This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Leach Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/wg.2ADE/1471 Message Board Post: Leach, John H. – It perhaps might be kind if instead of waiting until a veteran of the Civil War has answered to the eternal roll call, popular opinion regarding the value of his services were expressed during his lifetime. Such appreciation is due the heroes of the greatest conflict history had then known, and ought to be accorded every man who belonged to the “Boys in Blue”. One of the honored veterans of Grundy County is John H. Leach, now living retired at Morris. He was born in Marshall County, W. Va., December 12, 1838, a son of Greenbury and Mary (Spaun) Leach, natives of West Virginia. The father was a farmer and early settler in West Virginia, where he died in 1841. His widow married (second) Robert Murry, also a farmer, and died in West Virginia in 1869. After his father’s death John H. Leach was taken by a cousin, John Harvey, of West Virginia, and lived with him until 1850, when he came to Morris. He learned the carpenter trade and followed it for thirty-six years. On June 16, 1861, Mr. Leach enlisted in Company K, Twentieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as the Joliet Company, and served in many important engagements, including General Sherman’s famous march to the sea. On July 25, 1865, he received his honorable discharge, having been a brave and gallant soldier. On November 5, 1877, Mr. Leach was married to Caroline (Goodman) Bassett, born in Pennsylvania, daughter of William G. and Mary J. (Crandall) Goodman, natives of Canada and Cattaraugus County, N. Y., and widow of Peter Bassett. By her first marriage, Mrs. Leach had four children: William, of Joliet; and Thomas, Maud and Clara, all deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Leach have had the following children: George L., of Morris; Benjamin H., of Jolie! t; Ada, Mrs. A. C. Frick, of Morris, who has one child, Claudia; and Addie, who died in infancy. In religious faith Mr. Leach is a Methodist, and politically, is a Republican. He belongs to the Carpenters Union, and the G. A. R. Post of Morris. Upright, honorable, loyal, true as steel to his friends, Mr. Leach is highly respected by a wide circle. Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois, 1914, page 851