The father of the man for whom Leachtown was named was Captain George Leach; he was born, reared, and married in Eastern Virginia. He came to Wood County, then a part of Harrison, in 1805, by way of Wheeling. His son Willis was then 15 years of age. Willis was in the War of 1812. On July 3, 1814, he married Mary Barnett. Mary's parentage; a certain Count Peybolt and Countess of Prussia started for America with two children. The Count and Countess both died and were buried in the ocean. The Captain of the sailing vessel, on arriving at Baltimore, bound the boy to a General Barnett, a prominent planter in eastern Virginia. The General liked the boy so well that he adopted him as his own son and gave him his name, John Barnett. As the boy grew to manhood, he proved to be unusually worthy and industrious. In the year 1793 he had so won the confidence of his adopted father and the heart of the daughter, Mary, an only child, that they were married. In Mary's mother's veins flowed Indian blood as pure as that of the Princess Pocahontas. General Barnett's home and estate was near Manassas Gap, Virginia. He gave this loving couple his blessing, an excellent start in life, a group of negro servants, and power to purchase a tract of land in the enticeing West. Late in 1795 or 1796 they came with one small son to Wood County on the Little Kanawha River. Here he cleared 200 acres of land and in progress of time added more until he had an extensive farm. This was on the other side of the river five miles below here. This Captain Leach's farm was near the Barnetts and after Willis Leach and Mary Barnett were married, they came up to the dam and built a grist mill. Here they lived and prospered and the place was named Leachtown. After some years the mill was sold to a Mr. Weiser. Later some parts of it were taken away by high water. Willis Leach moved across the river from what is now Kanawha Station. He later went to Wellston, Ohio, where he died and is buried. After rearing a large family there resides here now one grand daughter, Nancy Buckner Hickman; one grandson, Captain Clayton Buckner; one niece, Mrs. Josephine Bibbee Bailes; three nephews; Paul H. Bibbee, William Mullens, and Mr. Frank Buckner.
