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Surnames: Leslie, Bruce
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ui.2ADI/3302
Message Board Post:
20th Century Souvenir Edition of the Ossian News. January 1st, 1900, page 51-52.
Capt. J. L. Leslie
If for no other reason than the greatness of past histrionic days, Captain J. L.
Leslie's name is a welcome one on our pages. After a long varied life, he has settled
down in quiet retirement in Ossian, content to employ the meaner branches of the arts
which once made him a name and livelihood in the larger cities. It is of peculiar
interest to follow the main epochs in a career so tolerably eminent.
Capt. J. L. Leslie, was born in Gravecreek (Moundville), Virginia, Sept. 26, 1824, of
parents descended from the followers of the Scottish hero, Robert Bruce. His father dying
when young, left the boy to shift for himself. When six years of age, his mother moved to
Pittsburg, and here as a boy, Mr. Leslie had an opportunity to see many fine plays. Here
it was that the love of the stage began to take hold upon his imagination. After
receiving his education at Washington, Pa., he went to Kittanning to learn a trade. Here
he developed his skill for painting, and here too he found that he could play sub-parts
creditably. The love for histrionic things decided him to become an actor. Accordingly
he bent every energy to task, and before the war, played with MacFarland, McBride and
other great artists. For eight years, he was more than a tolerable scenic artist, as well
as an acceptable actor before large audience. By his painting of scenery for large
companies, and the ac!
ting with famous comedians, he acquired no mean reputation.
At the outbreak of the war, he gave up everything for the sake of serving his country, and
at Tittusville, Pa., organized his company for the front -- Co. D, 19th Pa. Cav. In
service, he was a bold leader, was a prisoner 19 months, and lay incarcerated in eleven
rebel prisons. At the end of the war, he was mustered out, left the stage and adopted
painting for his concluding life work.
In 1886, he came to Ossian, and setting up a scenic studio, painted and built the
beautiful stage effects for Hatfield's Hall. Since then, he has made Ossian his main
headquarters, though for some time he resided in Bluffton. As a painter and paper hanger,
and as a scenic artist, he is well and favorably known throughout the country.