Daniel Louis "D. L." Leas ¹

   Another name for Daniel was D. L. Leas.

  General Notes:

Biography of Daniel Louis Leas, pages 704/705/706/707. History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.

The gentleman whose name appears at the head of this biographical review needs no introduction to the people of DeKalb county, since his entire active life has been spent in this section of the state, a life devoted not only to the fostering of his own interest, but also to the welfare of the community at large.

An honorable representative of one of the esteemed families of his section and a gentleman of high character and worthy ambitions, he has filled no small place in the public view. He is a splendid type of the intelligent, up-to-date, self-made American in the full sense of the term, a man of the people, with their interests at heart. As a citizen he is progressive and abreast of the times in all the concerns the common weal.

Although a partisan, with strong convictions and well defined opinions on questions on which men and parties divide, he has the esteem and confidence of the people of the community and his personal friends are in number as his acquaintances, regardless of party ties.

Daniel Louis Leas is a native of the old Hoosier state and was born in Steuben county on October 17, 1865, and is a son of John Leas. The latter is represented at length elsewhere in this work, therefore further detailed mention of the subject's ancestral history will not be made at this point. When Daniel L. Leas was about three years old, the family moved to a farm immediately north of Waterloo, where he was reared to manhood,

He attended the common schools and later the high school at Waterloo, where he was graduated in 1884. He then took a commercial course at the Tri-State Normal School, in finishing the complete course, after which he assisted his father on the home farm and in the latter's bank until his marriage in 1889, after which he formed a partnership with J. C. Boyer and engaged in the general merchandise business at Waterloo. They prospered in this business, but about six and a half years after their start they were burned out, suffering a total loss of store building and stock. Mr. Leas then bought Mr. Boyer's interest in the lot and erected a two-story brick business block, which he now occupies and there is engaged in the dry goods business, handling ladies' and gents' furnishings, hats, caps, shoes, carpet, draperies, clothing and other auxiliary lines.

When Mr. Leas became a partner with Mr. Boyer they also conducted a feed and grain business in connection with the general mercantile work, and this line Mr. Leas has continued with splendid success. About 1904 he erected the elevator at Waterloo and continued also to run this and with this, as with his other enterprises, he had been eminently successful.

In1895 Mr. Leas embarked in one of the most important lines with which he has been connected during this business career, that of hay, in which he has achieved a big success and acquired a widespread reputation. He erected large hay barns at Waterloo and was in that business for about sixteen years. He at one time shipped about five hundred car loads of hay a year, but in 1910 he sold this business to his nephew, Earl Leas.

About 1905 Mr. Leas bought the defunct DeKalb Bank at Waterloo, moved the fixtures to Hudson and organized what is now known as the Hudson Bank, which was a pronounced success from the start. About two years after the organization of this institution he sold his interests there to his nephew, Leroy Waterman, and invested heavily in the German-American National Bank in Fort Wayne.

He has also been in various other enterprises and owns a farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres west of Waterloo, and also has property at Angola, Ashley and Toledo. He is one of the organizers of the National Hay Association and has filled nearly all the important office, never missing a meeting of the association. He is a member to the National Grain Dealers' Association, in the workings of which he has been an important factor.

The hay business was his most prominent line until he sold out to his nephew, and in many ways he has given a distinct impetus to business affaires in this locality, being entitled to noteworthy distinction on this account.

He has been essentially a man among men, having ever moved as one who has commanded respect by innate force a swell as by superior ability. As a citizen he easily ranks with the most influential of his compeers on affairs which are for the betterment of his chosen county. While he has carried on special lines of business in such a manner as to gain a comfortable competence for himself, he has also belonged to that class of representative men of affairs who have promoted the public welfare while advancing individual success.

In 1889 Mr. Leas married Nellie Wickwire, who was reared at Angola, Indiana, the daughter of George and Rebecca (Hanna) Wickwire. George Wickwire was born in Seneca county, New York, and died at Angola, Indiana, on October 5, 1883, at the age of sixty-seven year. He was a son of Seba Wickwire, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. He came to Steuben county, Indiana, among the first pioneers, locating about four miles east of Angola, and there became the owner of a section of land which has been kept in the possession of his family ever since. Rebecca Hanna was born probably in Steuben county, this state, and was the daughter of William Hanna,

George Wickwire became a banker at Angola, also owning flour mills at Nevada and saw mill and farming interests in other places. He was twice married, having three children by his first marriage and seven by his marriage with Rebecca Hanna, Mrs. Leas being one of the latter. The mother died in 1875.

Mrs. Leas lived most of her younger life in Angola and completed her educational studies in the Tri-State Normal College at that place. To Mr. and Mrs. Leas has been born a daughter, Nellie Fern, who was born and reared in Waterloo, graduated from the high school in that city in 1908, and then becoming a student in Oxford Seminary at Oxford, Ohio, and also the European School of Music at Fort Wayne. She has also studied drawing and music at Ypsilanti, Michigan, and in the fall of 1913 took charge of music and drawing in the schools of Waterloo, and is an enthusiastic devotee of her work.

In local public affairs Mr. Leas has taken a commendable interest and has been a prominent factor in the advancement of the highest interest in this locality. He was a member of the Waterloo town board two years, and the Waterloo school board six years, his last term expiring in August, 1913. He was a charter member of the Leonidas Lodge No. 205, Knights of Pythias, which was installed in January, 1889, and has filled all the offices in this lodge and twice been its representative in the grand lodge of the state. He was made a member of the Free and Accepted Masons in 1893, and became a thirty-second-degree member of the Scottish Rite branch of that order at the time the Scottish Rite cathedral at Fort Wayne was dedicated, and also at that time he became a Nobel of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Leas has been a man who has looked on the sunny side of life, ever hopeful that the good will rule instead of the bad, and as the result of such a fortunate disposition, he has made it pleasant for those with whom he comes in contact, either in a business or social way. Of kindly nature and sociable impulses, he is also a man of high moral character, and thus enjoys the confidence, good will and friendship of all who know him.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com ²

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence: US Census, 1870, Smithfield Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, USA.

Daniel married Nellie Maude Wickwire, daughter of George Wickwire and Rebecca Hanna, on 6 Jun 1889 in Steuben County, Indiana, USA. (Nellie Maude Wickwire was born on 28 Oct 1868, died on 29 Jul 1948 and was buried in Waterloo Cemetery, Waterloo, Dekalb County, Indiana, USA.)