William J. Leake

William Josiah Leake (September 20, 1843 - November 23, 1908) was a Virginia lawyer and judge, who served as a railroad president and president of The Virginia Bar Association.

Leake was a great-grandson of William O. Callis. [Grigsby, Hugh, et al. The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788. Virginia Historical Society (1891) (available on Google Books).]

Leake was born in Goochland County, Virginia. He served four years in the Confederate Army. After the War, he was selected for a term as judge of the Virginia chancery court at Richmond, but declined to be re-elected. [Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed., Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, v. 4, Lewis Historical Publishing (1915) (available on Google Books).]

In 1891, Judge Leake decided the case of Bettie Thomas Lewis, concluding that she was entitled to her deceased father's property. The father had owned the mother of Ms. Lewis as a slave. The New York Times reported that this ruling made Ms. Lewis "the richest colored person in Virginia."cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A01E0D61E3BE533A25755C0A9679C94609ED7CF|title= HIS NATURAL CHILD INHERITS.; BETTIE LEWIS BECOMES THE RICHEST COLORED WOMAN IN VIRGINIA|publisher=The New York Times, January 6, 1891|accessmonthday=April 12 |accessyear=2008] In a detailed opinion, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed Judge Leake's decision. [Thomas Adm'r v. Lewis, 89 Va. 1, 15 S.E. 389 (1892).]

Leake was from 1889 general counsel and from 1905 to 1906 president of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company. [Seventy-Fourth Annual Report, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company (1906) (available on Google Books).]

Leake was a charter member of the Virginia State Bar Association, beginning in 1890, [Charter of the Virginia State Bar Association, Acts of Assembly 1889-1890, c. 376, published in Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association (1893) (available on Google Books).] and served as president of the Association for 1899-1900.cite web|url=http://www.vba.org/history.htm|title= VBA History and Heritage|publisher=The Virginia Bar Association|accessmonthday=April 12 |accessyear=2008]

Judge Leake died at his home in Richmond.cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E06E1DE113EE233A25757C2A9679D946997D6CF|title= Judge William Josiah Leake|publisher=The New York Times, November 24, 1908|accessmonthday=April 12 |accessyear=2008]

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