Dr. Edwin Conover Leedom was born on 20. Dec. 1805 at Plymouth, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of
Dr. Joseph Leedom and
Eleanor Covenhoven. Dr. Edwin Conover Leedom married
Susan A. Lukens, daughter of
Peter Lukens and
Eliza (Unknown), in 1848. Dr. Edwin Conover Leedom died in 1890. From BEAN'S History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania - Edwin Conover Leedom, M.D., son of Dr. Joseph Leedom, is descended from a family of Quakers on the paternal and of Hollanders on the maternal side. Dr. Joseph Leedom was the son of Richard Leedom, of Bucks County, Pa., and his mother, Eleanor, the daughter of Peter Conover (Covenhoven in the language of Holland), of Monmouth County, N. J. The doctor was born on the 20th of December, 1805, in Plymouth township, Montgomery Co., Pa.
After a thorough primary training he received a classical education, and on its completion entered upon his career as a student of medicine, and graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He at once located in Plymouth, and has for a period of nearly half a century pursued his profession successfully in the field made familiar by the footsteps of his father, who preceded him in practice.
Dr. Leedom has for many years been a valued contributor to various journals, having written on mechanics, natural philosophy and medicine. He published two papers in "Silliman's American Journal of Science and Art," entitled "An Astronomical Machine: the Tellurium," and "Experiments and Observations on the Solar Rays." In the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences" were likewise two, papers on "The Structure of the Eye Examined in Connection with the Undulatory Theory of Light," and "Night Blindness Successfully Treated." He has also now in readiness for the press a work entitled "Enquiries concerning the Origin and Destiny of Man." In early life he manifested a great fondness for astronomy, and constructed several machines which elucidated the movements of the heavenly bodies, the "Tellurium," among; them, having already been referred to. Dr. Leedom is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, of which organization he has been president. He was in 1848, married to Susan, daughter of Peter Lukens, of the same neighborhood, and a member of the Society of Friends. They have five sons, of whom Oscar, who graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, has succeeded his father in practice. Joseph, who graduated from the Law Department of the same university, is pursuing his profession in Philadelphia. Daniel M. graduated as a mining engineer from the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, and Howard and Franklin are engaged in other pursuits.