Lewis Sheridan Leary
Lewis Sheridan Leary (March 17, 1835 – October 20, 1859) was an African-American harnessmaker from Oberlin, Ohio, who joined John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, where he was killed. Life Leary's father was a free born African-American harnessmaker. Lewis Leary was born at Fayetteville, North Carolina. His paternal grandparents were an Irishman, Jeremiah O'Leary, who fought in the American Revolution under General Nathanael Greene, and his wife of African, European and Native American descent. His great grandfather, Aaron Revels, also fought in the revolution. Through Revels, he was a cousin to Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American to serve in the United States Senate. His brother was North Carolina politician and lawyer, John S. Leary. In 1857, Lewis Leary moved to Oberlin. There he married Mary Patterson, an African-American graduate of Oberlin College. Leary became involved with abolitionists in Oberlin, which had an active community. Later, he met John Brown in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1858, Leary participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, when fugitive slave John Price was forcibly taken from the custody of a U.S. Marshal to prevent his being returned to slavery in the South. Leary was not among the 37 men (12 of them free blacks) who were