The management of business affairs in an effort to attain success largely constitutes life. The intelligent direction of effort forms the basis of success, and energy and perseverance more than assistance and favorable opportunity are the salient and indispensable elements of progress and prosperity. Recognizing these facts, Frank W. Leech has so labored that he has come to be widely known as a leading stock dealer and shipper of Cedar county, conducting his operations in Mechanicsville, where he has made his home for several years.
He was born in Cedar county, Iowa, May 1, 1861. His father, James Leech, was born in Maryland in 1815 and spent his youthful days in that state, after which he removed to Clarion county, Pennsylvania, where he subsequently met and married Miss Keziah Reid, a native of the Keystone state. Mr. Leech was a cooper by trade, as was his father before him, and in early manhood followed that pursuit in support of his family, which included four children ere his removal to the west. In 1856 he sought a home in Iowa, driving across the country with a team. It was in October that the family bade adieu to neighbors and friends and started on the long journey which could now be accomplished in fewer hours than it then required days. They came direct to this county, influenced in their choice of a location by the fact that they had friends here. Mr. Leech purchased eighty acres of timber land, cleared away the trees, grubbed up the stumps, turned the furrows, planted the seeds and in due course of time gathered his harvests. He found the soil rich and productive so that good crops were garnered and in due course of time he bought more land until he became the owner of two hundred acres in Pioneer township. Upon the farm which he there developed and improved he reared his family and made his home until called to his final rest, his death occurring in 1892 when he was seventy-eight years of age. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in 1863. They had four children who reached mature years: William M., who was married and died in 1885; R. R., a well known and capable lawyer of Tipton; F. W., of this review; and Ella M., who became the wife of W. S. Strickland and died in 1889.
Frank W. Leech was reared on the home farm. The picture of his boyhood environment and experiences is not unlike that of most farm boys. With zest he entered into the pleasures of youth and received his training in farming in the fields of the old homestead. Following his father’s death he took charge of and carried on the farm and business and eventually succeeded to the ownership of the property. He completed his arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage, on the 29th of September, 1891, in Mechanicsville, to Miss Ida J. Brown, who was born and reared in this county and is a daughter of James Brown, who was one of the native sons of the county and a representative of one of the oldest families. He met death by accident here in the fall of 1909.
Following his marriage Mr. Leech carried on farming for a number of years but in 1897 rented his land and removed to Mechanicsville, where he turned his attention to the hardware business, in which he engaged for six years. He then sold out and two years later became actively interested in the live-stock business, since which time he has made a specialty of buying, feeding and selling live stock, handling from one hundred and fifty to two hundred carloads annually. He is conducting an extensive business and, being an excellent judge of stock, knows where to place his investments and how to conduct his sales so that an honorable and gratifying profit is secured. He was one of the promoters and the largest stockholder of the Mechanicsville Savings Bank and has erected several residences in the city, thus contributing to the substantial improvement and adornment of the place.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Leech has been blessed with one daughter, Ruth, who was graduated from high school with the class of 1910. The parents are well known socially and their hospitable home is a favorite resort with their many friends. Mr. Leech votes with the democracy, which finds in him an earnest advocate of its principles. He served on the town board, was township school treasurer for several years and has been a delegate to county, state and congressional conventions. As every true American citizen should do, he keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day and supports by his ballot the political principles which he deems most conducive to good government. His wife and daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Leech belongs to the Odd Fellows, with which he has been identified from the age of twenty-one years. He has served through all of the chairs of the local lodge, has been noble grand for three terms and was secretary for one year. He also served as district deputy for two terms and has several times represented the local organization in the grand lodge. He likewise belongs to the Modern Woodmen camp, and he and his wife are identified with the Rebekah lodge in which Mrs. Leech has filled all of the chairs. Both have a wide acquaintance in Tipton and throughout Cedar, Jones and adjoining counties. Along the legitimate lines of trade and commerce he has won prosperity, and his life record proves that success is ambition’s answer.
