Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904, pp 713-714 [Lyon] SIMEON NORVEL LEONARD, JR., a son of Simeon N. and Frances (Knott) Leonard, was born in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, August 4, 1843. He was reared there, and in the schools of that city and in Columbia, Tennessee, acquired a good education. He studied both medicine and law, but with no definite purpose of following either profession. In his early manhood he possessed a liking for literary work, and when an opportunity offered he entered the field of journalism. Eventually he became editor of the Herald, published at Paducah, Kentucky, a leading Democratic paper of this state. He rose to high rank as an editor, and but for failing health would undoubtedly have gained prominence in journalism. In February, 1871, Mr. Leonard was married to Miss Ida Cresap Braswell, of Eddyville, Kentucky, and on account of ill health he gave up newspaper work the following fall and established his residence in the town of Eddyville, where he has since resided. Finally he fully recovered his health and became associated in business affairs with his father-in-law, the late N. T. Braswell, with whom he was connected until the latter's death. Mrs. Leonard died in 1889, leaving five children. In 1892 Mr. Leonard was married to Grace I. Long, a daughter of William H. Long, a retired merchant of Eddyville. In 1894 Mr. Leonard organized the Farmer's Bank of Eddyville, and has since been its president. He has also been the first vice-president of the Kentucky Banker's Association, and the Kentucky vice-president of the American Bankers' Association, while for three years he has been a member of the executive committee of the Kentucky Bankers' Association. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Leonard is the president of the Suwance Spoke and Lumber Company, of Kuttawa, Kentucky; is the senior member of the Leonard & James Manufacturing Company, of Evansville, Indiana; the president of the Cumberland Towing Company, and is a large owner of farm and mineral lands in this state. He is much interested in the development of the resources of Lyon county and western Kentucky, and his labors have been of great public benefit. For more than thirty years Mr. Leonard has been actively identified with the Democratic party, but has never sought political preferment. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been active in the fraternity and loyal to its teachings. In business affairs he is widely known, and his contemporaries recognize in him one of Kentucky's most sapient and successful business men. Leonard Knott Braswell Long = TN McCracken-KY IN http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/lyon/leonard.sn2.txt