BIOGRAPHY: Standring, Leonard
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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	LEONARD STANDRING, Esq., is a native of Louville, Lewis County, New 
York, where he was born April 1, 1835. Receiving his education at the Louville 
Academy, he entered the Bank of Louville at the age of fourteen and remained in 
that situation six years.
	In September, 1855, he came to Decorah, Iowa, and in that year, in 
company with the late William L, Eastman, former President of the Bank of 
Louville, and E. E. Cooley, Esq., established what is now the First national Bank 
of Decorah, then called Decorah Bank. He remained in this business till 1859.
	The year of the opening of this bank was noted in the history of Decorah 
as that of the establishment of the Turkey River branch of the United States land 
Office in that place. It was a time of great excitement in land speculation. Crowds 
of eager land-buyers gathered here from all the country around, and money 
poured in in almost fabulous quantities.  The office was opened Christmas, 1855, 
and that occasion had induced a good deal of drinking and unusual hilarity on the 
part of the crowd, so much so as to make it necessary that a sober and trusty 
custodian should be selected to take care of the money and valuable papers in 
their possession. Mr. Standring was the man chosen to fulfil that arduous and 
responsible duty. But where should a safe deposit be found? A dry-goods box 
was obtained as the best substitute, and into this the motley crowd began to 
empty their treasures --- warrants, money, belts of gold, shot-bags of coin --- till 
all had been deposited; and over this Mr. Standring stood guard till the 
equilibrium of the crowd had been restored. Out of that box was counted the next 
morning over half a million dollars in money and warrants.
	This incident furnishes a good illustration of the estimate placed upon Mr. 
Standring's integrity at that early day, when settlers in a new country were not 
always scrupulous as to the character of their acts. In all his public and private 
life Mr. Standring has maintained the same reputation.
	In 1860 he commenced farming, on account of his health, purchasing at 
that time forty acres of lands near the city limits. He has added to it from time to 
time, till his present farm embraces five hundred acres. Being a man of study and 
progressive ideas, he has applied the best practical results of his knowledge to 
improved methods of farming, and to furnishing his home with the appliances and 
comforts of the best social life in the city or the suburbs.
	Mr. Standring was married to Miss Mary Protheros, of Decorah, on the 
28th of October, 1858, and has three interesting daughters.