Page 681

JOHN LEONARD, a retired, wealthy farmer, came to this county in the pioneer times and was an early settler of Illiopolis Township in whose development he has been a potent factor. In the course of time he became a large landowner and the most successful stock grower of the place. He has a valuable estate here and is spending his declining years in the enjoyment of a handsome competence.

Mr. Leonard was born four miles north of Waynesboro, Augusta County, Va., March 4, 1828, to George and Catherine (Summers) Leonard. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and at the age of eight years was taken to Virginia where he grew to a stalwart manhood. He became a well-to-do farmer, and during the war his farm was the scene of a Union encampment. He came to Illinois in the '70s and his last days were passed in Woodford County, where his death occurred July 24, 1884, at the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. The mother of our subject, who was born near Taunton, Va., died in Woodford County, in 1875 at a ripe old age.

John Leonard received but a limited education in the primitive "pay" schools of his time, and at the age of eighteen began life for himself full of courage and hope, as a farmer in Virginia. He continued in the State of his nativity till the age of twenty-four years, when he came to Illinois in the fall of 1852 and settled near Mechanicsburg. In the spring of 1853 he purchased the nucleus of his present fine farm, buying the one hundred and sixty acres of land from the Government at $1.10 per acre, and borrowed $100 to pay for it. He then entered on the career of untiring industry that has resulted in the accumulation of a competency for his old age. He continued farming near Mechanicsville till 1858, when he built a small house of two rooms on his farm in Illiopolis Township, drawing the material for its construction and to fence his farm sixteen and one-half miles, and then took up his abode in that humble dwelling.

Mr. Leonard soon began to acquire more land, buying one hundred and sixty-three acres near his home, which he soon sold, however, at an advanced price, and then bought eighty acres of land at $8 an acre. His next purchase was forty acres of land at $25 an acre and after that a tract of eighty acres of wild land for $15 an acre. He subsequently bought a quarter section in Macon County at $40 an acre, which he sold for $45 an acre. Forty acres of land near his home next came into his possession, for which he paid $50 an acre. He made a purchase of eighty acres in Macon County, and this he sold to his son who now occupies it. He bought twenty acres near the river and his last purchase was of two eighties at $60 an acre. His estate now comprises six hundred acres of land and there is no finer land anywhere in the region.

For many years Mr. Leonard was extensively and successfully engaged in raising stock, for which he always found a ready market, as his cattle were sleep and well-kept. His motto in that business was always "care and feed." A year ago Mr. Leonard retired from active business and his sons are farming his land. The two rooms of his early home have grown, as he says, "upwards, downward and sideways" till they make a spacious home, where he is living in the enjoyment of all the comforts and luxuries of life that heart could wish. He is personally known for his good nature, large heart and as a steadfast friend. His character is irreproachable and he is regarded as one of the most reliable citizens of Illiopolis Township. He interests himself in politics and is a stanch advocate of the Democratic party. Socially, he is a member of the Farmers Mutual Benefit Association.

Undoubtedly Mr. Leonard justly attributes a part of his success in life to the cordial co-operation that he has always received from his estimable wife to whom he was married in 1852. She is a superior housewife and manages their home affairs with sound wisdom and discretion, and so as to contribute to the comfort and happiness of her family. Mrs. Leonard's name in her girlhood days was Rhoda Humphreys and she is a native of Roanoke, Va. Eight children have been born to her and our subject, of whom four sons and three daughters are living and all are settled within easy distance of the old homestead. Among their descendants Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have nineteen grandchildren, in whom they take much pleasure.

In connection with this sketch we are pleased to present a portrait of Mr. Leonard, as that of a representative and honored citizen of Sangamon County.