LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – These people went to Leavenworth to spend a little time, not behind bars, but with each other.
About 50 relatives, descendants of Henry Leavenworth, who founded the fort that bears his name, traveled from across the U.S. to attend the second national Leavenworth Family Reunion. The nearby city and the federal penitentiary also bear his name.
On Saturday they toured the fort and the city, and met new relatives as they updated the family genealogy.
None of Leavenworth’s descendants was living in the city in 1996 when family members had their first national family reunion, nor are there any there now, said John Leavenworth, who coordinated this reunion. The first event was attended by 130 family members. For this second event, family members came from as far as California, New Hampshire, Florida and Michigan.
John Leavenworth said the fort would have been in Missouri if his ancestor had precisely followed orders.
The U.S. Army in 1827 ordered Leavenworth, then a colonel, to locate a site for a fort to protect pioneers from Indians on the western frontier. He was to build it on the east shore around the confluence of the Missouri and Little Platte rivers.
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