Bernard Odell Leech; Son of James Leech
According to the 1880 census James M Leech, 47, born in MS had wife Ella and son Bernard. James was said to have been born in MS and both of his parents in AL. Ella is said to have been born in MS, her father in AL and her mother in MS:
1880 Miss Yalobusha Co. census Twp Water Valley (Taylor and Water Valley are quite close, although in different counties) Leech James M 43 born MS Leech Ella A 22 born MS Leech Bernard 10/12, born MS
The 1890 census was unfortunately burned.
Some time before the turn of the century James Leech and family moved from rural Mississippi to the city of Memphis. No doubt then as now people leave the country to make their fortune in town.
1900 Tenn Shelby census ed. 102 sheet 10, line 42 Leach James, age 66; Shaw St., Memphis. Born 1833 in Alabama. carpenter (house), literate, a renter Leach Ella E b. May 1857 age 43 mother of 2 children, 1 living Bernard O son born July 18, 1879; aged 20, born in Miss laborer (riveter iron) literate.
Descendants of Bernard Odell and Minnie Mae Holmes Leech
Two daughters were born in Memphis: In 1904 Mary Maud Leech. In 1921
she married Robert L Clayton in New Orleans.
In 1905 Mae Leech. In 1920 she married Vernon H. Bray. The Brays had
3 children: Vernon, Jr., born 1923 Betty Jean, born ca 1927, died of diphtheria
at age of 3. William, born ca 1942 in Glendale, CA.
Ca 1936 Vernon and Minnie Mae Bray moved from Memphis to Glendale CA. Soon thereafter Minnie Mae's parents followed them. They were members of the Broadway St. Methodist Church. Life was better for the family than it had been in depression days in Memphis. In 1953 most of the Leech family were in California: the Brays and the two Clayton grandchildren, Margaret having moved there in 1942 and Larry serving in the U.S.Navy.
© 2001 Larry Clayton
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