of Rev. John B. Warren, who has been for many years a preacher in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

This ends the biography of the family of Jo. J. Gill and wife Angelina, who have been married over 49 years.  They have endeavored to set a Godly example before their children, have been members of the Methodist Church for forty years, have endeavored to live up to the teachings of God’s word through may have been short, they are happy to say that their children show them due respect and none of them have done anything to bring reproach up on their name.[33]  All of them are respected by all who know them, and we feel thankful that they ever manifest the purest love and admiration for us.  The same may be said of those who have come into the family by marriage.

Thomas D. Moore, first son of W. D. Moore and Hannah Moore, was married to Mary Fanny Buchanan and Tommie Anna[34].  Thomas D. Moore was an active farmer and stock raiser, an enterprising man, a high-toned enterprising citizen, prominent in the enterprises of his neighborhood.  Died October 25, 1883 in his 61^st year.  Neither of his children are married.  His death created a vacuum in his family, his neighborhood, and the country hard to be filled.  His children have good educations and bid fair to make useful citizens.  His wife was of a very large and respectable family.

Alpha L. Moore died [the] 19[th] of August 1835, aged sixteen; a lovely, affectionate girl.

Alitha Leonard Moore was married to John D. Fishback June 1, 1843.  They have four sons and four daughters: James Newton, William W., Maggie Heard, Lucy Hannah, Jessie H., Mollie A., John and Brent.  James N. died when about 33 years old.  Willie is single and lives with his mother.  Lucy H. married Isham H. Gill 1844, have not children, live now in Dallas, Texas.  Jessie married A. E. Calahan 1882, having no living children.  Mollie and Brent are living with their mother.  John B. Fishback died in June 1864 and left his wife with the most of her children not grown or educated just at the close of the Civil War, which entailed great hardships for her; but she had with Christian fortitude battled life’s current and raised them in credit and esteem.  J. B. Fishback was a native of Kentucky, of good family and a high-minded, honorable man, a stock trader of fine judgement.

William Griffith Moore was married to Rachel Scruggs in the year ______, had eight sons: Charley Matt, William Clandy, John Eley, Edward, Walter, Thomas, David, Harry Florence.  They most of them are grown up.  Thomas and David are dead.  They lived in Burnet County, Texas.  William G. Moore is a good citizen and upright man, a strict member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  He is engaged in farming and stock raising.  His wife is of a good and respectable family of Bedford County, Tennessee. 

Amanda Melvina Moore, the fourth daughter of W. D. and Hannah Moore has never married.  She has been afflicted a good portion of her life.  She lived with her mother until she broke up housekeeping and lived with Thomas D. Moore and part of her time with her sister Margaret Randolph until she died and has stayed some since with Margaret’s children.

Margaret Fisher Randolph married C. L. Randolph, a well-educated man who stood high as a teacher and was also a minister of the Christian Church, a prominent and useful citizen.  He died about 1874.  Margaret had one daughter and three sons: Beulah, William Moore, Collie L. and John Roanoke.  Beulah Randolph married Isaac Thurman, a prominent merchant at McMinnville.  Collie and John are not married.  John is seven years old.  Margaret Randolph died in 1879.  This family lived in McMinnville, Tennessee. 

Thus ends the biography of Hannah Moore, daughter of Thomas and Hannah Leonard, and while I write she is sitting by giving me dates in her 89[th] year; very hard of hearing, but in other respects enjoying pretty fair health.  This is the 17^th day of May 1884.  Tomorrow is my wife’s 66^th birthday and I will be 68 the 16^th day of June next.

Jos. J. Gill