Born in Crystal Springs, Byron Patton Harrison (1881-1941) came to Leakesville and taught in the local high school from about 1900 until 1902, when he opened his first law practice near this area. Appointed the town's first Marshall, he later served as district attorney of Mississippi's Second Judicial District in 1906, in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1911 to 1918, and in the United States Senate from 1919 to 1941. During his tenure in the Senate, Harrison served as president pro tempore.