Hosea Leonard family settled in Carolina/Salem community
Some genealogy of the Leonard family of Covington County, Ala., has been presented in earlier columns, so today’s writing will focus on the family of Hosea Harrison Leonard. Hosea was the son of Thomas Alfred Leonard and Alice Lucinda Weaver.
Thomas Alfred Leonard was born in the State of South Carolina in 1817. He was the son of John Peter and Mary Leonard of South Carolina. John Peter was born in 1716 in Davidson County, N.C. He had a brother named Alexander D. Leonard who was born in 1811 and died in 1867. Around 1844, Thomas Alfred Leonard met and was married to a young lady named Alice Lucinda Weaver, a native of Georgia, who was born in 1827 and died circa 1900.
Census records show that Thomas Alfred and family were residing in Covington County in 1856, but they had moved into Coffee County by 1860. He had purchased land in 1854 in the Chapel Hill community, and he later acquired additional land in 1858 which fell in the edge of Coffee County. He was listed as a mill wright. By 1866, they had returned to Covington County. However, in 1870, the family was enumerated in Walton County, Fla., but they had returned to the Hughes community of Covington County by 1880. Thomas Alfred died in 1890, and some records list the place as being Covington County with others showing Allentown, Santa Rosa County, Fla. He was buried in the Harrison Family Cemetery, which is a private one in Covington County.
Anestry.com lists the following children for Thomas Alfred and Alice Lucinda Leonard in a family tree: Jonathan, b. 1843, d. 1862-65; James Henry, b. 1844, d. 1916, m. Nancy E. Harrison (1844-1911; William G., b. 1847, d. 1916; Mary Jane, b. 1851, d. 1876, m. Harris Franklin “Bud” Odom (1853-1921); John Thomas, b. 1854, d. 1901, m. Savannah Loretta “Vanna” Thomasson (1866-1905); Hosea Harrison Sr., b. 1856, d. 1933, m. Josephine Minerva Hogg (1862-1906); Stark Starling, b. 1858, d. 1927, m. 1887 Catherine “Katie” Melissa Miller (1869-1945); Martha Manerva, b. 1860, d. 1924, m. Daniel Regan Savage (1866-1930); and Charles “Charlie” B., b. 1864, m. Catherine “Kate” Grantham (1876-1927).
Thomas and Lucinda’s son, Hosea Harrison Leonard, is the family line being featured in this writing. In 1892, Hosea homesteaded 160 acres of land in the Carolina Township of Covington County, which was about five miles south of Andalusia. He and Minerva settled there to rear their family of 10 children. The children attended the local Pine Level School along with those of the Browns, Garlocks, Harts, Littles and Lundys. One teacher was the well-known Mr. Bertie Padgett. The family attended the nearby Salem Baptist Church where the Leonard children enjoyed many Sunday afternoons playing with children of the Brown, Hart, Kilpatrick, Lundy and Sheehan families. They often played in the clay gully that ran along the old Salem Church Road.
Hosea was engaged in the sawmill business and also operated a cotton gin. He supplied the local area with lumber and on occasions would haul wagon loads to the lumberyard in Milligan, Fla., which was 40 miles south. Around 1920, Hosea sold the place in the Carolina and Salem communities and moved the family to Allentown in Santa Rosa County, Fla. They farmed there for several years and became well known and respected in the community. They were faithful and active members of the Calvary Baptist Church. Hosea died in 1933, and his remains were brought back to the Carolina Baptist Church for burial in the church cemetery.
Hosea and his first wife, Josephine Minerva Hogg, were the parents of the following children: Effie May, b. 1886, d. 1948, m. George Crumpton Snowden (1880-1962); Addie Lee, b. 1887, d. 1968, m. Jacob “Jake” Belin (1886-1953); Willa Josephine, b. 1888, d. 1987, m. Elijah Lundy (1881-1945); Maud Pearl, b. 1892, d. 1961, m. Andrew W. Robinson; Hosea, b. 1894, d. 1975, m. Nellie Boggess (1902-1972); Absalom Homer, b. 1895, d. 1955, m. Clara Belle Holloway (1903-1985) Tinnie Corine, b. 1896, d. 1987, m. Dan McCaskill (1880-1977); John Hobson, b. 1899, d. 1985, m. Margaret Soar (1915-1990); infant, b.&. 1900; Bernice, b. 1902, d. 1981, m. Joe Creary (1900-1970); Bonice, b. 1902, d. 1997, m. Dewey Moore (1899-1981); and infant, b.&d. 1906.
After the death of his first wife, Hosea H. Leonard was married in 1910 to the widow, Sarah Elizabeth “Betty” (Lee) Hart Garlock, daughter of John Daniel Lee (1841-1922) and Susan Elizabeth Nall (1843-1926). Betty was born in Conecuh County, but the new couple began their marriage in the Fairfield community of Covington County. They were the parents of the following children: Alice Lucinda, b. 1911, d. 1993, single; Anice Elizabeth, b. 1913, d. 2000, m. John Cary Phillips (1910-1974); Thomas Alfred, b. 1916, d. 1967, m. Mary Elizabeth Geiger; Martha, b.&d. 1917; and Charles Hanson, b. 1920, d. 1992, m. Ruby Cannon (1917-1990).
Hosea’s oldest daughter, Effie May Leonard, and her husband, George Crumpton Snowden Sr., were the parents of the following children: George Crumpton Jr., b. 1906, d. 1989, m. Gertrude M. Hoffman (1893-1967); Annie Merle, b. 1908, d. 1970, m. Augustus Bertron “Bert” Porter (1901-1982); Queenie Mae, b. 1909, d. 1998, m. Hinton Spradley (1899-1981); Jessie Lee, b. 1910, d. 1985, m. Audra Paul Liegarot Sr. (1906-1968); William A., b. 1911, d. 1996; Max Preston, b. 1915, d. 2010, m. Willerden “Billie” Eberhart (1918-2003); Crumpton “Jolly,” b. 1918, d. 1989, m. Elizabeth “Betty” O’Rouke (1913-2012); Millard, b. 1820, d. 1987, m. (1) Gloria Myrtice Turnage Miles (1925-2000) (2) Florence Beatrice McCormick (1921-1979) (3) Alice Pearce Blanton Case (1928-1999); Mildred, b. 1920, d. 1985, m. Claude E. Shull Jr. (1919-1986); Charles Hosea, b. 1922, d. 1991, m. (1) Patricia “Patsy” Ann Raines (1929-2017) (2) Helen M. Byrne (1925-1986) (3) ?; and Doris, b. 1926, d. 2013, m. Joseph Edwin Price Jr. (1922-1998).
Due to the length of this story and other available data, this family’s review will be continued in next week’s column. Descendants in tis Leonard family married into other local families and have many relatives residing in the area.
Sources for today’s writing include Ancestry.com and a family story written by a descendant, Thomas Leonard Moore Sr. of Lee, Fla., which was published in 2003 in The Heritage of Covington County, Alabama.
Anyone who might find an error in the above family history is requested to contact this writer, Curtis Thomasson, at 20357 Blake Pruitt Road, Andalusia, AL 36420; 334-804-1442; or Email: cthomasson@centurytel.net.
HISTORICAL MEETING:
The Covington Historical Society will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, in the Dixon Memorial Room of the Andalusia Public Library. Guests and prospective members are encouraged to attend.