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Robert
Bacom Leonard |
Robert Bacom Leonard was born on May 8,
1855 in Fayette County, PA, the youngest of 11 children of Benjamin
and Sarah (Harbaugh) Leonard.
Robert never married, and as a bachelor lived alone on a small farm three miles from Ohiopyle along the Farmington Road.
He was a trapper for many years. Circa 1882, he resided on the old farm that had been cleared decades earlier by his father.
In April 1886, Robert helped his aunt Catherine (Harbaugh) Rowan by signing his name as a witness on a government form. The purpose was for her to obtain a "Mother's Pension" due her dead son, Leonard Rowan, who had lost his life in the Civil War.
Little else is known of Robert's life, except that he died at the age of 67 on April 27, 1922. Said the Connellsville Daily Courier, "He was taken ill after eating breakfast, with acute indigestion. He managed to summon assistance of neighbors but expired soon after they arrived." He was laid to rest at Belle Grove Cemetery near Ohiopyle after a funeral service at Meadow Run Church.
Robert is mentioned in the 1882 book, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, authored by Franklin B. Ellis, and in the 1947 book, Harbaugh History, written by Joseph Lewis Cooperider.
Copyright © 2001, 2006, 2008, 2011 Mark A. Miner