Leonard Walden

       
      Dr. Leonard Walden is a son of Bishop J. M. and Martha (Young) Walden, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio . Of their family of five children our subject was the eldest. He was born April 20, 1860 , at Lynchburg , Ohio , and received his literary education at Cincinnati and Delaware , Ohio . In 1884 he graduated from the Ohio Medical College . After practicing a short time in Covington , Ky. , he came to Chattanooga , and in less than a year was elected city physician. He was connected with the board of health, is a member of the Sons of Temperance and other secret orders. He is a very successful practitioner. His father, Bishop J. M. Walden, was born in Lebanon , Ohio , on a farm. He received his literary education at Farmer's College, College Hill , Ohio , and graduated at the age of twenty-one. He was a correspondent of the Commercial Gazette, Cincinnati , Ohio , and during the year 1853 started a paper in Illinois , but this proved a failure. In 1855 he left Illinois and moved to Kansas , where he started a paper, but this also proved a failure. He was elected to the office of commissioner of education of that State in 1856, and in 1858 he returned to Ohio and entered the Cincinnati Conference. His first circuit was near Cincinnati . He afterward went to Lynchburg , Ohio , where he was stationed three years and was then sent to Cincinnati . He was connected with the Freedman’s Bureau until 1868, when he was elected junior member of the Methodist Book Concern. In 1880 he was elected senior member of the same, and in 1884 was elected bishop.

Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887