Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/700

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

was again elected professor of anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1871 was elected professor of natural history in Swarthmore College. He became one of the greatest authorities in his line of work, was lu>nored by two scientific societies, and left behind him some very valuable works which had been published during his lifetime. An- (3iher member of this family was Paul Leidy, of Pennsylvania, school teacher, lawyer, dis- trict attorney and a Democratic member of the thirty-fifth congress. A much later figure than this was John W. Leedy, of Kansas, who served in the congress during the last decade of the nineteenth century, and was later governor of the state.

Colonel Robert F. Leedy comes of that all-conquering German race which is fast- ening :ts ideas upon the modern world, and which, in its beginning points in our coun- try, eastern Pennsylvania and the valley of \'irgmia, has set an example of improved farmmg which has made garden spots of these sections and been of priceless value to the whole country.

John Leedy, father of Colonel Robert F. Leedy, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1826, died in 1889. He was a sergeant in a Rockingham county militia company and served with them until Com- pany C of the Tenth Regiment was or- ganized when he enlisted in that company and wdien war broke out between the states he served one year. He was then detailed by the Confederate government to conduct farming operations for the beneiit of the army, serving in that manner until the war closed. He was a member of the local school board, and a man of high standing in his community. He married Sarah Ann Mauck, born in Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, in 1830, died at Luray, Virginia, in 1896, daughter of John Mauck.

Robert F. Leedy's schooling was obtain- ed in the common schools of his native county, followed later by a course in the summer law school carried forward by the distingtiished Dr. Minor at the University of Virginia. In his early youth Colonel Leedy farmed on the old home place where three generations of his family had been born and reared, including himself, remain- ing there until he was twenty-two years of age. He spent the next three years mining and railroading, returning to the farm when he was about twenty-five and remaining

there two years, when he went to Basic City, which was one of the boom towns which sprang up in Virginia in the early nineties of the last century. He engaged in the business which was obsorbing every- body at Basic City, real estate, combined with mercantile pursuits, and read law at the same time that he was prosecuting these ir.terests actively. He was admitted to the bar in 1893, and has been in the active prac- tice of his profession from that time to the present, the last nineteen years of that per- iod having been spent in Luray, of which place he is now one of the foremost citizens. He practiced in Luray until 1899. as junior member of the firm of Weaver & Leedy and then continued alone until 1908 when the partnership of Leedy & Berry was formed and so continues. Colonel Leedy has been retained in many celebrated cases, both criminal and civil, among the latter many important railroad suits. He bears a splen- did reputation as a lawyer of learning, force and eloquence, his fame extending far be- yond local limits. Judge Harrison was assailed in the celebrated Bywaters case (murder) by "Colliers Weekly," for opin- ions rendered and Colonel Leedy made a reply defending Judge Harrison, which re- ceived mention in all the leading papers of Virginia. Shortly after "Collier's Weekly" published these letters in their weekly per- iodical without comment.

While a resident of Basic City he served as a commissioner of revenue. In 1892 he was elected mayor of the town, and re- elected in 1894. He resigned when he moved to Luray in 1895. At the present time he is serving as a member of the house of delegates of the general assembly of Vir- ginia, representing Page and Rappahannock counties. A successful lawyer, he is almost as keenly interested in military matters as he is in the legal profession. He has been identified with the Virginia Volunteers (National Guard) for fifteen years. In Sep- tember, 1902, he was made a captain. In June, 1905, he was promoted to lieutenant- colonel of the Second Infantry, and in Au- gust, 1905, was promoted to colonel of the same regiment, which position he is filling at the present time. He is a keen student of military affairs, and regards "Henderson's Science of War," which is included in his preferred reading, as the greatest military book ever writtea His religious affiliation