EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY

EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS - 1876
By John Carroll Power

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LEEDS, PETER T., was born March 29, 1801, near Leeds' Cove or Leeds Landing, in Gloucester county, N. J. His ancestors emigrated from Leeds, England, about the year 1700. His parents, James and Rhoda Leeds, were members of the Society of friends. They had five sons and three daughters in New Jersey, and with their family left there, May 15, 1806, and settled near Moscow, Clermont county, Ohio. The girls married farmers, and three of the sons became farmers also; the whole six settling in Clermont county. One son, Josiah, learned the hatter's trade, and Peter T., the subject of this sketch, selected a profession, and commenced the study of medicine at the age of twenty. Not having the means to attend medical school, he taught during the day and read medicine at night until he was theoretically qualified for practice. While teaching, he had one pupil who attended his school two summers, and who has since been known as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the leader of the U. S. armies in crushing the great rebellion, also twice President of the United States. Dr. P. T. Leeds remembers having seen the first steamboat that ascended the Ohio river as far as Moscow. He was married, in 1821, to Jane Harden. They had six children in Ohio, one of whom died young. Dr. Leeds moved with his family to Illinois, arriving at Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county, April 1, 1836. Of his children--

DAVID, born Oct., 1822, in Clermont county, Ohio, studied medicine with his father, and located in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He was married there to Martha Shaw. They had three children, JOHN, MATTIE and ARTEMAS. Dr. David Leeds died in Mt. Pleasant, September, 1853.

TIMOTHY, born Jan., 1825, in Ohio, studied medicine with his father, and graduated at St. Louis Medical College. He married Mary A. Latham. Dr. Timothy Leeds practiced medicine in Mt. Pulaski, until 1856, when he moved to Lincoln, Ill. He died there May 1, 1857, and was buried at Mt. Pulaski with Masonic honors. His widow died in Springfield, Dec. 11, 1857, leaving her two children, MAGGIE and TIMOTHY, with their grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Latham, in Springfield.

LYDIA, the only daughter, born March, 1827, in Clermont county, Ohio, and brought up in Sangamon county, married to her cousin, John M. Leeds, at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and moved to Clinton, Illinois. They had five children--DARTHULA J., born Jan. 5, 1847, in Glasgow, Jefferson county, Iowa, married April 21, 1871, in Clinton, Ill., to A. H. C. Barber, formerly of Portsmouth, Ohio. They have three children, VIOLET, JOHN and FANNIE, and reside in Clinton, Ill. ALICE A., was born in Mechanicsburg, and died, aged two years. MARY E., born Dec. 24, 1850, in Marion, Dewitt county, Ill., was married, March 1, 1871, to J. H. Morse, formerly of Milford Centre, Union county, Ohio. They have one child, GEORGE B., and live in Clinton, Ill. SARAH ARGILLIA, born Jan. 9, 1855, and LYDIA LENORAH, born Sept. 3, 1857, in Clinton. The two latter live with their mother. John M. Leeds went to California, in 1862, and on returning he was killed by Indians, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. His widow and two unmarried daughters reside in Clinton, Dewitt county, Illinois.

DANIEL K., born Nov., 1829, in Ohio, enlisted in the regular army during the Mexican war, was wounded in the battle of the City of Mexico, and died in that city, in 1847, of inflammation of the lungs.

LUCIAN LAVASSA, was born April, 1831, in Clermont county, Ohio, commenced the study of medicine with his father, at seventeen years of age, and graduated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, Ill., in 1852. He practiced medicine with his father three years, and during that time he married Susan Shoup, of Logan county. She died, in 1854, leaving one child, SARAH ALICE. He then located in Lincoln, Ill., and in 1855 married Sarah J. Shoup; she only lived ten weeks, and in the autumn of 1856 he married Hannah Wilson, of Logan county. They have three children, viz: ANNIE M., MYRTIE J. and HANNAH E. The eldest child, Sarah Alice, married E. Spellman, and lives in Lincoln. Dr. L. L. Leeds has owned one horse thirteen years, and kept a record of his travels, which has been 82,000 miles, to January, 1876. His name is Gray Bill, and he is yet able, ready and willing to travel, and he will probably yet make his 100,000 miles. Dr. L. L. Leeds continues in the practice of his profession, at Lincoln, Logan county, Illinois.

Dr. Peter T. Leeds moved from Mechanicsburg to Buffalo, Sangamon county, Illinois, August 19, 1859; remained in active practice until 1865, but has now partially withdrawn, and only attends to office business. He has been a successful practitioner, and is strictly a self-made man.