Leanna was one of the youngest daughters born to John Aaron and Mary Rebecca Woodward. The family lived a few miles southeast of Pickensville, Alabama at the time of her birth. When she was about five years old, the family loaded up their wagon and left to Newton County, where her father would buy 350 acres which would later comprise the settlement of Beulah. John Aaron donated the land upon which Beulah church, school, and cemetery are located.

About 1845, Moses's family moved to the Beulah community. The two met and eventually married in the summer of 1849. Rebecca- Moses's mother- was the midwife for all of their children. They had three children, Franklin Sylvester, Nancy Ellen, and Savannah, before the family moved to a plot of land in Kemper county adjacent to her sister-in-law. There, she gave birth to Caroline, named for the same sister-in-law, who helped deliver her.

About 1856, the family moves to what's now the community of Willoughby in Newton County where Moses got a job as a mail contractor. They had Alice and Rufus, then moved back to Beulah, giving birth to Willie before the Civil War started. Moses enlisted in the Confederate Army shortly after the war began. While he was serving, Leanna gave birth to their last son John Henry. Moses would presumably die of dysentery in early 1864, shortly after his resignation, in Resaca, Georgia. In 1864 tax records for Newton County, we can find a Leah Dansby. This is presumably her.

Sometime in late 1864, Leanna meets and marries Henry Dorman. His son was a rather wealthy landowner and Justice of Peace who founded Dormanton just north of Little Rock. The families both attended Beulah Church and knew each other from the community. Leanna bears two children by him, Julia Lenora and Thomas Mitchell, while the couple are living in Lauderdale County. They are erroneously listed with the surname Dearman in the 1870 census. The family lived northeast of Shucktown. In the months following, for whatever reason, the family would move to a plot of land on what's now Burton Road in Newton County.

According to an oral family history passed down by her grandson, Leanna was making dinner for her family and suddenly dropped dead. Her place of rest is unknown. Death month is approximate, as it was only recalled as being "around time for corn-planting".