My Genealogy Hound

EDWARD LEISENRING, the subject of this sketch, is a man of much influence in his community, being highly respected, and possessed of sound judgment in public affairs, as well as in matters relating to the farm. He is at present residing near Whitehall, and was born in this county, April 11, 1824.

Conrad and Lidia (Rhoades) Leisenring, the parents of our subject, were also natives of this county. The paternal great-grandfather, John Conrad Leisenring, was the first of the family to emigrate from Saxony to America. On arriving he located on the farm which is now owned and occupied by our subject, and was classed among the well-to-do pioneers of the Lehigh Valley. The grandfather, Conrad Leisenring, served in the Revolutionary War as a teamster.

Our subject was reared to man’s estate in his native county, and received his education in both the subscription and free schools. He has followed agricultural pursuits his entire life. When ready to establish a home of his own, he was married, in 1875, to Miss Mary Gross, a native of Northampton County, this state. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one son, Charles C. In his political relations our subject is a strong Republican. He is a man of unassuming manner, honest in all his dealings with his fellow-men, and an industrious, hard-working farmer. In religious affairs he is a devoted member of the German Lutheran Church.

The parental family of our subject included eleven children, of whom the following named still survive: Reuben; Edward; Salinda, now Mrs. George Daniel; Appolonia, Mrs. Henry Laury; and Amelia, now Mrs. Reuben Steckel. The eldest brother was born July 7, 1824, and, like the other members of the family, has spent his entire life in his native state. When twenty years of age he went to Mauch Chunk, this state, where he engaged as a clerk in the mercantile establishment of his uncle, John Leisenring, with whom he remained foratime. In the fall of 1854 he went to Luzerne County, and engaged as head clerk and paymaster in the coal mines of Sharpe, Leisenring & Co., who were the founders of Eckley, and gave employment in their mines to about four hundred men. Reuben Leisenring remained with them for about eighteen years, but in 1878 he removed to Harleigh, the same county, where he is at present living, and engaged as head clerk and paymaster in the coal mines of W. S. Kemmerev & Co. This brother of our subject is very prominent in that place, and has been Postmaster of Harleigh for a number of years. He has been identified with the Republican party since its organization, and religiously is a member of the Lutheran Church. He has been an eye-witness of the marvellous development of this county, especially in the coalfields, and remembers the time when the site of Eckley was a vast wilderness. He has taken a deep interest in matters of improvement in his township, and has earned all his possessions by his own exertions, having always been energetic and industrious.