Charles F. Leonard Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 934-937

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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CHARLES F. LEONARD, the oldest resident settler of La Prairie township, 
Spink county, South Dakota, resides upon his eight-hundred-acre farm in 
that township, his residence being situated upon the southwest quarter 
of section 26, township 120, range 63. The history of Spink county 
could not be written without frequent mention of his name and deeds. 

Charles F. Leonard was the eldest of four children born to Eli and Myra 
M. (Lyman) Leonard, both of whom reside in Minnesota. The genealogy of 
our subject is traced back several generations in America. His great-
grandfather was a Virginian, but his grandfather and father were both 
natives of Massachusetts. His mother's ancestors were English people 
and came to Massachusetts with the colonial settlers of that state. 

Our subject was born in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, September 17, 1852, 
and at the age of four years was taken by his parents to Mower county, 
Minnesota, and there in an old log house he was reared to maturity. He 
was given every available advantage in the way of schooling in that 
region and then was given a course in the Rochester high school. He 
then supplemented this with a scientific course of one year at 
Northfield College, the means for paying the expenses of which he had 
himself earned by working and teaching. After this he taught for two 
years in the village schools. 

Having heard from an old Indian soldier of the wonders of the Jim River 
Valley, our subject with a companion, Fred A. Lufkin, entered Dakota 
for the purpose of securing land. They drove across the great 
wilderness, finally arriving May 10, 1879, near the site of 
Forrestburg, Miner county. Not being satisfied with the prospect, he 
followed up the river, examining the lands embraced in the counties of 
Miner, Kingsbury, Codington, Clark and Beadle. Reaching the southern 
part of Spink county, he struck the James river at Dirt Lodge, and 
following on up the river, he was charmed with the magnificent view as 
seen from the southwest corner stake of section 26, and determined to 
seek no further. He filed on a half-section of land, and having about 
forty dollars left, he remained during the summer, returning east for 
harvest, but again returning to Dakota to spend the winter. The next 
spring he planted potatoes, corn and oats on the sod, raised a good 
crop and received high prices for it. He again spent the summer months 
in the east working, and returned to Dakota, in the fall with team and 
wagon, and a horse-power threshing machine, the first machine in Spink 
county. He netted a profit of about three hundred and sixty dollars on 
the thresher that season, threshing all the grain in Spink and Brown 
counties. He thus entered the winter of 1880-81 with his larder well 
provided,- a ton of flour, a barrel of syrup, a barrel of pork, etc., 
etc. His neighbors, however, were suffering, and by the middle of 
February he, like the rest, had to resort to the coffee mill for 
grinding his seed-wheat into flour, and not only this, but had to 
borrow the coffee-mill from a neighbor. His dugout became the resort of 
the neighborhood, and here on its floor, carpeted with hay, it was not 
unusual for eight or ten young men to pass the night. But these 
conditions could not continue in a country of such wonderful natural 
wealth. Starting with two cows, he added to his herd, and ten years 
later, in the fall of 1890, he marketed forty-five head of cattle, and 
had a sufficient number left to become the nucleus of a fine herd for 
the following year, in addition to providing his own table with 
choicest beef at all times of the year. Besides his cattle, his farm is 
amply stocked with horses and hogs. He has about six hundred acres 
under the plow, and is one of the most prosperous men of the county. 

Mr. Leonard was married in 1884 to Miss Bertha Runge, and to this union 
six children have been born, named as follows: Arthur E., Harry, Carl, 
Thomas K., Hazel and Bert. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard are 
presented on another page. Mr. Leonard is non-partisan in political 
sentiment, with perhaps a slight preference for Republicanism in 
national politics. He favors state control of the liquor traffic, and 
equal suffrage. He is a worthy member of the I. O. O. F., the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and enjoys 
the confidence and esteem of all his wide circle of acquaintances.