Taylor County, West Virginia Biography: Walter Elbert LEACH ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 25 WALTER ELBERT LEACH, county superintendent of schools in Taylor County, made a conscious choice of educational work early in his career, and in a measure was directed into that vocation through traditions of learning and schools inherent in his family. Mr. Leach has been identified with the educational activities of Taylor County now for nearly twenty years. He was born in Pleasant District, Barbour County, Jan- uary 16, 1884. The Leach family belongs to a period of pioneering in the Shenandoah Valley of old Virginia. Grand- father Enoch Leach left that valley and moved to Taylor County, West Virginia, was a farmer, possessed a fair educa- tion, and died in Calhoun County of that state. He reared two sons and four daughters. His son Elias Leach was eight years old when the family came to West Virginia and he served three years as a Union soldier, enlisting in Barbour County in the 17th West Virginia Infantry. He received promotion while in the army to captain. After the war he devoted his life to his farm, and died in 1911, at the age of seventy-four. He had served as a member of the County Board of Education, was a stanch republican, and member of the Methodist Church. He married Cinderella Gall, whose people were among the first settlers of Barbour County, their home being near Philippi, on farms. Mrs. Elias Leach is living at Webster, West Virginia. She was the mother of nine children, seven of whom reached mature years and five are living: Mrs. Margaret Felton, of Taylor County; Mrs. Elizabeth A. McNemar, of Taylor County; Mollie B., wife of FIoyd Talbott, of Berryburg, West Virginia; Hollis D., of Wendel; and Walter E. Walter E. Leach spent his boyhood near the hamlet of Pleasant Creek, and in the intervals of school attendance worked on the farm. He completed a high school course in Grafton and at the age of twenty-one began teaching in the country districts of Taylor County, and later attended the Fairmont Normal School. From 1905 he kept steadily at his work in the schoolroom until elected county superintendent, and in that time had been principal of schools in the com- munities of Simpson, Wendel and Webster. On his highly creditable record as an individual school administrator he made his race for office in 1918. He was nominated at the republican primaries and elected as successor of Roy J. Martin, taking office in July, 1919. Mr. Leach began his administration with a substantial program for the securing of better buildings and better school equipment, and since then four new buildings have been erected and completely equipped. He has insisted upon teachers following out the course of studies adopted by the State Board of Education, has striven for better physical conditions, for better qualifications of teachers, and has done something toward encouraging common school graduates to continue their work in high school. Numerous teachers meet- ings are held for the discussion of practical subjects, and through two extension classes opportunities have been pro- vided for the teacher to advance and improve and prepare for credits in the State Normal Schools. Mr. Leach is a thorough school man, and the subject of education is at once his vocation and his hobby. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Loyal Order of Moose, and he has been a member of the board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife being also a Methodist. December 31, 1905, in Taylor County, he married Miss Emma B. Haddix, a native of Barbour County, and daughter of John W. and Savanna (Keller) Haddix. Mrs. Leach graduated from high school in her native county, and after attending the Fairmont State Normal School began teaching and is still carrying some work as an educator in Taylor County. Mr. and Mrs. Leach have two children, Wauldron Dowden and Blaine Harold.