ROBERT KENNEDY.
In the great wheat growing belt of eastern Washington lies the farm of Robert Kennedy, his place being situated on section 15, township 7 north, range 36 east, Walla Walla county. It is a valuable tract of land of nine hundred and twenty acres, all of which has been brought under a high state of cultivation and annually the great wheat yield returns to him a most gratifying income. Mr. Kennedy still gives supervision to the work, of the place although he has now passed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's journey. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, June 20, 1830, a son of John and Margaret Kennedy, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. Removing northward to Indiana, they resided in that state for a time and later became residents of Shelby county, Illinois, where both passed away.
Robert Kennedy started out in life on his own account when a youth of but fourteen years and in 1851, when twenty-one years of age, he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast, attracted by the opportunities of the great and growing west. He made his way to Oregon, where he settled on a farm and continued a resident of that place for eight years. In 1859 he arrived in Walla Walla county and settled on Dry creek, where he has since made his home. As the years have passed he has added to his possessions, his industry and determination bringing to him larger resources. His investments in farm property have made him the owner of nine hundred and twenty acres of valuable wheat land and upon his place are many substantial improvements. His farm presents a very neat and thrifty appearance and is supplied with all modern conveniences.
Mr. Kennedy has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Anna Smith and they became the parents of three children of whom only one is now living, L. L. Kennedy, a resident farmer of Oregon. The wife and mother passed away in 1876 and in 1879 Mr. Kennedy was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Margaret (Jackson) Dennison. Mrs. Kennedy is a cousin of William Dennison, who was governor of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy have been born seven children: Rebecca, the deceased wife of Professor R. E. Stafford; Martha, the wife of John Connell; Robert P.; Edna; William B.; B. H.; and Edith May, who has passed away.
In his political views Mr. Kennedy is a republican, having supported the party since its organization. He has served on the school board and the cause of public education finds in him an earnest advocate. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, although of late years he has not been active in lodge work. He and his wife are active and consistent members of the Christian church and Mrs. Kennedy is now the oldest member of the church at Walla Walla. Their lives have been guided by its teachings and their many excellent traits of character have won for them the warm regard and high esteem of all who know them. Mr. Kennedy is one of the venerable citizens of Walla Walla county and can look back upon the past without regret and forward to the future without fear, for his has ever been an honorable life. Fifty-six years have come and gone since he arrived in the west and therefore he has been a witness of the greater part of its growth and progress.
E. H. LEONARD.
E. H. Leonard, who has long been known as a prominent representative of milling interests in the northwest, is now the vice president of the Preston-Shaffer Milling Company and active manager of its mill at Waitsburg. He was born in Walla Walla, May 16, 1873, and is a son of Thomas S. and Sarilda R. (Herren) Leonard. The father was a native of the state of New York, and the mother of Oregon having been one of the first white children born in that state. The date of the father's birth was April 25, 1840. He acquired a good education in the schools of that early period and in 1860 removed westward to Illinois, where for three years he engaged in teaching school, spending a part of the time also in Iowa. In 1863 he enlisted in the government service, being made a member of an organization for the purpose of rendering assistance and guidance to emigrant trains crossing the plains. On reaching the Boise river his train, feeling in comparative safety, disbanded and Mr. Leonard continued his journey to the coast, arriving in Portland, Oregon, late in November, 1863, when that now populous and progressive city was a town of but three thousand inhabitants. He afterward drifted to various points in the northwest and subsequently again took up educational work, teaching in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, where he remained until about 1871. In the fall of that year he came to Walla Walla and in the spring of 1872 he removed to Dayton, where he has since resided. In the fall of that year he and his wife took charge of the Dayton school and in the spring of 1873 removed to a government land claim. In 1876 Mr. Leonard assisted in the organization of Columbia county and was elected the first county superintendent of schools. On the expiration of his term in that office he returned to the homestead and has since been engaged in farming. He has taken an active and important part in promoting the development of county and state along material and intellectual lines and has left the impress of his individuality for good upon the history of the community. In 1868 Mr. Leonard was united in marriage to Miss Sarilda R. Herren, a daughter of John and Docia (Robbins) Herren, who crossed the plains from Kentucky to Oregon in 1845. They settled near Salem, among the very early pioneers of that section. On her mother's side Mrs. Leonard comes of a family represented in the Revolutionary war, her great-grandfather, William Robbins, having been a participant in that struggle which led to the attainment of American independence. T. S. Leonard is one of the prominent citizens of Dayton and has for many years taken a prominent and helpful part in the development of Columbia county.
E. H. Leonard was reared to farm life and his education has been practically self acquired. He worked in his father's fields until his twenty-fifth year and in 1898 he became connected with milling operations as an employe of the North Pacific Flour Mills Company at Prescott. In March, 1900, he was made foreman of the mills and in July of the same year, when the mills were acquired by the Portland Flouring Mills Company, Mr. Leonard was made manager, which position he continued to fill until 1904. In that year he was advanced to the position of district manager with the Portland Flouring Mills Company and in that connection had supervision over the mills of Dayton and Prescott and later also of Walla Walla. He continued in that capacity until January 1, 1916, at which time, having acquired an interest in the Preston-Shaffer Milling Company at Waitsburg, he was made assistant manager and removed to Waitsburg. This company also owns mills at Athena, Oregon. At the first meeting of the directors after his removal to Waitsburg, Mr. Leonard was elected to the vice presidency of the company in recognition of his marked ability and his long experience in the milling business. There is no phase of flour manufacture with which he is not familiar and in the operation of the plants of the Preston-Shaffer Company he utilizes the latest improved machinery and the most modern processes, displaying marked enterprise in the control of the business. While thus extensively engaged in milling for nineteen years he has also continued his farming operations and now owns and operates two farms in Walla Walla county, comprising twenty-five hundred acres. He has thus become one of the prominent wheat growers of the Inland Empire. Either one of his business connections are sufficiently extensive and important to rank him with the representative business men of this section of the country. He is both forceful and resourceful and readily recognizes and utilizes opportunities which others pass heedlessly by. He is fortunate in that he possesses character and ability that awaken confidence in others and the simple weight of his character and his ability have carried him into important relations.
In November, 1900, occurred the marriage of Mr. Leonard and Miss Minnie Belle Lieuallen, of Portland, Oregon, and they have become the parents of three children: Mineta Belle, who is attending high school; Edgar Hugh, a student in the graded schools; and Joanna Jeanne.