Virgil Louis (Lee) Leonard

1885 - 1953  (67 years)

• Name	Virgil Louis (Lee) Leonard
  Born	22 Nov 1885	Utah
  Gender	Male
  Died	16 May 1953	Santa Clara, California
  Buried	Cyprus Lawn, Colma, California
  		Memorial for Virgil Lee Leonard with Headstone Find a Grave
  Person ID	I6838	Grow
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2013

  
  

  Father	Andrew Thomas Leonard,   b. 1 Apr 1861, New York, New York ,   d. 18 Apr 1906, San Francisco Earthquake  (Age 45 years)
  Mother	Julia Ellen Grow,   b. 21 Nov 1865, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah ,   d. 20 Apr 1953, 885 Valencia St., San Francisco, San Francisco, California  (Age 87 years)
  Married	27 May 1883	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
  Family ID	F313	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Ann Crossman,   b. Abt 1893, Lehi, Utah
  Married	1911	Garfield, Utah
  	Family Information received from Diane Leonard Anderson, 19 Jun 2012
  Divorced	1917	Divorced
  Children	1. Lucretia Nellie Leonard,   b. 17 Oct 1912, Garfield, Utah, Utah ,   d. 28 Jun 1995, Glenn, Glenn, California  (Age 82 years)   2. Virgil Oreil Leonard,   b. 26 Apr 1914, Garfield, Utah, Utah ,   d. 11 Aug 1996, San Rafael, Marin, California  (Age 82 years)   3. Elwyn Leonard,   b. 26 Jul 1915, Utah ,   d. 20 Oct 1915, Midvale, Salt Lake, Utah  (Age 0 years)
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2013
  Family ID	F4203	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 22 Nov 1885 - Utah Married - 1911 - Garfield, Utah Died - 16 May 1953 - Santa Clara, California  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Julia Ellen's family - L to R Vigil Lee Leonard, Henry Grow Leonard, Ernest Johnson, front L to R Lucretia Leonard Johnson, Julia Ellen Grow Leonard Forman Received from Diane Leonard Anderson
  		1920's-1930's Lucretia Leonard Johnson, Virgil Leonard, Millie Canning, Henry Leonard. Posted to Ancestry.com by WDCan
  		Virgil Louis Leonard
  		Lucretia Grow Leonard Left to Right : Lucretia, Virgil, Millie and Henry Leonard

  
  

• Notes

  Virgil's Children were raised by his Sister Lucretia Contributed By ethandavidfabela1 · 4 January 2015 This story provided to me by my Uncle Dave, Virgil's great nephew. Virgil married a woman by the name of Ann Crossman. Apparently (according to Millie Canning), Nellie Grow, their mother, was not very happy with her son, Virgil and Nellie let her young daughter-in-law know this fact every chance that she had. Virgil and Ann were married in 1910 in Midvale, Utah. He was in his late 20?s and she was around 16 or so. Millie said that she and her other brothers and sisters really liked their new sister-in-law. She was supposed to be very sweet and full of fun. Virgil was very quiet and did not bother to step in and tell his mother to mind her own business. Ann gave birth to a daughter Nellie in Oct of 1912, she then miscarried another child in mid 1912. In 1914, April 26th she gave birth to Oriel Leonard. In early 1916 she gave birth to a second son, named Benjamin, after Millie Canning's husband. Young Benjamin lived for about three months and died from pneumonia during the flu epidemic. Nellie, Ann's mother-in-law told everyone, especially Ann, that the little boy's death was probably from Ann's inadequate ability to take care of her children. Ann was 22 at the time and Nellie was a continuous meddler. Millie, Henry and Lucretia begged Virgil to stand up to his mother, But he either would not, or could not. Virgil was extremely close to his domineering mother. He was supposedly very quiet and, according to his sister Millie, very moody. Millie Canning received a phone call from Ann, asking her to please meet Ann at the train station. When Millie arrived. Ann (with Nellie and Oriel) was standing at the station with her baggage. Ann told Millie that she could no longer stand what was going on and she was leaving. She had very little money and didn't know where she would be going so, she could not take the children. She asked Millie to promise her that her mother-in-law, Nellie Forman, would never get her hands on her children. Millie said she tried to stop Ann from going but the poor young girl was too distraught, and seemed to feel there was no other way to save herself and refused to stay. Millie said that this was simply heartbreaking. Millie took the two babies home with her, called her brother, Virgil, at work and told him to get over to her home. Millie and Ben William Canning agreed to raise Nellie and Oriel and the two children lived with them until Oriels fourth birthday. Nellie Forman wanted Oriel to have a picture taken in on of those "Little Lord Flauntleroy" frilly outfits and Aunt Millie said no. She told her mother that she didn't dress her other boys like that and she was going to be "damned" if she would dress Oriel like that. Nellie Forman went to her son, Virgil, and convinced him that both his children would be better off being raised by his other sister Lucretia and her husband Ernest Johnson. She said the since Lucretia was unable to have children of her own she could give more attention to Nellie and Oriel. So, of course, Virgil did what his mother suggested, and the children were raised by the Johnsons. The Johnsons wanted to legally adopt the children but their natural father would not allow this. Virgil did however purchase all of the homes in which Ernest, Lucretia and the children lived. When Oriel was 16 years old his mother Lucretia was in the hospital for some type of operation. The phone rang and when he answered a woman"s voice came on and said, "Ernest?" Oriel replied replied, " no, ma'am, this is Oriel. My dad is still at work. May I take a message for him?" The woman then said, "No, Virgil (Oriel) this is Ann. Your mother. I am passing through the city and would like to see you and Lucretia." Oriel, said that that would be okay, and she came to the house in the Amazon district of San Francisco to see both his sister and him. Oriel said that she stayed for about an hour and this was the only time he and his sister ever saw her. They were too young to remember the train incident. Dianne (Oriels daughter) asked him how he felt when he saw his mother and these were his exact words in reply, "Well, she seemed nice, but I didn't feel anything. My mother was in St. Luke's Hospital." Lucretia was a really dear woman but she had a drinking problem and so did Ernest. The only difference was Ernest was extremely abusive. He was a good person but drink made him do things he never would have done when sober. His abuse was directed mostly at Oriel and Virgil was always removing him from the Johnson home and then returning him. Oriel never complained about his upbringing although he did marry under his natural father?s name of Leonard. Oriel"s daughter Dianne Anderson said that her father never raised his hand to either her or her mother. Dianne's mother, Eleanor, never let anyone tell Diane about how her father grew up, she was fond of Lucretia and Ernest and did not want Dianne to view them differently. Dianne just loved her Grandma Cretia, Dianne said that she was so pretty and just great fun and that Grandpa was always nice to me, but he was quite distant. Dianne and Grandma Johnson were looking at pictures one day and they came upon a picture of a young girl and a slightly older man. Dianne asked who the two people were and she replied, "That is your Uncle Virg and his wife Ann. They never had any children. Only my sister, Millie and I were blessed with children. Both of my brothers, Virgil and Henry never had any children." At this time Dianne already knew that Uncle Virg was really her fathers father and was not her uncle but her grandfather. She relates, "Uncle Virg died on May 20, 1953, exactly one month to the day of Grandma Forman's death (Virgil's mother). I met him twice. He seemed nice. He was about 5' 2" tall, quite dapper and very, very quiet. Oriel always maintained that Millie Canning, his Aunt and his Grandpa Thomas Forman were two of the rocks in his life. He said that they were two of the most loving people he ever knew. Dianne Johnson wrote "I think our family history points out that the "real" parents is a very subjective thing. The real parents of Lucretia (Nellie) and Virgil (Oriel) Leonard were, and are, Lucretia and Ernest Johnson. Even though I had been aware of the situation for as long as I can remember, the only grandparents on my paternal side are the two people I called and loved, " Grandma and Grandpa Johnson."