The Leach Family Page

This is my great-great grandmother Augusta B. Short who was the second wife of Sheperd Timothy Leach. Unfortunately since few of the pictures we have from this era have names on them it is difficult to tell who is whom so there are no known pictures of Sheperd. However, there is a story that after Sheperd's death (in 1885 and not in 1895 as I presently have it in my database) that she married Sheperd's son Larkin from his first wife, Betsy Southworth. If true it would have made for an interesting family reunion.

Wayland and Maggie Leach
My great-grandparents, Wayland and Maggie Leach were married in 1902 and had five children: Maree (my grandmother), Inez, Crescence (who died of a brain hemorrhage when she was about 14 years old), Fernley, and Vivian Onalee. Wayland Leach, who died before I was born, came from Independence Missouri. His family, according to a family legend, was a neighbor of Jesse James.

In a picture from the 1930's we have here a nice family shot of Maggie Leach and four of her children. From left to right there is my Grandmother Maree, Maggie, Fernley Paul, Onolee, and Inez Leach.

I would like to thank my cousin Terry Pritchard who scanned most of the pictures on this page and was kind enough to send them to me.

At the piano
Sitting at the piano are two of the four daughters of Maggie Leach, my great-aunt Inez Leach Bricco and my grandmother Maree Leach Greeley. Both played very well. Inez in fact gave piano lessons for many years and my grandmother was known for playing honky-tonk, polka, and dance music at the Moose in Elkland, Pa. At one time she also played the piano to accompany silent movies at the movie theater in Westfield.
Inze's husband Jack Bricco worked for many years at the Eberle Tannery in Westfield. My mother liked to tell of how Jack kept Inez on a household allowance which never changed for years. Apparently at a party Inez went up to Mr. Eberle and complained about having to make do on so little money and she said it was about time he gave Jack a raise. Turns out Jack had had several raises which he never bothered to tell her about. They had a good time when they went home that night.

And finally here is another picture of Maggie and her four living children taken in 1959. Left to right there is Maree, Onolee, Maggie, Fernley and Inez. I should add that over the years Onolee has suffered greatly from diabetes, a disease which is fairly common in the Leach family and unfortunately it has been passed on to the Davis family.

This page was last updated on April 11, 2008.