Adoniram Judson Leach was born in Strongville, Ohio, on September 19, 1834. Leach’s parents moved the family several times before settling in Michigan in 1842.                                                                                                                     

In 1852, at the age of 18, Leach and his cousin headed to Oregon in search of adventure. With only a hundred dollars between the two, they purchased supplies and a pony to carry their equipment and headed west by foot and steamship until arriving in St. Joseph, Missouri, where they hired out to drive ox teams across the prairie to Oregon. They remained there six years and returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama to the state of Michigan. Leach later wrote a series of short stories about his experiences on the trip that were printed in the county’s newspapers. The articles were so popular that he compiled the stories into a book entitled Early Day Stories that was printed by the Huse Publishing Company of Norfolk, Nebraska, in 1916.                                                                      

Mr. Leach was united in marriage on December 28, 1858, to Miss Esther E. Hill. The couple were the parents of six children: Miles Leach, who married Blanche Mallory; DeWitt Leach, who married Nettie Brainard; Katie Leach, who married C.H. Brainard; Agnes Leach, who married Harry Langley; Carrie Leach, who married V.E. Brainard; and Gertrude, a twin to Agnes, who died when a small child.