The records of the Confederacy offer considerable detail about the career of James M Leech (and also his brother, Minus B. Leech): Miss. 19th Regiment Co. E: James M Leech Pvt. in Capt. J.W.C.Smith's Co. of Miss Volunteers. joined May 15, 1861. ........... Apr 6, 1863 detailed on Pioneer Corp. made his escape from Germania Bridge, but lost arms and accouterments. ............................ Jan 4, 1865 Deserter's report: Clarksburg W Va: age 30, 5 ft 8 in. blue eyes; born Lawrence Ala. residence Lafayette Co, Miss. enrolled Oxford Miss May 1861 reported Dec. 18 at Beverly Brigade: Harris remarks: took the oath and released Dec. 24

(This deserter's report looks like more than the words imply, perhaps a general rout at Clarksburg in which a unit dissolved. James seems to have found his way back to Beverly. Perhaps there was no unit for him and he was sent home. Or perhaps it was more like a surrender and a parole. Which army was at Beverly on Dec 18? At any rate the war was approaching its end. Grant faced Richmond and Sherman occupied Savannah. James M Leech had served for almost four years when the end came for him.)

(The "deserter's report" was a key document enabling the writer to trace his ancestry from AL to MS. It provided the only record of James M Leech's birthplace and pointed clearly to the movement of the Leech family from Lawrence Co. AL to Lafayette Co. MS.)

It appears that James M Leech and his younger brother, Minus B. Leech, enlisted in different states:

From "THE ROSTER OF CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS; 1861-1865"; Volume IX Broadfoot Publishing Company; Wilmington, North Car: p. 62 Soldiers with the SURNAME of "LEECH": FROM ARKANSAS - Leech, Minus B. 13th Infantry, Company I. In all liklihood the son of David Leech, who had gone to Arkansas with his step-mother and his older brother, W.A.Leech. Another older brother, John A. Leech was in Izard Co. AR about this time.

FROM MISSISSIPPI Leech, James M. 19th Infantry, Company E- My great grandfather

In 1877 James M Leech married Ella B. Hendricks in Lafayette Co. MS: 1877 Marriage Bonds: Jas M Leech and A.B.Harding for $200 condition that Jas M Leech and Miss Ella B. Hendricks to wed. Before E Andrews Lafayette Co. clerk of court made oath of statutory age. William E. Andrews Clerk issued license. 26 March, 1877 rite of Matrimony celebrated between Mr. Jas M Leech and Mis Ella B. Hendricks. signed by Jas N Boon.

As described above the 1850 Lafayette Co. census showed James M Leech with 4 siblings--two sisters and two brothers. Two older men may be presumed to belong to this family also, Samuel W. and John A. Note that Samuel W. was associated with David Leech, probably David's son, in the Able Johnston deed in Lafayette Co. in 1846. In 1850 S.W. had his own household, and it was next door to Ms. Ella Leach and her 5 listed children. John A Leech appeared in a Lafayette Co. deed in 1847. In 1850 he was in the Pontotoc residence of Rev. Minos B. Feemster.

Reading Stephen Ambrose's biography of Merither Lewis I learned that young men "often got their education by boarding with teachers, almost always preachers or parsons.." It seems likely that David Leech may have gone to Franklin Co. TN to facilitate the instruction of his sons by his cousin, Rev. M.B.Feemster. Some years later, when both families had moved to North Mississippi, John A. was boarding with Feemster, shortly before he was licensed as a Cumberland Presbyerian Minister.)

In 1850 S.W.Leach in Laf, next door to Mrs. E.M.Leach, born Ala, wife Lucinda A, aged 21 b S.C.

1860 Miss Laf census p 7 household 43: Samuel Leach 35 farmer Ala with Lucinda 32 from S.C. Louisa 11 from Miss. Benj 5 from Miss. Lander ? from Miss. this is Paris Post Office.

1860 King James 36 SC Miss Laf census 008 household 42 (next door to Samuel Leach, brother of James M Leach.) This is James King, son of Benjamin King, not James Farr Leech, son of Samuel Thomas Leech as I erroneously reported earlier.

1870 Leach S.W. Miss Laf (Oxford) census 750 S.W. Leach 52 L.A. 42 L.A. 21 B.J. 15

My grandfather, Bernard Odell Leech, was born in 1879 in Taylor, MS, a few miles southwest of Oxford in Lafayette Co.

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.

Two daughters were born in Memphis: In 1903 Mary Maud Leech. In 1921 she married Robert L. Clayton. In 1904 Minnie 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.

The Bray family is subject for another discourse.