Biography - Leonard Fath
Leonard G. FATH, Sheriff, Hillsboro, born in Perryville, Mo., November 20, 1847; son of Leonard and Miss (BARKMAN) FATH, both natives of Germany; he, a farmer by occupation, came to the United States about the year 1840, and now resides in Montgomery County; she came to America with her parents, married in Perryville, Mo., where she died in 1848. Subject, the second son of a family of two sons and one daughter, received his education in the common schools in Missouri, and at the age of fourteen years was taken from school and placed in a blacksmith shop to learn the trade. In 1864, he came to Montgomery County with his parents, and engaged in the agricultural implement and grocery business in Hillsboro, for two years; then giving up mercantile business, he worked at his trade for two year; then removed to Nokomis in 1873, and followed his trade there till the fall of 1876, when he was elected Sheriff, an office which he held for two years, but was, at the end of that time, defeated by a small majority in the convention. He then traveled through the country for nearly a year, selling agricultural implements. At the convention held May 24, 1879, he was again elected Sheriff, an office which he now holds. During the summer of 1879, he spent much of his time in devising a patent plow sulky attachment, which he patented November 30, 1880. His invention is meeting with success among the farmers, and promises to prove remunerative to the inventor. In Montgomery County, February 23, 1871, he married Laura A. MARSHALL, born in Ohio in 1853, daughter of John L. and Harriet (LATTIMORE) MARSHALL; from this union two children have been born - one son, Leo G., living, and one daughter deceased. Mr. FATH owns a house and lot in Hillsboro; he is a Democrat.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 104.
