The Leafs were a prominent family who lived in Beaver County, Pa. during the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. William Leaf (1809-1880), an engineer, immigrated to the United States from England in the 1830s and became an American citizen in 1838. His son, James Pinney Leaf (1866-1949), attended Ohio Northern University, where he earned a civil engineering degree in 1887. He worked as the chief engineer for the Borough of Rochester and Beaver County and owned an architecture company. James Pinney Leaf served in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War I and remained in the Reserves afterwards. It appears that he retired with the rank of major. He married Lilian Newton Leaf and had two children, Harriet and William. William Leaf also became an engineer, joined the Army Corps of Engineers and taught at West Point.
From the description of Papers of the Leaf family, 1830-1950. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 51248979
