INTRODUCTION

 The LeLacheur’s originated in Normandy, France, but during the Reformation moved to the Channel Islands because they were French Huguenot.

Lady Fanning of England, while on a visit to Guernsey Island, found that certain families were preparing to immigrate.  Among these families was the LeLacheur family.  She owned land somewhere about Pisquid PEI, and persuaded them to buy from her before leaving.  She sold them shore farms.  In May of 1806, the families arrived on PEI, but found their farms were next inland to the shore farms.  This displeased them very much and in complaining to Lady Fanning’s agent, he doubled the quantity of land for each family.  They were still dissatisfied, although some of them among whom was Jean LeLacheur, who now owned 800 acres of land.  Jean LeLacheur was head of the LeLacheur family, whose wife was Elizabeth Windsor.  They both had been born in St. Peter Port, Jean on November 25, 1771, and Elizabeth on February 4, 1774.  They were married on April 19, 1794.  Before they left St. Peter Port, they had six children, although one had died (Elizabeth) and was buried on Guernsey.

    The immigrants had come in company with a convoy, as it was the time of the War between England and France.  At this time, land proprietor, John Cambridge, owned Lots 63 and 64 and had a lumber mill at Murray River.  He heard of those families coming out and being dissatisfied, he went to them and induced the men to make a trip down to Murray Harbour South and see the country there.  In a boat which he furnished, they went down along the southern shore of PEI, landing at Guernsey cove (named by them) to prepare a meal.  They continued their journey and arriving in Murray Harbour South were delighted with the country.  their families were soon removed, and these pioneers began the task of clearing away the forest.

     Mr. Cambridge furnished them with food and seed for one year, on condition that they would repay him in lumber.  The LeLacheur family settled on the south shore of the South River and remained there for some years.

   The Guernsey people were Methodists and appealed to the English conference for a minister.  The appeal was granted and a chapel was built on the LeLacheur farm.  the LeLacheur boys were growing up and wanted a change in location.  They wanted to move to Guernsey Cove.  On stating the case to Cambridge, he agreed to trade with them.  This was a good move as the soil there was much more fertile.  They thus made a new beginning, and a comfortable homestead was soon built.  John Cambridge was a Quaker, but his wife was a Methodist and she persuaded him to set the old LeLacheur Farm apart as a church farm.  This he did and the farm was given to the Methodist church.  On this farm was the old Methodist church, and the burying ground which is still in use as the Murray Harbour South Cemetery.  Some of the land was bought back by Charles LeLacheur, and was referred to as the Harbour farm.

THE REASON WHY

    Over the years there were times I would write to people seeking information, and then for years it would be shelved.  My parents and sister Ruth, made a trip to Guernsey, met some descendants and brought back information, pictures and stories of people they had met, and the graveyards and places they had visited.

    During the fall of 1991, I suggested to my father that we should try to have a family reunion on PEI, and we put together a letter that was distributed to families during that winter.

    Ironically, during the fall of 1991, a notice appeared in the Guardian, (PEI paper) requesting information about a Lorne LeLacheur who had gone west in the early 1900’s.  This was requested by a great great grandson, Tyler Hoffman of British Columbia.  My answer to his request is another story which I will relate as the stories of the families unfold.

    Each chapter will bear the title of each of the eleven children born to Jean Le Lacheur and Elizabeth Windsor either on Guernsey or on Prince Edward Island after their arrival in 1806.

    I am not committed to the authenticity of the dates or any of the information, but rather put on paper information that I have collected from graveyards, from books and papers, and from stories told by our ancestors, which to me provides the greatest enjoyment.  I trust that you will enjoy reading the following pages and that it will be added too and handed down to future generations.

 
JOHN WINDSOR LELACHEUR-THE POLITICIAN

 The eldest child of Jean and Elizabeth Le Lacheur, was a son, John Windsor, born on Guernsey Island on January 26, 1795.

    There are two stories about the events of John Windsor’s life.  One, the PEI story, and another the Iowa story.  There are parts of these stories that overlap, but both so entertaining, that they both should be told.

    John Windsor was one of five children who came to PEI with their parents in 1806, worked with his father and family to clear lands in Murray Harbour South and later in Guernsey Cove.  He was for some time a member of the PEI Legislature and fought with Whalen and Coles for free land and free schools.  During one of his political campaigns, John Windsor, uttered some statements for which he was called to task by his colleagues at the first session of the House.  For this he was suspended for a few days.  He showed his contempt for their proceedings by entering the House with his cap pulled down over his ears.  They then committed him to jail for contempt of the House (proceedings of the House of Assembly, April 14 1837), but he apologized and was pardoned.  Another record states that he escaped and was captured in Tignish.  He was married to Elizabeth Sencebaugh, (some records indicate Sarah Sencebaugh).  He and his family moved to Iowa in 1851, and became a member of the Iowa State Legislature.  this family had eight children, William Born 1821, Elizabeth birth date unknown, Windsor born 1828, Mary Ann born 1830, Margaret born 1833, Elisha born 1839, John Horton born 1842, who drowned in the Mississippi River during the Civil War, and James Richards born 1844.  All these children were born on PEI.  There is mention of Jane Windsor too.  John Windsor is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Delaware County, Iowa.

THE IOWA STORY OF JOHN WINDSOR LELACHEUR

 My thanks and appreciation to Betty (LeLaCheur) Stevens of Hot Springs, South Dakota for sending me the following information.  The story was written by a grandson of John Windsor, John Asa LeLacheur at 82 years of age.  It was written on February 18, 1949.

Our grandfather, John Windsor Le Lacheur, was born on the Island of Guernsey, situated in the English Channel west of France.  The French were first called Franks.  The German tribes, 2000 years ago were on the east side of the Rhine River, and the Franks, one of the numerous German tribes, were on the west and south side of the Rhine River.  the Franks were very hostile as warriors, and make war on all tribes near them.  2000 year ago the Roman government sent Julius Caesar, with an army or 400,000 soldiers from Rome, to get the Franks under control and subdue them.  Caesar was nine years putting them in the southwestern part of what is now France.  After a time the Franks changed their name from Franks to France or French.

     In 1808, John Windsor LeLacheur did not want to be a soldier when Napoleon Bonaparte was trying to consolidate all the tribes and nations in Europe into a great French Empire.  In his second great war, he would have accomplished this if England had not sent a great army under Wellington to France.  The French under Napoleon, met the German and English combined armies in Western France at Waterloo, and the French were defeated and Napoleon was banished to the Island of St Helena in the Southern Atlantic, about 50 miles west of South Africa, where he was under guard until he died eight years late.

    At the age of eighteen years, John Windsor LeLaCheur  ran away to relatives living on Prince Edward’s Island, a large island near the mouth of the St Lawrence River near the Atlantic Ocean.  The island is 130 miles long and 4 to 20 miles wide.  Charlotte Town is the capital and it is part of Canada.  The island has one railroad that runs through the middle.  The land is rocky and hilly and has a dense population.  the people make their living from fishing 200 miles east at the Grand Banks in the shallow waters of the north west Atlantic.  The Grand Banks or sand hills are the result of great storms at this place.  On the grand Banks are small houses or shanties, where the fishermen live during the fishing season.  They use great seines which they drag through the ocean waters with boats, and hoist, on fish boats by steam power.  they catch all the large fish; cod, halibut, and other large ocean fish.  Part of the crew stay on the Grand Banks, and part haul the fish to Prince Edward’s Island, where it is packed into tubs and barrels.

    John Windsor LeLaCheur met Elizabeth Sensebaugh, a Holland girl, raised in Brooklyn.  Her forebears came to America 100 years previously and bought Long Island from the Indians for $23.00, but in a few years most of them went back to  Holland.  But the English fleet, cruising around came to Long Island, and the Navy men grabbed on the Island as a good base for ocean shipping.

    John Windsor LeLaCheur was a smart man, a good student and a great orator.  In sixteen years he was elected to the Canadian parliament at Quebec.  I have heard him say he would write his speeches for Parliament, commit them to memory and go down to the ocean and deliver them during a great storm to strengthen his voice and lungs.  He was 26 years in the Canadian Parliament before he moved to Iowa.  He lived up there 32 years.  In 1848, Horace Greely, Editor of the New York Journal wrote numerous articles about Iowa, advising young men to go west and grow up with the country.  In the spring of 1848, John Windsor LeLaCheur, said to his second son, Windsor, “I think you had better go to the state of Iowa and look it over.  Perhaps we all ought to go out there and get a piece of that good land.”  The oldest boy William was married and living in Providence, Rhode Island.  In the spring of 1848, Windsor about 25 years old, went to Iowa and was so well pleased that he pre-empted a 160 acre tract at $200.00, two miles NW of Greely, Iowa, which now goes by the name of the old Jim Winnard Farm.  When Windsor got home to the Island in the fall of 1848, he gave such a glowing account of Iowa, that the whole family wanted to move to the land of promise.  During the winter they disposed of their property and packed up to move to Iowa.

    They took a boat near Charlotte Town and went up the St. Lawrence River until they came opposite lake Huron in the US.

    Then they walked the four miles across and took a boat on Lake Huron through Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, through the straits at Detroit and up around the bulge in Lake Michigan and down to Chicago, which had a population of 4000 people at the time.  Grandfather camped there two weeks.  He bought two yokes of oxen, two wagons and a walking plow, harrow, come household supplies and kitchenware.  Little Jimmie, 6 years old went out to look over the city and got lost and his parents had a hard time finding him again.  They loaded up and drove over to the Mississippi River, which they crossed on flat boats.  Then they drove up to Dubuque on the West Side of the river, where they camped to let their oxen rest.  They drove over 40 miles west to the village of Greeley.  I do not know whether it was named Greeley after the LeLaCheur clan arrived.

    They drove out to the 160 acres of land that Windsor bought from the US government.  There was some dispute between John W. and his son Windsor over the land but I do not know what it was about, but Windsor picked up his stuff and walked out, and has never been heard from since.

    Aunt Liz and Mr. S. J. Penny bought the 160 acres of grandfather and the same land that is owned at this time by Will Harris.  That piece of land has been owned by the family for 160 years.  Grandfather got some neighbours to help and they soon had a log house to live in.  They dug the cellar 8 feet deep and 20 x 24 in size with a lean-to and a garret above for the boys to sleep in.

    There were no boards for sale and no sawmill to make the boards.  They sawed the lumber by hand out of oak blocks 2 feet long and split them into shave ¼ to 1/3 inch thick to mail down for floorboards.  I went out to see the house 55 years ago, then it was owned by Sam Penny Jr. and he was using it for a hog house.  Aunt Liz and her Mr. S.J. Penny built a long house also.  Both families had a hard time to live.  No work and nothing to sell.  Common labour was paid by a bag of potatoes, a piece of pork, a sac of cornmeal, or some other home product.  One of the neighbours gave grandfather some ears of corn, which were handed to the girls, Mary and Mag, with instruction to plant it.

    In a week the girls were asked to look and see if the corn had sprouted.  They went out and dug up the corn and brought the ears to the house covered with sprouts.  They did not know the corn needed to be shelled before planting.

    John Windsor raised a little crop and a garden and potatoes to help feed them through the winter.  As soon as the weather was cold enough, each autumn he butchered a young bull for meat and the hide he used for making moccasins, for the girls and the three boys.  John W. at that time was about 55 years old.  He used to go to Dubuque for supplies and to attend to business affairs.  He would walk down one day and back the next.  For young Jim’s first Christmas in Iowa grandfather bought him a pair of leather boots with red tops.  Jim was 6 years old and he was afraid that Jack and Elisha would make away with them, so he hid his boots in the teakettle.  The coffee was so bad the next morning they could not drink it, so grandmother looked things over and fount Jimmy’s red top boots in the teakettle.

    John W. had 7 children at this time.  William at Providence, Rhode Island, and Windsor who ran away, two girls, Mary and Mag.  And three young boys.  Old man Martins came down on the Wabash River in Indiana.  He bought a threshing machine, 20 horses and money to buy 800 acres of land and buildings and had a pack of silver and gold left over.  He had three sons, Jim, Zeke, and Wash.  He bought land along the Maguaketa River.  His sons Jim and Zeke soon met and became acquainted with the LeLaCheur girls and soon, every Sunday night they were parked in grandfathers living room. but Jack and Elisha gave them no peace.  When the Martin boys became interested in lovemaking, Jack and Elisha would crawl up on the roof and place a flat board over the chimney to smoke them out.  Soon the girls were grown.  Mary married Jim Martin, and they had five children Bill, James, Stub, Ann and Dell.

    Mr. Martin gave Jim 200 acres of timberland, where the town of Thorpe is now located.  The land was covered with dense oak timber that had to be grubbed.  The land was lying on both sides of the river.

    Zeke married Margaret LeLaCheur, and they were given 200 acres of land along the river about 7 miles SW of Greely, and they built a house on the south and a barn on the north side to the river.  they had three children, Art, Charlotte and John.  In time Art moved to Washington State, and John got the old home place.  Charlotte married a town boy named Elliot and Zeke and Aunt Mag moved on a new farm west of Lamont.  S.J. Penny’s were married on the Island and had three children when they moved to Greeley; Ann Mag who married Dick Canaan, and Betty who later married Hod Carrell.  They later moved to Southwestern Iowa, and then to Nebraska, and still later to Los Angeles, Cal.  In about eight years Mr. S.J. Penny died of TB. I believe he was an Englishman and a pal of John Harris.  They came to the Island, and Liz and S.J. Penny married and had three children and moved to Greeley, but Mr. Harris went to New York, where he worked as a carpenter.  He was working one day on a scaffold, which gave way, and he fell and broke his hip and was always lame after that time.  Aunt Liz and S. J. Penny had two more children Sam Penny Jr. and Emma, after they moved to Greeley.  About8 years after Mr. Penny died, Aunt Liz and John Harris were ready to get married.  They were wise in the ways of world.  Before they were married, John Harris Sr. got a justice of the peace and two neighbours to invoice the farm, horses, cattle, and to the other visible property on the farm.  It came to $2500.00 which was a lot of money at that time, and the money was put in a trust fund, and secured so each child of the Penny family would get $500.00 with interest when they became of age.  This forethought saves a lot of trouble.

    Aunt Liz and John Harris had one son Will Harris, who still owns the old farm 1 ½ miles NW of Greeley.  This is the same land his mother pre-empted of the US government over 100 years ago.  Aunt Liz died about 1905.  John Harris died about 1881 and is buried in Greeley beside his boyhood friend S.J. Penny.

    Jack LeLaCheur enlisted in the Civil War and saw service in the south.  He was wounded in the shoulder during battle.  He was sent home on furlough by boat up the Mississippi River.  The boat was crowded and some of the boys were wrestling and one fell against Jack who was standing next to the outside railing, and Jack was thrown overboard.  John W. went down and had the river dragged at that place, but he was gone and it is supposed that a shark got the body.  The accident happened near Cairo, Illinois.

    Elisha was married to Mary Jane Bliss of Edessa Grove.  Three children were born to them at Greeley, Lizzie, who died recently at the age of 77, and is buried at Casper, Wyoming, Frank and John.  They moved to Mullen NW, Nebraska, in 1887, and one boy Bill was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and lives in South Dakota.

    Elisha’s boys were cattle ranchers.  Elisha and John Bliss were out in the yard when they saw a prairie fire rushing towards them.

They got some wet sacks and went out to fight it.  But it was too strong for them and they were over powered and all their clothes were burned off them and they walked to the house with their hats and boots on.  They both died, Elisha that night, and John the following day.  the accident occurred in August 1894.  My father James R. LeLaCheur, when he was 17 years old went down to Rock Island Ill., and enlisted in the cavalry of the Civil War.  J. R. LeLaCheur was the youngest of eleven children and grandmother took on so bad that grandfather went down and hired a substitute in his place and brought father home.

    Dad and mother had been keeping company for some time and wanted to get married.  Dad was 17 years old and mother 15.  Mother’s name was Fanny E. Woodward, born at North Adams, Mass. In 1847.

    Her father was Dr. A C Woodward, a graduate of Physicians and Surgeons medical College of Philadelphia, and a postgraduate at Ann Arbor Michigan.  Dad and mother wanted to get married, and when the LeLaCheur and Woodward families found out hell broke loose.  John W said no daughter of damm moss Yankee could marry his boy, and Dr. Woodward said no son of a sesh democrate could marry his daughter, but the kids wanted to get married.  They had to have their parents consent because they were under age and their parents would not give their consent, so they hitched up the old grey mare to the buckboard and drove 30 miles down to the Mississippi River and the Turkey River Junction (Iowa).  they put the old mare in the barn, hired a fisherman with a rowboat to row them across the Mississippi to a little town in Wisconsin where they did not need a licence or a permit, so they were married.  They drove back to Greeley Iowa, where their parents were so mad they wanted to disown them, saying the 15 and 18 year old kids had disgraced both families.  Dad was married now and the head of a family and could do as he pleased.  Again he went down to Rock Island Ill. and enlisted in the 6^th Iowa Cavalry and the army sent him to the Canadian border to deep the Indians from coming over the Missouri River from the west side and killing the settlers.  Mom on her 16^th birthday went down to Earlville (Iowa) and worked as a house servant to Jimmy Lindsay who published the county paper there.  When Dad got out of the army they never went back to live with their parents.  They moved over into a little log house in the big oak timber near the river in Edessa Grove.  That is where I was born in a log house on Feb 18, 1867.  Now a days it is a great honour if one is able to say he was born in a little log house in the big oak timber on the bank of a nice river.  We soon moved to Dutch town 8 miles north of Manchester, Iowa, where dad worked several years in a flourmill.  When grandfather built his log house on the farm north west of Greeley he made the cellar 8 feet deep and they went up and down on a board stairs and had a trap door at the top which they let down when anyone came up and in the stairway above they kept food and milk.  One night someone came out and forgot to shut the cellar door and grandmother went in for something and it was dark and she fell down the cellar striking the cellar floor with her head and shoulders.  the doctor said her shoulder was broken and he could not do much for her, and our dear old grandmother suffered and died in great agony as there was no doctor competent to care for her.  doctors in those days only went to six month terms to medical college and got a diploma, which was not much.  She is buried in the cemetery in Manchester, Iowa, Elizabeth Sensebeau--.  I saw her grave in May 1947.  Then the official class at Dubuque learned that John W LeLaCheur had been in the Canadian Parliament and was a great orator, they hired John W. for many years to deliver their 4^th of July oration in that large city.

    John w. served with distinction in the Iowa legislature.

    When Abe Lincoln  was assassinated in 1864, there was great excitement in Greeley and all over the nation.  A big band stand was erected and everyone was asked to speak if he had anything to say for our country and against so cowardly an act.  John W. LeLaCheur was asked to speak.  He was 75 years old and a Sesesh Democrat, and he said the South had a right to secede if they wished.  He said the North and Lincoln, their president, had no right to free the Negroes and destroy all the wealth of the cotton planters, which they invested in their labour force.  John W. was so excited he said he would like to wash his hands in Lincoln’s blood.  Everyone was in a panic, some wanted to hang him, but cooler heads prevailed, and he was taken away by friends and no one was harmed.

    Aunt Liz (Granddad L. oldest girl) had a hard time to feed and care for her five children.  She cultivated corn with a two year old bull and used lines to guide it, going up one side of the row of corn and coming back on the other side.  But when she and John Harris married, her work eased up.  Mr. Harris was a good carpenter and built school houses and farm houses and brought in a good increase to help out on the farm.  He built corn cribs on the farm and bought corn at 15 cents a bushel, and sold it to the neighbours when it was 30 cents.  Aunt Liz was a good farmer and used all the good crop rotations practiced at the present time.  She followed a balanced farm program—hogs, mild cows, corn, clover sown with oats (2 months after the oats were out the clover was plowed under for fertilizer.)  Up to this time Jimmie was 28 years old and worked in a flour mill, but John  W. wanted him to farm, so he bought 160 acres 3 miles north of Greeley and the deed was made out to James R. LeLaCheur.  When he was told after coming home for he was living at the Harris home at the time, a cyclone broke loose—Aunt Liz said she had not had all of her share.  She said the 160 acres belonged to her and she wanted a deed to it.  she had the hired man hitch up the team to the spring wagon and then boosted John w. into the wagon and drove to Greeley to a J.P. to get a deed made out in favour of Liz Harris, and grandfather got a good free blessing besides.  Someone in Greeley rushed out to our farm that night and told Dad what had happened.  At 3:00 in the morning, James R. LeLaCheur fed his horses, got a bite to eat and at 4:00 was on the road to Delhi 14 miles away.  He woke up the Registrar of Deeds and in twenty minutes the James R. deed was on record.  Soon a big cloud of dust was seen coming toward Delhi with sweat and leather.  She saw her kid brother and the Registrar of Deeds standing on the street and perceived that her kid brother had beaten her to bat.  A few hot words were spoken and a resentment and hard feelings were felt.  It was a bad deal, giving that brush hog back land to my father.  Dad was 28 years old at the time and he could have gone 100 miles west in the heat of Iowa and have homesteaded 160 acres of the cream of Iowa land for $14.00 filing fees.  Dad lived on that land 18 years and with all the money he could borrow and with cheap labour he could only  get 50 acres under cultivation in 12 years.  At last he sold the land at $20.00 and moved to Mason City, Iowa, where he put his five children in city schools.   James R. was an old time fiddler.  He was a natural born fiddler.   He commenced to play for dances when he was 11 years old.  He was the only on of his kind.  There was not another fiddler among all his relatives, and Dad and Mother every winter gave two dances for the neighbourhood boys and girls.  Father played the fiddle and mother played, which made good dance music as there was no other entertainment in any neighbourhood for young people, only the fiddle and square dances.  After granddad gave us the 160 acres, the friendship among the related families cooled-off, but it never was very warm.  When we had dances at our house, Mag Cannan, Ann DeLong, Sam Penny Jr. and Emma Penny were never known to visit or enter or call at our house.  When we moved up on the grandfather farm, Ann DeLong and Bill her husband lived on the old Baldridge place, but she never found out where her Uncle Jimmie lived a half mile away.

     Grandfather John W. Le Lacheur lived with us the last seven years of his life.  He had the front room in our house and remained there most of the time.  He had no bad habits.  He bought cream stick candy in 5# lots and he liked for mother to make him a hot brandy every morning about 10 o’clock, of 4 tablespoons of brandy, some sugar, and a cup of hot water.  He said it sort of braced him up.  The last day he was in our house, he started over to Elisha’s house one mile through the pasture.  There was a good path, but he had to cross Bone Holler Creek, but there was a one foot wide, ten foot plank across the creek, but in crossing he slipped off the plank into the water about two feet deep and wallowed around in it and got soaking wet, but finally crawled out and walked the remaining half mile to Elisha’s house.  Aunt Mary Jane got the wet clothes off him and gave him a hot rub down and dry clothes on him and put him to bed, but he had a chill and a stroke of paralysis that night and in the morning he was in a coma and did not eat anything.  During the next five days it was hard to tell whether he was dead.  It was decided that he was dead.  He was buried at Manchester Iowa after the funeral.  Manchester, Iowa is 50 miles West of Dubuque.  His grave is in the first row along the side of his wife Elizabeth Sensebeau in back 25 feet of the double gate. He was about 10 years older than grandmother was.  His tombstone says “John Windsor LeLaCheur, 86 years 7 months and 3 days.”  His tombstone is hard granite and well preserved and easy to read.  Grandmother’s is soft limestone and badly weather-beaten.  I could read nothing except “ElizabethSensebeau,” I was at their graves May 10, 1946.  I hunted up their graves 50 years ago and the bases were in bad condition and the stones leaning over.  My father J.R. LeLaCheur went down there and spent the day with a man and a team hauling dirt and levelling them up.  They are all right now.  My father’s 6^th child, a girl fourteen years old, died at Siseton, South Dakota.  She had infantile paralysis in 1897 and lived only 9 hours in great agony and suffering.  My son Fred is now 52 years old.  He was in the war in France in the First World War.  He was in the service two years and returned home alright.

    In the Second World War there were 10 members of my family in the service.  Six grandsons in all different branches of the service.  One was killed as they rushed upon Iwo Jima.  A Jap crawled out of a cave and shot the left side of his face off.  They sent him over on the Island of Guam to a hospital where he lived six weeks before he died.  this grandson was Gordon Drenttel, 24 years old the son of my eldest daughter, Ester at Sisseton, South Dakota.

    My mother Fanny E. Woodward LeLaCheur died at the A.G.R. soldiers home 25 miles west of Los Angeles in 1929 of old age.  Father after that got breakfast and supper at his home, but got dinner at the Soldier’s home after mother died.  He ate something for dinner one day and it gave him ptomaine poisoning and

he died that night in great pain and suffering.  My brother Ray, 63 years old was with me when we hunted Dad and Mother’s graves.  Plain stone slabs with names etc.  It make the tears come to my eyes to think of my father and mother down there sleeping under 8 feet of that wet black dirt.  There are 3000 acres in the cemetery and there are 35,000 soldiers buried there, some as far back as the Civil War.

    I have written the memories of it in this family history without fear favor.  It is just as I have gathered it in the last 75 years among relatives, at my grandfather’s knee, and talks among relatives.  This is all written from memory—no notes.

    I asked one boy who came back from France after the First World War if he met anyone over there by the name of LeLaCheur.  He said there were thousands by that name from Brittany, France.  the small province that juts down in the English Channel.

     In the South here I have heard of 4 families by the name of LeLaCheur, 3 old men in the Southern tier of counties of Nebraska, one was county treasurer.  They are about 90 now.  I think they were sons of Windsor.  One man was selling refrigerators in North Huston.  One woman was teaching French in Vanderbilt University at Chattanooga, Tennessee, I have written about 12 men by the name LeLaCheur in the US and they are all kin folk of grandfather or his brothers or far relatives.  Our name should be written with 3 capital letters, LeLaCheur and should be pronounced LahLayShure.

    When Will Harris built his big house, he built an enclosed rest room.  Or veranda over the east door and a big window so Aunt Liz could get out for cool air, and when she would see a man walking down the road, she would wonder if it was Windsor coming back home.

    My father had 8 children, and 7 of us are living~4 girls – their names and ages and number of children are as follows.

NAME                           AGE    CHILDREN      GRANDCHILDREN

JAMES ASA                             82               6                           11

STELLA NEILL               78               2                           -

ELSIE M. SMITH            76               1                             5

CHARLES                      75               2                             -

JESSA MAE HORNER    73               1                             1

LILLIAN JOHNSTON      67               1                             1

RAY                                62               1                             1

    A Catholic French priest told one of my daughters that the name of LeLaCheur was often found in the early history of France.  I hope this family history will be of interest to the members of the family receiving it.  I did not make this history I have only written it as it has come to me.

    Amen and best wishes to all the ken folks.

                   James Asa LeLaCheur,           

                   82 years of age, this 18^th day of February 1949

 ELISHA AND MARY JANE (BLISS) LELACHEUR

 Elish and Mary Jane (Bliss) Le Lacheur came to Mullen in 1887 from Fullerton, Nebr., with four children, Phoebe Elizabeth (Lizzie), Frank Windsor, John Ross and William Horton.  They filed on a homestead twelve miles north of Mullen in Cherry County.

    Frank, born May 6^th 1872, soon became old enough to file on a claim, but walked all the way back to Fullerton to find work.  Lizzie married Clarence (Kit) Gay and they had three children, Lew, Guy and Edna.

     In October 1894, Frank was called home by the death of his father and his uncle John bliss.  A prairie fire had started 25 miles west of them on the John Carpenter place and they were watching the smoke.  John went to the top of the hill to see how close the fire was when the force of it knocked him to the ground.  Elisha tried to help him and both men had their clothes burned off.  They walked to the house with their hats and boots on, skin blackened and hanging.  John died that night and Elisha the next day in great agony.

    Young John, second son of Elisha, had been plowing fire guards to protect some hay.  He headed the horses to a plowed field to save his life.  The horsed, scared and squealing, ran their best;

John hung on to the reins but had his hair singed.  After this John and Frank worked on the railroad out of Seneca.  That was when the old roundhouse was located there.

    Ella Wickham was waiting tables at the Seneca Cafe and it was there she met Frank.  They were married at Broken Bow in December 1895.  Later, Mary Jane moved to Mullen to live until her death in October 1910.  She was 63 years old.

    All four of Elisha’s and Mary Jane’s children lived to observe their 50^th wedding anniversaries.

    Frank died from a heart attack in April 1954.  Ella celebrated her 100^th birthday on November 18^th before passing away on December 1 1975.  they reared seven children, as follows:  1) Clarence G. married Catherine Harding – daughter of L.E. Harding, an auctioneer – at Mullen.  their children were Evelyn M> VanAntwerp, Mildred M> Arne, Viola M> Wood, Norman and Daniel.  Clarence died Feb 14, 1978.

     2)  Violet Mae was a school teacher and active in the ministry for over fifty years.

3)  Elva Elizabeth M> Russell Phipps on Oct 7, 1925.  They lived on the Phipps Ranch north of Whitman for 34 years before coming to Mullen to live.  They had three sons, Leonard Russell, Willard Douglas, and Robert Leroy.

    4)  Frank Orvel M> Ivorite nee. Wood.  They live at Bush Pairie Washington, and have been active in the ministry for over fifty years.  They have two daughters, Pauline M> Stephenson  and Rose

    5)  Mary Ella M> Charles Anderson and died in Feb 1938, leaving her husband and three sons, Marvin, Wallace and Kenneth.  A baby girl died in Feb of 1938.

    6)  Hazel Olive M> Clarence Anderson they live in Edmonds, Washington and run an apartment house.  They have two sons, Darwin, Deloss and Edward Morris.

    7)  Alta LeLaCheur M> Clarence Pecht

    All the children of Frank and Ella attended grade school at Cherry Co. District School 15, and high school at Mullen except for the two older ones.

    Uncle John LeLacheur M> Maggie Stevenson and lived 12 miles north of Mullen.  They had three children, Clyde Cornealous, Ross Floyd and Gladyce Marie.  John was thrown from a horse and was cripples for over fifty years.

     Clyde M> Alma Coble.  She died Feb 17, 1979.  they had a son, Curtiss, who had three boys and a girl.  Clyde loves to play the violin as did his uncle Frank and great uncle Jimmy Le Lacheur.  Ross  M> Beulah Beckler.  They have a daughter Diane, who lives in Salt Lake City Utah.

     Gladyce M> Cleon Denny.  She and Ross both live in Broken Bow Nebr.

     William Horton M> Anna Gibson and lived in Mullen Nebr. area.  Later he moved to Hot Springs South Dakota.  He was in WW1.  They ranched west of Hot Springs in Custer Co. and in 1940 they moved to the State Veterans Home and sold their ranch.  They had four children, Ralph, Earl, Elisha, and Edna.  Ralph M> Mayme Bowman and they had six children, Eugent, Violet, Carlene, Doyle, Enoch and Charlotte.  Earl M> Maude Dishman, and they adopted one girl, Joan.  Edna M> Art Gorsuch and they had ten children, Arthur, Raymond, viola, Lois, Wayne, Dorothy, Lloyd, Paul Opal and Francis.  Elisha M> Fern Evans and they had six children Myrtle, Roscoe, Donald, Betty, Joyce and Frank.

 It was a real breakthrough to get in contact with the family of John Windsor.  It is interesting to note the consistency of names, occupation, and interests, even though it appears that once John Windsor and his family left PEI the only contact there may have been with PEI was when C.J. Penney died and Elizabeth married John Harris who was apparently from PEI having been a boyhood friend of Mr. Penney.  thanks to Bessie (nee. Le Lacheur) Penney, who sent a copy of the reunion notice to Betty Steven in South Dakota.  Betty had written to Murray Harbour several years ago inquiring about LeLacheur’s, and Bessie responded to the request.

                             see table 1

 HARRIET LELACHER m> NARCOMB

    Harriet Le Lacheur was a daughter of Jean LeLacheur and Elizabeth Windsor and was born on Guernsey in 1798.  She came with the family to PEI and married Giles Hawkins.  There is a record in the 1881 census of Harriet Hawkins, widow age 83, member of the household of John Hawkins.  There is quite an extensive family tree developed on this family thanks to Sally Lomas of Toronto who is a great-great granddaughter of Harriet.  the Hawkins resided in Guernsey Cove.

                             see table   2

BARTHOLOMEW LELACHEUR (1802-1877)

    Barthelemi (Bartholomew) LeLacheur was born to Jean LeLacheur and Elizabeth Windsor on the Island of Guernsey and came to PEI with his family.

    My thanks to John Windsor LeLacheur, Garnet’s son who sent me a printout of information that they got from the National Archives in Ottawa which solved many questions about this family.  He married Margaret Jennings and others as Margaret Hawkins.  There were 11 children

    The eldest child was a daughter, Elizabeth Hawkins, born March 2 1828.  M>James Robins in 1852.  They lived in Lot 64 and died in 1909.  The second child was John born Now 22 1829.  He served his apprenticeship as a carpenter in Charlottetown, and moved to Saint John NB in 1853, and worked as a journeyman until 1878 when he formed a partnership with W.H. Bowman.  He joined the Fire Department and the Son of the Temperance in Charlottetown and did the same in Saint John.  He was Treasurer of the Fireman’s Relief Association and was also a member of the NB Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.  He married Margaret Spear, daughter of John Spear, a Bay of Fundy pilot and Mary Hudson daughter of Captain Hudson.  They had four children, Alice, Marion, Margaret and John.  John married Anna Mowatt.  John was badly injured in WW1, but lived an active and full life. He married Grace Cooper and had a son Louis whose family is listed on the tree.   Jemima was born in April of 1831, and died in May of 1901.  Matilda was born in 1832 and married William Cowan.  Charles was born in March of 1836 and died in Sept 1836.

    Giles Hawkins was born 1837, married Mary Cooper, and died in 1928.  He is supposed to have gone to Nova Scotia, then to the USA.  He had two sons, Fredrick and Arthur.  Cecil Le Lacheur remembers him coming to the cove during the summer and remembers him as a small man with a white beard.  Where did he come from and where is he buried?

    James was born in 1839, married Sophia Machon and died in 1920.  Rev. David Windsor, born 1841, ordained in Halifax, NS, was the first Methodist Minister in Advocate Harbour, NS.  He was married and had a son James born 1869, as well as a daughter

          THE DAILY PATRIOT, CHARLOTTETOWN PEI

                                      JUNE 24, 1901  page 5

    A dispatch has been received by the Saint John Star announcing that Mrs. Dr. W. LeLacheur of Portland, ME., has received a cablegram from Freedom, Africa, announcing the death of her husband Dr. W. LeLacheur there.

    John LeLacheur, carpenter and builder of Brussels Street, an elder brother of the deceased, received his first intimation of his brother’s death at 3 o’clock this afternoon.  He was deeply shocked and grieved at the sad intelligence since he had expected Dr. LeLacheur home in a few weeks.  He had not heard directly from him for several months, but had received a letter from his wife in Portland about four weeks ago, station that her husband was then in Africa, but expected to return to America about the end of August.  The deceased was aged about 60 years and the cause of death is unknown.

    Rev. Dr. D.W. LeLacheur was a native of PEI, and was prominently known in this city.  For many years he occupied pulpits throughout this province, being at different times pastor of Methodist churches at Gibson, Springfield, Andover, and Pugwash, NS.  From here he went to the pastorate of Vaughan Street Church, Portland Me.  About eight years ago he became connected with the Christian Alliance Missionary Society and since then has been making a tour of the world in that interest, which has taken him through China, Japan, Palestine and lately to Africa, where he met his death.  He visited this city last fall on behalf of his society and preached in Centenary, Zion and Reformed Baptist churches.  He leaves a wife and daughter, resident in Portland, Main.

    Mr. LeLacheur is a native of Murray Harbour, being a brother of Messrs Bartholomew and James LeLacheur of that place.

    He resided in the US for many years and was for some time associated with Re. A.H> Simpson, the widely known evangelist.  He

visited his Island home two years ago and preached in this city on that occasion. 

    Bartholomew was born 1843, married Mary Herring, fathered 10 children and died in 1932.

    Margaret was born in 1847, married William Machon, and died in 1908.  It is interesting to note that it is through this Margaret LeLacheur, that the family of Chester and Margaret (nee. Machon) LeLacheur, get one of their three shots of LeLacheur ancestry.

    There is another daughter Jane, for whom I do not have a birth date, but she did marry William Beck in 1869.  One of their children was Selina (1877-1957) who was famous for her quilts.

    Many of this family can be found scattered through Canada and the US.

    In the summer of 1992, I had a call from a Virginia Wood of Jacksonville, Florida, who had received information about the reunion from the Historical Society of PEI.  She is a daughter of Frank or Francis, who was a son of Bartholomew and Mary Herring, went to

the US as a young man and married, but never talked about his ancestors.  The Wood’s had come to PEI but had never traced information about their family.

ELISHA LELACHEUR

 Elizee Le Lacheur was born to Jean LeLacheur and Elizabeth Windsor on May 29, 1800, in St. Peter Port on Guernsey.  Once they came to PEI the names appear to have become Anglicized so Elizee became Elisha.

    Elisha began clearing land on the farm which was later owned by William Sencabaugh, but while cutting the forest and having only a baked potato  for his dinner, the hardship of the lot seems to have discouraged him.  He left the farm in Cambridge’s hands and went to Australia.  there he married an English woman, lived in comfortable circumstances and died at a good old age without issue.

    Elisha is another name, which has appeared many times in John Windsor’s family.

    It is interesting to note; however, that another child, a girl was born to this couple on June 20, 1804, and she was also called Elizabeth.  She came to PEI with her parents, brother and sister, one of the five children who emigrated with their parents and others from Guernsey.  There she married, Benjamin Sencabaugh, who was a brother of the Elizabeth Sencabough who married her elder brother, John Windsor.

    Elizabeth is a very common name for many generations of LeLacheur women, but this is the story of why there were two Elizabeth’s in one family.

    Ben and  Elizabeth (LeLacheur) Sencabaugh had eight children.  Ann born Feb 15, 1828, Elizabeth born March 6, 1826, Charlotte Brehaut, born Oct 21, 1836, Jane born Dec 18, 1832, Margaret born Jan 14, 1839, Philamena no date given, but record of baptism in 1826, Sarah born March 9, 1841, and William Horton born Jan 8, 1835.

    Elizabeth LeL (20 Jun 1804) – (23 Dec 1846)  m> Benjamin Sencebaugh (27 May 1798) – (10 feb 1864)

     Bp:  Jean LeL, Eliz Windsor, Eliz Brouard,.

     Benjamin :  Brother of Elizabeth Sencebaugh, PEI 1841 census, PEI 1861 census

     Philamina Sencebaugh

    Elizabeth Sencebaugh (6 Mar 1826)
   Ann Sencebaugh (15 Feb 1828)

    Jane Sencebaugh (18 Dec 1832)

   Willan Horton Sencebaugh (6 Jan 1835) – m> Mary Ann u/k (c1831)

                             m> Elizabeth u/k (15 Jul 1844)

     1901  PEI Lot 64 census PAC  IT-6511 DOB appears to be Jul 22, 1835 enumerator Thomas Harris

     had a very difficult hand.  1901 census :  1 single family dwelling 8 rooms, 4 out buildings, 50A.

     Mary: PEI 1881 census

          Mark Sencebaugh (c1859)

          Matilda Sencebaugh (c1861)

         Silas Sencabaugh (c1863)

      Oliva Sencabaogh (c 1866)

         Solomon Sencabaugh (c1868)

        Adelaid Sencabough (c 1870)

    Charlotte Brehaut Sencabaugh (21 Oct 1836)

    Margaret Sencabough (14 Jan 1839)

    Sarah Sencabaugh (9 Mar 1841)

DAVID WINDSOR LELACHEUR (1806-1892)

     David Windsor LeLacheur was a son of Jean LeLacheur and Elizabeth Windsor.  He was the first of the group of children that were born on PEI.  They landed on PEI in May or June and he was born on October 20, 1806.

    There is little information on David.  Mrs. Turk in her book lists him as being married to a Simpson, residing in Amherst, NS was a blacksmith, and had a son Maynard.

    On April 16, 1996, I visited the Newport Landing Cemetery (1810), and found the grave of David LeLacheur as the inscription on one side of the very large tombstone is: David W. LeLacheur, died Dec 1, 1892, aged 85 years.  A native of Murray Harbour, South Kings County, PEI.

    The other side of the stone reads:  Elizabeth, wife of David LeLacheur, died Oct 20, 1885, aged 64 years.

    Beside this tombstone and in a neat row are three other stone.  the first one reads:  Embert W. died Nov 25, 1861, at 8 years 6 months, and John died Nov 20, 1861, aged 2 years, sons of David and Elizabeth LeLacheur.  the second stone reads:  Oiscelia Agnes LeLacheur, died Aug 6, 1871, aged 7  or 2 years, ( the inscription is difficult to read).  The third stone reads:  Elizabeth P, daughter of David and Elizabeth, died Sept 20, 1864, aged 9 years, 3 months.

    Surrounding this grave sight are the graves of many Simpsons as are found throughout the cemetery.  We can only guess that David Windsor LeLacheur was buried here because he married a Simpson whose family was from Newport Landing, but why the death of all four children at such young ages, and the death of both sons within five days of each other?

    Thanks to Valerie MacLean of Newport Landing, I later found that the LeLacheur children died from diphtheria as did the Parker and the MacCarthy families.  the grave of another LeLacheur child Maynard may also be in the cemetery, but several years ago a clean up crew removed many of the broken stones and did not mark or identify the graves.  Maynard died without issue but when is yet to be identified.

    The other members of the Simpson family never married, with the exception of one who went to PEI.  thus ended this family of LeLacheur’s.

 JAMES AND CHARLES LELACHEUR

     James and Charles LeLacheur were twin sons born to Jean LeLacheur and Elizabeth Windsor, on September 20, 1810.  There is some discrepancy on their birth date as on James’ tombstone it reads that he died on June 7, 1868, at 62 years of age, which would date the birth at 1806.  However, I am convinced that they were born in 1810, as David was born in 1806.

     Charles was drowned in the Bay of Chaleur.  He was probably a fisherman as I have recently learned that there were many involved in the fishing industry with the Cape Breton people and the people of Gaspe.                                                                                                            

     James married Ann Dorey (Robbin) from Cape Breton, on April 23, 1840.  Ann Dorey had been married to John Robbin of Arichat, Cape Breton, who died in 1837.  They had three children:  John, who died as a baby, another John, and Daniel.  Did these boys come to PEI with their mother?

     James and Ann had several children.  They are both (James and Ann), buried in the small graveyard behind the Presbyterian church in Murray Harbour.

     The children were:  Charles, born Sept 2, 1841, and died on July 3, 1902.  James was born on April 25, 1850 and died on Jan 31, 1874 of TB.  John George David was born in 1853.  Jane Amy or Jemmima married James Hayter on Dec 23, 1863, Elizabeth Ann was born in 1844, and married a James Bell in 1867, and Clara or Clarissa listed in the will of 1864, made by Ann Dorey’s mother.

     Charles was married three times and had 14 children.  His first wife was Charlotte Jane Sencabaugh, who he married in 1863 and she died in 1877.  He then married Maria MacLeod in 1878, and she died on Aug 9, 1893, and the third wife was a McLure lady.  the children are listed in order of birth on the family tree.

     John George David was married to Mary Bain Nicholson on March 29, 1879, they had three children, Lorne Wesley, born 1880, died 1944, and is buried at Bell Side Manitoba.  Windsor, born 1883, and died 1906, and Emmerson Dunbar born Oct 29, 1890.  another son Daniel was born in 1889, but died at 4 months of age.  The Daily Examiner, Charlottetown, records the death of Mary as:  At the Hospital for the Insane, Charlottetown, on January 30, 1895, in her 33^rd year of life.  Mary Nicholson, beloved wife of John LeLacheur of Murray Harbour South, leaving her husband and three children, to mourn her loss.  John married Sarah McAulay and had two children, Roland born in 1900 and Sadie.  Sarah McAulay died June 18, 1903.

John was a tinsmith and operated a lobster factory with a Mr. Prowse at the Cove.  Lorne was married of Feb 14, 1900 to a flora Nicholson and in 1908 to Annie Kuralowich.  He liven in Saskatchewan, operated a livery stable, farmed, and worked for sometime in a feed mill.  Windsor who went West, shipped horses back East, but was shot to death on one of his trips west.  He is buried in Rostern, Saskatchewan.

Emmerson went west with his brothers and worked for many years in the oil business.

     I related this information on this family at this time because it was through Tyler Hoffman’s inquiry that led to discovering the information on this family.  Lorne had three children one of which was Helen Scopick.  She now resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Mary Drake is a daughter of Emmerson and also resides in Saskatoon.  I had the opportunity to meet with both these ladies in April 1992, in Saskatoon.  Helen had lost all contact with the LeLacheur roots, but as a result made the trip to the reunion in 1992.

     James is described as a blacksmith by occupation.  My father, Cecil LeLacheur, recalls the forge located on the lane in to the LeLacheur homestead.  James is also described in Hutchinson’s PEI Directory for 1864, as being a landwaiter:  a customs official who examined, weighed and took account of goods that had just been landed (off a ship).

NANCY (ANN) LELACHEUR

 Nancy LeLacheur was a daughter of Jean and Elizabeth Windsor.  she was born on Dec 31, 1812.  She married Henry Machon, who was born in 1799 on Guernsey and came to PEI with the Machon family who came along with the LeLacheur family.

     On the baptismal records of their children, Nancy is called Anne, although she was baptised Nancy.  There were 10 children in the Machon family.  1)  Elizabeth Windsor born Dec 25, 1831, she was the second wife of William Clements.  2)  Margaret Anne, born Jan 27, 1833.  3)  Daniel, born March 6, 1834.  4)  Frances, born Feb 26, 1836.  5)  Henry, born Oct 1, 1837. 6)  James, born Dec 27, 1839. 7)  Charles Copps, born Aug 13, 1842.  8)  Sarah Ann, born May 7, 1845.  9) Benjamin David, born Nov 18, 1850.  10)  Maria Jane, born Jan 7, 1859.  She married William Howe, whose children were Blanche, Milton, Myrtle, Ellis and Gladys.

     Blanche married Fred LeLacheur, my grandfather.

     My father, Cecil LeLacheur, remembers Fances, Aunt Fanny, walking from White Sands to the Cove to help with sewing and knitting.

THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST;  

     I have come to the end of my research on the LeLacheur family who came to PEI from Guernsey Island in 1806.  there are many pieces missing.  It becomes like a jug-saw puzzle, you go for weeks and months without any new info, and then a phone call, a letter, an e-mail inquiry and a few new pieces fall in place.

     My next move will be to actually go to Guernsey and research the 15 and 16 hundreds.  Meanwhile the Cape Breton and Gaspe LeLacheur’s are working on their family histories.

     I would appreciate anyone who might challenge some information or supply some thoughts and would pass them on to me to enhance the depth and completeness of this paper.

   Jean LeLacheur