From the "Story of Great-Grandmother Leech" (for more information see Master Sources or Elizabeth Haydock):
Amzi Leech and Elizabeth Haydock were married Oct. 19th, 1853. Four years later, in 1857, they came to Cape Girardeau to live, and Amzi Leech became the owner of a general merchandise store on the corner of Main and Themis Street, the best business stand in town at the time. From what I have gathered of A. D. Leech's business methods, I suspect they more nearly resembled 20th Century methods than anything Cape Girardeau had experienced up to that time. He established a cotton market that brought cotton to the Cape from as far South as Arkansas, instead of to Menphis, as previously. It was not an unusual sight in season to see cotton wagons lined up next to the Leech store, down Main street, up Independence and south on Spanish for half a block or more. Mr. Frank Anderson of Commerce once told me that A. D. Leech went personally among the farmers of the lower counties and solicited their business, that he had a charming personality and numbered his friends in Southeast Missouri by the hundreds, the men held their cotton for him because they had confidence in his fair and square dealing. He had faith in the future of Cape Girardeau and gave the town his loyal support. A. D. Leech died in 1873 at the age of thirty nine. |
Amzi Dodridge Leech
Elizabeth L. Haydock
Birth