JOURNEY DOWN
LEESON RUN
PART -2
For those who did not catch the Leeson Run article last week, let me summarize the story thus far.
Leeson Run Road is a small country road off Old Rt. 50 at the top of Greenwood Hill. It is the area that I grew up in and still hold near and dear to my heart. We raised everything from chickens, cows, ducks, guineas, horses, and pigs, to cats and dogs.
Leeson Run has always been said to have been named for the Leeson family who were first to own the entire run and for Leonidas Leeson in particular.
According to deed & birth records at the Doddridge Courthouse, the Leeson families have been in Doddridge County since the early 1800s. Leonidas Leeson, Hester Leeson, and Pleasy Mason sold 50 acres of land to Thomas D. Leeson in Doddridge in May of 1888. Then, in 1889, he purchased 28 ½ acres of land on Leeson. He is listed as being a grantor on several pieces of property with other Leeson family members.
According to the Last Will and Testament of William Leeson dated Aug. 9, 1876, he bequeathed his vast land holdings to his 12 children, including Nancy Wise (for her natural life), Nancy, Pleasy, who married Thomas Mason (killed in Civil War), Leonidas Leeson (also an extra 100 acres), Hannah, who married Jesse Lowther, John Leeson (his heirs), Nancy, who married Perry G. Hudkins, Mary Erzilla, who married Isaac Ellifritt, Lovina, who married Joshua Adams (heirs), and Nancy Wise’s children, Jacob Leeson, Jackson Leeson, Thomas Leeson, Eli B. Leeson, and Leroy Leeson. This is certainly how William Leeson’s Leeson Run became the many names of property holders that followed. More research is needed to confirm this as being factual.
Families with surnames Adams, Ahouse, Barker, Barth, Britton, Cross, Dotson, Elder, Flannagan, Hoalcraft, Hudkins, Hufford, Jones, Keys, Leeson, Mason, Monroe, Nutter, Pierce, Post, Reece, Richards, Ross, Shackelford, Sheets, Shepherd, Smith, Stein, and Williams have called this small piece of Heaven home.
Before I continue, I need to include a couple of things that I missed last week. I missed an early home that was located after passing the home of Mr. and Mrs. Erie Sheets going down “Mailbox Hill” nearly halfway between the two Sheets properties and behind the new home built on the left side. A nearly hidden drive led out to a small rundown Yankee frame house owned by the Pierce family.
I also need to expand on the homeplace of Thurman Jones. His property was purchased from Warden and Sarah Post. The Post family obtained it from a multitude of grantors, including W.H. Cottrill, Clara L. and Mathias Dotson, Tom and Nellie B. Jackson, Neil and Dollie Collins, George and Alice Seders, Eldin, and Madge, and Bettie Cottrill, and Jesse and Edna G. Elliott.
This leads us back to where we stopped last week… the Leeson Run School.
Leeson Run Grade School Students – In this photo are students, Robert Mason, Erie “Dick” Sheets, Mary Richards, Porter Richards, Gladys and Roxie Davis, Chester and Forest Britton, the Jones Children, and others who are unknown.
I was told an interesting story regarding a student that I shall not name who shoved one of the female students down. As a result, one of the other male students promptly struck the other unruly male student, knocking him to the ground.
The teacher intervened, asking what the issue had been. When the other students told the teacher what had taken place, the unruly student was suspended with a note to his parents explaining why their son was not permitted to return to school for a week. The young man who had come to the young female student’s aid was not reprimanded at all and was the hero of the day. It was another time, another place. Chivalry was alive and well.
Glen Reese purchased the Leeson Run School property from the Board of Education in 1962. The property had been purchased by the Board of Education from Leonidas Leeson in 1897.
A short distance almost directly down the hill from Leeson Run School was the Porter and Cassie Reese homeplace, which was purchased from William and Ida Leeson in 1938. The lane down to the house actually was on the left side of the road just before arriving at the Leeson Run School.
Porter Reece Home place
Ray Hudkins Farmhouse. There was a barn on the hill behind the house where Ray and Loragale Richards, with their 2 children, Ray Jr, and Jane, spent the night during the 1950 flood. Neither house nor barn is now standing.
The next homestead was the 201-acre Ray Hudkins farm where my father was born. The old house is gone now, but Bob Phillips has made a beautiful home there. Just up the creek on the same property was the home of Bob and Ruth Richards Mason and their children. They lived there a few years, after which time, they moved to OH to work in the steel mills.
As you approach a sharp left turn, there is a lane that leads to Burl and Edna Nutter’s homeplace. Edna inherited the property from her parents. Burl was working for her father after the war, and the two got married after a time. They both lived there until their death. I remember Burl driving that old Model “A” or “T” Ford with his faithful Dalmatian dog riding beside him all the time. He often picked us up as we were walking home from school. Mrs. Nutter must have read a gazillion magazines. She would pass them on to us to read and to look at the fancy pictures. It was like Christmas for us. I wish I had a photograph of that farmhouse. Sadly, I don’t.
Next stop is the ruins of old Stella Barth’s place which was purchased by Francis M. Richards as a result of her estate sale in which Forest E. Britton was Administrator. Francis lived there in a trailer for a little over a year before selling it to James W. and Bessie Poling. They both lived there until their deaths. Their son, Charlie, lives in a nice home below the road on the same property. He was loyal to his parents to the end, a great son and a great man.
Francis Richards purchased this property from Stella Barth
Estate.
At the time of my youth, the following was the last home on Leeson Run before reaching what we called the “forks.” It was the intersection of Leeson and Cabin Runs. It was the home of Francis Richards, his first wife, Gladys, who purchased it in 1968. Their son, Sam, my cousin, whom I loved so much was another brother to me and my siblings.
Sam had a beautiful sorrel paint pony that was his pride and joy. He rode that pony everywhere. The pony had one small glitch… every time he found an opening in a fence or a farm gate that was left open, he would make an unbelievable “U” turn into wherever it led. I think Sam flew to the ground more than once when he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings.
Sam spent 28 years in the military and now has a beautiful Tennessee mountain home that he shares with Dorothy, the woman who has made his life complete. I’m so proud of him.
This takes us to the end of Leeson Run. I hope you enjoyed taking the journey with me. I want to travel down more country roads throughout Doddridge County, provided I can find someone who still remembers those “good old days.”
Until next time…
God Bless
Patricia Richards Harris, President
Doddridge County Historical Society