Dr. Louis
Leali, physician and surgeon, Kingsland, Ark. Dr. Leali is
recognized throughout the county as a friend of and laborer in the cause and advancement
of the medical fraternity. He is a native of Italy, born in Bergamo in 1824, and his
father, Charles Leali, who was also a native of Italy, is probably living in that country
at the present time. The elder Leali was a farmer and was married in his native country to
Miss Rosa Taschini, also a native of Italy, but who died when our subject was an infant.
The latter was the only child born to his parents, and he was given every advantage for an
education. He spent five years in the study of medicine at Pavia, and graduated in 1848
from Pisa. He then in 1848 and 1849 fought with Italy against Austria, but his native
country being defeated, he refugeed to America. He sailed for this country in 1850,
located in Arkansas, and soon after on his present farm, where he has since lived, with
the exception of from 1857 to 1860, when he resided at Princeton. He has practiced among
the same people for forty years and is one of the oldest and most successful physicians of
Southeast Arkansas. He is well known and esteemed by everybody. His practice yields him a
comfortable living, and he is reaping the reward of forty years honorably spent in the
cause of humanity. In an early day his practice extended over a radius of thirty miles,
and he was often gone from home for three or four days at a time. He still has an
extensive practice. He was married in 1855 to Miss Sarah Wash, a native of the Old
Dominion and the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Belcher) Wash, also natives of
Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Wash moved from their native State to Tennessee, and thence to
Dallas County, Ark., where they died some years later. To Mr. and Mrs. Leali were born two
children, a son and daughter the former living, Dr. Charles, who is a graduate from that
well-known and firmly established seat of learning, the Missouri Medical College. of St.
Louis. Dr. Louis Leali is the owner of about 1,000 acres of land seven miles northwest of
Kingsland, and this is the fruit of his own labor. He was in the Third Arkansas Cavalry
until May, 1862, and afterward was in different commands in Northeast Arkansas, and
Southeast Missouri until cessation of hostilities. He was at the battle of Corinth,
besides many other engagements of note. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity for many
years, and in his political views is Democratic, casting his first vote for Franklin
Pierce, in 1852. |