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Below is a family biography from the book, History of Kentucky, Edition 1 by J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin and G. C. Kniffin and published by F. A. Battey Publishing Company in 1885.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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REV. WILLIAM HENRY LEIGH was born in east Tennessee, December 29, 1824, where his father, James Walker Leigh, en route from Albemarle County, Va., to west Kentucky, stopped for a short time. In the spring succeeding, Mr. Leigh moved to this State and settled in the little town of Eddyville, on the banks of the Cumberland. There the subject of this sketch passed the days of his boyhood. At the age of nine years, he lost both his parents by the terrible scourge of Asiatic cholera, which at that time swept over our land. After the death of his father, he lived awhile with his grandfather in the community, but early in life was left to fight life’s battle alone. Being thus early left an orphan, his educational advantages were limited; in fact, when he became old enough to realize his need and to thirst for knowledge, his education was confined to the very first rudiments. With this groundwork, unaided, he acquired a fair practical education and some knowledge of the classics. In his twentieth year he was licensed as a preacher in the Methodist Church, and in the fall of 1845, entered regularly into the work of an itinerant minister in the Memphis annual conference. The first ten years of his ministerial life were spent in the Kentucky Purchase. He filled every pastoral charge except two in this part of the State, including the city of Paducah, and was two years presiding elder of the Paducah District, and in this capacity exercised a supervision over the work of his denomination in the entire Kentucky Purchase. He was married, in 1852, to Miss Mary C. Brooks, of Henry County, Tenn., and followed the career of an itinerant minister throughout west Tennessee and north Mississippi, until 1878, when he returned to the Purchase as presiding elder of the Paducah District. He is at this writing (1884) pastor of the Locust Street Methodist Church, Paducah, in the erection of which he was the prime mover. No one is more beloved by his people, and no one can exercise a greater influence over them than the Rev. Mr. Leigh is the father of six children, five sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Robert W. Leigh, is the editor of the Morrilton (Arkansas) Headlight. The firm of Leigh Bros., Charles Q. C., Edward O., Oliver P. and Clinton B. Leigh, editors and publishers of the Paducah daily and weekly Standard, was established in March, 1881, by two of the present firm as a job printing office. Their place of business was located in a third-story room on Broadway and was a very small affair. Their business grew, until now they are located in a house built especially for them in the business center of the city. They are young men of energy, industry and perseverance. The Standard, established in April, 1884, ranks as one of the leading papers of the district.

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This family biography is one of 165 biographies included in the McCracken County, Kentucky section of the book, The History of Kentucky, Edition 1 published in 1885 by F. A. Battey Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: History of Kentucky, Edition 1

View additional McCracken County, Kentucky family biographies here: McCracken County, Kentucky Biographies

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