Ninth Generation

40. Walter Clyde LEONARD was born on 27 September 1875 in Wortham, TX. He died on 4 September 1945 at the age of 69 in Tyler, Smith Co., TX.
The following is from the family history as written down by Margaret Martha Higginbotham Jones for her son, Lowell (referred to by her as Sonny):

Our dear Uncle Walter…mother’s only brother…I’ve already mentioned just how much we loved him and his family. (My brother Jack was also named after him –“Walter Jack”); how we always went to their home for our family reunions. He and my mother were so close and enjoyed each other so much…both their “natures and dispositions” were like Grandpa Leonard’s…and how they loved grandpa! They were both very sentimental about their childhood and growing up at the old farm place and loved their own families…they especially loved old things. My mother kept house with most of Grandma Leonard’s old furniture and Bess still has a few old pieces in use even today. (As I have stated before, both their little girls died young –Esther and Marguerite). When Uncle Walter’s family visited us it was always a very special occasion, and mother would cook the best meals and the biggest you ever ate. We kids loved their two boys –Ray and Reid. Ray was the oldest and fought in World War I and was taken prisoner by the Germans in the Battle of the Argonne Forest. When he saw so many Leonard names on businesses in Germany he was afraid to give his right name fearing his captors would think he’d defected to the American side and would be killed. For this reason he stayed in prison for months and months in Germany and came so near dying from mustard gas which the Germans used during the war. When the war was over he tried to convince them that his name was really Leonard instead of the one given, telling them the reason he did so. However, they didn’t believe him, although they did keep checking with our government and were finally convinced that he was telling the truth. Ray was released to the Veterans Hospital in Houston, Tex. where he stayed for months. These were such worried and anxious years for Uncle Walter and Aunt Zoa…besides all of us. Finally the day came that Uncle Walter could bring him home. However, Ray was never the same after going through this terrible experience. Before he went to war, he always loved to come to our home more than any cousin we had (and we had plenty around). We girls loved him even though he’d pick up little snakes and wrap them around his finger…he’d have us running and screaming.
Reid as a little boy wore long curls below his shoulders. Aunt Zoa wouldn’t let Uncle Walter have them cut off until he was 5 yrs. old. He sure was an ornery little boy…perhaps those long curls had something to do with it. The last time I saw Reid and his wife, Mae, was at the family reunion picnic in 1938. Sonny, you were 2 ½ yrs. old and had long curls, but we did cut your hair that summer. They had two boys. I heard they moved to Austin, Texas, and wrote them there after we came to Calif. but my letter was returned with “no such name listed in the directory”. Ray died at 65 yrs. old during the 1950’s. Uncle Walter dropped dead on the street of Tyler, Tex. with a heart attack in Sept. 1945. He was 70 yrs. old and buried in Tyler. Aunt Zoa died a few years later. She was living with a sister in Dallas and I don’t know if they buried her there or in Tyler. If Reid is living (and his boys) he’s the last of the Leonard’s. I might add that Uncle Walter was superintendent of the Cotton Mill in Tyler for years and they also had a dairy on their 160 acre farm. Aunt Zoa and the boys helped with it.

The following is from the family history as written down by Margaret Martha Higginbotham Jones for her son, Lowell (referred to by her as Sonny):

Uncle Walter married Zoa Reid and they lived in the “Indian Territory” at Ada, Okla. (before it joined the States) for years. Then they moved back to Texas, to Tyler, built a pretty ole home on 160 acres. Mother loved him so much and naturally all of us kids did too. They had two boys and two girls (the girls died young). For years we gathered at their home for a “family reunion” on mine, dad’s and Mary Leon’s birthdays, Jul. 26. When all of us kids grew up & married and some having from 3 to 4 kiddoes made a big crowd. When Tootie (your dad) and I married we went once or twice. Then when you were 2 yrs. old, Sonny, you & I went together –think it was 30 of us that year (1938). All close kinfolks. We all talked it over and decided it would be our last one. I believe it was truly our happiest one.

Walter Clyde LEONARD and Zoa REID were married in 1892 in TX. Zoa REID, daughter of John REID and Rosie HANNAN, was born in 1876. She died on 19 August 1952 at the age of 76 in Dallas, Dallas Co., TX.

Walter Clyde LEONARD and Zoa REID had the following children: