Born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1807, and was reared and educated in that state and in Ohio. His own educational course being completed, he took up the profession of teaching and was also actively interested in political work as a follower of Andrew Jackson and an advocate of democratic principles. He served as clerk of the court at Cambridge, Ohio, and while residing there was married to Miss Agnes Bell, of that city, in 1833. The year 1840 witnessed the removal of Andrew Leech from Ohio to Iowa. He located in Van Buren county, where he purchased a farm, remaining thereon until 1844, when he became a resident of Davis county, Iowa. He also bought land there and cultivated and improved a farm until 1855, when he retired from agricultural life. In 1846 he was elected a member of the first legislature of Iowa, following the admission into the Union, representing the entire southern tier of counties, from Davis county to the Missouri river. In one county, Appanoose, he received every vote cast. In 1852 he was appointed deputy state surveyor general of Iowa and for some years followed government surveying in western Iowa, and at a time when their party was driven from their territory by hostile Indians in the northern part of the state, just before the Spirit Lake massacre, where many white families were slaughtered and captured. In 1855 he was appointed receiver for the Iowa Land Office, under President Franklin Pierce, and re-appointed by President James Buchanan in 1856, with headquarters at Sioux City, Iowa, in which capacity he served until 1861. That was during the period when much of the Iowa land was claimed by the settlers and the office was therefore an important one. During his occupancy of the office the entries of one day were four hundred, the largest number ever made in the history of any office. Following his retirement from that position he gave his attention largely to surveying until 1864, when he went to Virginia City, Montana. There he was elected county treasurer and held the office for two terms at a salary, with commissions, equivalent to ten thousand dollars. When he again came to this state in 1868 he located in Bloomfield and there purchased a farm but retired from active business cares. He lived in the town of Bloomfield and was interested in its advancement. He served as president of the school board for many years and was, during the construction of the courthouse, chairman of the building committee. He was an active and valued factor in public life in various sections of this state, holding positions of honor and trust. His citizenship was irreproachable. Both he and his wife were devoted Christians, in the Bloomfield Presbyterian church.