ALFRED K. LEACH

ALFRED K. LEACH, postmaster, Ohio County, is the son of John and Nancy Leach, natives of Kentucky, both now deceased. The father was born in 1802 and died in 1859, in Ohio County, Ky.; his parents came from Maryland, and the mother, whose ancestors were Germans, from Pennsylvania, died in 1881. Mr. Leach was born July 19, 1839, in Cromwell Precinct, and was educated at the common Schools. He was the second of three children; his sister, Sarah Ellen, wife of James Gentry, a farmer in Cromwell, and a younger brother, George W. Leach. Their parents were farmers and members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Leach was married in 1875, to Alice Paxton, who died June 1, 1883, and he made her sister, Iduma, his second wife, September 25, 1884. He had by his first marriage two children: Mittie Birchie and Cora Ella. Mr. Leach enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Kentucky, subsequently consolidated into Company H. On January 4, 1862, he entered the United States service, and served three years; was at Fort Donelson, Pittsburgh Landing and many other engagements. He came to Cromwell in December, 1865, and engaged in the grocery and hardware business, and was appointed postmaster. He now conducts one of the largest stores in town; he is a member of the Baptist Church, and in politics a life- long Democrat.

Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Note: Mr. Kelly's second wife died 13 Aug 1888 and he married a third time to Ophelia Plummer. Alfred Kelly Leach died 22 Jan 1909 in Ohio County; he is buried in the Paxton Family Cemetery near Beaver Dam.  From  his grave marker: “Life’s latest struggle cheerfully he passed, unwearied still, unflinching to the last.”

"A Hundred Miles; A Hundred Heartbreaks" by John Blackburn: "Alfred K. Leach was in Company D at the time of the Battle of Donelson, but later was in Company H.  Alfred said that he was thinking, as he listened to the blasts of the guns from the river, that "it would be bad if these shells were being thrown from Green River into Cromwell."  Leach lived near Cromwell before the war and afterwards became the postmaster there."