Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



PETER LEAVENS
AND
WILLIAM A. LEAVENS
 
On Prince Edward Island, in the extreme east of Canada, Peter Leavens was born 
January 1, 1844. Until 1868 he there made his home, receiving his schooling in 
the public schools and later learning the carpenter's trade, and then came to 
San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama. From San Francisco he made his way to 
Cordelia, Solano county, where for eight years he worked as a carpenter, and 
then moved to Lafayette, Contra Costa county, where he leased land and became a 
farmer. On December 31, 1863, he had married on Prince Edward Island Miss Martha 
Gerow and to them six children were born, viz.: William A., Euphemia, Walter, 
Louis, Frank (of Dinuba), and Gracie. Walter, Euphemia and Louis are deceased. 
Gracie is the wife of Julius Larson of. Oakland. The mother died in Oakland.
William A. Leavens was born in October, 1864, and was but four years of age when 
his parents came to California. Educated in Solano county, he learned the trade 
of carpenter with his father and has ever since followed that line of work, also 
engaging in ranching at different periods. He married Helen Bordman, and they 
have had three children, Louis A., Frederick R. and Goldie E. Frederick R. 
married Alice Fees and they live at Salinas, Cal. Goldie married Andrew Rader, 
of Hanford, and they have a son and a daughter. Mrs. Leavens passed away in 1891 
and in 1895 Mr. Leavens married Georgia A. Culberson, of Kings county, and three 
sons have been born to them, William Gordon, Bert F. and Edgar R.
From Contra Costa county Peter Leavens brought his family to what is now Kings 
county, Where he followed farming and carpentering. Buying a farm of eighty 
acres near Yettem he made improvements and finally sold, obtaining $100 an acre 
for half, while the other forty acres sold for $125 an acre. Later he purchased 
twenty acres at Yettem which he is now improving and preparing for sale. 
Carpentering, however, has been his chief industry, in which he has met with 
signal success. Mr. Leavens is a Republican in national issues, but in voting 
for local officials he supports the man best suited for office. As a citizen he 
has proven himself most public-spirited and very helpful to the community.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 675-676
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler