52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 5): Influencer: Professor Leonard of the Texas School for the Blind, Austin, Texas

 

For the Week 5 challenge of Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, I’m going to focus on an influencer in my husband’s family.

William Robert Leonard (May 1853-Drogheda, Louth, IRE – 22 Feb 1905-Austin, Travis County, TX) was my husband’s great-grandfather. His father, also named William (1817-1853), died a few months after William Robert was born. The older William was a teacher, having been the master at St. Peter’s Parochial Schools in Drogheda, County Louth, in 1846, and later, in 1853, at the Mechanic’s Institute in Drogheda before he died.

William Robert arrived in America on 2 Feb 1874 on the ship, Canadian, which came into the port of Baltimore, Maryland. He had traveled with his school friend, Isaac Gillespie, and Isacc’s brother. At Baltimore the trio split up and went different ways.

William Robert Leonard (1853-1905)

The story is long as to how William Robert Leonard made his way to Texas, and I’ll save that for another time. Many of his years were spent in Austin, Travis County, Texas, where he taught in the public schools, and went on to become principal of the Texas State School for the Blind (15 years).

Why did I think of him as an influencer when I saw this challenge? It was his gravestone that told a story all its own.

In the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas, he is remembered by his former students. They put up a gravestone in his honor.

The front of the stone reads: “William Robert Leonard, April 30, 1853, Feb. 22, 1905, Principal of the Texas State School for the Blind from Sept. 1890 to Feb. 1905.”

On the back of his stone, the former students had these words engraved: “This stone is Erected in loving memory by his former pupils to commemorate his excellent leading and his many Virtues.”

 I can't help but think that Professor Leonard, as he was called, was there for his students when they needed them, encouraging them as they studied at the School for the Blind, and maybe, just maybe, after their graduation from the school. We'll never know for sure, but upon his death their words were etched in this stone for his family and others to see that he was an "influencer" in their lives. What a legacy he left behind. 

"Thank you" to Professor Leonard and those other teachers who are influencers in the lives of their students.  

- Revis 

#52 Ancestors