A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Ada Leonard
St. Joseph News Press, 15 Aug 1936 (obtained from http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.buchanan/1556/mb.ashx):
DIES AT THE AGE OF 95, Mrs. Ada Leonard Darby was a Missouri Pioneer: Prominent for Many Years in St. Joseph's Social And Club Activities!
The death of Mrs. Ada Leonard Darby last night at the age of ninety-five years marked the passing of one of unusual importance in St. Joseph's club and social activities of one, whose life furnished a rare link with the early history of Missouri.
Mrs Darby's daughter, Ada Claire Darby, well-known as the author of children's historical books, found in her mother a rich store of reminiscences of another day and this allied with research work, formed the background for her writings. Miss Darby's first book "Pinafores and Pantalettes" was the true story of Mrs. Darby's childhood on a pre-bellum plantation at Fayette, Mo.
Dies at Niece's Home: Mrs. Darby died at 9:30 o'clock last evening at the home of her niece, Mrs. R.A. Brown, 519 North Eighth Street, after three weeks illness. Mrs. Darby and her two daughters, Mrs. George Dunbar and Miss Darby, had been spending the summer with Mrs. Brown. Their home is at 2602 Jule street.
Mrs. Darby's first husband, the Rt. Rev. Cicero Stephen Hawks, was the first Episcopal Bishop of St. Joseph and they had two children, Mary, deceased, and Jean, who is Mrs. Dunbar. They were married at Fayette and went to live in St. Louis, Bishop Hawks dying fie years later. His widow came to live in St. Joseph, where her sister, the late Mrs. J.D. Smith, resided. Ten years later she was married to Dr. Charles H. Darby, who had come from New York to St. Jospeh. He was a president of the Missouri State Dental Association and died in 1910. He and Mrs. Darby lived in a house near Twelfth and Francis streets for twenty-nine years.
Runcie Club Charter Member: Mrs. Darby was a charter member of the Runcie Club. Its founder and president, the late Mrs. Constance Fauntleroy Runcie had been so active in the conduct of the club that it was feared it would disintegrate after her death. But Mr. Darby, as its second president welded it into a permanent organization. She was its treasurer for many year. So keen was her sense of humor that even weekly financial reports, ordinarily considered dull, became amusing when she read them.
Twenty years ago, Mrs. Darby suffered a broken hip, and because this curtailed her Runcie Club activities twelve of her friends organized the Drama Club, which met at her home every two weeks to read plays. The regular sessions were continued for eighteen years.
Her partial invalidism did not make her any the less a gracious hostess, nor did it lessen the charm evident to all who came in contact with her. She was never heard even by her family to utter one word of complaint concerning her hampering lameness, though she had been a person of unusual activity. She was always serene and cheerful. Mrs. Darby had a deeply religious nature. She had always been active in church work, especially in the Dorcas Society of which she was once president.
Born in Fayette: Mrs. Darby was Daughter of Abiel and Jeanette Reeves Leonard, and her family was associated with Missouri's history for a century. Her father came from Vermont to Fayette in 1819 and he built, 100 years ago, the home where she was born, Oakwood. Her her younger brother, N. William Leonard, still resides, and this summer there is an infant in the home of the fifth generation. Mrs. Darby's father was a judge of the supreme court of Missouri and his portrait was painted by the famous Bingham. He was a member of the convention that drew up Missouri's constitution and he was lieutenant governor in 1826 [this sentence applies to Benjamin Reeves, not Abiel Leonard]. His strong Whig sympathies are said to have had their weight in keeping the stat in the Union during the Civil War.
Judge Leonard was a stickler for the lawn and he was horrified when he found that his daughter, Ada, was violating a state law, according to a report in the town of Fayette. She had been teaching his slaves to read and write. It was against the law to teach them reading and writing. She didn't not [sic] know this and had organized a little school among the Negro cabins on her father's plantation, but the little girl disbanded it when her father explained the law to her.
Funeral will be Monday: Mrs Darby's maternal Grandfather, Benjamin Reeves, surveyed the Santa Fe trail under President Monroe. Letters were found in the attic at Oakwood from Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. The older Abiel Leonard, Mrs Darby's Great-Grandfather, was for a time Washington's chaplain during The Revolutionary War. In the family is a Copley portrait of this President. Mrs. Darby's funeral will be held Monday in Christ Episcopal Church.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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