Leonard R. Beighley

Name: Leonard R. Beighley Company: C
Birth Date: December 24, 1837 Place: Bartules, Pennsylvania	Mustered In Date: February 17, 1862 Rank: Private Age: 24 Residence before military service: Pennsylvania, Minnesota
Death Date: April 21, 1901 Place: Bluffton, Otter Tail County, Minnesota Burial: Wadena, Minnesota	Mustered Out Date: March 9, 1865 Rank: Private Age: 27 Residence following military service: Shell Rock Township, Freeborn County, Minnesota (1880); Spink County, South Dakota; Bluffton, Otter Tail County, Minnesota Vocation following military service: farmer

Leonard Beighley Biographical and Civil War Narrative

Leonard Beighley was born December 24, 1837 in Bartules, Pennsylvania to Peter Samuel and Elizabeth (Hawk) Beighley. On May 30, 1860, Leonard married Sarah E. McReynolds at the home of Sarah's father, Isaac McReynolds, in Freeborn County, Minnesota. Sarah was born February 23, 1836 in Wisconsin. Her father was a Methodist preacher.

Beighley enlisted in Company C of the 5th Minnesota on February 17, 1862, at the age of 24. He was 5 feet, 10 1/2 inches tall and had brown hair and brown eyes. His older brother, Simon, enlisted in the same company about a month later. As members of Company C, the Beighley brothers served garrison duty at Fort Ripley, north of Little Falls, Minnesota, and may have been a part of the detachment to Fort Ridgley, near New Ulm, Minnesota, that defended that fort against Sioux Indians in August 1862.

About two months after Leonard entered the Union Army, Sarah gave birth to a son, Frank L. Beighley. In all, Leonard and Sarah had at least seven children, six of whom were living in the Leonard Beighley household in Shell Rock Township, Freeborn County, Minnesota, at the time of the 1880 US census:

Frank L. Beighley, born April 25, 1862 in Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Minnesota
Jacob G. Beighley, born January 1, 1867 in Klempet, Minnesota
Edward "Benjamin" Beighley, born June 30, 1869 in Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Minnesota
Agnes Jeany ("Jane") Beighley, born June 15, 1871, in Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Minnesota
Francis "Bertha" Ellen Beighley, born August 4, 1876, in Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Minnesota
Raymond Beighley, born July 6, 1878 in Albert Lea, Freeborn County, Minnesota

Another daughter, Myra Beighley, had been born March 7, 1866. In 1880, the Beighley family left Albert Lea, moving to Spink County, South Dakota, just south of Aberdeen.

Leonard R. Beighley died on April 21, 1901, at age 63 years, 3 months in Bluffton, Otter Tail County, Minnesota, of paraleptic stroke. He was buried in Wadena, Minnesota (First Addition, Block 2, Lot 7). Sarah died of pneumonia on January 4, 1909, also in Bluffton, and is buried with Leonard in Wadena.

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