CENTRE LINES

The LEATHERS Family

This column is part of a feature series which focuses on a different Centre County family each week. Five new columns will be released each month unless some technical difficulty enters the picture.

This column's focus is on LEATHERS. An effort has been made to identify all persons carrying that name in the 1890 U.S. Census, using the Centre County business directory which was formed from a preliminary review of that census before the larger set of 1890 U.S. Census records was destroyed by fire. (Sadly, the postal directory does not typically provide the ages of females, but it's the best record we've got).

Two books in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte apparently deal in part with the Leathers family. They are Harry A. Lingle's Immigrant Frederick Leathers and Early Descendants and Mary Francis Ward's Over the Hills: A Story of Growing Up in Bald Eagle Valley during the 1860s-1880s.

There are 20 different first-name entries for Leathers in John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton County (1883). In addition, there are many references to the name in Beers' Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (1898).

And, now, your ancestors' LEATHERS neighbors in 1890:

In HOWARD Township:

J. B., 47, manufacturer--Mt. Eagle Annie E. Cora E. N. A. 23 Olive E. Florence M. Jacob, 72, farmer--Mt. Eagle Hannah James K., 47, farmer--Mt. Eagle Mollie James L., 22, laborer--Mt. Eagle C. B. Jane D.--Mt. Eagle John F., 22, laborer--Mt. Eagle Francis A. Sanford A. 2 Joseph, 33, farmer--Mt, Eagle O. A. B. M. J. L. 8 J. O. 6 E. P. Judson M., 43, farmer--Roland Margaret E. R. C., 48, contractor--Mt. Eagle Fannie C. N. 20 Samuel B., 64, farmer--Mt. Eagle Sarah J. Mary E. Clarissa B. Sarah B. Esther G. William F. 21 Henry 19 Lillian T. G., 53, hotel keeper--Mt. Eagle Nancy J. Sadie A. James A. 16 T. G. 12 Elvie O. Mabel Myrtle Puella Vernie B.--Mt. Eagle Franklin C. 14 Leonard A. 10 William T., 45, farmer--Mt. Eagle Mary E. Theo 21 Lucy B. Ida R. Martha M. George H. Cookman A. 8 Jesse P. 6 Milton W. 4 William T., 33, laborer--Mt. Eagle Ettie E. Tacie C. Earl 6 Myra E.

In MARION Township:

Ira C., 53, farmer--Walker Jane H. William J. 21 Carrie M. Virgie M. Minnie B. Leroy 13

In SNOW SHOE Township:

Mitchell, 37, blacksmith--Snow Shoe Rebecca V. Chauncey B. 5

In SPRING Township:

Ida M.--Bellefonte Ambrose 24 Eliza J.

In UNIONVILLE BOROUGH:

B. F., 64, carpenter Eliza J. Mary