Sullivan-Carbon-Susquehanna County PA Archives Biographies.....McLeod, John Elmer 1857 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 27, 2008, 11:48 pm Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899) JOHN ELMER McLEOD, a prominent resident of Lopez, Sullivan county, Pennsylvania, was born in Susquehanna county, near Skinner's Eddy, July 15, 1857. The family are of Scotch extraction, the great-grandfather coming from Scotland to America and locating in the state of New York. He was a weaver by trade and was forced to work three months after reaching this country to pay his passage over. He eventually became a farmer in Genesee county, New York. John McLeod, the grandfather, was born in that county. While yet a young man he came to Tunkhannock, this state, and secured employment. He married Hannah Gregory, a native of Connecticut. Her father was Levi Gregory, of Montrose, Susquehanna county, this state, at which place the wedding was solemnized, and which was also the scene of her death. Her husband died in Wisconsin. They were the parents of the following children: Nancy, deceased wife of William LaFrance, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Parney, wife of William Burris, of Wisconsin; Caroline, wife of Norton Baldwin, near Skinner's Eddy, Susquehanna county; Calvin, who has retired from business and lives in Rush township, Susquehanna county; Levi, killed by guerrillas while on fatigue duty in the Civil war, while a member of the Forty-eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, a wife and five children survived him in Wyoming county; Daniel G., the father of our subject; Sarah, wife of Solomon Gay, of Hartford, Wyoming county, this state; Maria, wife of James Turrell, a farmer of New York; and Lucy, widow of William Satcher, now residing in Minnesota. Daniel G. McLeod, the father of our subject, was born near Skinner's Eddy, in Susquehanna county, February 5, 1831, and there grew to manhood. He secured employment in the lumber mills of that county, and later went to Wyoming county, where he was engaged in agriculture for five years. In 1863 he enlisted to serve in the Civil war until its close, in Company F, Fifty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was in the battle of the Wilderness, and on the second day's fight received two wounds almost simultaneously, one in the leg, another in the hand, while a third bullet passed through the crown of his cap. He was sent to the hospital, where he remained some time and was afterward sent home on a furlough. He then returned to the front of battle and saw the surrender of General Lee. He has always been an ardent Democrat and has acceptably filled a number of town offices, having been tax collector, school director, constable, over-seer of the poor, and postmaster at Lehigh Tannery, at which place he operated a sawmill for a period of eight years. In 1890 he took the census of Carbon county. For several years past he has resided at Lopez, where he is foreman of the bundling room of the kindling works. He was married at Allison, Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1855, to Lydia Frear, a daughter of Abram Frear. She died September 28, 1882, leaving, besides her husband, three children, as follows; Edith, who married E. W. DeWitt, of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, and died in her thirty-eighth year; Florence, the wife of J. S. Friant, of White Haven, Pennsylvania; John Elmer, the subject of this biography, who was the eldest of the family. John Elmer McLeod attended the common schools of Carbon county, where he grew to manhood. He secured employment in the sawmill at Bridgeport when twenty-one years old and remained there seven years, when he accepted a position with the kindling wood factory at the same place. He was with this firm but a short time, and in 1889 came to Lopez to work for the Lopez Kindling Wood Company, under Mr. McCartney. He was foreman of this plant seven years, and resigned to accept a similar position in the Fisher Kindling Wood Factory. In 1897 he was promoted to the position of general superintendent and contractor of the entire plant. They furnish employment to a large number of persons, giving work to eighteen men and about sixty boys and girls, the latter being employed for the most part in tying bundles. They find in New York city a ready market for the entire product of the factory. Mr. McLeod was married September 16, 1886, in White Haven, Pennsylvania, to Miss Laura Morris, who is a daughter of Enos P. and Rose (Fairchild) Morris, and who is a native of that city. Four children have blessed their home: Harry, born in 1882, lives at home and is employed in the mill with his father, and Joy Fletcher and Jessie, all at home. Mr. McLeod is a Democrat. He is a zealous and conscientious member of the Methodist Protestant church, and his wife is a communicant in the Presbyterian church. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania by Thomas J. Ingham Compendium of Biography The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago: 1899 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb