Thomas B. Leary was born on March 12, 1865, in Center township, the son of Thomas J. and Marjorie (Johnson) Leary. Thomas J. Leary was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was married twice. His first wife was Rebecca Price, who was born in Maryland and who was the daughter of Willis R. Price, who later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. The children by this wife were John, Parry, Willis and Jane. The second wife was Marjorie Johnson, of Wayne county, Indiana, who was a daughter of Peter Johnson, who was born in South Carolina. The children by his second wife were Sarah, Thomas B., the subject of this sketch; James and Louisa D., who is deceased. John Leary, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Maryland and after his marriage moved to Franklin county, Indiana, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Blooming Grove township. Thomas J. Leary, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a man who took great interest in politics. He made many trips to Cincinnati after he located near Greenfield, Indiana, and drove large herds of stock to market. He died on March 5, 1889, and his second wife who was the mother of the subject of this sketch, died on September 17, 1907.

Thomas B. Leary was educated in the common schools of Hancock county. He was married on March 12, 1890, to Maggie Irlton, who was born on September 30, 1873, and who was the daughter of Robert and Catherine (Devitt) Irlton, who settled on a farm of eighty acres, near Fortville, Indiana. They were the parents of the following children: James, Sarah, Hannah, Lizzie, who is deceased; Robert and Maggie, who is the wife of the subject of this sketch.

Thomas B. Leary is the father of the following children: Thomas, who married Elsie Kimberley and who lives at Mohawk, Indiana; Olive, who lives in Center township and who married Thomas Price; Dewey, Everett, Loren, Carroll, Pauline, Garnet and Violet. Mr. and Mrs. Leary are members of the Nazarene church of Mohawk, Indiana, and he contributed financially to the building of the church. They are great Sunday school workers. Mr. Leary owns a farm of one hundred and thirty acres and does general farming and contracting for gravel road building. He built a home in 1913, a beautiful residence of twelve rooms, modern, surrounded by an iron fence and well-kept spacious lawn.

Mr. Leary is making a success as a contractor and now has a contract for the construction of a twelve-thousand-dollar gravel road two miles north of Mt. Comfort. He is preparing to have a private railroad switch built to his gravel pit.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 912-913.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI September 27, 2001.

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