Outagamie County, WI - Biography of Nelson LECLAIR of Seymour 1877-

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Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives
SUBJECT: Biography of Nelson LECLAIR of Seymour 1877-
SUBMITTER: Janice Marasch
EMAIL: jmmarasch@aol.com
DATE SUBMITTED: Apr 16, 1999
SURNAMES: LECLAIR, LAFOND, COLLING, BALTES
SOURCE: History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin, by Dr. L. Falge, v.2, p. 622-623, 1911-1912


BIOGRAPHY:
LECLAIR, Nelson

born: 26 Sept. 1877, in Seymour twp., Outagamie Co., WI.
parents: Charles and Angeline (LaFond) LeClair.
married: 1898, to Theresa Colling, dau. of Leonard and Anna (Baltes) Colling of Seymour, Outagamie Co., WI.
Children: None given.

Nelson LeClair, who belongs to the well known firm of LeClair Brothers, dealers and shippers of fish of Two Rivers,
Wisconsin, is also engaged extensively in dairy farming. He was born in Seymour township, Outagamie County,
Wisconsin, September 26, 1877, and is a son of Charles and Angeline(LaFond) LeClair, and a grandson of Louis
LeClair. Charles LeClair was born at St. Francis, Canada, in 1826, and when nineteen years of age went to New York
State, and from there during the following summer to Chicago. The family came to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in 1847.
Louis LeClair, his father, working first in the shingle mill and later going to Mishicot, where he was employed by
Daniel Smith, and his death occurred there when he was fifty-two years of age. Charles LeClair was married when he
was twenty-three years of age, and settled on sixty acres of wild land in Mishicot, but sold this after building a log
cabin and log barn and came to Two Rivers, where he engaged in fishing. In 1873 he went to Seymour township,
Outagamie county, and engaged in farming for eleven years, when he returned to Two Rivers, located on the property
a part of which is now occupied by his sons, and continued to farm and fish during the remainder of his life, his death
occurring when he was seventy-five years and ten months old, his wife having passed away in July, 1898, aged
sixty-four years. He was a faithful member of the Catholic church, and assisted in building the churches of that
denomination at Mishicot and Two Rivers and the old church at Seymour. He had five children by a former marriage,
of whom three are living, and his second union, to Angeline LaFond, resulted in the birth of twelve children, namely:
two infants, deceased; Charles; Mary; Olive; Jane, who died aged three years; Delia; an infant, deceased; David, who
is Nelson's partner in business; two infants, deceased; and Nelson. Nelson LeClair has been engaged in fishing since
his youth, when he first joined his father, and later he formed a partnership with his brother David which has
continued to the present time. He has also been a leading dairy farmer of Two Rivers township, having an excellent
tract of one hundred and twenty acres, and raises Guernsey cattle, high-bred horses and Chester White hogs. He has a
modern farm house, a barn eighty by seventy feet, with cement floor, and a fifty-six-ton silo.
In 1898, Mr. LeClair was married to Theresa Colling, who was born at Seymour, Wisconsin, a daughter of Leonard
and Anna (Baltes) Colling, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Dodge county, Wisconsin. They were
married at Rubicon, Wisconsin, and settled on a farm near Seymour, Outagamie county, where they lived until
retirement, and since that time have resided in Neenah. Mr. Colling was born December 27, 1842, and his wife in
1853, and they had a family of eleven children, namely: Mary, Peter, Francis, John, Theresa, Katie, Christian,
Nicholas, Rosa, Anna and Esther, of whom Nicholas is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. LeClair are connected with the
Catholic church, and he holds membership in St. Joseph's Athletic Club, St. Peter's Society and the Catholic Knights.