Ed J. Leeman. Proprietor
and editor of the Duncan Banner, Ed J. Leeman, is one of the
successful newspaper men of Southern Oklahoma. To journalism he has
brought the ability which would have enabled him to succeed in lines
of business much more remunerative, and since boyhood has been
through all the grades of service in the Fourth Estate, from printer
to editor, and from a salaried position to independent publisher.
The Duncan Banner
which he is now so successfully upholding to the breeze of public
patronage has the distinction of being the oldest paper of Stephens
County. It was established in 1892. The equipment was purchased in
Texas, shipped by railroad to Pauls Valley, and from there hauled by
wagon to Duncan. Its politics is democratic, and the Banner enjoys a
large circulation and influence both in Stephens and surrounding
counties. The offices and plant are located in the rear of the City
National Bank Building, near the corner of Main and Eighth streets.
Ed J. Leeman was
born at Blackjack Grove, Texas, September 23, 1874. The Leeman family
is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and were settled many years ago in the
State of Kentucky. J. A. Leeman, father of the Duncan editor, was
born in Kentucky in 1847, and after fully half a century of useful
service in the medical profession is now living at Pecos, Texas. He
came to Lamar County, Texas, just prior to the Civil war, and in 1862
enlisted in a Texas regiment and was with the Confederate army until
the close of hostilities. He was once taken prisoner.
After the war he graduated from the Louisville Medical College, first
located in Hunt County, and began the practice of medicine in Hopkins
County, Texas. He practiced there and in West Texas for at least half
a century, retiring from his work in 1914
when elected county treasurer of Winkler County, Texas, the office to
which he now gives all his time. He is a democrat, a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the Masonic fraternity.
Doctor Leeman married Miss Mattie Armor, a native of Mississippi.
Their children are: Sam M., who is connected with the Waurika
News-Democrat at Waurika, Oklahoma; Flora, who married J. L. Mann, a
merchant at Clyde, Texas; Ed J.; William B., who is in the newspaper
business at Clyde, Texas; and Lucy, wife of a railroad man at Toyah,
Texas.
Ed J. Leeman was
educated in country schools and in a high school in West Texas, but
at the age of sixteen began his practical career in learning the
printing business in Stonewall County, Texas, being connected with
the Rayner News for three years. The next three years were spent in
the Merkel Mail in Taylor County and at the end of that time he
bought the plant and edited the Mail until 1904. He then removed to
Fort Worth and was in the drug business one year. Mr. Leeman came to
Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1905 and bought a half interest in the Banner,
his business associate and partner being F. E. Sampson. On February
1, 1915, Mr. Leeman bought Mr. Sampson’s interest and is now
enjoying the entire responsibilities of management and is the owner
of one of the best newspaper enterprises in the southern part of the
state.
Mr. Leeman is a
democrat, served three years on the Duncan Town Council, and has been
secretary of the Democratic Central Committee since the date of
statehood. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
and affiliates with Mistletoe Lodge No. 17 Knights of Pythias and is
secretary of the Duncan Chamber of Commerce.
While living in
Texas at Abilene on December 4, 1898,’ he married Miss Alice Herring,
whose father, now deceased, was an educator well known at Waco and
other places in Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Leeman have five children: Wi, a
junior in the Duncan High School; Edwin, Terry and George, all in
school; and Judson.