Greenlief, Leonard Alding

GREENLIER, WHITCOMB, BROWN, WOODRUFF, CHAPMAN, THOMPSON, HURD, HALFERTY, GALUSHA, CLYMER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/29/2009 at 07:53:29

Greenlief, Leonard Alding

One of the most interesting figures in Jasper County is Leonard Alding Greenlief. Genial, kindly and at all times cheerful, he is as alert in mind and body as a man much younger in years. Although almost blind for the past few years, this great affliction has by no means cast a shadow over his courageous and buoyant spirit, and his fund of ready humor is a delight to all who know him. As a teller of war stories (for he is one of the veteran heroes of the great civil strife of the sixties) he has few equals. While his stories are told in a humorous vein, for it is his nature to hold up the brighter side of a picture to one's view, yet their dramatic quality graphically portrays the horrors of that great conflict.

Mr. Greenlief was born on February 22, 1841, in the eastern part of Canada, in Shepherd County, about seven miles north of Vermont. He is the son of William C. and Mary (Whitcomb) Greenlief, both natives of Canada, where the father engaged in farming, moving with his family in 1858 to Illinois, settling near Bloomington, later moving to the southern part of the state, remaining there about a year, then went back to Canada; but in a little while he came back to Illinois, locating in Henderson County. In 1862 he moved to Scott County, Iowa, where his son, Leonard A., of this review, had preceded him the year before. In 1864 he came to Jasper County and bought two hundred and forty acres of land, in Mound Prairie Township, not far from Prairie City, and here he lived until his death, which occurred in 1894, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. William C. Greenlief was twice married. His first wife, mother of the subject, died in Canada before the family came to the states. After her death he married Eunice Brown. Seven children were born of the first union, namely: Mary, Adaline, Leonard Alding, George, Lyman, Lottie and Mark. Lottie is a widow, living in California. By the second marriage four children were born: Hattie died in infancy; Emma J. died when seventeen years old; Charles lives in Newton; Homer has no fixed home.

Leonard A. Greenlief received his education in the district schools of Canada, and was seventeen years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States. He broke prairie sod for his father in Illinois. In 1861 he came to Scott County, Iowa, and worked for some time at breaking sod. In July 1862, he proved his loyalty to the constitution by enlisting in the Union Army, taking out his first papers looking toward citizenship at that time. His enlistment was at Davenport in Company C, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He saw a great deal of hard service, and, according to his comrades, made a most efficient soldier. He was in the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, the Siege of Vicksburg for two months, at Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines, Fort Blakely, the outer works of Mobile, Alabama. After the engagement at Prairie Grove their company was sent to Van Buren, taking no provisions with them, expecting to find forage there, but the enemy had decamped, taking or destroying everything in the nature of forage, and the day following they marched back to Prairie Grove again, covering a distance of forty miles without a bite to eat. Whenever videttes were called for he always volunteered, until after he had a most horrifying experience, after which he was not so eager for vidette duty. He was one of five who were sent to different posts to watch the movements of the enemy. He was the only one of the five who succeeded in reaching the post assigned him. The enemy advanced rapidly and the opposing factions engaged each other at about a distance of twenty rods with vidette Greenlief between them, lying among the weeds as close to the ground as he could, remaining there from eight in the morning until nine at night, when, under cover of darkness, he got back to camp. After that his voice was not the first to answer for vidette duty. He was sent on detached duty to serve in guarding a fleet of sixteen boats from Duvall's Bluff to Little Rock. He was never injured nor was he in the hospital during the service. He was mustered out at Mobile, Alabama, and discharged at Clinton, Iowa, after three years of gallant service under the flag of his adopted country. After his return from the army he remained in Scott County only a month, then came to Jasper County. In the fall of 1866 he bought eighty acres of land in Mound Prairie Township, and from time to time he has added to it until at the present time he owns nine hundred acres of valuable, productive and well improved land, in two tracts.

He made a pronounced success as general farmer and stock raiser, becoming one of the substantial men of this part of the County. Thirteen years ago he retired from active work and moved to Newton, where he has since made his home, having a modern, attractive and neatly furnished home in one of the choice residential sections of the city.

On May 1, 1866, Mr. Greenlief was united in marriage with Hattie Chapman, who was born in Logan County, Ohio, in 1848, the daughter of J. O. and Mary (Woodruff) Chapman, both natives of Ohio, where Mr. Chapman followed farming and, owned a general store at Marysville, also at Richland. He came to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1865 and bought land in Mound Prairie Township, and here he became very well established. He died at the age of eighty-five years. There were six children in his family, namely: Mrs. Martha Thompson, deceased; Mrs. Ellen Hurd, deceased; Mrs. Frances Halferty lives in Spokane, Washington; Albert is engaged in the butcher business in Colfax; George is farming in Newton Township; Hattie, wife of Mr. Greenlief of this review. The mother of these children died when the wife of the subject was five years old, and the father married again, two children being born by his second union, Charles A., who is living in Oregon, and Mrs. Mary Galusha, of Wichita, Kansas.

Mr. and Mrs. Greenlief have one child, Mertie, who married Frank Clymer; they live on their farm near Prairie City and have five children, Vera, Kathryne, Nellie, John L. and William.

Mr. Greenlief is a Democrat, and is a member of the Congregational Church, as is also his wife; she is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 578.