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Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study

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Location: Leonard, Clearwater, Minnesota, United Statesmap
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Other Clearwater County, Minnesota OPS: Clearbrook, Minnesota One Place Study | Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study | Gonvick, Minnesota One Place Study

Contents

Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study

This profile is part of the Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study.
{{One Place Study|place=Leonard, Minnesota|category=Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study}}

Purpose of Study

The objective of this place study and its two nearest neighbors, Clearbrook, Minnesota One Place Study and Gonvick, Minnesota One Place Study, are to document the history of places and people in Northern Clearwater County, Minnesota. The Northern half of Clearwater County was opened for settling from the diminished Red Lake Indian Reservation in 1896. Many families built this area from scratch, and while some left legacies and stories, some did not. These one place studies aim to provide a space for continued research into the genealogy of all settlers and past residents, in order to understand more about patterns of migration, document stories of settlers, and compile well-sourced lists of past residents of the county for future genealogical and historical uses. To assist in the Wikitree mission of creating a global tree, all persons within one degree of anyone counted in these one place studies will have pages created with proper sourcing and categorization.

The Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study covers Dudley Township (including the village of Leonard), Sinclair Township, and the Eastern half of Holst Township, all areas historically considered to be in the Leonard area.

Northern Clearwater County One Place Study boundaries and overlap
Many people and places covered in this one place study will overlap with the Clearbrook, Minnesota One Place Study. As the smaller town in a rural area, Leonard is sometimes considered to be just part of the Clearbrook area, but it has a separate history and people that are exclusively associated with Leonard.

Name

Leonard is a city in Clearwater County, Minnesota, United States. It was named after Leonard French, the son of one of Leonard's pioneer settlers.

Geography

Continent: North America
Country: United States
State/Province: Minnesota
County: Clearwater
GPS Coordinates: 47.651944, -95.272222
Elevation: 1,453 ft (443 m)

History

Dudley Township opened for settlement on May 15, 1896. The first trading post within the township was located on the George French homestead on the West side of Four Legged Lake. Inside this trading post, the post office of Leonard was established on August 1, 1899. It was named after George French's young son Leonard. On May 19 of that year, the township of Dudley was organized. Initially, it was in Beltrami County. On November 4, 1902, Clearwater County was established as an independent county. More businesses were founded in the coming years, and in 1911 the Soo Line Railroad was built just North of Leonard P.O. In 1922, the village of Leonard was incorporated.

Townships

Sinclair Township, just north of Dudley Township, and Holst Township, just West of Dudley Township, were also opened for homesteaders at the same time. The village of Leonard, being located in Sections 8 & 9 of Dudley Township, is close to both of these townships. Those in Dudley, Sinclair, and the East half of Holst Township were usually considered to be in the Leonard area. Starting in 1916, a creamery was organized in Leonard that serviced farmers in those areas.

Dudley Township was named after Frank Dudley, a Beltrami County official at the time of founding. It was organized in 1899, three years before Clearwater County broke away from Beltrami County.

Sinclair Township was named after John Sinclair, an early resident of Neving.

Holst Township was named after Hans Holst, an early resident and later county sheriff. Petitions for organization do not call it Holst, instead calling it Silver Creek.

Churches

In early 1916, a church congregation was organized in Leonard. Zion Lutheran Church was built later that year, servicing local Lutherans exclusively in the Swedish language. Southwest of Leonard, a church had already been established between 1897 and 1899, which was the Norway Lake Congregation. Norway Lake built its first church in 1905, serving the local Lutherans with Norwegian language services. A smaller congregation was founded before 1915 East of Leonard, the East Zion church. In 1941, Norway Lake and East Zion merged their congregations, creating the United Lutheran Church. In 1966, both the Zion Lutheran Church and Norway Lake building were put on trailers and placed on the street corner in Leonard, becoming one building, Our Savior's Lutheran Church.

Within the city

The village of Leonard has never contained a great number of buildings and businesses. There was formerly a bank, grain elevator, sawmill and lumberyard, blacksmith, Soo Line depot, post office, hotel, multiple grocery stores, multiple hardware stores, a butcher, a creamery, and a shoe store. More recently Leonard is a church, cafe, gas station, general store, bar, saddle shop, construction company, and public park.

Amish and Mennonites

A recent phenomenon in Leonard is an influx of Mennonite residents. An Amish community existed for a few years before in the areas around Pine Lake near Gonvick, but during the 2000s, a wave of Mennonites came to Leonard and bought land. Many farms became abandoned or old farmers passed on without anyone to continue their farms during that time as well, which has made lots of space for these new settlers. Through some more years of expanding their community, it is hard to miss their influence on modern Leonard, being spottable biking or buggy-ing through the rural streets. Their bustling community is so recent, however, that hardly any local Amish and Mennonites are deceased, and they have no familial connections to the original settlers and their families. Combining this with their tradition of avoiding electricity, including the internet, makes it difficult to research this community without violating the privacy of living people. While it is worth mentioning their existence and history as a group in the area, this one place study should not be expected to research many Amish or Mennonite individuals.

Cemeteries

Most residents of the Leonard area were buried in local cemeteries. The following is the history and locations of cemeteries associated with Leonard.

  • Norway Lake Cemetery, founded in 1897, was an early cemetery associated with the Norwegian speaking Norway Lake Congregation. The church that once stood on the site is now in Leonard, and burials spread across just under 4 acres. It is managed by Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Leonard.
  • Dudley Township Cemetery. Its early history is not known. It was a burial place for local non-Scandinavians but became the only public cemetery in the township, containing some unmarked burials. It is just over 1 acre.
  • East Zion Cemetery, founded soon after settlers arrived in 1896, is a 1.5-acre cemetery East of Leonard. East Zion Church is also on the property.
  • Sinclair Cemetery, formerly called Neving or Mission Cemetery, was also founded soon after settlers arrived. It is under 1.5 acres and is located Northeast of Leonard.
  • Seljord Cemetery was one of the first churches in the county and was the first church in the northern half, starting in 1899. There are 2 acres of burials as well as a church on the property located North of Leonard and East of Clearbrook.
  • East Seljord Cemetery, also called Westby Cemetery due to the Westby family's use of it, is located next to Armstrong Lake, North of Leonard.
  • Bagley City Cemetery is the largest public cemetery in the area, and was the final resting place for people across the entire county.

Genealogical Sources

Censuses

Censuses are not only a valuable tool for genealogy, but are also a checklist for residents of the community. This community was enumerated in the 1895 and 1905 Minnesota State Census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950 United States Federal Census. This also provides a backup to third party sources and corrects errors in transcriptions on other sites. Profiles are linked as they appear in each census. Work in progress.

1895*† 1900* 1905 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950
Leonard N/A N/A N/A L10 L20 L30 L40 L50
Dudley D95 Dudley-1900 Dudley-1905 D10 D20 D30 D40 D50
Sinclair S95 Sinclair-1900 Sinclair-1905 S10 S20 S30 S40 S50
Holst H95 SilverCreek-1900 Holst-1905 H10 H20 H30 H40 H50

*Before 1902, all of Clearwater County townships and cities were in Beltrami County.

†Small sections of what would become southern Clearwater County were included in the 1895 Minnesota State Census.

Homestead Records

The Bureau of Land Management General Land Office kept records of completed homesteads through land patents for most of the United States. These records provide a list of homesteaders to be placed in the Clearwater County, Minnesota category. In the future, there will be free space pages for each township's homesteaders with custom plat map images showing which plots were homesteaded and which were not, acerage of homesteads, double homesteaded plots, and eventually through work with the Minnesota State Historical Society's collections of land office notes, records of failed and cancelled homesteads as well.

Sources





Images: 2
Leonard, Minnesota - 1939 Aerial Photograph, Cropped
Leonard, Minnesota - 1939 Aerial Photograph, Cropped
Northern Clearwater County One Place Study boundaries and overlap
Northern Clearwater County One Place Study boundaries and overlap
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Categories: Clearwater County, Minnesota | One Place Studies | Community, Place Studies | Minnesota, Place Studies | Leonard, Minnesota One Place Study | Leonard, Minnesota