Posted March 28, 1999 Leslie Reunion 1999 home page | Start of family tree
Note: Joe Foster of Toronto sent me a copy of an
article from the "History of Cincinnati and Hamilton Counties"
(p 725, circa 1900). This is
an edited version of the article.
Leslie Foster
This well known and widely respected citizen of Cincinnati has been identified with the city's growth and material and intellectual progress for considerably more than half a century. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 1819, he inherited those well known characteristics which have made the Scotchman an example of thrift and intelligence wherever he has cast his lot. His parents were John and Margaret (Scott) Leslie.
After acquiring a primary education in the grammar schools of his native city, our subject came with his parents to America in 1834, locating in New York City. There as occasion afforded he followed his studies, and soon after his arrival was apprenticed to learn the trade of gold-beater to a house engaged in the manufacture of gold leaf, and dentists' gold foil.
He finished his apprenticeship in 1838, four years later, and came to Cincinnati. His brother Andrew M. had learned the gold-beater's trade and a little earlier and the two introduced that branch of manufacture in Cincinnati, in a small plant on the site of the present Baldwin piano store on Fourth Street.
The style of the firm was A. & J. Leslie and the brothers continued business harmoniously and profitably until 1842, when James withdrew and entered Bethany College in Virginia (now West Virginia) of which Alexander Campbell was at that time President.
After his return to Cincinnati, he succeeded his brother in the business he had established, the latter at that time entering the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and subsequently becoming and long continuing to be one of the leading lights of the dental profession of Cincinnati and the West.
Dr. Leslie continued the old business until 1863, when he disposed of his interest to Messrs. Lockwook and Maguire, his two oldest apprentices, under whose ownership it was well known for many years, and both of whom are now dead.
Meantime, in association with his brother, whom he aided greatly in many ways, Dr. Leslie had acquired a thorough knowledge of dentistry, and the requirements of the dental profession, and upon relinquishing the old business, he opened a depot of dental supplies on Race Street, at the corner of Fourth. This enterprise he carried out with much success from 1863 to 1873, when he disposed of it and retired finally from active life.
Since that time, he has given much attention to the improvement of dental materials along scientific lines, devoting himself to practical work in his field to such good effect that he has become known as one of the most original and beneficent workers for the advancement of this branch of surgical science.
Dr. Leslie has all his life been an advocate of everything tending to the broadest lawful human liberty. As an abolitionist, he was in the days of the Freesoil agitation equally prominent here. The same love of humanity and equal rights for all, which made him risk his financial prosperity, even his life, for the freedom of the negro, early made him a stanch advocate of female suffrage, which he still urges as opportunity offers, firm in his conviction that woman will eventually, and at no remote date, take her place side by side with man in the management of those interests which no one can deny affect the sexes in like manner.
Dr. Leslie in 1839, united with the Cincinnati Disciples' Church, now the Central Christian Church. During the protracted period of his membership, he has constantly exerted himself for the upbuilding of the Church, and has from time to time filled every office in its gifts with the greatest devotion and utmost fidelity.
In 1852, Dr. Leslie was married to Miss Rachel Marsh, a daughter of William F. (familiarly known as "Uncle Billy") Marsh, proprietor of the old "Gault House" which was then a center of the visible activity of the town, in which Mr. Marsh was long a conspicuous figure. Mrs. Leslie died in 1853, and in 1854, Dr. Leslie married Miss Elizabeth Orange, a native of Kentucky, who died in 1887. He has had born to him six children, two of whom survive, Dollie O. Leslie, and Lillie R. Donnell, widow of Edward P. Donnell.