Elizabeth Leech b: abt 1839, England -- d: Rhode Island

Robert Leech b: - d:

Joseph Leech b: 1867 - d: 1934

Emma (Simpson) Leech b: 1870, Cheshire, England: d:Nov. 15, 1937, Pawtucket, RI

Ethel Leech (b: - d: 1994)

Harold Leech

Wilfred Leech (b: - d: 7/25/1995

Ruth Leech b: 1916, Pawtucket, RI - d:1916, Pawtucket RI

Myrtle Leech Viau b: 12/1/1916 - d: 7/25/92)

James Leech b: (abt 1918 - d: 1968)

Son (living)

Florence Leech Johnson  (b: - d: 1992)

Ethel Leech Masterson  (b: - d: 7/25/1992)

Wilfred Leech b: 1894, Taftville,CT- d: 1978)

Son (living

Son (living)

Daughter (living)

Betty Leech (b: - d: 1/3/1998)

To the best of our knowledge, Joseph and Emma immigrated to the United States that year with his parents. (It should be noted that the younger Joseph's citizenship papers, granted to him in 1892, list him as a five year resident of Connecticut. His marriage certificate does not agree.)  They settled in Taftville, CT and had three children; Ethel, Harold and Wilfred. Ethel became a nun but eventually left the convent. She never married and died with alzheimer's disease in 1984.  Her brother Harold served a stint in the military. He married and had at least two children, but we are not aware of his wife's or children's  names.  Harold and his family lived in Cumberland, RI.

Wilfred, a weaver, was my grandfather.  He married Jeanne Fyfe probably around 1915 and probably in Pawtucket, RI. Different documents also refer to Jeanne as "Jane" or "Jennie". In 1916 the couple had a daughter "Ruth Emma", but she died in infancy. Myrtle Loise Leech, my mother,  was their first child that lived until adulthood and she was born later that year. The couple had six more children; James, Harold, Florence, Ethel, Wilfred and William. For more information on Jeanne who died in the 1949, refer to our Fyfe page.  Wilfred was a very rugged and resourceful individual. Besides weaving, he provided income with woodwork and from flowers and vegetables that he grew on his farm. He had several fruit trees, picked mushrooms and several types of cultivated and wild berries. He had a windmill that powered his well and provided electricity. He had a welder and worked on cars and his tractor. With his neighbor, he built a sawmill.  He raised livestock for his food and milk and he had a pony that entertained his children.  Several years after the death of Jeanne, Wilfred remarried and with his wife started a second family. He had three more children with his second wife. His second wife and their children are still living. In June of 1978, at the age of 83, Wilfred lost his second battle against prostate cancer. His ashes are at a cemetery in East Providence, RI.

Myrtle was born at 28 Abrams Street in Pawtucket, RI on December 1, 1916. Her family moved soon after her birth to a small farm on Oak Hill Avenue in Attleboro, MA.  Her rural upbringing was a sharp contrast to the strict Leech demeanor of her grandparents, Joseph and Emma.  Myrtle attended the small "Briggs" school in Attleboro where several grades were intermingled because there weren't enough students to make a complete class. She was very proud of her many trips to New York to be trained in the "Palmer Method" of Penmanship. Soon after the country sank into the Great Depression,  she left school to work as a weaver. As the European Theatre of WWII was heating up, my mother took several Civil Defense Courses to prepare for the expected war effort that she later joined. We have photographs of my mother and father, Archie, as a couple as early as 1936.  When Myrtle's grandmother died in 1937, Archie was so close to the family that he was asked to serve as a pall bearer. Archie enlisted in the US Army on February 23, 1941. On October 18, 1941 he married my mother (For more about Archie Viau, refer to our Viau page). After WWII, my parents lived briefly at three different addresses on Oak Hill Avenue and had three children before they moved to Pawtucket, RI in 1951. There they had two other children.  My mother returned as a weaver for several years but eventually left the industry to work for the Corning Glass Works in Central Falls, RI. She retired from Corning in 1982. She was very patriotic and was heavily involved with veterans groups all her life. She served a number of terms as the president of the woman's auxiliary of the Eugene T Lefebvre Post 1271. With that organization she devoted much time to helping others in nursing homes and hospitals.

James Leech and his wife, of Norton, Massachusetts had two daughters.  He died at the age of 50, probably of heart failure, in Central Falls, RI in 1968. His wife and their two daughters are alive today.

Harold Leech was a toe-head (platinum blonde) as a child. That gave him his nickname of "Whitey" that he had until his death in 1993. He lived in Attleboro, MA with his wife and children (at least four). His wife and children are all believed to be alive.

Wilfred Leech (the younger) was born in 1931. He  was a contract/subcontract carpenter that lived in Pawtucket, RI with his wife "Betty" and their children.  They had at least one daughter and two sons. Wilfred died on July 21, 1995 and Betty died nearly four years later on January 3, 1998.   One of their sons, Lewis died in a car accident when he was seventeen on December 21, 1984. Their other children are believed to be alive.

Ethel (Leech) Masterson had six children. She followed the family tradition of becoming a weaver and for a time ran her own jewelry business.   Eventually she joined other family members working for the Corning Glass Works in Central Falls, RI. Her husband was Barney Masterson and they lived on Cottage Street, in Pawtucket, RI.  Her eldest child, Clifford, died in his forties after a long illness. She had five other children who are all living today.

Florence settled in Westminister, California with her husband, Elzigard "Ziggy" Johnson. They had one son who is alive today. Ziggy died and in 1992 Florence was near death. In July of that year several members of the family mounted a trip to the West Coast to bring her East. During that effort, Ethel, Barney, and my mother, Myrtle, were all killed in a tragic car accident in Victorville, California. Florence was brought home by another family member and she died later that year.