Source:  Leech Township History
by Lelah Allison

This book was written and copyright, by Lelah Allison, 1954.  Lelah was in college to get her PHD degree.  One of the requirements was to write a book.  About the same time, a group of people thought to write a 'pamplet booklet' about the townships and towns/cities in Wayne County.  As people agreed to write of an area, Lelah took the opportunity to write about Leech Township and to use that to get her PHD.

My grand daughter loves to read (and to me) and, she wants to be a teacher someday.  After she read this to me, she took the information back to share with  her '5th grade class ' since they are studying the southern Illinois histories.

While she was sharing this with her classmates,  I researched until I found relatives of the author.  I asked about the copyright and if I could have permission to put this book on this site.  All three relatives and the publisher gave me permission to put it here.

There is a lot of history and many early settler names mentioned, especially in Part Two.  There were a couple of photos but they were too hard to make out so they are not included here.

Even if your families were not in Leech Township, it is interestting to know how they survived.  Also, when you finish this, you will be as smart as a 5th grader! ha!

Note!  There are many words not spelled right.  I copied them as written.  Also, many thanks to Sue Armstrong for the hours of laughing and proof reading this.

Smiles!

Dianna