U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Leatherman, George W. (1835-1905) ------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Tucker County, West Virginia From the Earliest Explorations and Settlements to the Present Time. by Hu Maxwell Kingwood, W. Va.; Preston Publishing Company, 1884. Pages 438-440 George W. Leatherman, of English and German descent, and son of John Lewis Leatherman, was born in Hampshire County, W. Va., in 1835. He is one of three surviving children. A brother and sister live in Missouri. In 1851 his father died, and he, with his brother, was left to take care of the family. They worked hard, but did not prosper as they thought they ought, and they determined to move to the West. One of the boys went ahead to hunt a place and the others followed with wagons loaded with the household plunder. They were aiming for Missouri, and the journey was frought with difficulties. It was in October, and it rained and the roads were nearly impassable. Some of the family took the ague, and the others had an additional amount of work to do. They passed through Ohio, Indiana into Illinois. It had rained nearly all the time; but when they reached Illinois, the weather became clear, and they got along better. Just before they reached the Mississipi River, their horses broke down, and one of them died. With the remaining they could advance but slowly; but finally they reached their destination. After they reached Missouri, they had much sickness in the family. The subject of this sketch lay an invalid all winter, and nearly all the next summer. So, in the fall he decided to return to W. Va., and sell the home farm; he came back, but failed to sell it. He remained in the vicinity more than a year, and in that time came to the conclusion, since he could not sell the land, that he would get married and buy out the other heirs and live on the old homestead, which, after all, he considered good enough. Thus he did. In 1857 he married Mary S. Whip. They worked hard and got along well enough. When the war came on, he was drafted for the Confederate army, but it did not suit his inclinations to fight for that side, so he went off in a hurry for Indiana, and his wife followed him. They did not like it in Indiana, and in the spring of 1862 determined to come back to W. Va., and risk the danger from the Rebels who might be mad at him; he came back to his farm and was not molested. His wife died, and left him with six children to take care of; he kept them together, and continued house-keeping until 1877 when he married Catharine Thrush, and old school-mate of his. His children are: Warren W., John W., Zedekiah A., Mary Elizabeth, George S. and Emma Margaret. In 1880 he moved his family to Canaan. He had explored the country some time before, and had bought large land interests. It was the work of nineteen days to cut a road to get his wagons into the country. Since then he has prospered in his undertakings, and is bow near the W. Va. C. & P. R. W. He is a member of the German Baptist Church, and is the ordained minister for his neighborhood. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tombstone in Leatherman-Parish Cemetery, Keyser, Mineral County, WV Rev. George W. Leatherman Elder of German Baptist Brethren Church Died Oct 8, 1905 Aged 70yrs 3 mos & 6 dys ------------------------------------------------------------------- Register of Deaths, Mineral County, WV (Page , Line No. ) FULL-NAME: Geo. W. Leatherman DEATH-DATE: October 8, 1905 DEATH-PLACE: Mineral County CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Heart Failure AGE-AT-DEATH: 70y-3m BIRTH-PLACE: New Creek Dist. OCCUPATION: Farmer CONSORT-OF: Caroline Leatherman ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Tucker County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/tucker/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------