Seventh Generation

1864. Judge Abiel LEONARD¹⁰⁴⁶ was born on 6 May 1797 in Windsor, Windsor Co., VT. He died in 1863 at the age of 66 in Missouri. This was the Abiel Leonard who fought a duel after the admission of Missouri into the Union (1820?), "which at the time created great excitement, notably the duel between Taylor Berry and Abiel Leonard, which was fought on an island below New Madrid near Point Pleasant, in which Berry was wounded and of which wounds he finally died."

ECL: pp. 26-29: He attended Dartmouth, but dropped out because of his eyesight. He was a lawyer, the leader of the Whig party in Missouri prior to 1857, and justice of the Missouri Supreme Court. He came to Missouri in 1819, making the entire journey on foot, arriving with 25 cents in his pocket. He taught school. He lived in Boonville and old Franklin until 1833, when he took a farm where Fayette is now and built a log house there. In 1836 he replaced it with a brick house that still was standing as of 1929. After he built the brick house, he sent for his father, Capt. Nathaniel Leonard, who came and lived with him until 1844 when he died. His father was buried in Fayette.

ECL: Abiel Leonard was a small man, never weighing more than 100 pounds, but he was a brave man. In the 1850's, a horse thief was lodged in the Fayette jail, and Emph. Taylor, from whom the horse was stolen, came to town with a big mob to lynch the thief. Leonard, alone, opposed Taylor and the mob and declared that the law must take its course. Taylor drew a pistol and threatened to shoot Leonard. Leonard said: "Shoot and be damned but you can't have that prisoner while I am alive." As the argument progressed, the thief hanged himself in the jail.

ECL: In 1824, Leonard was prosecuting attorney of Howard County and it was then that he fought his famous duel with Taylor Berry of Franklin. Leonard was prosecuting Berry for forging and perjury. During a recess of the Court Berry hit Leonard with a whip. Leonard at once sent him a challenge by the hand of T. J. Boggs, brother of Lillum Boggs, afterward Governor of Missouri, to fight a dual. Berry accepted but asked for time to put his affairs in order. Leonard gave him the time asked for and in the meantime practiced shooting at a candle flame. The duel was fought near New Madrid. At the first fire, Berry fell and died a few days later. It was against the law then to issue a challenge to a dual in Missouri, and Leonard was fined and disenfranchised, but the next Legislature restored him by a special act to all rights of citizenship.

Leonard was a slave owner and for many years kept a slave girl, Fanny by name, whom he took as a fee for legal services. She became a favorite in the family. When she grew up and was to get married, she demanded a separate house for herself. In the attic of the Leonard house Dr. Culmer found a letter Leonard had written home from St. Louis where he was attending Court saying,"Let Fanny be indulged with a separate house and let her have a closet in it as she desires." Fanny married but insisted on keeping the name Leonard and made her husband take that name. All the Negroes in Fayette and vicinity named Leonard are descendants of her.

When Abiel died in 1863, he owned 50,000 acres of the best land in Howard, Sabine, and other counties.

Judge Abiel LEONARD and Jeannette REEVES were married on 26 June 1828 in Fayette, Howard Co., MO. Jeannette REEVES, daughter of Benjamin REEVES, was born on 24 December 1812 in Christian, KY. She was also known as Jeanette Reeves.

Judge Abiel LEONARD and Jeannette REEVES had the following children: