Henry Leaman was born on November 25, 1799, near Soudersburg, Pennsylvania, to Christian Leaman. His father was a farmer, and he moved the family to Paradise, Pennsylvania, around 1802. As a young man, one biographer writes, he “was fond of all kinds of athletic sports. He was a great rider, jumper and runner.”
He supported the Anti-Masonic Party in the late 1820s, and he eventually joined the Whig Party. He married Catharine Amanda Slaymaker around 1835, and they had at least six children: Mary, born on October 18, 1836; William, born on February 12, 1838; Henry, born on July 3, 1839; John, born around 1841; Charles, born on September 3, 1845; and Rosh, born on December 21, 1854. He worked as a farmer and hotel owner in Paradise, Pennsylvania, and by 1850, he owned $11,600 of real estate. When the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s, he became a Democrat, and he voted for James Buchanan in 1856 and John C. Breckinridge in 1860. Eventually, however, he became a “strong Republican.”
In October 1860, he received an appointment as a local postmaster. By 1860, he owned $27,000 of real estate and $1,960 of personal property, and by 1870, his wealth had grown to $30,000 of real estate and $21,000 of personal property. According to an early biographer, he “took great interest in educational movements,” and served as a trustee of Franklin and Marshall College. Although “he received but an ordinary education, he caused his four sons to receive college educations.” His health began deteriorating in 1884. He broke his hip in early 1887, and he died on May 16, 1887.