Charles M. Leach

    Seventy years ago Grant county was still largely wilderness. The settlers during the forties found a few village communities, numerous clearings and tilled fields, and some roads, but still the burdens rested upon most newcomers of cutting down countless trees, uprooting the stumps and brush, and starting cultivation where never before had been the civilized activities of white men. That was the portion of the Leach family, when it first became identified with this county, and as its members did their share of pioneer toil, so a later generation enjoyed the fruits of later and better days, and carried forward the same thrift and independence which have always characterized the name.

    The Leaches are of Scotch Irish ancestry, Grandfather William Leach was born in Virginia in 1795, grew up in his native commonwealth, and when a young man moved to Ohio. He was married in Ohio to Sarah Harrison, of a good family, related to the family which produced the President of that name. Their marriage occurred bout 1815. A short time before 1820 they moved west to Franklin County, Indiana, and were pioneers in that vicinity. Grandfather Leach secured a tract of government land, consisting of eighty acres, and went to work to improve it. During the thirties he left his wife and some of his children on the Franklin County farm, and with his son Edmund, father of Charles M. Leach, and a daughter Rachael, came to Grant county, and entered probably half a section or more of land in Fairmount Township. His wife and other children joined him in a year or so, and the family thus reunited continued to prosper and to lend their labors to the development of Grant County. William Leach and his wife remained in this county until their death. The grandfather died in 1851, and his widow survived about fifteen years. She was past seventy years of age at the time of her death. Religiously they were of the old-school Baptist faith, while William Leach was a Democrat in politics. The children of this family were:

1. Rachael, married and had a family.

2. Easom, married, was a successful farmer, died in Grant county, and was the father of thirteen children who grew to maturity.

3. John was married twice, and after a successful career as a farmer left several children.

4. Edmund is mentioned in the following paragraphs.

5. Jane married a farmer and they reared a family of children.

6. Mary, better known as Polly, was married three times, and there were children by two of the husbands.

7. Martha married and died when her family of children were small.

8. Wesley died early in life.

    Excepting the last, all these children were each given eighty acres of land.

    Edmund Leach was born in Franklin County, Indiana, in June, 1821. He was about a grown when his father brought him to Fairmount Township, and as he was a good ax man, he assisted in clearing off the trees from a part of the old homestead. He assisted in clearing off the land where the village of Fowlerton now stands. All  the country was then new, and in the forests were to be found great abundance of game, which afforded a source of meat supply. William Leach and his son Edmund were excellent riflemen, and proficient sportsmen, especially Edmund, who had a great local reputation in that direction. Edmund Leach married in Grant County, Miss Emily Brewer. She was born in Indiana in 1825, a daughter of Stephen Brewer, one of the very early settlers in Fairmount Township. Stephen Brewer reared a large family and was nearly one hundred years of age when he died. After his marriage, Edmund Leach began making a home for himself on a farm in Grant county, living there until 1864. He then moved to Sullivan County, Indiana, where he bought large tracts of land, and lived there until his death, July 12, 1901. His first wife died in Sullivan County in 1866 soon after they moved there while in middle life, and was the mother of twelve children. For his second wife Edmund Leach married Mrs. Sarah (Bailey) Martin. She had eight children, so that Edmund Leach was the father of twenty children in all. The second wife lives now in the State of Nebraska. Both were members of the Primitive Baptist Church, while Edmund was a Democratic voter.

    Charles M. Leach, long one of the successful farmers of southern Grant County, and now living retired at Fairmount, was born in this county in Fairmount Township, December 6, 1846. He grew up a farm boy, got a country school education, and when still little more than a boy moved to Sullivan County. In 1872, before his marriage he returned to one of his father's farms in Grant County. Through his own energy and thrifty management he has become one of the most successful men in this section. He owns in one body two hundred and twenty-nine acres in Section Thirty-four almost adjoining the other farm. All his land is thoroughly cultivated and excellently improved with a large and comfortable house, good barns, silo, and the stock is of the highest grade. Mr. Leach is still interested in the stock business, but eh farm is conducted by his son. He also owns one hundred and fifty-one acres of land in Madison County, some real estate, including a good home, in Fairmount, consisting of twenty-three acres, a part of which lies within the corporation limits.

    In Fairmount Township Mr. Leach was united in marriage to Malissa J. Caskey, who was born in Rush County, Indiana on October 18, 1848. She was reared in her native county, was educated in the common schools, and was a daughter of David and Eliza (Hite) Caskey. Her father was a native of Virginia, while her mother was born in Rush County, where they were married. The Caskey's were substantial farming people, and in 1871 moved from Rush County to Grant County, later went out to Kansas in 1879, and lived in Reno County until their death. Her father was eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, and was born in June, 1821. Her mother passed away in 1900 at the age of seventy-five. The Caskey family belonged to the Christian Church, and Mr. Caskey was a Democrat. Of their six children three are yet living, and all are married and have children of their own.

    Mr. and Mrs. Leach are the parents of the following children:

1. E. Claud, was born June 16, 1873, lives on a farm in Delaware County, Indiana, and by his marriage to Elsie Dickinson has one child, Cleo.

2. Della died at the age of three years.

3. William O. is a farmer on the old homestead in Fairmount Township, and by his marriage to Nellie Jones has Adelbert, Kenneth, Robert and Hazel.

4. Addis is unmarried, lives at home with her parents and is a bright young woman, a graduate of the Fairmount Academy.

5. Minnie died at the age of one year.

6. Bertha, is the wife of Oscar Robert, thrifty farming people in Fairmount Township, and their children are Pauline, Harry and Ruby.

7. Ivy is the wife of Leo Underwood, a farmer in Fairmount Township, and their child is named Charlie.

    Mr. and Mrs. Leach are members of the Primitive Baptist Church, and he is affiliated with the Democratic party. He also owns in Delaware County, Indiana, 215 acres of farm land, all improved. His oldest son lives on one hundred and five acres of that land. In all he owns six hundred and forty-nine acres. All his prosperity has been worthily won, and as an intelligent public-spirited citizen he has long filled a useful place in his community.

Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 707-708.

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