My Needham Family Involvement
John F. Hartman
January 2005

In May of 2003, Mrs. Bonnie Watts-Cook came into the Historical Society of Harford County (HSHC), MD, where my wife Betty and I volunteer our services.

Mrs. Cook brought in a package containing old horse race track and horse racing magazines, pictures and other documents, which had been in a trunk belonging to her mother, since before her death in 1985.  She offered to let us make copies of the documents and pictures, for our files, and to keep the magazines and articles pertaining to horse racing.

Copies of the papers and scanning of the pictures were done and saved in our existing files on her grandparents home, the Swan Harbor Farm, near Havre de Grace, Harford County, MD.

This project has led both Betty and myself on a most interesting, educational and rewarding personal experience.  Yes, Betty has been as deeply involved in this project as I have.

In this packet of papers, magazines and pictures was a diary, written in 1857, which was of particular interest to me, written by Leroy W. Cleavenger, a student of law, who was studying for his bar exam, in Waynesburg, in Western Pennsylvania. The print in this diary was very difficult to read, because of fading, torn pages and sometime poor penmanship.  Mrs. Cook indicated that she had no knowledge of, nor interest in, Waynesburg.  When I mentioned that Betty and I own property near Waynesburg, she said I could have the diary, if I wanted it, otherwise, she would probably just throw it away.  Having no apparent connection to Harford County and the Historical Society having no place to file it, I took it to prevent it from being thrown in the trash.

When I brought it home I laid it on my desktop, where it was quickly covered by papers, books and other trash, which mysteriously appears there, and was soon forgotten.   Just before we were to make a trip to our house at Waynesburg, in June, Betty dug out the diary to take with us.  When we arrived at our house there, we were both busy for several days with maintenance and cleaning chores.  In her slack time, Betty began to peruse the diary.  Near the end of the book, she found a few pages, obviously written by a female, which was much more easily read.  Her interest instantly perked up as she read the first few lines of this woman’s entry.  In her own words, Betty later wrote the preface for the introduction of this diary, which reads:

In this diary Leroy Cleavenger states that he is studying to pass the “Bar Exam” and as of June 1857 he apparently did. In it he refers to a number of names and speaks very lovingly about a “Maggie”, as well as a number of other females. The diary seems to stop with his passing the bar exam, but is taken up again by a feminine hand who is describing in very ‘flowery’ words, “the hand that wrote this.... being turned to dust some twenty years past”, but uses no names except Leroy/Lee and his best friend “W. C. Lindsey.”  This latter portion of the diary appears to have been written by a sweetheart, but she does not identify herself.

As we both read this woman’s entry, our curiosity was aroused, causing us to return to the beginning of the book.  Now, with renewed interest and more awareness of the diary, we started seriously reading, deciphering and transcribing each word and page, one at a time and entering it all into our computers.  Where there was a word we could not make out, we skipped it, coming back later and re-reading the whole sentence or paragraph, if necessary.   Photo-static copies of each page were made for notations and marking.  Often a faded word would become readable when rubbed over with a yellow, orange or red highlighter.  Other words became obvious when compared to a similar word on other pages. 

As we progressed, his handwriting, penmanship, vocabulary and wording became more and more readable.  Soon we had enough information to start reading his day-to-day writings, and what a story he was telling.

Although he was not a student at the Waynesburg College in the year of 1857, when this was being written, he was living at the home of his brother and his family, just outside of Waynesburg.  He tells of his association with the students and faculty of the college.  He speaks often and fondly of a young lady, through initials or nickname, or such as “MLN”, “Maggie”, “Miss Needham”, etc., but never a full name.

As the story unfolds, Mrs. Cook’s great grandmother had been a student at Waynesburg College during the years of 1856-1857.  Her name was Margaret Leonice Needham (MLN).  Her nickname was “Maggie.”  Apparently this young lady had been the subject of most of his thoughts and writings.  Margaret L. (Maggie) Needham was the first female graduate to receive a full degree from Waynesburg College.

As I continued transcribing the diary, Betty began searching Waynesburg College records on the Internet.  While in Waynesburg we had made a short visit to the college, but with little or no success.  The person that was in charge of historical records such as we were looking for, was not in that day.  Betty soon came up with several documents, college schedules, student rosters and other important information about Leroy Cleavenger, Margaret Needham, and several persons he referred to in his book.  She even found pictures of Margaret and other students.  A young lady, who lives in Waynesburg, named Candice Buchanan, whose great-great-great-granduncle was one of the examiners to examine Leroy for his bar certification, had recently (April 2003) scanned and entered this information on her website on the Internet.  Candice, also a graduate of Waynesburg College, has a genuine and serious interest in preserving the tradition and history of the college.

Betty’s further searching revealed places of residence, through US Census records of 1860-1910, of Margaret and her family.  Soon, we had a book of our own about Leroy Cleavenger, Margaret Needham and their families.  Genealogy searches have turned up a family tree of approximately 12 generations of the Needham family, from the early 1600s, from England, through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, and Maryland, to present.  Contact has been made with the Needham family in Tonganoxie, Kansas, as well as the Cleavenger family in Pennsylvania and West VA while this project was being undertaken.

The diary has a sad ending.  Not so much in what Leroy wrote, but rather, in the epilogue that was written twenty-three years after his last entry.  It appears Leroy died in Metamora, Illinois, in 1860, only three years after passing his bar exam in 1857.

This diary was in the possession of Margaret Needham Still, being passed down through the family, until Mrs. Cook recently found it in her mother’s possessions, several years after her passing.

I wish to thank the following persons and organizations for their assistance in researching the files and records of the above project.

Mrs. Bonnie Watts-Cook, for providing the material, which initiated this project, and personal assistance in researching records.

Mr. Craig Lanphear and the Harford County Department of Parks and Recreation, for a personal tour of Swan Harbor, and permission to use certain excerpts of their printed material.

Historical Society of Harford County for access to files and records pertaining to Swan Harbor Farm, and other information.

Ms. Candice Buchanan for the use of her online database, which provided information for much of my Waynesburg College and other local research.

Mr. Vincent Needham at Kansas State University, for his Internet material on the Needham Family genealogy.

Last, but not least, my wife Betty, for her interest and assistance.  Without her, the diary of Leroy Cleavenger would, probably, still be lying under the pile of papers on my desk.

John F. Hartman (E-signature)