LEAKE, Joseph Bloomfield: 20th Iowa Infantry, Lawyer, Iowa Legislator, dies on streets of Chicago :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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LEAKE, Joseph Bloomfield: 20th Iowa Infantry, Lawyer, Iowa Legislator, dies on streets of Chicago

Journal by Bawden4

Joseph Bloomfield LEAKE was born in Deerfield, Cumberland, New Jersey 1 Apr 1828. My family moved to Ohio where I graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1846. I became a lawyer in 1850 and moved to Iowa about 6 years later where I became a member of the Iowa Legislature.

During the Civil War, I put my political career on hold, stepped down from the legislature and enlisted in the Union Army. I was put into the 20th Iowa Infantry, becoming a lieutenant colonel when the regiment came into being in Clinton, Clinton, Iowa. The 20th Iowa saw action in Vicksburg, Mississippi, among others. In 1863 I was wounded and captured by Confederate forces in Louisiana.

I was sent to a camp in Texas where I was the highest-ranked officer. In spite of conditions, I struggled to take care of my fellow Union prisoners until I was exchanged the following year. I returned to the 20th Iowa and continued to fight with them in Alabama. In 1865, I was promoted to Brigadier General, making me one of the youngest Brig. Generals in the state. The same year, the 20th Iowa mustered out of service and I returned home to Davenport and was elected into the Iowa Senate for the 11th General Assembly.

In 1871 I moved to Chicago where I continued my law practice. Between 1879-1884, I served as the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois which included Chicago. I was later the lawyer for the Chicago Board of Education from 1887-1891.

I never really left the Army. The Union Army and the 20th Iowa continued to be a part of my life. I was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic in Chicago and would often travel back to Iowa to attend reunions.

I continued to practice law into my 80s and earned the distinction of being the oldest member of the Chicago bar. On 1 June 1913, I passed away on Cass Street in Chicago, the city that I had served for so long. I was buried in Davenport's Oakdale Cemetery.

This was a script for Oakdale's bi-annual cemetery walk where noted people are portrayed by volunteers who create the character and dress in period clothing at the gravesites. (See Find-a-Grave - death date and marker photos).

Surnames: LEAKE
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by Bawden4 Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2012-07-19 16:00:41

Bawden4 , from Iowa, USA, has been a Family Tree Circles member since Apr 2011. is researching the following names: BAWDEN, BEECHER, LIPPINCOTT and 8 other(s).

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Comments

by Bawden4 on 2012-07-19 16:07:14

by alanrleake on 2017-03-09 03:49:57

A brief note on Joseph Bloomfield Leake. The year of his death is actually 1913 and 2 sources can verify this. An old volume of Who's Who in America mentions the year of his death as 1913. Also in the NEW YORK TIMES archives for 1913, it is mentioned there on his passing.

by Bawden4 on 2017-03-18 19:20:08

Thank you for the correction. Since there was a disparity on my date, from the cemetery, it gives this story more integrity.

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