Thoughts
… Just Shoot Me
I really have no idea what I want to be when, uh, if I grow up. As a kid, I wanted to be a cowboy. So I rode a bay mare named Sox all over the rolling hills of southwest Iowa. And I actually herded cattle, on occasion, as I went.
My dad wanted me to be a farmer, so I milked cows, and slopped hogs, and fed chickens, and drove tractors (standing up) before my feet could reach the pedals. I learned to wipe my feet before entering the kitchen.
By junior high, I was torn between becoming the next Ernest Hemingway or the next OJ Simpson…
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About this Site
This site grew out of my life-long curiosity about my great-great-grandfather Daniel "Uncle Dan" Leonard. To hear the family tell it, he was a legend in his own time, an Iowa pioneer, a bear of a man who arrived by covered wagon and rose to fame and fortune. He told tales of his encounter with Frank and Jesse James, of the Indians who used to hunt these very lands, of the men and women who built communities where there were none before.
For a young man raised on black-and-white westerns, John Wayne movies, and Little House on the Prairie... the stories were irresistible. But were they true? Surely there must be some exaggeration? Initially, decent documentation was a little hard to come by. Then, little by little, bits and scraps of information began to turn up.
First, it was an 1881 county history. Then, the original land grant, dated 1855 and signed by President James Buchanan. Buchanan preceded Abraham Lincoln, which raised questions about the Civil War. And what of the rest of Uncle Dan's family? Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents... little did I realize it would take me all the way back to the Mayflower...
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Featured Articles
Please Mr. Postman…*
An old family legend said Daniel "Uncle Dan" Leonard opened his own post office because was tired of walking fifteen ...
Inlaws and Outlaws - The Whiskey Rebellion
If you’re familiar with the history of George Washington and/or The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, bear with me just a ...
Pass the gravy… Pilgrim
I am nothing if not irreverent, but what kind of Mayflower descendant would I be if I let this Thanksgiving ...
Questions and Ancestors
Questions and ancestors… The Iron Leonards I really, really wanted to tell you about a wonderful old map of Leonard locations in the colonial town of Bridgewater, Mass., but I seem to have misplaced my copy and have to order another… as soon as I find out what it was called. How’s that for a back-door introduction to colonial confusion?
Most [...]
How To...
Genealogical Proof StandardThank you, thank you, thank you for your help in compiling a list of Who’s Who among Leonard researchers! You’re forever immortalized in the article over there on the right… called, uh, “Who’s Who.” If you’re not there, it’s because you didn’t speak up! Drop me a line and I’ll add you to the [...]
History's Mysteries
Separated at birth?Every once in a while, the universe and the gods of public records conspire to create an unsolvable mystery. Like the cousin who refuses to attach him/herself to any of the relatives living nearby. In my case, it’s a distant ancestor who couldn’t decide when he was born and eventually declared himself a twin. [...]