Biography of Obediah Leas, pages 597/598.  History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



It is by no means an easy task to describe within the 
limits of this review a man who has led an active and 
eminently useful life and by his own exertions reached a 
position of honor and trust in the line of industries with 
which his interests are allied. But biography finds 
justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording 
of such a life history, as the public claims a certain 
property interest in the career of every individual and the 
time invariably arrives when it becomes advisable to give 
the right publicity. It is then with a certain degree of 
satisfaction that the chronicler essays the task of 
touching briefly upon such a record as has been that of the 
subject who now comes under this review.  Obediah Leas was 
born in Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana, on 
November 5, 1851, and is a son of John and Susan (Shimpf) 
Leas, who are represented elsewhere in this work. The 
subject was reared on the paternal farmstead and secured 
his education in the common schools, When he was about 
fifteen years of age the family moved to Smithfield 
township, this county, where he grew to manhood and lived 
until his marriage in 1872. He then moved into Union, now 
Grant township, west of Waterloo, where he began farming 
operations on a rented farm. In about 1873 he bought a farm 
of his own in the same neighborhood and in 1898, after the 
death of his father, he purchased the interests of the 
other heirs in the paternal estate in Smithfield township, 
to which he moved and where he lived about four years. At 
the end of that period he moved into the city of Waterloo, 
where he has since resided, buying his present home about 
two years after coming to this town. While carrying on 
farming operations, and since, Mr. Leas has given much 
attention to the buying, baling and shipping of hay, being 
associated in this business with his brother D. L. Leas, 
for about eighteen years. He was very successful in this 
enterprise and was numbered among the most extensive 
shippers of hay in this section of the state. He is now the 
owner of three hundred and twenty-three acres of splendid 
farming land, besides his property in Waterloo, and is 
numbered among the substantial and enterprising citizens of 
the county.  On November 27, 1872, Obediah Leas married 
Lydia Plumb, the daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Slick) 
Plumb. Both of her parents are now deceased, her father 
dying in 1908 and the mother in 1887. Mrs. Leas was born in 
Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana, but later the 
family moved to Waterloo, where her father was engaged in 
the bakery business with his brother, Richard Plumb. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Leas have been born three children, namely: Byron, 
born October 6, 1873, lives on the old home farm west of 
Waterloo. He married Otie Jones, of Grant township; 
Franklin O., born August 28, 1875, owns a farm in Fairfield 
township, which he operates, together with a part of his 
father’s land. He married Mary Stomm, and they have three 
daughters, Ruah, Verna and Ruby; Lula, the wife of Carl 
Schomberg, lives in Smithfield township on the old farm, 
and they have one son, Franklin.  Fraternally, Mr. Leas is 
a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, while he and his 
wife belong to the auxiliary, Order of the Eastern Star.  
Success has attended Mr. Leas’ efforts because he has 
worked for it along legitimate lines. He has always been 
regarded as a man in whom the utmost confidence could be 
reposed and being friendly and neighborly he is well liked 
by all classes. While he never taken a great deal of 
interest in political affairs, he has always done what he 
could toward the betterment in any way of conditions in his 
community, being public-spirited and broad-minded in his 
views of men and things, hence he enjoys a well deserved 
popularity throughout the community.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com