Fifth Generation

144. Job Mason LEONARD was born on 1 September 1824 in Taunton, Bristol Co., MA.¹⁶ He died in 1905 at the age of 81 in Fall River or Somerset, MA. He was buried in Mayflower Cemetery, Taunton, MA. He was a grocer at the time of his marriage. He served for 9 mos. in Company F of the 52nd Mass. Infantry.

According to Hurd, HIstory of Bristol County, p. 654ff, he was a direct descendant of one of the Leonard families from Pontypool, Wales, who settled in Raynham in 1652. He was educated at the common schools and worked on a farm until about sixteen years of age; then he entered a hardware store in Taunton as a clerk and remained until 1844, when he commenced business on his own account. In 1849 he established an office in Boston, which has continued to the present time.

In 1850, he organized the East Bridgewater Iron Company and contined with them about five years, when he disposed of his interest in that establishment. He then organized the Mount Hope Iron Works at Somerset. He planned and build two iron works in Somerset for the manufacture of nails and plate iron, from which shovels and other implements were made. This first Mt. Hope Iron Works was destroyed by fire in 1866 and subsequently rebuilt. The works were sold to Parker Mills in 1871 and subsequently passed into the hands of the Old Colony Iron Company. The present works of the Mount Hope Company Mr. Leonard erected in 1872, and he repurchased the Old Colony Iron Works in 1878. The combined plant employed 500 men. Albert Field, Mr. Leonard's father-in-law, was elected President, with Mr. Leonard Treasurer. Henry B. Leonard, was the agent and general manager. Job Leonard's son, Henry, died, and his grandson, Russell, elected to go to college and law school rather than enter the iron business. "If a Leonard cannot run these iron works, no one else shall," Job said in 1904, and the iron works were destroyed.

The Job Leonard House (1860) still stands at 134 South Street in Somerset. The agent's office of the Mt. Hope Iron Works is now the home of the Somerset Historical Society.

In the 1850 Census, he is listed as an agent living in Taunton with his wife, Caroline, and young son, Henry B.

In his passport application of 5 Apr 1867, he described himself as 6 ft. one-half inch tall, blue eyes, brown hair, florid complexion, 42 years old, born in Taunton.

Lois Badger, The Leonard Dictionary, has the same information. She lists as references the Shaw Family Book, Taunton VR's, History of Northfield, MA, also data which belongs to the mother of Harriott Leonard Standish.

NEHGS records a Job Leonard and Betsey Ann Cook with intentions to marry published August 11, 1844, marrying August 29th. This Job is not in the data base. Is he somehow related to this line of Job Leonards?

Job Mason LEONARD and Caroline Frances FIELD were married on 8 December 1847 in Taunton, Bristol Co., MA.⁵⁶ Caroline Frances FIELD, daughter of Albert FIELD and Abigail , was born on 11 December 1828 in Taunton, Bristol Co., MA.⁹⁸ She died on 5 October 1900 at the age of 71. She was buried in Mayflower Cemetery, Taunton, MA.

Job Mason LEONARD and Caroline Frances FIELD had the following children: