Leonard H. Cowles
The first lawyer to settle in Delaware County was Leonard H. Cowles. He came from Connecticut about the year 1810, two years after the organization of the county. He was said to be a scholarly gentleman, a graduate of Yale College and a college mate of the late John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. He was said to have been one of the most thorough-read lawyers of his age. Not long after he came to Delaware he was married to a daughter of Colonel Moses Byxbee, which brought him into one of the wealthiest families of the county and the most of the county. He was a scholarly own personal business, so that as a lawyer he did not acquire as great a reputation in his professional life as he might have done if his talents had been devoted to his profession strictly. He was the only resident lawyer of the county until the year 1818, and his name appears frequently on the deed records of the county. He was a member of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second General Assemblies of Ohio which convened respectively on the second day of December. A. D., 1822. and the first day of December, A. D.. 1823. He is said to have been a person of good and commanding presence, always well dressed and gentlemanly in his appearance, and he devoted much of his time to social life and was fond of and sociable with his friends. He reared large family, none of whom are now living.
At the close of his life he had but little left of his large fortune.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens by James R. Lytle, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908