First Generation

1. Walter Bradford LEONARD was born on 4 Feb 1887 in Bristol, RI. [NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE: Graduated] He died on 26 Mar 1956 in Cranston, RI. [NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE: Order of birth] He was buried in North Burial Ground, Providence, RI. Parents were residing in Bristol in 1888. Verification of birth from copy of birth certificate and also checking the VR's of Bristol.

Walter graduated from grammar school in 1901 in East Providence. He gave the impression his family was very poor as he was growing up. He didn't  go to high school, but began working as an office boy for American Emery. By the time he married, he was a salesman. He later became a Vice President of American Emery, responsible for manufacturing. He lost his job as the company downsized in the Great Depression. He later became a salesman for American Emery and later yet had a diamond tool business.

When registering for the World War I draft on June 5, 1917, Walter B.  Leonard 2nd was living at 135 Reservoir Avenue, Providence, with his wife and one child. He was born February 4, 1887, in Bristol, RI, and was working as Asst. President of American Emery Wheel Works on Waterman Street in Providence. He was of medium height and slender build, with light blue eyes and dark brown hair.

The family was living with Edith's father, Ernest, at 135 Reservoir Avenue, Providence, at the 1920 Census, along with Edith's sister Lillian  (Pat). Walter is listed as a Vice President of American Emery. In the1930 Census, family is listed as living at 135 Reservoir Avenue, Providence, District 5, with Ernest Regester, next to Arthur B. and Lillian Dodge and near the John Regester family.

The family lived at 148 Grace Street in Cranston from sometime in the1930's until the late 1940's and summered at Quonochontaug, RI from the early 1900's to the 1930's. Walter was an avid salt water fisherman.

Marriage to Edith Anne Regester February 27, 1906, in East Providence, R.I. verified AC/VR.

The origin of the name Bradford in the family warrants some attention. My grandfather, Walter Bradford Leonard, said that the Bradford came from the family of Governor Bradford. William Bradford was Deputy Governor ofRI in the late 1700's and an earlier William Bradford was governor ofPlymouth Bay Colony in the 1600's. But there is no direct genealogical line to the Bradford family in the Leonard genealogy of our branch. Sothe story becomes a bit more complicated hypothetical. It seems that Abigail Diman Monro, wife of Abraham Leonard, was named after her aunt,Abigail Monro (1770-1851) who married Jeremiah Diman, thereby becoming Abigail Diman. Her daughter, Margaret Diman (1809-1894), who was a second cousin and contemporary of Abigail Diman Leonard, married Allen Taylor Smith Bradford, grandson of Gov. William Bradford. Allen Taylo rSmith Bradford had a relative, Walter Bradford, who died in 1837 at age ?(check) and an uncle, John, son of Gov. Bradford, who married Jemima Wardwell and had a son Walter Bradford, born 13 August 1809, married Sarah W. Macomber 19 June 1845, and died 25 June 1858. Abigail Diman Leonard's son, John Henry Leonard (1823-1879), who was a contemporary and distant cousin of Walter Bradford, named one of his sons Walter Bradford Leonard in 1867 after one of these earlier Walter Bradfords. We're checking for further clarification.