ALFRED K. LEACH

Submitted by Jonelle Leach Prince

ALFRED K. LEACH

Uncle of Vurlura, Vernon (John Kelly), and Gamalia (George) Shalto Leach

Kentucky Genealogy & Biography Vol III Reprinted sketches from Kentucky:  A History of the State  by Battle-Perrin-Kniffin   1885.

Alfred K. Leach, postmaster, Ohio County is the son of John and Nancy Borah Leach, natives of Kentucky, both now deceased.  The father was born in 1802 and died in 1881 in Ohio Co., Ky; his parents came from Maryland and the mother, whose ancestors were Germans, from Pennsylvania, both 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 1884. He had by his first marriage two children: Mittie Birchie and Cora Ella.  Mr. Leach enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Kentucky (Infantry), 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.

Information was verified in 2004 by Estelle Leach Barnard and Vambra W. Shepherd  – granddaughter and grandson of George William Leach.

Alfred K. Leach died in 1909 and had a third wife, Ophelia Plummer.   He is buried in the Paxton Cemetery, Ohio Co., KY. on Apple House Pike.  His daughter Birchie never married and lived at home but his youngest daughter married Frank Casebier and started Casebier Funeral Home in Beaver Dam.  Their children: Erwin Leach Casebier, Frank Kelly Casebier, and Paxton Casebier.  Erwin’s widow (Annabelle King) is still living in Beaver Dam, KY and Paxton is in Florida.  Mrs. Erwin L. Casebier was on the Library Board when Hartford Public Library was built.

Another relative was a Dr. Joseph Cox of Rosine, Ohio Co., KY in the 1800’s.  His grandmother was Miranda Leach who married a Cox.

Another relative, Nancy Ellen Leach (daughter of Joseph and Altha Leach), was married to Archibald P. Montague who for many years was a leading merchant at Cromwell in Ohio Co. and both became members and leaders in the Green River Missionary Baptist Church in 1860’s.  The church celebrated its sesquicentennial (1836-1986) and had a book written and compiled by Wendell Homes Rone, Sr. in 1987.  The Montague’s are buried in the East Providence Cemetery, Prentiss, Ohio Co., KY.

May 24, 2005

I, Jonelle Leach Prince, visited Paxton Cemetery on Apple Hse. Rd. (turns off Hwy. 369 and ends at Napa Store on U.S. Hwy. 231) and found the graves of two infant children of A. K. and A. E. (Alfred Kelly and Alice E. Paxton) Leach, his first two wives and his grave. The cemetery is on a hill at the end of a paved drive approximately one tenth of a mile off Apple Hse. Rd.  As you enter the cemetery, the graves are at the end of the first row with Alfred K. Leach’s large monument at the far end.

Infant tombstones are identical. The tombstones read as follows:

l.  Infant of A. K. and A. E. Leach, born and died on Nov. 11, 1877

2. Fernando G. Leach, infant of A. K. and A. E. Leach, born Dec. 27, 1882 and could not read the date when died.

3. Alice E. Leach, born July 9, 1856 and died June 1, 1883.  Her epitaph was “She welcomed death not only a release from bodily suffering but at the reunion of her hopes of eternal happiness.”

4. Iduma Leach was born Nov. 29, 1857 and died Aug. 13, 1888. No epitaph. Tombstones are otherwise identical.

5. Alfred K. Leach, born July 19, 1839 and died Jan. 22, 1909.  His epitaph was “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."

Hartford Herald  Wednesday, February 3, 1909:  Died at his residence in Beaver Dam on the 22nd, ult. of a complication of diseases incident to old age, Mr. Alfred K. Leach.  After funeral services conducted at his residence by Rev. A. B. Gardner his pastor, on 23rd, ult. his remains were interred in the Paxton burying grounds near Beaver Dam.  Mr. Leach, who had been a member of the Baptist church for nearly a quarter of a century, was one of Ohio County’s best citizens and had for several years been one of the directors for the Beaver dam Deposit Bank.  The deceased leaves a wife, two children, Mrs. J. B. Casebier and Miss Berchie Leach, together with numerous other relatives and friends to mourn his sad demise.  The Herald extends condolence to the bereaved family.