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# THE LATE LEONARD CASE. Sketch of the Life and Character of the late Leonard Case, Esq. Leonard Case, Esq., was born on the 29th day of July, 1784, in the County of Westmoreland, in the State of Pennsylvania. In the year 1800 his parents moved into Trumbull County, in this State, and settled near Union; their family then consisting of five children, all of whom are still living, except the subject of this notice. In the fall of the next year (1801) a violent attack of disease left him both a cripple for life and the subject of more or less suffering at all times, and most of the time of a most severe character. When he found himself slowly recovering, his mind naturally dwelt upon his future prospects for obtaining a livelihood. To be dependent upon his friends for his daily bread he could not. Under these circumstances the natural energy, indomitable perseverance, and independence of mind which ever characterized him, manifested itself. His opportunities for education, as there was no common school in the almost wilderness country where he had so far lived, had been very limited, and consequently he had obtained the merest elements of education. He came deliberately to the conclusion that the only chance for him to support himself was by his pen. As soon, therefore, as he was able to sit up in bed, he caused a board to be fastened up before him in such a manner that he could use it in learning to write and cipher. In this way, before he could leave his bed, he obtained a fair common school education for those times. As soon, also, as his strength permitted, in order to contribute to his own support and to occupy his mind, he commenced the manufacture of such articles as could be made in the house and disposed of in the neighborhood. This same independence of character, and desire to lead a life of usefulness, led him in the year, 1806, to leave his fathers house, not from necessity, but choice, and go into Warren, where the prospect of supporting himself by his pen promised a better chance of success. Here, without money or influential friends, he was compelled to struggle hard for a time with poverty, but his close attention to whatever business was entrusted to him, his accuracy, his sterling, sound common sense, all combined with what was soon found to be an unyielding integrity of character, brought him friends, among those who were then the prominent and wealthy men of Warren, whose friendship and confidence he was grateful to feel he retained through life. John S. Edwards, a lawyer and Recorder of Trumbull county, which then embraced the whole of the Western Reserve, was one of these friends, whose memory he always cherished, who furnished him writing, advised him to study law, and furnished him books until he was admitted to the bar. While living here, during the war of 1812, occurred one of those incidents strongly illustrative of the careful, correct, and conscientious discharge of duty which characterized him through life. He was collector of non-resident taxes in the Reserve, and as such had to give heavy bail. He was compelled to go to Chilliosthe to make his settlement. Before leaving, he ascertained the amount of money which each township in the Reserve was entitled to, put it up in an envelope, wrote the name of the township upon it, deposited the whole with his friend Edwards, on his promise that if any misfortune occurred to him on his journey, that ho would see that that the several amounts were paid over as directed on the wrapper. Before his return, however, his friend Edwards went to our army in the Maumee country, where he died suddenly. Much to the gratification of Mr. Case, however he found he money precisely where he left it. In the year 1816, Mr. Case was appointed Cashier of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, when he immediately came to this city, which has been his home ever since. It is a singular fact connected with this Bank, that Mr. Case, a cripple and always suffering as he did, survived all of the original directors and officers thereof. With the performance of the duty of Cashier, Mr. Case combined the practice of law in this city and all the adjoining counties, and also in an extensive land agency. The bank, in common with most of the banks of the country, was compelled in a short time to suspend business, but Mr. Case continued in the active practice of the law until perhaps the year 1834, and continued his land agency until a comparatively recent period, when his increasing infirmity, and the care of his own extensive estate caused him to close up all his agencies and decline all further business for others. The business of land agency, and especially his agency for the sale of the Connecticut Western Reserve School lands, furnished him a fine opportunity for indulging in his natural taste for tracing out the history of land titles, and the individuals connected with them. Gifted naturally with an unusually retentive memory, he made himself master of the whole history of the titles derived from the Connecticut Land Company, and of almost every individual member of the company. His information on this subject was so extensive and accurate that he was almost daily called on by some person for information about the early history of some title or some person connected with it, which he always freely, cheerfully, and with great apparent pleasure, gave. When Mr. Case first came to this then small village of Cleveland, he took a lively and active interest in all measures having for their object the improvement of the village, in opening up and improving the streets, in sustaining schools and building school-houses, in sustaining public preaching, and contributed liberally for all these objects, was the first to set the example of planting native shade trees upon the streets, which now so beautify our city, and in the construction of roads