Bios: JAMES B. LEECH, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens
  
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      JAMES B. LEECH,
  
  [p. 875] a representative citizen of Wayne Township, Lawrence County,
  Pennsylvania, and a veteran of the Civil War, has been a resident of the
  county since 1852, except for a brief period. He was born in Plumb
  Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, November 30, 1844, and is a
  son of Robert M. and Catherine (Armstrong) Leech.
  
  Robert M. Leech was born near McKeesport, Allegheny County,
  Pennsylvania, and there engaged in agricultural pursuits and
  blacksmithing. In the fall of 1852 he moved to Wayne Township, Lawrence
  County, Pennsylvania, where he purchased 150 acres of land. Of this, he
  later disposed of fifty acres to Robert and Daniel McMunn, and in 1865
  transferred fifty acres to James B. Leech, who later sold his interest
  to Levi Ward. The remaining fifty acres is now owned by a daughter, Mrs.
  Walker. Robert M. Leech was married in Allegheny County, to Catherine
  Armstrong, who also was born in Plumb Township, Allegheny County, and
  was a daughter of William Armstrong. They became parents of the
  following children, the six oldest of whom were born in Allegheny
  County: William, who was born in 1842 and died in 1858; James B.;
  Margaret, who died in the spring of 1853; David Malcolm, who also died
  in the spring of 1853; Rebecca, deceased, who grew to maturity; Sarah
  Minerva, wife of David S. Walker, residing on a part of the old home
  farm in Wayne Township; and Mary Belle, deceased wife of James Moore, by
  whom she had two children.
  
  James B. Leech was reared on the farm, and has always been engaged in
  agricultural pursuits. For the past twenty years, except for a part of
  the years 1888 and 1889, which he spent in Beaver Falls, he has resided
  near the old home place, where he and his wife own a tract of twenty
  acres. When the Civil War was in progress, Mr. Leech first enlisted
  under Captain Shaw, in Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth
  Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served nine months, being
  discharged at Harrisburg. He then re-enlisted at New Castle, as a member
  of Company I, Sixth Regiment, Heavy Artillery (afterward Two Hundred and
  Twelfth Infantry), of which William McCandless was captain. He served
  until the close of the war, and during his service participated in many
  important engagements, among them Fredericsburg and Chancellorsville. He
  was discharged at Pittsburg, and returned to his home in Lawrence
  County. Mr. Leech is a man of high principles, and a public-spirited
  citizen, who enjoys the esteem of his neighbors and many friends.
  
  James B. Leech was married in October, 1865 with Miss Rosanna Glasser
  who was born in Wurtemburg, Wayne Township, October 2, 1844, and is a
  daughter of William Glasser, her parents being natives of Germany and
  early settlers in Wayne Township. This union was blessed with fifteen
  children, as follows: Ida E., who was married in 1882 to W. O. Weimer,
  by whom she has four children: Flora Bell (Gardner); Kate Rose, wife of
  John M. Houk; Ora May Weimer, Esther Louise Weimer; Carrie, who died in
  February, 1889, was the wife of Chauncey Houk, who died in 1888. They
  had two children: Omar, who married Bessie Booher, and Ira Houk; Ola,
  who resides in Beaver Falls, married William Sanders and they had nine
  children: Frank, Milo, Howard, Lawrence, Rose, William, Joseph, Irene
  and Merrill; Tina R., who resides in Shenango Township, married James R.
  Lutz, and they have nine children, as follows: Howard, Raymond, Alice,
  Robert, Lula, Joseph, Ralph Clyde, Myra, Daniel Arthur, deceased; Maude
  died in 1888; Minnie died from injuries received in the accidental
  discharge of a gun; James R., deceased (twin), married Elizabeth Wurtz,
  and has a son, George; Joseph R. (twin), unmarried, of Shenango
  Township, was a member of Company E, Nineteenth Regiment, United States
  Infantry, and served three years in the Philippine Islands. Andrew
  Sherman is unmarried and lives at home; Thomas Herman married Miss Delma
  Peterman and resides in Kansas City, Kan.; a babe that died unnamed;
  William Blaine, unmarried, resides in Beaver Falls; Oscar L. is at home;
  Amy Isabella attends schools; and Robert S., who met death in an
  accident while working in a stone quarry, was twenty-one years old.
  
  Mr. Leech is a member of Wampum Post, G. A. R. In politics, he has been
  unswerving in support of Republican principles. In religious faith and
  fellowship he is a Presbyterian.
  
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  20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and
  Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing
  Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
  
  Updated: 18 Jan 2002