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MERCER COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
"John \"Bill\" Wheeler"
wheeler@gru.net
December 7, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume ll.
Pg. 114-115
Everett A Leonard Jr., went into business soon after finishing his education,
was a merchant for several years in old Virginia, and for the past twenty years
he has been a resident of Bluefield and a prominent factor in the growth and
development, keeping apace with the city itself, of the Bluefield Hardware
Company, of which he is president and manager.
Mr. Leonard was born in Russell County, Virginia, August 15, 1876, son of
Edward A. and Eliza (Reynolds) Leonard, both natives of Virginia, his father of
Washington County and his mother of Russell County. Edward A. Leonard was a
Baptist minister and was also a Confederate soldier, all through the war with a
Virginia Regiment. The last year he was captured and was confined in a federal
prison at Rock Island.
Everett A. Leonard Jr., acquired a common school education, finished his
high school course in Russell County in 1893, and about that time his parents
removed to Greene County, Tennessee. While there he attended Mosheim College,
and took a six months commercial course at Lexington, Kentucky. After completing
his education Mr. Leonard determined to seek his opportunities in the far west,
but after about a year as bookkeeper for the Western Mercantile Company at
Weston, Oregon, he changed his mind about the west and returned to Old Virginia,
For three years he was employed in the hardware business at Lebanon by Mr. A.
Hendricks, and then bought this business and conducted it as proprietor until
1900. On selling out his business at Lebanon Mr. Leonard removed to Bluefield,
which was then just coming into prominence as a commercial center of the great
industrial district of Southern West Virginia He connected himself with
Bluefield Hardware Company as one of its traveling salesmen, and for nearly ten
years was on the road. By his personal and faithful efforts he contributed in no
small measure to the great volume of that company's business, and the confidence
reposed in the corporation by a host of retailers. After about ten years Mr.
Leonard was made vice president of the company, and for the past six years has
been president and general manager. The Bluefield hardware company is one
largest organizations of the kind in the state, has a capital and surplus of
$700,000.00. and does an annual business aggregating $2,000,000.
In 1898 at Castlewood, Russell County, Virginia, Mr. Leonard married Miss
Eleanor Fields, daughter of William and Elizabeth Fields. Her father was a
confederate soldier and at the battle of Petersburg was shot through the thigh,
a severe wound from which he suffered all the rest of his life.
He was by occupation a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have one daughter, Lucille
Alton. Mr. Leonard is a Baptist, while Mrs. Leonard and her daughter are
members of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Leonard, while he has kept his mind closely on business, is a man of
genial qualities and of wholesome companionship and is identified with several
social organizations. He is a member of the Fallsmills Fishing Club, Chamber of
Commerce, plays golf at the Bluefield Country Club, and is fond of all outdoor
sports. He is a Knight Templar and Royal Arch Mason, a Shriner and a
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. In Politics he is a democrat.
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