Chatham-Dougherty County GaArchives Biographies.....Leaken, William Ridgely 1859 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 23, 2004, 10:42 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 932-933

   WILLIAM RIDGELY LEAKEN. Distinguished not only for the high position, which
he has attained in legal circles and in public life, but for the honored
ancestry from which he traces his descent, William Ridgely Leaken is widely
known as collector of customs for the port of Savannah, and as special assistant
attorney general of the United States. A son of Rev. George Armistead Leaken, he
was born, February 13, 1859, in Baltimore, Maryland. Of Irish and English
lineage, he comes of good old colonial stock, his great-grandfathers on both
sides of the family having served in the colonial wars. One of them, Theodore
Middleton, his mother's grandfather, having raised and equipped at his own
expense two companies of soldiers, after which he served as lieutenant of
Maryland troops in the Continental army, under Gen. Mountjoy Bailey.

   Rev. George Armistead Leaken was named for Gen. George Armistead of Maryland,
with whom his father, Gen. Sheppard Church Leaken, of Maryland, an officer in
the War of 1812, was associated in the engagement at Fort McHenry, both having
command of troops at the bombardment of that fort. He was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, in 1818, and died July 10, 1912. Educated in Princeton College, he
entered the priesthood of the Episcopal church in early manhood, and for half a
century was rector of Trinity church in his native city. This long continuous
period of useful activity, in the intimate relation naturally existing between
pastor and parishioner, made him a greatly loved and revered character in
Baltimore. Dr. Leaken is an author of several valuable books of a scientific and
religious nature, one of which, "The Law of Periodicity," is known the world
over. His wife, whose maiden name was Anna Maria Middleton, died several years ago.

   Acquiring his rudimentary education in the schools of Baltimore, William
Ridgely Leaken entered Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1876, and
was there graduated in July, 1880, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, his alma
mater subsequently conferring upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Removing
soon after his graduation to Albany, Georgia, Mr. Leaken was there engaged in
tutoring for two years, in the meantime taking up the study of law. Coming to
Savannah in the autumn of 1882, he completed his legal studies in the office of
Chisholm & Erwin, in 1883 being admitted to the bar. In 1885 he was admitted to
practice in the United States courts of Georgia, and in 1897 to the supreme
court of the United States. From 1883 until 1890 Mr. Leaken was associated with
the firm of Chisholm & Erwin, but since that time has continued his practice alone.

   Mr. Leaken's talents, skill and efficiency as a lawyer have received wide
recognition, particularly in official circles. In 1897 he was appointed
assistant district attorney for the southern district of Georgia, in which
capacity he rendered satisfactory service for seven years. In 1904 he was made
special assistant attorney general of the United States, a position that he is
still filling most acceptably. On July 9, 1909, Mr. Leaken was appointed by
President Taft collector of customs for the port of Savannah, and immediately
entered upon the important and responsible duties of the position, which he
still holds. His able administration of this post is greatly appreciated by the
commercial and shipping interests of Savannah, which are constantly increasing
in magnitude and value, while the city's status as the principal port of entry
on the south Atlantic seaboard is each year being advanced with the continued
development of the South.

   In 1898, at the beginning of the Spanish-American war, Mr. Leaken enlisted as
a private in the Second Georgia Regiment, United States Volunteers, and was
subsequently promoted to second lieutenant of his company. He is now an honorary
member, for service, of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, and formerly he was judge
advocate of the First Battalion of Infantry, National Guard of Georgia.

   Prominent in political life, Mr. Leaken was a delegate to the national
Republican convention of 1900, and in 1897 was a Republican presidential elector
from Georgia. He is identified with various patriotic, social and fraternal
organizations, and does much to promote their good. He is a charter member, and
former historian, of the Georgia Society of the Sons of the Revolution; governor
of the Georgia Society of Colonial Wars; a member of the Oglethorpe Club; of the
Savannah Board of Trade; of the Hibernian society; of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Order of Masons, he is a Knights Templar, and a member of the Ancient
Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Religiously he is affiliated with
Christ church, Episcopal, and is president of the choir guild.

   Mr. Leaken has acquired note as an author, a series of romances from his
facile pen having been published from time to time in the Savannah Morning News,
the series including "The Romance of Oglethorpe and His Birth;" "The Romance of
Salzburg and Ebenezer;" "The Romance of the Shamrock and the Lily," accounting
for the presence of Irish regiments as assistants in the American cause at the
siege of Savannah; and of other interesting stories.

   At Savannah, in 1894, Mr. Leaken married Ruth, daughter of Maj. James T.
Stewart, of Savannah. She was and is an accomplished leader of Savannah social
set and engaged largely in charitable and literary work in the various
organizations of her native city.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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