Fourth Generation

26. Ira Edwin (or Edward?) LEONARD² was born on 25 March 1832 in Yorkshire, Cattaraugus Co., New York. He died on 6 July 1889 at the age of 57 in Socorro, Socorro Co., NM. GML notes that he was in Palmyra, NY, and Albion, NY. Was he the Ira E. Leonard in Batavia, Genessee Co., NY in the 1850 Census? He was an attorney living with his family in Waterton, Jefferson Co., WI, in the 1860 Census.

Ira was a lawyer. It appears the family moved to Watertown, Jefferson County, WI, between 1857 and the 1860 Census, and to Hillsboro, Jefferson Co., MO, between 1865 and 1867, given where the children were born. He was an attorney for the St. Loouis & Iron Mountain Railroad, a District Judge in MO, and almost elected to the MO Supreme Court. He moved to CO for health reasons, where he practiced law and was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado. He also served as a non-resident circuit attorney and judge in New Mexico and practiced law and was postmaster in Socorro, NM.

When his father died in 1874, he was living in Boulder, CO.

He was the Ira E. Leonard who defended Billy the Kid when Billy was tried at Mesilla for killing Bernstein. Ira got the case against him dismissed, on the grounds that the place where the killing took place, Blazer's Mills, is not part of the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, therefore not Federal land, negating the Federal indictment for murder. Billy the Kid was then turned over to territorial authorities for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. Judge Bristol ordered Ira to step down as Billy's attorney, appointing two other gentlemen to defend Billy. He is tried, convicted, and hanged.

Family indicates Ira's father was Alonzo Leonard, lived in Batavia, NY, and had 15 children.

Ira Edwin (or Edward?) LEONARD and Maria Louisa SHEPHERD were married on 25 December 1855 in Bethany, Genessee Co.,NY. Maria Louisa SHEPHERD was born about 1831 in Bethany, Genessee Co.,NY. She died in 1921 at the age of 90. Also spelled Shepard and Sheppard.

Ira Edwin (or Edward?) LEONARD and Maria Louisa SHEPHERD had the following children:

48	i.	Edith Maria LEONARD was born about 1857 in NY.
49	ii.	Ella Amanda "Ellie" LEONARD was born about 1861 in WI.
+50	iii.	Willis Edwin LEONARD.
+51	iv.	Frank Albert LEONARD.
52	v.	Ira E. LEONARD Jr. was born about 1867 in Mo. He was a minister in the Los Angeles area, also La Jolla and Santa Barbara. Did he receive ordination in Mecklenburg, NY, 15 Dec 1893?
53	vi.	Mary Alice LEONARD was born (date unknown).