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Guide to the Leib Family Collection
1979.171
1979.171
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Title: Leib Family Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 1979.171
Contributing Institution:
History San Jose Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
6.0 Linear feet
(12 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1864-1922
Abstract: The Leib Family Collection includes family and business correspondence as well as household and business records from Samuel
and Lida Leib and their five children.
Samuel Franklin Leib (1848-1924) was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, to Joseph and Clarissa Leib. He had two brothers. He
was educated in law in Michigan and came West to join the law practice of the celebrated attorney Delphine Delmas. He died
of pneumonia in San Jose, December 26, 1924, at the age of 76.
Samuel Leib married Lida Campbell Grissom (d. 1929) of Kentucky in 1874. Lida had three sisters, Annah, Eva and Nettie. There
were five children from this union; four of them were alive when Samuel died. The children, two girls and three boys, were
named Lida, Elna, Frank, Roy and Earl.
Lida Leib married Charles Armstrong of Omaha at Stanford. She lived for a while in the Midwest. There were apparently no children.
Elna Leib married Dr. William Hammond Wright, an astronomer who had been trained at UC Berkeley. They traveled widely on various
astronomical observations. Dr. Wright was a director of the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton. There were apparently no children.
Frank Leib (1880-1937) graduated from Stanford with a law degree but was interested in horticulture. He took over his father's
many fruit and nut ranches. With his father he developed the walnut industry in California, establishing the packing company
of Leib and Leib. Frank married Mary Sandilands Bennett in 1901, a San Jose native. There were four children: Samuel Franklin,
Charles Bennett, Mary Sandilands and Lida Campbell. Frank died in an automobile accident in 1937.
Roy Leib (1883-1954) graduated in law from Stanford and went to work with his father in the law practice Leib & Leib. He took
over many of his father's duties and followed his father as a director of the First National Bank of San Jose and a director
of the San Jose Water Works.
Earl Leib (d. 1921) graduated from Stanford with a AB in geology. He married Grace Burke and died in Los Angeles in 1921.
Charles Bennett Leib also became an attorney and joined his uncle Roy in the law firm of Leib & Leib.
Biographical information was taken from the National Register application for the Leib carriage house prepared by Patty Dixon.
Property rights reside with History San Jose. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact History San Jose
Research Library.
Conditions Governing Access note
Materials are open to the public for research by appointment.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The collection was donated by Charles Leib in 1979 to what was then the San Jose Historical Museum.
Leib Family Collection 1979-171, History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California 95112-2599.
The Leib Family Collection includes family and business correspondence as well as household and business records from Samuel
and Lida Leib and their five children. Business correspondence includes legal records and letters with clients of the law
firm of Leib & Leib as well as records and letters from the many fruit and nut growing ranches and packing enterprises which
the family developed.
In addition the collection includes records and letters from their many civic efforts. Samuel Leib was a practicing attorney,
a president of the board of trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University, a director of the First National Bank of San Jose,
a director of the San Jose Water Works and a director of the San Jose Municipal Railway. He was also on the board of several
other corporations including the Climax Oil Company of San Jose. He was elevated to the bench but declined the judgeship after
about a year.
Lida Leib was a founder of the San Jose chapter of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and the Colonial Dames.
An avid gardener, she was a longtime member of the San Jose Garden Club. The Leib family was actively involved in music and
the arts and their home was used for small concerts by the music society.
The material is sorted into 11 boxes of Leib Family material and 1 box (4 linear inches) of Sarah Winchester material.
Related Archival Materials note
Additional material on the Leib Family in the History San Jose Archives includes the following manuscripts:
"Leib Carriage House", Patricia M. Dixon (2005-50-277). Narrative material and application to the National Register of Historic
Places for the carriage house and garden of Samuel Leib. This structure is now a California State landmark and is in the historic
inventory of the City of San Jose. The structure is located at 60 North Keeble Avenue, between the Alameda and Stockton.
"Vignettes of the Gardens of San Jose de Guadeloupe" compiled by Helen Weber Kennedy, San Francisco Garden Club, December
1938, reprinted by Smith & Mackay, 1976 (1997-237-385). Lida Leib Armstrong wrote a short chapter in this booklet describing
the Leib estate.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Leib & Leib.
Leib family -- Correspondence
Leib, Earl, d. 1921
Leib, Frank, 1880-1937
Leib, Lida C., (Campbell Grissom), d. 1929
Leib, Roy, 1883-1954
Leib, Samuel F., 1848-1924
Wright, Elna Leib
Wright, William H., Dr.
Fruit trade--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
San Jose (Calif.)
Santa Clara County (Calif.)
Stanford University