Celia Willeford ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Celia Willeford was the daughter of Samuel and Rhoda [Jackson] Willeford. She was probably named after a first cousin who died in infancy in 1834/35, another Celia Willeford, the daughter of John and Susannah Smallwood Willeford. A biography of her uncle, John, is listed below in "Related Information."

This particular Celia Willeford's parents, Sam and Rhoda Willeford, were natives of Kentucky. It isn't sure exactly when they arrived in Iowa, but sometime early in the white settlement of the southeast part of the state, they moved to Henry County (John and Susannah were there in 1836).

Celia grew up in Henry County married James W. Leas of Indiana (sometimes spelled Lease), the son of Jane [Walker] and Thomas Chapman Leas. He and his mother and siblings had moved to the New London, Iowa, area, about seven miles east of Mount Pleasant, by about 1839/1840; his father was already apparently dead at the time the left Indiana with other family members (the Tryer and Hardin families).

By following the link on James Leas's name you will get the list of known descendants of his marriage to Celia. It is unsure if presently all the dates on his wife are correct; they were taken from an Iowa census that may have some questionable information in it.

Celia married James W. Leas, son of Thomas Chapman Leas and Jane Walker, about 1851. (James W. Leas was born on 1 Apr 1832 in Covington, Fountain Co., IN and died in 1915.)