Leedy, John W., governor of the State of Kansas from 1897 to 1899, was born in Richland county, Ohio, March 8, 1849. His parents were members of the Dunkard church, and his early years were passed under the strict discipline of that religious faith. While still in his boyhood he was thrown on his own resources by the death of his father, and began his career as a farm hand. In 1864, when in his fifteenth year, he tried to enlist in a military company that was forming in his native county, but owing to his youth and the protests of his mother he was rejected. He followed the company to the front, however, and remained with it until the close of the war. In 1865 he went to Pierceton, Ind., where he was employed as a clerk in a store for about three years. At the end of that time, preferring outdoor life, he went to Macoupin county, Ill., and found employment on a farm near Carlinville. He remained there until 1880, when he removed to Kansas and engaged in farming near Le Roy, Coffey county. Mr. Leedy was reared in a firm belief in the tenets of the Republican party, with which he was affiliated until 1875, when he became a Democrat. When the Populist party was organized in 1890, he again changed his party allegiance, and soon came to be recognized as one of the Populist leaders in Kansas. In 1892 he was elected to the state senate, where he served until elected governor of the state in 1896. At the close of his two years' term as governor he became interested in mining operations in the vicinity of Galena. In 1901 he went to Alaska, and later located at White Court, Alberta, Can., where he still resides. In 1875, while working on the farm near Carlinville, Mr. Leedy married Miss Sarah J. Boyd of Frederickstown, Ohio, and to this union were born three children.