Family histories & biographies:

George LIVINGOOD  of Snyder Co. Pa.
Jacob LIVINGOOD, Jr.  of Snyder Co. Pa.
Jacob LIVINGOOD, Sr. of Snyder Co. Pa.
Jacob B. LEAVENGOOD of Coshocton Co. Pa.
John LEVEGOOD SEN.  of Tioga Co., Pa.
John LIVINGOOD of Snyder Co. Pa.
John Feight (or Velt/Felt) LIVENGOOD  of Snyder Co. Pa.
Peter C. LEAVENGOOD  of Union Co. Pa.
Silas G. LEAVENGOOD of Wells Co. Indiana

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A assessed with 100 acres of land and personal property in Douglass Township, Berks County, PA, in 1766 and 1767. About 1773, he came to what is now the southern section of Snyder County, and was assessed there for the first time about 1776. From 1781 to 1787, he was taxed with 100 acres and personal property. Jacob, Senior, died in Penn Township in 1794. Jacob, Jr., Feight, John and Peter, may all have been his sons, if not sons, relatives. One or more men of the name of Jacob Livingood served in the Northumberland County Militia. It is possible that Jacob, Sr., as well as Jacob, Jr., served in the forces from Northumberland County. Letters of administration in his estate were granted to Peter Livingood (probably a son) on November 18, 1794. John Cummings and Deitrick Stonebraker were sureties for the administrator. His children were: Peter, Elizabeth Crawford, Rebecca Bachman, Jacob, Jr., Catherine, Polly and Esther.

SOURCE:  The Snyder County Pioneers, Charles Adam Fisher, Selinsgrove, 1938

Assessed in Penn Township before 1790. In 1796 when Mahantango Township was formed from the lower part of Penn Township, he was assessed with 100 acres of land, personal property, and a sawmill. In 1790 his family consisted of one male over and three under 16 years and four females. Jacob died in what is now Chapman Township of Snyder County in 1822. He served as a private in Captain Michael Weaver's Company of the Northumberland County Militia and Lieutenant Jacob Spees' Company of Rangers on the Frontier. Christian Livingood may have been one of his sons.

SOURCE:  The Snyder County Pioneers, Charles Adam Fisher, Selinsgrove, 1938

(also Livingood, Levengood, Lebengood, Lieberguth, etc.) may have been a son of Jacob Livingood, Sr. who died in Penn Township in 1794. Feight was assessed in Penn Township for the first time in 1776. In 1781, he was assessed with 400 acres of  land and personal property. In May and June of 1780, he was a private in Leiutenant in Captain Jacob Spees' Company of Rangers, at another time he was a Lieutenant in Captain John Snyder's Company, all of which were organizations of the Northumberland County Militia. George was his son.
SOURCE:  The Snyder County Pioneers, Charles Adam Fisher, Selinsgrove, 1938

was granted a warrant of survey for 100 acres of land in Northumberland (now Snyder County) on April 8, 1774. He was assessed in Penn Township for the first time in 1776. It is said that he died in Penn Township in February 1781.  He was a son of John Velt Livingood. George served as a private in Captain John Moll's  Company of the Northumberland County Militia. On November 16, 1773, he married Anna Maria, daughter of Henry Werner, Tulpehocken Township. Their children were: Jacob, John, and George.

SOURCE:  The Snyder County Pioneers, Charles Adam Fisher, Selinsgrove, 1938

Supposed to have been a son of Jacob Livingood, Sr. He lived in Penn Township as early as 1776. In 1790 his family consisted of one male over and three under 16 years, and three females. In 1796 when Mahantango Township was formed from the lower part of Penn Township, he was assessed there. On January 30, 1777, he was a private in Captain Benjamin Weiser's Company of the German Regiment, Continental Line, stationed at Philadelphia, PA.

SOURCE:  The Snyder County Pioneers, Charles Adam Fisher, Selinsgrove, 1938

Born in Union County, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1823, son of Christian and Elizabeth (Keiser) Leavengood. His grandfather, Jacob Leavengood, was born in Germany, and with his wife settled in Union County, Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River, during the latter part of the seventeenth century. He, with his brothers John and Fiedel and their sisters, were sold from the ship in which they crossed the ocean, to pay their passage money. Jacob was married before the war of 1812. He and his brother John served during that war, and during its progress John was killed and scalped by the Indians. Twice during their early life in Pennsylvania Jacob had to flee with his wife across the Susquehanna, where there were more settlers, in order to save their lives from the prowling savages. These savages were hostile, and frequently murdered and robbed the early settlers. At the age of eighteen years Christian began to learn the blacksmith's trade, and later took charge of his employer's shop. 

Previous to his marriage he built a shop on his father's farm, where he worked at the forge for many years, quitting it in later life to take charge of the ancestral homestead. On this farm their nine children were born-Mary, Elizabeth, Jacob, John, Susanna, Daniel, Catherine, Peter C. and George. In 1830 the family removed to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where Christian had bought land before the Indians left that county. Only three houses had been built in New Philadelphia, the county seat of that county, when he made his purchase, and one of these he helped to put the rafters upon.

When he selected these lands Indians yet had their cabins in the woods, and he slept in their deserted wigwams. The parents died on this farm, the father at the age of ninety years, and the mother at the age of seventy-nine years. All their children were married before their death, and all are living in Ohio except our subject and his sister Mary, who married Jacob Stahe in Pennsylvania previous to the removal of the family to Ohio. Elizabeth married Abram Deitz; Jacob married Susanna Stahl; John became the husband of Margaret Homer; Susanna married Jacob Lehmann; Daniel married Mary Lowrey; Catherine became the wife of George Peshing; George married Magdalene Forney, and Peter C. married Martha A. Zimmerlee, daughter of Jacob and Clara (Brown) Zimmerlee, of this county. She was born in Huntington County September 6, 1848. Their marriage was celebrated March 28, 1868, John Lantz, Esq., performing the ceremony. 

In 1849 Mr. Leavengood bought the land upon which he now resides, and for fifteen consecutive years made annual trips to Ohio, where he was a contractor in his business, that of a stone mason. His first log cabin is still standing, fronting their handsome country residence, and it presents a venerable appearance. It is a monument to the pioneer days when, full of life and vigor, the young husband felled and hewed the logs which form its weather-beaten walls. He was a proud and happy husband when his young bride was installed mistress of what was then an aristocratic mansion. The death of their first-born, Melinda E., occurred beneath its roof; September 23, 1878. The other children, Delphena, Silas G., Salome A. and Celeste O., were all rocked to sleep within its portals. The family have moved into a fine frame building,  and the wealth of the owner has increased with his years. His broad acres are bereft of the stately oak, and large crops are raised where the Indian once chased the flying deer. The same that roamed the woods in countless numbers have all disappeared, and the young men of forty years ago are the aged sires of to-day, and from their lips are gathered the facts that make the history of their county.

SOURCE: Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties,
Indiana. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. pp. 758-759.

Coshocton county, rich in its natural resources, has in its midst various enterprising towns and cities which owe their development largely in the merchants and manufacturers.  Each successful business enterprise is an element in the growth and progress of a city and thus Mr. Leavengood as a hatter, clothier and men's furnisher, is connecteed with the progress of Coshocton.  

He was born in Mill Creek township, this county, February 23, 1867, and is a son of John and Phoebe (Bretzus) Leavengood.   The father was born in Crawford township, this county, and was the son of Jacob Leavengood, who was one of the early settlers of that township, coming to Ohio from Pennsylvania.  

The work of development still largely lay in the future, but the county offered good opportunities because of the rich land and climate favorable to the production of various cereals and fruits. Much of the territory embraced within the borders of the county was still government  property and Jacob Leavengood, St., purchased eighty acres of land from the government for one dollar and sixty-five cents per acre.  On this he built a log cabin in the midst of the forests, and there, amid the wild scenes and environments of pioneer life, John Leavengood was reared, early becoming familiar with the arduous task of developing new land and transforming a forest region into productive fields.  

After his marriage he removed to Mill Creek township, where he still resides and is a well known and successful farmer.  His political endorsement is given to the democracy, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Lutheran church.

Mr. Leavengood, of this review, was also reared  as a farmer boy and worked in the fields and meadows from the time of early spring planting until the crops were harvested in the late autumn.  The district school afforded him his educational privileges and he continued as the main hand in the farm work until his twenty-third year when he started out in business on his own account.  For three years he had a creamery wagon and later went to Fresno, where he entered the employ of his brother, W. H. Leavengood, a merchant at that place, with whom he remained for four years, mastering all the details of the business and commanding a thorough knowledge of commercial methods.

In 1889 Mr. Leavengood came to Coshocton and for two years was employed by the Fountain Dry Good Company, with which he continued for four years. He has been engaged in business on his own account since 1905, in which year he became associated with B. C. Senter.  He was the active spirit in organizing the firm of Senter & Leavengood, and on March 1, 1905, they opened a modern men's outfitting establishment.  Both of the partners were practical and experienced merchants and the business succeeded from the beginning.  

On the 27th of January, 1908, Mr. Leavengood acquitted Mr. Senter's interests in the business, which he has since conducted independently.  He has a well appointed store and the line of goods attracts an extensive patronage, while reasonable prices and reliable dealing insures him a continuance of the trade.

On the 21st of March, 1899, Mr. Leavengood was married to Miss Salome Everhart, of Chili, Ohio.  Their friends in Coshocton are many and their home in notable for its hospitality.  Mr. Leavengood belongs to the Fidelity Lodge, No. 135, K.P. and to Ohio Tent, No. 1264, Knights of the Modern Maccabees.  He likewise belongs to the Lutheran church, and he exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democratic party.  He is a self-made man who has learned to correctly value life's contacts and experiences.  He is a well-balanced man, mentally and physically, possesses sufficient courage to venture where favoring opportunity is presented, and his judgment and even-paced energy have carried him forward to the goal of success.

SOURCE: "County and Family Histories: OH, 1780-1970",  Page #262-263
Disk 1  Leavengood, Jacob Section : Coshocton County, Volume II  Page #: 262-263

One of the pioneer settlers of Liberty, was born in the southern portion of Pennsylvania. His father was killed by the Indians. John Levegood sen. was one of the twelve men who each received a donation of fifty acres of land from the Academy of Philadelphia to induce them to settle on its lands in Liberty in 1814-16. He was a brickmaker and shoemaker. His wife was Elizabeth Harpster, of Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pa, They had six children: Jacob, George, John, Martin, Fannie (wife of Michael Kehler) and Mary (wife of Rev. Henry Keagle). Mr. Levegood added largely to the original fifty acres, and cleared a large farm. He died in 1867 at an advanced age.

SOURCE: History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, Portraits, & Sketches of Prominent Families and Individuals (1883), (New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., Press of George MacNamara), pp. 191-199.

One of the prominent young farmers of Union township, Wells county, Indiana, is Silas G. Leavengood, a native of this township, born December 21, 1871, and a son of Peter C. and Martha A. (Zimmerlee) Leavengood. Jacob Leavengood, great-grandfather of Silas G., was a native of Germany and prior to the war of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain brought his wife to America and settled in Union township, Pennsylvania. They were in somewhat indigent circumstances, and, in accordance with the custom of the time, Jacob and his brothers and sisters were "apprenticed" or bound out to work until they had earned sufficient money to pay for their passage across the ocean. Jacob Leavengood and his brother Daniel enlisted in the American army and in one of the sanguinary conflicts with the Indian auxiliaries of the British forces Daniel lost his life. Jacob Leavengood and his wife then fled across the Susquehanna river and sought a more densely populated district, in which they passed the remainder of their lives. Christian Leavengood, grandfather of Silas G., was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade and before his marriage had become master of his own shop. He moved from Pennsylvania to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1830, having purchased a tract of land in the woods. He readily accommodated himself to the surroundings, learning to sleep in deserted Indiana wigwams and to endure many other hardships and inconveniences, but lived to see the heavy timber cleared away and a fine farm substituted, and there passed the remainder of his life. Peter C. Leavengood was reared in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, but was united in marriage in Huntington county, Indiana, March 28, 1868. He had purchased his farm in Union township in 1849, and on this he passed away March 20, 1889. The union of Peter C. and Martha A. (Zimmerlee) Leavengood was graced with five children, namely: Malinda E. died in 1878, aged nine years; Delphine; Silas G.; Salome A., now the wife of Frederick Platt, of Union township, and Celesta O.

Silas G. Leavengood was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father's farm, but was given every opportunity to attend school ni the winter seasons, when farm duties did not require all his attention. He ably and dutifully assisted his father until the time came about for his own marriage, when he chose for his bride Miss Lydia Roudebush, a native of Union township, to whom he was married October 1, 1893.

Peter C. Leavengood was one of the most substantial citizens of Union township and was greatly honored by all who knew him. Of the Zimmerlee family, Jacob, the father of Mrs. Peter C. Leavengood, was born in Virginia, yet little is known touching his ancestry, save the fact that his parents died when he was a boy, and he then made his home with a brother-in-law, Jacob Miller, until his own marriage. At the age of fourteen he came to Wells county with this brother-in-law and was here employed by the latter to drive a team between Bluffton and Cincinnati, and in this occupation he was engaged at the time of his marriage, December 25, 1845, with Miss Clara Brown, of Wilkes county, North Carolina. This lady is of German descent and a daughter of Elisha and Elizabeth (Redding) Brown. At the time of this marriage Mr. Zimmerlee had but about five dollars, but four years later he purchased on credit forty acres of land in Union township, and in order to pay for this land he worked out by the month, while his wife stayed at home and kept herself busy at weaving, thus adding to their mutual income. After the land had been paid for, Mr. Zimmerlee cleared, sold it and purchased the farm now owned by Thomas Powell, on which he lived until his death. His widow survived him about eighteen years, dying at seventy-six years of age. Mr. Leavengood still resides on the old farm, a part of which constitutes the farm of Silas G.

SOURCE: Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana 1903, pp. 547-549.