a blog by Peter Leonard
This is an 1894 map of Forester, Michigan, showing land ownership by two members of the Leonard family. {PDF, 1.1Mb}
The Irish immigrant Patrick John Leonard (b. Aug. 12 1835) has a large farm shown in blue, and his son John Patrick (b. Jan. 7 1875) has a smaller plot shown in red.
In 1863, Forester had a population of 1,100 -- nearly the same as in the 2000 census.
John probably either inherited or bought the second property in the late 1800s when he was in his 20s. We have less information about the other seven siblings. As of the 1980s the original barn was still standing, although the farmhouse on Patrick's property had been torn down, as had a dance hall on the farm. Patrick Leonard died in 1915 in Forester, and his obituary was printed in a local paper.