Jean (John) Baptist Lessard (Sr.) married Aurelie Marcotte 5/8/1848 - Louiseville, (St. Leon, Maskinonge), at Riviere du Loup, North of Montreal, Canada

Jean Baptist Sr.'s father, Sifroi Lessard married Seraphine Tessier 1/31/1825 - Louiseville
Louiseville is on the St-Lawrence River shore North of Montreal, Canada (50 miles)

Sifroi Lessard's father, Joseph Lessard married Josette Lesieur (Desaunier) 7/25/1796 - Louiseville
Louiseville is on the St-Lawrence River shore North of Montreal, Canada (50 miles)

Joseph Lessard's father, Etienne Lessard married Josette Dupont on 7/9/1764 - Ste-Anne de Beaupre
Ste-Ane de Beaupre is on the St-Lawrence River shore North of Quebec City, Canada (20 miles)

Etienne Lessard's father,Jean Lessard married Anne Gagnon on 9/30/1738 - Chateau Richer, Canada

Jean Lessard's father, Noel Lessard married Genevieve Dubois on 3/1/1718 - Quebec city, Canada

Noel Lessard's father, Etienne de Lessart married Marguerite Sevestre 4/8/1652 - Quebec City, Canada

Etienne de Lessart's father, Jacques de Lessart married Marie Herson from Chambois, Orne, France

---

John Lessor Jr. and Amabelis Belanger’s marriage document
September 7, 1868
St. John the Evangelist Parish (the "Old French Church")
Green Bay, Wisconsin

 

Mr. and Mrs John Lessor Jr. (nee Amabilis Belongia) posed on their wedding day in 1868.

English translation:
 On the 7th of September 1868, John Baptiste Lissart age
19 years, was born at a Riviere du Loup
(community called St-Leon Le
Grand near Trois Rivieres South of Quebec City 80 miles; the
original spelling of the surname is Lessard - Guy Lessard  )
son of the marriage of John Baptiste and Henrica Marcotte
and Amabilis Belanger,age 15 years of the same location,
daughter of John Baptiste and Agatha Duchene
in the presence of Alfred Lambert and
Toussaint Graissier who witnessed the marriage contract.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Translated from a copy of the original document, above, by Kris Beisser Matthies, CGSR, Assistant Archivist of the Diocese of Green Bay - July 12, 2000.

From the Oconto County Reporter - 1968

Mrs. Emma Truckey, right, was born in this house built by her father, John Lessor, Jr., in 1877. The house is at 1045 McDonald street, Oconto. The woman with Mrs. Truckey is her sister, Mrs. Mary Klover, also of Stiles.

One might suppose the Biblical admonition concerning the shakey future of houses built on sand  would apply also to houses built on sawdust. This home at 1045 McDonald street, Oconto, however, has been standing firm on it's sawdust foundation for 92 years.

The builder, John B. Lessor, Jr., came to Oconto from Quebec, Canada, as a young man of 18 in 1866. The following year he persuaded an Oconto lass, Mabeles Belongia, to share his bed and board. Since there were no churches in the city at the time, the couple traveled by boat to Green Bay to be married.

Ten years later, Lessor bought a section of land on the Indian trail along the river that was to become McDonald street. the area was actually nothing but a swamp and to create a lot suitable for building, Lessor dug a deep ditch the length of his property, filled it with sawdust and splints and covered it with ground taken from the ditch. He continued in the manner until the lot was filled and he was able to build his house.

His father,( Jean (John) Baptist Lessard and mother, Aurelie Marcotte) meanwhile, followed his son to the fledgling town and made his home at 712 Voy ave.

The junior Lessor worked at the water wheel mill at the west end of McDonald street on the (Oconto) river bank in his early years in Oconto and later became a four-mule teamster for the Balcom Company.

In 1889 he moved to Klondike. His wife, Amabilis, died in 1896 and a year later he married a widow with 7 children. They then returned to Oconto and lived on Voy ave.

The Lessor daughters shown above are Mrs. Mary Klover, 93, and Mrs. Emma Truckey, 89, who live together as active members of the Stiles Junction community. Mrs. Klover was born in the house east of the one pictured above.

Lawrence LaViolette, 1011 McDonald street, Oconto, is a grandchild of John Lessor, Sr.

John Lessor, Sr., shown here with his wife, Aurelie Marcotte, followed his son to Oconto from Canada in 1875 and made his home at 712 Voy ave., Oconto.

~1. Jean (John) Baptist Lessard (Sr.)
      +Aurelie Marcotte - was born 4/26/1828 to Benjamin Marcotte and Ursule Frechette who were
      married Sept. 26, 1825 in Canada. Aurelie married  5/8/1848 Louiseville, (St. Leon, Maskinonge), at
      Riviere du Loup, North of Montreal, Canada

      Children of Jean (John) Baptiste Lessard/Lissart/Lessor Sr. and Henrica Marcotte:

        1. Adolph
        2. Ann
        3. Delia
        4. Joseph
        5. Leoman
        6.  Mary Aurelie
        7.  Milea
        8.  Sophie
   ~  9.  John Baptiste - Born 1848/1849 in Riviere du Loup, Quebec, Canada, Died 1904 in
            Oconto Co., Wisconsin.
             +Amabilis Belongia

         Children of John Lessor Jr. and Amabilis Belongia :

        1. John B. Lessor - Born 05/11/1870 in Oconto Co. Wisconsin, Died 12/7/1955 Oconto Falls, Wis.
            and buried 12/15/1955 in Cloquet, MN in Calvary Cemetary.
            + Mary Heroux-born 1878 in Quebec, Canada? Died 01/12/1914 in Cloquet, MN, Marriage date
            unknown.The daughter of Mitchell Heroux and Mary Bergervain.
 

~     2. Albina (Minnie) Lessor - Born 9/15/1874 in Oconto Co.-Timme, Wisconsin. Died 4/23/1962 in
            De Pere, Wisconsin.
             +Francois (Frank) Zepherien Couvillon/Coveau - Born 05/09/1862 in Quebec,Canada.
            Died 04/20/1936 Wis., Married on 6/30/1890. The son of Francois Couvillon/Quevillon and
            Philomene Foret-Martin. For the Coveau Family Page press HERE

        3. Mary Lessor (Pictured above) - Born approx. 1876, Died  ?.
            +Otto Klover - Born 6/23/1873 in Bonduel, Died 1958. Otto was the head sawyer at the
             Klondike Saw Mill and a farm owner

        4. Emma Lessor  (pictured above) - Born 5/8/1880 in Oconto County, Wis. Died 8/15/1978 in
            Oconto Falls Hospital, Oconto Falls, Wis. Buried  in St. Patrick's Cemetary, Stiles, Wis.
            +Tuffel Truckey (Truttier)? -Died 09/17/1934. Married  in 1897, Oconto, Wis. The Truckeys
            owned a  tavern/hotel in Stiles, Wis.

        5. Izzadore Lessor -  (spelled Isadore) in census- Born 1/1883 in Oconto, Wis. Died 07/23/1968
            +Evalilia Lottie Poirier- B06/07/1885, D 09/23/1951

        6. Exora Lessor - Born  3/1886 in Timme, Wis.?
            +William Huttle or Huettle (possibly 2nd marriage).

        7. Archie Lessor -Born 03/05/1894 in Timme, Wis. Died 10/23/1981
            + Celia Kesler - Born 07/05/1901 in Radcliff, Wis. Died 12/30/1982 in Two Harbors, MN and
             is buried in Cloquet,  MN.

        8. Adolph Lessor - 8/1878-1904 who drowned "walking the logs" in the Columbia
            River in Oregon.

        9. Joseph Lessor born 6/1882

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