Husband Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Roland Pelletier
Mother: Bertha Danjou
Marriage:
Wife Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Leonide Letourneau
Mother: Noella Lemieux
Children
1 M Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband Royer
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Gilbert Royer
Mother: Evelyne Boutot
Marriage:
Wife Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Leonide Letourneau
Mother: Noella Lemieux
Other Spouse: Royer
Children
Husband Royer
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Gilbert Royer
Mother: Evelyne Boutot
Marriage:
Wife Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Leonide Letourneau
Mother: Noella Lemieux
Other Spouse: Royer
Children
Husband Alexis Letourneau
Born: December 11, 1709 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Baptized: December 13, 1709 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Died: December 1785 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Buried: December 18, 1785 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Father: Jacques Letourneau
Mother: Angelique Guyon Buisson Dion
Marriage: July 13, 1738 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Wife Marie Genevieve Naud
Born: May 14, 1715 - Ste-Famille-DE-Cap-Santé, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Baptized: May 14, 1715 - Ste-Famille-DE-Cap-Santé, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Died: April 1788 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Buried: April 1788 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Father: Jean Francois Naud
Mother: Genevieve Paquin
Children
1 M Dominique Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Marie Louise Perron
Marr: January 19, 1779 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
2 F Marguerite Letourneau
Born: 1760 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Clement Arcand
Marr: January 27, 1777 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Spouse: Etienne Cousseau
Marr: November 15, 1796 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Death Notes: Child - Marguerite Letourneau
Husband Nicolas Matte
Born: - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Nicolas Matte
Mother: Angelique Mercure
Marriage: January 15, 1833 - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Other Spouse: Emilie Godin - July 5, 1830 - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Wife Anathalie Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Thomas Letourneau
Mother: Marie Barbe Page
Children
1 M Casimir Matte
Born: 1838
Baptized:
Died: 1904
Buried:
Spouse: Adelaide Jobin
Marr: February 10, 1863 - Notre-Dame-DE-L'annonciation-DE-L'ancienne-Lorette, Qc
Spouse: Adele Petit Milhomme
2 M Joseph Matte
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Virginie Delisle
Marr: January 17, 1860 - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Husband Edouard Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Francois Pelletier
Mother: Marie Charlotte Miville Dit Deschenes
Marriage: November 22, 1825 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Wife Angele Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Francois Letourneau
Mother: Constance Miville Deschenes
Father: Francois Letourneau
Mother: Constance Miville Deschenes
Children
1 M Auguste Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Virginie Pelletier
Marr: November 22, 1870 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
2 F Emerence Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Dionne
Marr: February 17, 1852 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
3 F Emelie Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Octave Boutot
Marr: July 29, 1856 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Spouse: Octave Boutot
Marr: July 29, 1856 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
4 F Constance Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Magloire Leclerc Francoeur
Marr: December 2, 1855 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Spouse: Magloire Leclerc Francoeur
Marr: December 2, 1855 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
5 F Felicite Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Pelletier
Marr: July 23, 1878 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Husband Prudent Morin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: January 20, 1914 - St-Francois-DE-La-Riciere Du Sud, Montmagny, PQ Can.
Wife Anna Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Letourneau
Mother: Marie Tanguay
Children
1 M Rene Morin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: April 11, 1749 - St-Vallier, Bellechasse, Qc
Other Spouse: Marguerite Destroismaisons Picard - April 17, 1736 - Montmagny, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Elisabeth Cloutier
Marr: February 16, 1795 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Husband Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Talbot
Marriage: March 1, 1807 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: January 21, 1784 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Wife Francoise Talbot
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Talbot Gervais
Mother: Francoise Blais
Children
1 M Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband Antoine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: February 16, 1795 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Other Spouse: Francoise Talbot - January 21, 1784 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Augustin Vachon Pomerleau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Vachon Pomerleau
Mother: Charlotte Labbe
Marriage: July 25, 1837 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Wife Athalie Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Paul Letourneau
Mother: Marie Louise Jobin
Children
1 M Maxime Vachon Pomerleau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Lucie Maheux
Husband Bernard Letourneau 1 2
Born: August 30, 1673 - Ile D'orleans
Baptized: September 8, 1673 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Marriage: July 31, 1703 - St-François, I.O.
Other Spouse: Marie Rocheron - June 2, 1698 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Other Spouse: Helene Paquet - July 30, 1703 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Bernard Letourneau
Husband Bernard Letourneau 1 2
Born: August 30, 1673 - Ile D'orleans
Baptized: September 8, 1673 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Marriage: July 31, 1703 - St-Francois, Ile-D'orleans, Qc
Other Spouse: Marie Rocheron - June 2, 1698 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Other Spouse: Helene Paquet - July 30, 1703 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Bernard Letourneau
Husband Bernard Letourneau 1 2
Born: August 30, 1673 - Ile D'orleans
Baptized: September 8, 1673 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Marriage: June 2, 1698 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Other Spouse: Helene Paquet - July 30, 1703 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Rocheron
Born: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: June 22, 1703 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Father: Gervais Rocheron (Rochon).
Mother: Marie Madeleine Guyon
Children
General Notes: Husband - Bernard Letourneau
Husband Bernard Letourneau 1 2
Born: August 30, 1673 - Ile D'orleans
Baptized: September 8, 1673 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Marriage: July 30, 1703 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Other Spouse: Marie Rocheron - June 2, 1698 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Helene Paquet
Born: December 7, 1682 - Québec, Qc
Baptized: December 7, 1682 - Notre-Dame-DE-Québec, Qc
Died: May 1758 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: May 6, 1758 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: Rene Paquet
Mother: Helene Lemieux
Other Spouse: Pierre Jinchereau - August 5, 1698 - Notre-Dame-DE-Québec, Qc
Children
1 F Josephte Letourneau
Born: April 23, 1715 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: April 23, 1715 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: March 14, 1772 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: March 16, 1772 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Spouse: Pierre Desnoyers Desmarets
Marr: June 3, 1737 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Spouse: Francois Papineau Montigny
Marr: July 29, 1771 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
General Notes: Husband - Bernard Letourneau
Husband
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Catherine Letourneau
Born: November 13, 1679 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D'orleans
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Children
Husband Pierre Morisset
Born: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: November 26, 1731 - Ste-Croix, Cté Lotbinière, Qc
Buried: November 26, 1731 - Ste-Croix, Cté Lotbinière, Qc
Father: Jean Morisset
Mother: Jeanne Choret
Marriage: November 24, 1698 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Catherine Letourneau
Born: November 13, 1679 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: November 14, 1679 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Marie Madeleine Morisset
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Simon Houde
Marr: Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
2 M Simon Morisset
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Ursule Boucher
Marr: Ste-Croix, Cté Lotbinière, Qc
3 M Pierre Morisset
Born: 1705
Baptized:
Died: March 16, 1755 - Ste-Croix, Cté Lotbinière, Qc
Buried:
Spouse: Marie Anne Demers
Marr: April 13, 1733 - Ste-Croix, Cté Lotbinière, Qc
Death Notes: Wife - Catherine Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Child - Simon Morisset
Husband Francois Proulx
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: November 18, 1764 - St-Thomas, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Wife Catherine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Caron
Other Spouse: Jean Baptiste Fournier - July 20, 1750 - Notre-Dame-DE-Bonsecours, L'islet-Sur-Mer, Cté L'islet, Qc
Children
Husband Claude Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: September 2, 1813 - Rivière-Ouelle, Kamouraska, Qc
Wife Genevieve Levesque
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Pierre Bernard Levesque
Mother: Marie Josephte Lavoie
Children
1 M Jerôme Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Louise Pelletier
Marr: April 13, 1847 - Ste-Luce, Rimouski, Qc
Husband Henrilouis Poulin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: November 15, 1933 - St-Prosper Beauce, PQ Can.
Wife Claudia Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Fridolin Letourneau
Mother: Aurore Tanguay
Children
Husband Dominique Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Alexis Letourneau
Mother: Marie Genevieve Naud
Marriage: January 19, 1779 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Wife Marie Louise Perron
Born: January 13, 1755 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Baptized: January 14, 1755 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Perron
Mother: Marie Marcot
Children
1 M Dominique Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Archange Naud
Marr: July 19, 1803 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Death Notes: Wife - Marie Louise Perron
Husband Dominique Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Dominique Letourneau
Mother: Marie Louise Perron
Marriage: July 19, 1803 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Wife Archange Naud
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Francois Naud
Mother: Marie Josephte Courtois
Children
1 F Archange Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Raymond Delisle
Marr: July 6, 1824 - St-Joseph-DE-Deschambault, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Husband Mathurin Tessier Tellier
Born: 1631 - Ste-Ausonne, Angoulême, Charente-Maritime, France
Baptized:
Died: - St-Thomas, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Buried: - St-Thomas, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Father: Thomas Tessier
Mother: Elisabeth Poirier
Marriage: September 23, 1670 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Elisabeth Letourneau
Born: May 1655 - Ste-Siste, Muron, Rochefort, Saintes, France
Baptized: May 26, 1655 - Ste-Siste, Muron, Rochefort, Saintes, France
Died: May 18, 1708 - Hôpital, Hôtel-Dieu DE Québec, Qc
Buried:
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Jeanne Baril
Noted events in her life were:
1. No Name - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Perade
Children
1 M Edmond Tessier
Born: 1678
Baptized:
Died: September 1750 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Buried: September 24, 1750 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Spouse: Madeleine Langevin Lacroix
Marr: June 18, 1697 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
2 F Jeanne Anne Tessier
Born: May 22, 1685 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Baptized: May 31, 1685 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Died: September 1748 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Buried: September 29, 1748 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Spouse: Jean Baptiste Gervais
Marr: Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Spouse: Pierre Levesque
Marr: November 30, 1726 - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
3 M Pierre Tessier
Born: 1700
Baptized:
Died: - St-Pierre-DE-Sorel, Cté Richelieu, Qc.
Buried: - St-Pierre-DE-Sorel, Cté Richelieu, Qc.
Spouse: Catherine Vacher Lacerte
Marr: November 15, 1739 - L'immaculée-Conception-Des-Trois-Rivières, Cté Maskinongé, Qc
Husband Jean Julien Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Baptiste Pelletier
Mother: Hyppolithe Dubour
Marriage: January 13, 1846 - St. Césaire, Rouville, Québec, Canada
Wife Elmire Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Firmin Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Pierre Letourneau
Mother: Anastasie Drouin
Marriage: February 13, 1864 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D Orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Adelaide Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Laurent Vaillancourt
Mother: Marie Dion
Other Spouse: Joseph Seraphin Drouin - January 31, 1871 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D Orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Children
1 F Eleonore Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Adjutor Drouin
Marr: June 18, 1906 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc 3
Husband Francois Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Francois Letourneau
Mother: Angelique Legris
Marriage: February 1, 1800 - Québec, Qc
Wife Constance Miville Deschenes
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Germain Miville Deschenes
Mother: Perpetue Dupere
Father: Louis Germain Miville Deschenes
Mother: Perpetue Dupere
Other Spouse: Charles Lefrancois - November 1, 1790 - Québec, Qc
Other Spouse: Francois Letourneau - February 1, 1800 - Québec, Qc
Children
1 F Angele Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Edouard Pelletier
Marr: November 22, 1825 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Husband Francois Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: February 1, 1800 - Québec, Qc
Wife Constance Miville Deschenes
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Germain Miville Deschenes
Mother: Perpetue Dupere
Father: Louis Germain Miville Deschenes
Mother: Perpetue Dupere
Other Spouse: Charles Lefrancois - November 1, 1790 - Québec, Qc
Other Spouse: Francois Letourneau - February 1, 1800 - Québec, Qc
Children
1 F Angele Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Edouard Pelletier
Marr: November 22, 1825 - St-Roch-Des-Aulnaies, L'islet, Qc
Husband Francois Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Letourneau
Mother: Elisabeth Cloutier
Marriage: March 10, 1820 - St-François-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Wife Francoise Picard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Pierre Noel Destroismaisons Picard
Mother: Rosalie Brie
Children
1 M Edouard Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Anathalie Gosselin
Marr: January 23, 1855 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Husband Francois Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Charles Letourneau
Mother: Rose Fleury
Marriage: February 22, 1886 - St-Paul, Montmagny, Qc
Wife Rose Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Edouard Letourneau
Mother: Anathalie Gosselin
Children
1 M Francois Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Yvonne Gaudreau
Marr: November 22, 1920 - Ste-Appoline-DE-Patton, Montmagny, Qc
Husband Jean Pichet
Born: - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: April 6, 1744 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: April 7, 1744 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Father: Jacques Pichet Pepin
Mother: Louise Asselin
Marriage: April 16, 1731 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Other Spouse: Marie Vallieres - October 22, 1725 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Francoise Letourneau
Born: November 7, 1709 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: November 8, 1709 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: February 3, 1760 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: February 12, 1760 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Father: Jean Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Caron
Children
1 F Marie Pichette
Born: 1732 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized:
Died: November 17, 1804 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: November 18, 1804 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Spouse: Louis Turcotte
Marr: October 14, 1763 - St-Pierre, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
2 F Therese Pichet
Born: September 13, 1744 - St-Pierre, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Marie Vaillancourt
Marr: November 26, 1765 - St-Pierre, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Child - Therese Pichet
Husband Fridolin Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: June 26, 1905 - St-Prosper Beauce, PQ Can.
Wife Aurore Tanguay
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Tanguay
Mother: Delvina Beaudoin
Children
1 F Claudia Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Henrilouis Poulin
Marr: November 15, 1933 - St-Prosper Beauce, PQ Can.
Husband
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Genevieve Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Ignace Letourneau
Mother: Genevieve Destroismaisons Picard
Children
Husband Guillaume Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Guillaume Letourneau
Mother: Marie Grigaux
Marriage: June 13, 1740 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Nativité, Beauport, Qc
Wife Francoise Rodrigue
Born: July 29, 1721 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Nativité, Beauport, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Vincent Ignace Rodrigue
Mother: Angelique Giroux
Noted events in her life were:
1. Baptism, July 29, 1721 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Nativité, Beauport, Qc
Children
1 M Paul Guillaume Letourneau
Born: October 1745 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Baptized:
Died: January 20, 1820 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Buried: January 21, 1820 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Spouse: Marie Groleau
Marr: January 23, 1769 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Death Notes: Wife - Francoise Rodrigue
Husband Jacques Letourneau
Born: 1667 - Ste-Siste, Muron, Rochefort, Saintes, France
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Jeanne Baril
Marriage: - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Perade, Champlain, Qc
Other Spouse: Angelique Guyon Buisson Dion - Ste-Anne-DE-La-Pérade, Cté Champlain, Qc
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Death Notes: Husband - Jacques Letourneau
Husband Jacques Letourneau
Born: - Ile D'orleans
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Marguerite Blouin
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Noted events in their marriage were:
1. Marriage Contract - Pas D'enfant DE Cette Union
Children
Husband Jacques Letourneau
Born: - St-Laurent, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - St-Laurent, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: April 8, 1777 - St-Charles, Cté DE Bellechasse, Qc
Other Spouse: Marguerite Audet Dit Lapointe - January 24, 1763 - St-Laurent, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Meunier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Charles Meunier
Mother: Marguerite Vacherie
Children
1 F Marie Letourneau
Born: September 8, 1781 - St-Gervais, Cté Bellechasse, Qc
Baptized: September 8, 1781 - St-Gervais, Cté Bellechasse, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Vincent Vaillancourt
Marr: October 30, 1798 - Ste-Flavie-DE-Rimouski. Qc
2 M Jean Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Death Notes: Husband - Jacques Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Child - Marie Letourneau
Husband Jacques Letourneau
Born: September 30, 1783 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: September 30, 1783 - St-François-DE-Sales, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Letourneau
Mother: Anne Crepeau
Marriage: November 7, 1803 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marguerite Letourneau
Born: April 19, 1786 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: April 19, 1786 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Mother: Marie Josephte Poulin
Children
1 F Marie Josette Madeleine Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Simon Hebert Lecomte
Marr: July 6, 1824 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Husband - Jacques Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Wife - Marguerite Letourneau
Husband Jean Letourneau
Born: August 1647 - Ste-Siste, Muron, Rochefort, Saintes, France
Baptized: August 29, 1647 - Ste-Siste, Muron, Rochefort, Saintes, France
Died: April 23, 1722 - Québec, Qc
Buried: April 23, 1722 - Notre-Dame-DE-Québec, Qc
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Sebastienne Guery
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Jeanne Claude Boisandre
Other Spouse: Anne Francoise Dufresne - April 18, 1673 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Noted events in his life were:
1. Occupation, TAILLEUR D'HABITS
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Noted events in their marriage were:
1. Marriage Contract - CT: Notaire Aubert
Children
General Notes: Husband - Jean Letourneau
Husband Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Ignace Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Couture
Marriage: January 30, 1775 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Josephte Poulin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Poulin
Mother: Dorothee Cloutier
Children
1 M Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Cecile Dorval
Marr: January 21, 1799 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Montmorency, Qc
Husband Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Born: November 14, 1749 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: November 14, 1749 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Ignace Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Couture
Marriage: January 30, 1775 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Josephte Poulin
Born: December 27, 1751 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: December 27, 1751 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Poulin
Mother: Dorothee Cloutier
Children
1 M Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Born: January 4, 1776 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D Orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Cecile Dorval
Marr: January 21, 1799 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D Orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
2 F Marguerite Letourneau
Born: April 19, 1786 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: April 19, 1786 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jacques Letourneau
Marr: November 7, 1803 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Husband - Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Wife - Marie Josephte Poulin
Y
Death Notes: Child - Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Child - Marguerite Letourneau
Husband Jean Baptiste Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: January 29, 1844 - Matane, Québec, Canada
Wife Angele Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Pelletier
Mother: Angelique
Other Spouse: Remi Laplante - October 23, 1827 - St. Louis DE Kamouraska, Kamouraska, Québec, Canada
Children
Husband Jean Thomas Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Pascal Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Antoinette Baillarge
Marriage: November 14, 1808 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Les Écureuils Donnacona , Cté Portneuf, Qc
Other Spouse: Marie Archange Godin - July 7, 1817 - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Wife Marie Barbe Page
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Baptiste Page
Mother: Clothilde Dussault
Children
1 F Anathalie Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Nicolas Matte
Marr: January 15, 1833 - St-François-DE-Sales, Neuville, Cté Portneuf, Qc
Husband Jerôme Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Claude Letourneau
Mother: Genevieve Levesque
Marriage: April 13, 1847 - Ste-Luce, Rimouski, Qc
Wife Louise Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Germain Pelletier
Mother: Josephte Garon
Children
1 F Philomene Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Lemieux
Marr: May 19, 1873 - Cap-Chat, Gaspé, Qc
Husband Joseph Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: September 5, 1921 - St-Camille-DE-Bellechasse, PQ Can.
Wife Marie Tanguay
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Elzear Tanguay
Mother: Delima Richard
Children
Husband Joseph Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: September 14, 1885 - St-Evariste Beauce, PQ Can.
Wife Julia Tanguay
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Barnabe Tanguay
Mother: Rose Rouillard
Children
Husband Joseph Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: - St-Vallier Bell. PQ Can.
Wife Marie Tanguay
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Georges Tanguay
Mother: Emerence Morin
Children
1 F Anna Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Prudent Morin
Marr: January 20, 1914 - St-Francois-DE-La-Riciere Du Sud, Montmagny, PQ Can.
Husband Francois Papineau Montigny
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: July 29, 1771 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Wife Josephte Letourneau
Born: April 23, 1715 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: April 23, 1715 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: March 14, 1772 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Buried: March 16, 1772 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Father: Bernard Letourneau 1 2
Mother: Helene Paquet
Other Spouse: Pierre Desnoyers Desmarets - June 3, 1737 - St-Joseph-DE-Chambly, Qc
Children
Husband Leon Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Letourneau
Mother: Zoile Lemieux
Marriage: January 22, 1918 - Mont-Louis, Gaspé, Qc
Wife Philomene Thibault
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Stanislas Thibault
Mother: Alphonsine Laflamme
Children
1 M Leonide Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Noella Lemieux
Marr: November 29, 1945 - Mont-Louis, Gaspé, Qc
Husband Louis Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died: August 5, 1996
Buried:
Marriage: October 18, 1947
Wife Gilberte Mercier
Born: January 14, 1917
Baptized:
Died: September 25, 1982
Buried:
Father: Joseph Benoit Mercier
Mother: Anna Rousseau
Children
1 F Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
3 F Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
4 F Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Louise Letourneau
AKA: L'estourneau
Born: December 7, 1681 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orleans
Baptized: December 7, 1681 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: September 19, 1752 - Ste-Famille, I.O.
Buried: September 19, 1752 - Ste-Famille, I.O.
Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Other Spouse: Pierre Drouin 4 - July 4, 1704 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Montmorency, Qc 5 6
Other Spouse: Pierre Gagnon - Ste. Famille, Ile D' Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
Noted events in her life were:
1. Baptism, December 7, 1681 - Ste-Famille, I.O.
Children
General Notes: Wife - Louise Letourneau
Louise was the widow of Pierre Gagnon. Her family came from Muron in the Charente-Maritime, France. her g-grandfather David was a Meunier in Chateau Richer. David (1616-1670) married Sabastienne Guery in 1640 in France. The line is to another David/Francoise Chapelain; and to Louis/Anne Blouin father and mother of Louise.
Husband Augustin Ambroise Samson
Born: - St-Joseph-DE-La-Pointe-DE-Lévis, Lauzon, Cté Lévis, Qc
Baptized: March 27, 1740 - St-Joseph-DE-La-Pointe-DE-Lévis, Lauzon, Cté Lévis, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Etienne Samson
Mother: Marie Madeleine Charron Laferriere
Marriage: February 11, 1765 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Wife Marguerite Letourneau
Born: July 22, 1744 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Baptized: July 23, 1744 - Notre-Dame-DE-L'assomption-DE-Berthier-Sur-Mer, Cté Bellechasse, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Antoine Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Destroismaisons Picard
Children
1 M Joseph Samson
Born: May 29, 1767 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Baptized:
Died: February 1823 - St-Henri-DE-Lauzon, Cté Lévis, Qc
Buried: February 7, 1823 - St-Henri-DE-Lauzon, Cté Lévis, Qc
Spouse: Marie Marguerite Morin
Marr: June 5, 1787 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
2 F Marie Angelique Samson
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jean Baptiste Blanchet
Marr: July 27, 1795 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Montmagny, Qc
Spouse: Joseph Mercier
Marr: October 8, 1822 - St-Jean-Port-Joli, Cté L'islet. Qc
3 F Francoise Regis Samson
Born: April 27, 1779 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Baptized: April 27, 1779 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Francois Gaumond
Marr: October 26, 1802 - St-Pierre-DE-La-Rivière-Du-Sud, Cté Montmagny, Qc
Death Notes: Husband - Augustin Ambroise Samson
Y
Death Notes: Wife - Marguerite Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Child - Francoise Regis Samson
Husband Etienne Simard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: November 10, 1773 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marguerite Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Ignace Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Couture
Children
1 F Marie Rose Simard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jean Baptiste Cloutier
Marr: March 11, 1801 - Château-Richer, Montmorency, Qc
Husband Vincent Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Charles Vaillancourt
Mother: Catherine Ouellet
Marriage: October 30, 1798 - L'isle-Verte, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Wife Marie Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Evode Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Olive Fortin
Marr: July 11, 1837 - St-Simon, Rimouski, Qc
2 M Celestin Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Marcelline Thibault
Marr: December 1, 1824 - Trois-Pistoles, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Husband Vincent Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Charles Vaillancourt
Mother: Catherine Ouellette
Marriage: October 30, 1798 - Ste-Flavie-DE-Rimouski. Qc
Wife Marie Letourneau
Born: September 8, 1781 - St-Gervais, Cté Bellechasse, Qc
Baptized: September 8, 1781 - St-Gervais, Cté Bellechasse, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jacques Letourneau
Mother: Marie Meunier
Children
1 M Isaac Cyprien Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Celestin Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
3 F Angele Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died: February 4, 1879 - Ste-Flavie DE Rimouski
Buried:
Spouse: Hilarion Thibault
Marr: January 28, 1822 - Rimouski, Qc, Canada
4 M Evode Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Olive Fortin
Marr: November 7, 1837 - St-Simon DE Rimouski, Qc 7
5 M Fabien Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
6 M Alexandre Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
7 M Chrysostome Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Marie Fortin
Marr: January 11, 1841 - St-Simon DE Rimouski, Qc
8 F Olympe Vaillancourt
Born:
Baptized:
Died: - Rimouski
Buried:
Death Notes: Wife - Marie Letourneau
Y
Birth Notes: Child - Evode Vaillancourt
Husband Germain Pelletier
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Paul Pelletier
Mother: Genevieve Lafontaine
Marriage: August 16, 1875
Wife Marie Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Joseph Louis Jacque Pelletier
Born: July 15, 1878 - St. Anne Des Monts, Gaspé, Québec, Canada
Baptized: July 25, 1878 - St. Anne Des Monts, Gaspé, Québec, Canada
Died: February 15, 1962 - St. Anne Des Monts, Gaspé, Québec, Canada
Buried: - St. Anne Des Monts, Gaspé, Québec, Canada
Spouse: Adele Larouche
Marr: March 6, 1905 - St. Anne Des Monts, Gaspé, Québec, Canada
Husband Louis Poulin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Louis Poulin
Mother: Catherine Perreault
Marriage: January 30, 1798 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Anne Letourneau
Born: September 26, 1777 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: September 26, 1777 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Letourneau
Mother: Anne Crepeau
Other Spouse: Jacques Drouin - January 30, 1795 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Children
1 F Marie Anne Poulin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jean Baptiste Ferland
Marr: April 8, 1823 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
2 M Magloire Poulin
Born: May 1805
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Zoe Pellerin
Marr: October 29, 1860 - Paroisse St-Roch DE Québec, Qc.
Spouse: Theotiste Leclerc
Death Notes: Wife - Marie Anne Letourneau
Y
Death Notes: Child - Magloire Poulin
Husband
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Marie Anne Letourneau 6
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Other Spouse: Jacques Drouin 8 - February 10, 1795 - Ste-Famille, I.O. 6
Children
Husband Maurice Premont
Born: June 2, 1911 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: June 2, 1911 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: August 29, 1960 - Québec, Qc
Buried: September 2, 1960 - Paroisse St-Zéphirin-DE-Stadacona, Québec. Qc
Father: Alphonse Premont
Mother: Lucina Blouin
Marriage: October 30, 1943 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Blanche Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Mathias France Letourneau
Mother: Amanda Morency
Children
1 F Premont
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Premont
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Delisle
3 M Premont
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
4 M Premont
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband Joseph Maheu
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Charles Maheux
Mother: Madeleine Charlotte Lessard
Marriage: January 25, 1820 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Wife Marie Charlotte Letourneau
Born: April 24, 1798 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Baptized:
Died: April 3, 1870 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Buried: April 5, 1870 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Father: Jean Paul Letourneau
Mother: Marie Louise Jobin
Noted events in her life were:
1. Baptism, April 25, 1798 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Children
1 F Mathilne Martine Maheux Maheu
Born: January 21, 1822 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Baptized:
Died: August 4, 1901 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Buried: August 6, 1901 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Spouse: Louis Cloutier
Marr: June 23, 1843 - St-Joseph, Cté Beauce, Qc
Husband Jean Baptiste Pouliot
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Francois Pouliot
Mother: Josette Fortier
Marriage: January 16, 1786 - St-Laurent, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Marie Madeleine Letourneau
Born: September 1757 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: September 15, 1757 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jacques Letourneau
Mother: Marie Madeleine Baillargeon
Children
1 M Jean Pouliot
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Genevieve Turcotte
Marr: April 29, 1812 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Wife - Marie Madeleine Letourneau
Husband Jacques Perreault
Born: 1702 - Ste. Famille, Ile D' Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
Baptized: - Ste. Famille, Ile D' Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Perreault
Mother: Marie Gagne
Marriage: August 17, 1739 - Ste. Famille, Ile D' Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
Other Spouse: Francoise Guyon - Ste. Famille, Ile D' Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada
Wife Marie Marthe Letourneau
Born: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: May 27, 1761 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: May 28, 1761 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Father: Jean Letourneau
Mother: Marguerite Caron
Children
1 M Bernard Perreault Vildaigre
Born:
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Died:
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Spouse: Marie Lamontagne
Marr: March 2, 1778 - Québec, Qc
2 F Madeleine Perreault Perrault
Born: - Ste-Famille, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized:
Died:
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Spouse: Michel Morin
Marr: September 30, 1777 - Ste-Famille, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Husband - Jacques Perreault
Y
General Notes: Husband - Jacques Perreault
this information is true and I personally researched the information, please excuse typos.
Death Notes: Child - Madeleine Perreault Perrault
Husband Michel Tanguay
Born: 1785 - St-Charles Richelieu, PQ Can.
Baptized:
Died:
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Father: Jeanfrancois Tanguay
Mother: Mariecatherine Blanchard Raymond
Marriage: March 1806 - St-Marc-Sur-Richelieu, PQ Can.
Other Spouse: Victorinne Goddu - July 22, 1854
Wife Marielouise Letourneau
Born:
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Children
1 F Mathilde Tanguay
Born:
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Spouse: Edouard Bilodeau
Marr: September 25, 1832 - Parr. Notre-Dame, St-Hyacinthe, PQ Can.
2 F Julie Tanguay
Born: 1805
Baptized:
Died: October 9, 1839 - Ste-Rosalie, Comte DE Bagot, PQ Can.
Buried:
Spouse: Francois Morel
Marr: Parr. Notre-Dame, St-Hyacinthe, PQ, Can.
3 M Michel Tanguay
Born:
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Died:
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Spouse: Rosalie Langelier Stmichel
Marr: September 21, 1830 - St-Hyacinthe, PQ Can.
4 M Joseph Tanguay
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Eulalie Dion
Marr: November 27, 1837 - St-Hyacinthe, PQ Can.
Spouse: Nathalie Bertrand
Marr: May 20, 1873 - St-Hyacinthe, PQ Can.
Husband
Born:
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Marriage:
Wife Mariemarguerite Letourneau
Born: December 12, 1707 - Ile D`orléans
Baptized:
Died:
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Other Spouse: Joseph Fortin - October 23, 1727 - Ste. Famille, Ile D'orleans, P.Q.
Children
Husband Mathias France Letourneau
Born:
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Marriage:
Wife Amanda Morency
Born:
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Children
1 F Marie Blanche Letourneau
Born:
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Spouse: Maurice Premont
Marr: October 30, 1943 - Ste-Famille, Ile D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Husband Napoleon Letourneau
Born:
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Died:
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Marriage: November 21, 1892 - Québec, Qc
Wife Aurelie Paquet
Born:
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Children
1 F Albertine Letourneau
Born:
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Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Bergeron
Husband Philippe Letourneau
Born:
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Died:
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Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Jeanne Baril
Marriage: - Quebec, Qc
Wife
Born:
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Children
General Notes: Husband - Philippe Letourneau
SES 2 SEULS ENFANTS DU PREMIER MARIAGE DECEDENT EN BAS AGE ET SA SECONDE UNION EST SANS DESCENDANCE
Husband Pierre Letourneau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
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Marriage: - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Wife Felicite Simon Lapointe
Born: - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Baptized: - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Died: September 30, 1781 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried:
Father: Guillaume Simon Audet Lapointe 9
Mother: Catherine Drouin 10 11 12
Other Spouse: Augustin Gagnon - November 4, 1727 - Notre-Dame-DE-La-Visitation-DE-Château-Richer, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Children
Husband
Born:
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Died:
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Marriage:
Wife Therese Letourneau
Born:
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Died:
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Father: David Letourneau
Mother: Francoise Marguerite Chapelain
Children
Husband Lett
Born:
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Died:
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Father: Charles Patten Lett
Mother: Martha Lucille Doderlein
Marriage:
Wife Sharon Anne Trail
Born: September 4, 1935 - Algona, IA
Baptized:
Died: September 9, 2010 - Naperville, IL
Buried:
Father: John Trail
Mother: Flona Schoepf
Children
1 F Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Grandquist
2 M Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Atkins
3 F Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Raymond
General Notes: Husband - Lett
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General Notes: Wife - Sharon Anne Trail
Sharon A. Lett, age 75 of Plano, IL passed away on Thursday, September 9, 2010, at Edward Hospital in Naperville, IL. She was born on September 4, 1935, in Algona, Iowa, the daughter of John and Flona (Schoepf) Trail.
Sharon was united in marriage on August 20, 1956, in Forest City, IA, to Mr. Ray Lett and they spent the next 54 happy years together. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend who will be deeply missed.
Sharon worked as a Home Economics Teacher at Serena High School in Serena, IL, and was a member of the Kendall County IL Farm Bureau. She researched and edited her husband's published book, “Patriot Rebel”.
She was also employed as the Executive Assistant to the Director of Personnel at The George Washington University. From 1982 thru 1985, she led the Christian Women’s Fellowship Group in Washington, D.C. Sharon presided over the Subcabinet Wives Fellowship and the USDA Agriculture Administrator's Wives Groups during the Reagan Administration.
Her leadership skills culminated in Sharon directing the First Farm Women’s People to People and Foreign Agricultural Service Farm Tour of Europe in 1984.
She is survived by her husband, Raymond Lett of Plano, IL; her children, Ann Grandquist, of Omaha, NE, David (Karen) Lett of Pana, IL, and Shelley (John) Raymond of Jacksonville, FL; her grandchildren, Josh and Zach Grandquist; Olivia, Charley Ann, Sydney and Christian Lett; J.T., Jack and Joey Raymond; as well as, her sister-in-law, Esther Trail of St. Paul, MN and several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Flona Trail; two sisters, Ruby Irene and Margary Carmen Trail, both in infancy; and her brother, Dr. Orval Trail.
General Notes: Child - Lett
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General Notes: Child - Lett
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General Notes: Child - Lett
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Husband Raymond
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Lett
Mother: Sharon Anne Trail
Children
1 M Raymond
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Raymond
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
3 M Raymond
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Raymond
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General Notes: Wife - Lett
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General Notes: Child - Raymond
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General Notes: Child - Raymond
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General Notes: Child - Raymond
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Husband Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Cause of Death: Drowning while assisting in log-rolling.
Buried:
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Jane Craig
Marriage:
Wife Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Clarence Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 F Nygie Lett
Born:
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Husband Walter Yuill
Born: October 28, 1831 - Con. 3, Lot 21, Lanark Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada
Baptized:
Died: 1914
Buried:
Father: William Yuill
Mother: Jean Jane Mitchell
Marriage: August 17, 1855
Other Spouse: Eliza Amelia Virgin
Wife Alice Lett
Born: - Lanark Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada
Baptized:
Died: July 18, 1868 - Bagot Township, Renfrew County, Ontario
Buried: - Lakeside Cemetery, Calabogie, Bagot Township, Renfrew County, Ontario
Father: Benjamin Lett
Mother:
Children
1 M Walter Yuill
Born: May 13, 1857 - Blythfield, Ontario
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 F Agnes Yuill
Born: February 2, 1859 - Blythfield, Ontario
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
3 M James Yuill
Born: May 14, 1862 - Calabogie, Ontario
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Clarise Clarissa Virgin
Marr: March 23, 1891 - Ottawa House, Renfrew County, Ontario
4 M John L. Yuill
Born: January 18, 1864 - Blythfield, Ontario
Baptized:
Died: 1941
Buried:
5 M Samuel David Yuill
Born: October 26, 1866 - Blythfield, Ontario
Baptized:
Died: February 1950 - Middleville, Ontario
Buried:
Spouse: Bella Somerville
Marr: March 9, 1892 - Middleville, Ontario
6 M William Yuill
Born: 1867
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
7 F Jessie Yuill
Born: 1867
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: James McKinley
General Notes: Husband - Walter Yuill
1851 Census Canada West - Walter is working as a shanty man in Dalhousie Twp. Age 21 and single at the time.
Walter is on the 1871 Census as a widower, in Renfrew ,on 081 Con 54.
Eliza died 20 January 1909, Renfrew. They lived in Calabogie, Ontario.
General Notes: Child - Samuel David Yuill
Perth Courier, March 18, 1892
Middleville—The house of William Yuill was the scene of a joyous and festive event on Wednesday night, 9th March, the crowning event of the occasion being the marriage of Samuel Yuill to Bella Somerville. The Rev. Mr. Stilwell of Clayton tied the nuptial knot. The bride and bridegroom were ably assisted by Alexander Yuill and Kate Somerville. The bride was the recipient of many useful and handsome presents. A large number of friends and relatives were present. After the marriage ceremony the company sat down to a gorgeous meal. Supper being over Mr. Stilwell made a few remarks. The young ladies and gentlemen did not disperse until an early hour the next morning, having enjoyed themselves in the fascinating pleasures of country dance.
Husband Benjamin Lett
Born: November 14, 1813 - County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 9, 1858 - Milwaukee, WI
Cause of Death: Poison - strychnine
Buried: - Sandwich, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Marriage:
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Alice Lett
Born: - Lanark Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada
Baptized:
Died: July 18, 1868 - Bagot Township, Renfrew County, Ontario
Buried: - Lakeside Cemetery, Calabogie, Bagot Township, Renfrew County, Ontario
Spouse: Walter Yuill
Marr: August 17, 1855
General Notes: Husband - Benjamin Lett
From the booklet,
THE LIFE TRIAL AND DEATH OF BENJAMIN LETT
CANADIAN PATRIOT - 1837 - 1838
BY THOMAS LETT, PUBLISHED 1876
IN MEMORIAM
THERE are two monuments erected to the memory of BENJAMIN LETT, by his brother, Thomas Lett, and mark his resting place in the Lett Cemetery in Northville, LaSalle County, about six miles southwest from Sandwich, Illinois. The footstone is nine feet high from its base, six inches thick, and three feet wide; the main column is eleven feet high from its base, which is four feet square.
The slab reads thus:
“THE RECORDS OF AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP IN THE CASE OF BENJAMIN LETT-THEY ARE LIKE A CHRISTIAN HELL WITHOUT A JESUS CHRIST:
NO ESCAPE.
When the blood-hounds of Canada had failed with army, spies, kidnappers and assassins to destroy him, they selected DaFoe, one of their own fraternity. When he could entrap him in no other way, he attempted to set fire to a British steamboat, in Oswego port, swore he was a criminal not caught in the act, nor running away, but coming back, and said Lett told him to do so. This constituted partnership in New York! They indicted Lett one day and convicted him the next, without a copy of his indictment, or a witness. This was Seward’s policy, while the shrieks of his roasted countrymen were still ringing in his ears. His father-in-law, Judge Miller, then came to me and said, “You can write and say what you please, if you will not take personal satisfaction.”
Lett was accused of blowing up Brock’s Monument, which was used as a watch-tower for military purposes during a civil war. Was it a crime? If so, then it is murder to hang a spy! He was also accused of slaying Captain Usher in his own foul den-the captain and pilot of the gang of bloody pirates, who stole on to you at midnight, with muffled oars, and destroyed the Caroline. if that was wrong, then Hercules was the monster, and not, Cerberus.
His next partner was Stewart Wilson, of Milwaukee, who drugged him with poison and robbed him. When told so by Mr. Biers, then a member of the Legislature of Michigan, he threw the remainder in the lake. When arrived at Milwaukee, the citizens cried, “God of Heaven protect us. You let a stranger into our city; he is murdered and robbed, and you refuse to hold an inquest!” (See Note I.) Wilson was arrested, and it was proven he was a vagabond, living in open adultery with another man’s wife, whom Lett had never seen; and on her person his property was found, as they said, for “safe keeping.” Then the Circuit Judge, Arthur McArthur, arose and addressed the jury, saying: “If you find this man guilty, I will grant him a new trial.” This he did without being asked, or a plea being made on either side. Such was Milwaukee justice in January, 1859. At the same time another case of partnership was in shipping merchandise from Grand Traverse Bay, Mich., to A. Wolford, commission merchant and butcher, Ottawa, Ill. When called upon for a settlement, he produced one of the gang, whose deposition is thus:
“Question-What is your name?” Answer-”James M. Mauler. I am a Democrat; my father was a Democrat.”
Question-”Where is your residence?” Answer-”Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.”
Question-”Do you know Benjamin Lett?” Answer-”I am his partner.”
Question-”What was your occupation?“ Answer-”Fever mind ague; what I mean is, it made no difference who paid for the whiskey; Wolford paid me all the money.”
This was the testimony that established partnership before (Champlin, the Probate .Judge at Ottawa, and Hollister, Circuit Judge of Kendall County, Illinois, who would not suffer me to speak, nor show cause why I should have a new trial. These were the partners they found for a farmer who had produced twenty one hundred bushels of wheat on his own land in 1857. Such were the tools that Bushnell, Avery and Gray used upon Lett. I had the great law firms of Cook & Glover, Leland & Leland and Smith & Helm employed in this suit. Glover said, “You go to law with the Devil, and hold the court in Hell.” Leland said, ‘‘I can ho no more for you after passing the Probate office.’ My reply was, “Judge, you do not like to expose the murderer, because he is your neighbor; keep him.” The others lost their papers and let it go by default, after an appeal being taken to the Supreme Court. (See note II.)
What shall I say of these honest men? The notorious murderers, Burke and Hare, who insidiously enticed the strangers to their abode for the express purpose of cutting their throats while they were asleep, are fit company for the Eternal Gods, when compared to them, for it is always some risk to cut a strong man‘s throat! Oh, consider the judges clothed in ermine, invoking the God of light, wisdom and justice to come down and preside at such a farce, while their weapons were perjury and poison! I would impeach the Eternal Gods, dare they justify such crimes as these and call upon the foulest devils in hell to laugh them to scorn. (This grand and sublime idea is not my own, but came rushing down from the God of Light, through the medium of a woman’s brain, at the preparation for the funeral of Aratus.) Pluto, the King of Hell, would not break his word, nor tell a falsehood for Proserpina, the fairest woman in the land, and the one he most adored, but restored her to her husband according to his promise; such was the dignity of the heathen Devil.
Time will tell, with burning shame,
Of Newkirk’s foul and perjured name;
And of his brow and brazen cheek,
When he swore false to please the clique.
When to falsehood you’re inclined,
And silver coin runs in your mind,
I’d have you pause ere it be too late,
And think on perjured Newkirk’s fate.-Benjamin Lett.
Silas Wright, U. S. Senator, wrote to me from Washington on the 23d day of May, 1844, that “it was not only the Governor’s privilege, but his express duty, to release the innocent; that Gov. Bouck’s office was one, the duties of which are extremely laborious and he did not suppose he had time to reply to all the letters he received.”
Nero governed from the rising to the setting sun, from the Torrid to the Frigid Zone; yet he had time to hear the complaint of one poor mechanic, Paul. All the priests of the Jews and Pagans, the pettifoggers and office-seekers of his realm, fell down before Nero, asking Paul’s life, saying, “he was a blasphemer of their gods, and ring-leader of a sect seeking to overturn the government, and destroy them all.” Nero said, “Paul shall have a hearing.” Then Paul stood before Nero, not a muscle refusing to do its duty, stretched forth his hand and said: - “Most illustrious Emperor, your judges have condemned me to die, contrary to your laws; will you execute their judgment?”
Then Nero, with the strength of a Hercules, a hundred fold twice told, drove back the ferocious monsters from the blood of the innocent man. Nero, like the God whom I adore, could not be bribed nor frightened. What will posterity say of these Iagos? “That their blood was cold as an iceberg, towering ten thousand feet above the level of the ocean, and their souls made of the concentrated essence of human excrement.” They dare not rest their decisions by their personality, nor plead stupidity and shove human nature off its platform. There is no power in earth, sea or skies, that can defend them, unless the first person in the God-head decrees that himself and all his creatures shall have no memory of the past. Then he will never know he made man, and you will never know von are here, and the bee will never find its road home. What can the God of all Mercies do for them? Thrust them into utter darkness, where they will never see their own deformity. When the McLeod case came up before both governments, the lion-faced Webster, the God-like Dan, was then Secretary of State, but he trembled like a dog in a wet sack at the frown of Mr. Fox, the haughty English embassador, when he told him “McLeod was acting under a superior officer.” But oh heavens! he was ferocious when let loose upon the negro wench, whom he had bound hand and foot with heavier chains than ever Cerberus had his prisoners bound at hell’s gate. How changed the blood of man since Jupiter was a boy, when he thundered at the sight of the roasted embassador. Jupiter was so fair and so modest that he passed in disguise among the maidens long after.
Address to the Voters of the 17th Senatorial District of Illinois:
November 17, 1864.
There are three Iagos. The first two, fawning upon their victim,- your neighbor; while one turns poison down his throat, the second stands sentry, hears the shriek of “Murder! Murder! Murder!” He claps his hand on his victim’s mouth; keeps it there until all is hushed in death. The third saw it, admits it horrid murder, being at the same time sworn to prosecute the guilty and paid for doing it; but he takes the second in his arms, calls him brother, and says, “I will protect you!” Which of these three is the honest man, that you would vote to send to the Legislature, to make laws for yourselves and your children? Vote for Washington Bushnell, and you vote for one of the three. The second was A. Wolford, who kept the dispatch a whole week that came from Milwaukee saying, “Lett is here dying; come with haste.” These fellows took beef from the hands of Wolford, all saturated with the blood of the murdered Lett till their bone, muscle, mind and soul became rotten like his own.
“There are a few other things in regard to this case that should be known. The captain and mate of the vessel on which Lett came here expressed their confident belief that he was poisoned and they doubted not by whom. The captain states that on going into his stateroom he found the man whom he suspected, attempting to administer nourishment to Mr. Lett, who perseveringly refused to admit a particle into his mouth. Suspecting the cause of his refusal, he brought him nourishment which he readily took. After arriving here he made evident efforts to answer questions by nodding his head, or shaking it. lie was asked if he believed that he was poisoned? A prompt nod of the head two or three times repeated was the significant answer.”-Milwaukee Sentinel, December 15, 1858.
If the decision in the case of Lett was lawful, a man having two enemies might shoot one and turn State’s evidence, and swear the other told him to do so, and destroy both in one day; and by adding perjury to murder, escape with impunity, as Dafoe did. Speak! Iagos, speak! and prove the villain a liar.
THOS. LETT.
Remarks of T. Stickle, the Artist:
‘Lett’s brother falls upon them like a hurricane upon the ocean-lashes them into fury, and dares them to leap the bounds. He brings them to the light and shows them to the people.’”
(On Base of Stone:)-”The most exalted lords of Great Britain had to implore their republican ancestors to come and protect them in their political and religious rights. When the proud Englishman was ordered to be whipped once a fortnight for seven years, and the whelp’s paw sold for five shillings and six-pence sterling for food for the fighting soldiers; when James stole the great seals of the nation and flung them into the Thames, sought to destroy friend and foe with one blow, and fled a vagrant because he could not have absolute power over body and mind of the British nation-it was then the Letts rushed to the fight, made the quarrel their own, and helped to pluck England from the bloody jaws of Rome, which she could neither obviate nor shun.
CITY AND COUNTY OF ALBANY:-John W. Turner, of Oswego, N. V., being duly sworn, deposeth and saith: that he has resided in the village of Oswego for more than twenty years; that in 1840 he was an inspector of the customs for the port of Oswego, and as such inspector was in the practice of visiting all boats on their arrival from a Canadian port; that he “as in attendance on such business at the time of the explosion of a trunk on board the British steamer Great Britain, it being the same as proved to have been placed on board by one Dafoe, and for which Benjamin Lett was convicted as an accomplice for setting fire to said boat; that said deponent was present at the trial of said Lett at the Oyer and Terminer, .Judge Gridley presiding, in 1840, and was sworn as a witness on said trial, and that two witnesses sworn on the part of the people, testified that the boat was actually on fire, that a place on the main deck, and where the explosion took place, was actually on fire, and was burned or charred a fourth of an inch in depth, and over a surface of some six inches in diameter; that this deponent was, at the time of said explosion, standing some forty feet from the gangway, where said trunk was placed at the time of said explosion; that he went immediately on board and saw cotton on fire about said boat, and that it was, not to exceed one minute from the explosion before all the combustibles on fire were swept from the boat. This deponent further saith, that where the said explosion was had that the deck was blackened by the powder, &c., which the trunk contained, and had the appearance of having been burned; but this deponent further says that he saw it after it was washed off, and that no appearance of fire was to be traced there or elsewhere as testified by the said witnesses, Pardee and Newkirk, and that he, on several occasions, after as well as before the trial, examined said boat, and that on one occasion he asked the captain to point out a place where the boat was on fire, which seemed to offend said captain, and he asked if any thanks were due Lett if it was not actually on fire; he, Lett, had attempted to burn it. And further this deponent saith not.
J. W. TURNER.
Sworn and subscribed before me, this 11th day of February, 1845.
WM. I. D. HILTON, Justice, etc.
To SILAS WRIGHT, Governor. etc.: - The undersigned, citizens of the county of Monroe, would respectfully beg leave to present to your consideration and clemency the case of Benjamin Lett, now confined in the State’s Prison at Auburn upon a sentence after conviction for arson in the fourth degree. The circumstances, as they appeared in the public prints previous to and at the time of the trial, are probably familiar to your Excellency, but will, as your petitioners understand, be presented to you in a more distinct and authentic manner along with petitions from various parts of the State. The case of Lett has excited a deep sympathy upon the frontier, and many have been led to believe that his conviction was effected by MEANS OF PERJURY. It is well known that Lett entertained strong feelings of hostility towards the British Government, and was by the Government authorities in the Canadas looked upon as a dangerous man to the Government. It has been supposed, and your petitioners believe there is good ground for the supposition that strong efforts were it made in Canada to effect the conviction of Lett as a convenient means of removing an inveterate and untiring political enemy.
Your petitioners respectfully solicit the attention of your Excellency to the investigation of this matter at your earliest convenience, and that unless wholly inconsistent with a proper exercise of executive prerogative, that you will be pleased to restore to liberty a man who is believed to be by all who know him, but an ardent patriot, whatever may be his errors of judgment.
Rochester, January 9th, 1845.
John Allen, Jacob Gould, George Byington, L. B. Swan,
L. B. King, Arid Wentworth, Geo. G. Root, C. A. Jones,
R. R. Lothridge, E. Hagar, Matthew Cavanagh, H. L. Stevens,
Wm. Breck, Isaac Port, John B. Thomas, E. Tinnsner,
Erastus Ide, G. W. Fisher, C. S. Martin, Jas. Abrams,
Isaac Hills, Jno.W. Duimelle, Z. S. Davis, Jno. C. Humasen,
A. N. Curtis, Wm. Alling, James C. Briggs, Jas. McIntosh,
M. S. Newton, C. Seymour, H. N. Shaw, H. A. Tucker,
Alfred Ely, E. Terry, Geo. F. James, D. McKay,
T. E. Hastings, Jonathan Child, Gilbert W. Potter, H. E. Peck,
C. O. B. Stuart, E. C. Dibbles, T. M. Donaldson, Geo. Davison,
Jas. M. Bruff, J. W. Hatch, M. Phillips,Josiah Snow,
H. H. Paddock, George Charles, George Gates, Alvah Strong,
Seth C. Jones, L. E. Harris, A. Senisky, Roswell Hait,
E. Cook, P. 5. McCollum, E. W. Carr, Rooney L. Adams,
L. A. Allen, James C. Marsh, Walter White, L. B. Langworthy,
Jno. G. Parker, Henry W. Davis, J. Cutler, I. H. Gates,
Wm. T. Kennedy, J. Seymour, S. A. Leach, H. H. Bunett,
T. J. Parker, H. S. Fairchild, O. G. Gibbs, Edwin Rowe,
Samuel Miller, A. Newton, E. H. Mason, S. M. Nevans,
Dan’l D. Lynch, B. Richmond, P. B. Brack, S. M. Boughton,
Simeon Ashley, C. Pattison, T. S. Hall, L. Lowell,
N. B. Northup, Caleb Wilder, N. Frost, G. H. Buck,
Wm. P. Smith, Chas. Morton, W. N. Blossom, H. Ringman.
The signers of this petition were citizens of Rochester; John Allen was then Mayor of the city, Jacob Gould, U. S. Marshal, and the rest not inferior in respectability.”
The main column has the following inscription:
“BENJAMIN LETT, THE CANADIAN PATRIOT, DIED DEC. 9TH, 1858, AGED 45 YEARS AND 25 DAYS,
Who was pursued for more than twenty years by the most powerful political party upon earth. England had not money enough to hire any of their cut-throats to shoot him down, and they had to stoop to slander, perjury and poison to accomplish his destruction. He was a true disciple of Aratus, whose generosity surpassed his courage - they both died by poison. He was son to Samuel Lett, a mighty mathematician; the heavens was his time-piece and his brain a perpetual almanac. He was descended of ‘William’s men, the champion of Protestantism. On his mother’s side the Warrens were Republicans under Milton, when he was Secretary of War; another root, the Pelos, were French Huguenots; both male and female suffered martyrdom, and but two escaped, and only with their lives.
Such were his ancestors in the great struggle for human rights.
“INTRODUCTION TO SLANDER-Not knowing how they could rob me of my liberty, without assassinating my character, they trumped up a foul, false, hellish, malignant report of blowing up the boat-wholesale murder! SLANDER-The vilest imp of hell: earth’s greatest monster; Satan’s right hand champion-who hath escaped him? Not Joseph the patriarch; nor Moses, the great legislator, and God’s high priest; Confucius, the sage, nor Socrates, the philosopher; George Washington, nor Dan O’Connell. Yea, he is the most unenviable wretch imaginable. He infests the pulpit, the bench and the bar; he scorns not to enter the meanest hut, and blushes not to enter the proudest palace; he makes the most delicious meals on good men’s names, on matron virtue and maiden innocence. Yea, he even dared with relentless hate and with more than hellish fury thrust his infernal fangs into the pure and unspotted character of the only begotten of the Most High God!
(Written on the margin of a pamphlet, while in prison.)
BENJAMIN LETT.”
The judges and the witnesses of Jezebel would have shuddered and shrunk back with honor from the acts that Lett’s destroyers stooped to. The authorities of New York committed three crimes against him (Lett) that have no parallel in fact or fiction. It will he seen by the testimony of Dafoe, the chief witness-the man who swore that he himself had committed the alleged crime, but that Lett had told him to do so-(See Note III.)-producing no proof tending in any wise to such a conclusion that he on oath, in open court, identified a piece of a match which he says was the very, match Lett had placed in the trunk, although all the witnesses agree to the fact that there was an explosion and being an explosion that explosion must have been caused by the match, which match must have been consumed before any fire could have been communicated to the contents of the jugs, without which communication of fire there could not possibly have been any explosion. Again, the witness, Pardee, swears to a piece of a jug, which was produced in court as being a piece of one of the jugs in the trunk; while Newkirk and Pardee both agree that the boat was on fire, when all the other witnesses for the prosecution swear to the contrary; but it was left for Dr. Holden to put a finish to this truly astonishing testimony, and at the same time give him a favorable opportunity of displaying his own ignorance, when he swore that lie had analyzed the contents of the trunk after those contents had exploded. Totally disregarding the established laws of nature, these model witnesses testified by supernatural wisdom to natural impossibilities-this being so absurd, so vile and filthy that it would cause a dog to vomit, poison a hyena, and the stomach of an ostrich could not digest it. Yet, Gridley, Seward, Bouck arid Wright-one a Supreme Judge, the three others Governors of the State of New York-most solemnly swore by the Ever-Living God that it was delicious and good, and that it was American justice.
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
(See Note IV.) McLeod and his party invaded your territory when they were bound by the most solemn treaties of peace, murdered your sleeping countrymen on your own soil, cut out your ship from under your flag and fired it; sent the living and the dead in the burning steamer, Caroline, over the hideous falls of Niagara, and shouted with joy at the horrid scene and cursed the American name and nation. Had Lett done all this, then he would have bad American editors, orators and politicians to respect and protect him.
Lett’s enemies are like the criminal at the feast of the Great Jehovah-speechless.
[At this point there is cut in the monument in bold relief, a figure about eighteen inches square, representing Gov. Wright holding the golden scales spoken of, in one side of which are 162 men and in the other the criminal, Dafoe, and the balance showing that the veracity of the one outweighs that of the 162, in explanation of which are the terrible, scorching words;]
AMERICAN VERACITY BY SILAS WRIGHT, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WHO BRANDED 162 OF HIS OWN CONSTITUENTS FALSE WITNESSES TO PLEASE THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSINS OF HIS OWN SLEEPING COUNTRYMEN.
Governor Wright pronounced the astonishing decision that the sworn evidence I had produced was not worthy of belief (!) when my witnesses consisted of true Americans-soldiers, such as Hercules, Aratus, Washington and LaFayette, enemies to tyrants-farmers, mechanics and merchants, the four best classes among men-the salt of the earth, who would not stoop to bribery to oppress the innocent, nor tremble before power to destroy the oppressed. These were the men who were weighed in the golden scales of Wright’s judgment and found inferior to Dafoe.
(See Note V) Governor Silas Wright released Lett, but in so doing he outdid Gessler. He selected two physicians, Doctors Pitney and Biglow, of Auburn, political and personal enemies to each other, said they must agree that the prison was killing him, and would kill him, and had not so far killed him but that a release would prolong his life; they agreed to that effect. Then he, acting under oath, remitted a crime that was proven by 162 witnesses never to have been committed, and called it American mercy!
But to crown all, the moral law is the pleading of your Supreme Court’s Judge, to shield an illegal indictment, trial and sentence; while Governor Wright, in his pardon, declares the arson was committed, thereby causing a perjured lie to be put on record in your Secretary of State’s office-for the truth in preference to the truth-truth being the great master-wheel of the grand machinery of all civilization, which he sought to destroy. (See Note VI.) Judge Gridley knowingly and willfully violated the common law of all civilized countries, the statute law of his State and the solemn and sacred oath of his office to please the midnight assassins of his own sleeping countrymen; then his apology-morality-- is worse than all these hellish outrages.
This trial took place at Oswego, N. Y., June, 1840.
Erected by Thomas Lett, with extracts from his “Appeal to the Protestant Christian Republic of the State of New York,” Feb. 12, 1862, that the nation might render that justice to the dead which was so revengefully denied by their authorities to the living.”
HAVING given my readers, on the foregoing pages, a copy of the inscriptions on the monuments, I herewith present the following true copies of original papers in my possession relating to the trial, conviction and pardon of Benjamin Lett, his life, etc.
Copy of the trial of Benjamin Lett, for Arson, at Oswego, June 25, 1840.
OYER AND TERMINER.
BENJAMIN LETT
vs Arson for firing steamboat Great Britain, June 25, 1840.
THE PEOPLE.
NICHOLAS HILL, Jr., and E. B. TALCOTT, Counsel for Prisoner; O. Robinson, District Attorney, and A. P. GRANT, for people.
David Dafoe: “I have been in jail a fortnight last Saturday; before that, I resided in Watertown, 17 or 18 months; before that, in Bellville in U. C. 15 years; born in Canada; am 37 years old; have a child; I know Benjamin Lett, have known him since last July; first saw him in Watertown; I next saw him at Watertown, five weeks ago, Thursday or Friday. Lett spoke of an expedition to burn British steamboats; the object was to assist in a revolution in Canada, and prevent carrying troops, &c. Lett left Watertown Saturday morning, four weeks last Saturday; I left next day, and Monday morning left Sackett’s Harbor, in the U. S., and arrived here between 2 and 3 o’clock p. m., and went to the Commercial tavern. Lett told me to stop at the Commercial, (Gates’), before I came here; I saw Lett on the other side; he told me to go to Gates, and gave as a reason that Gates was a fine man, a good fellow. I next saw him at Gates’, and talked with him in the sitting room alone; he said he would go to Rochester to get materials-alcohol, sulphur, resin, etc. He left soon after for Rochester, (next afternoon.) I occupied a small room with one bed; he had one a little larger. 1 don’t know what boat he went on; saw him on the deck when it was going out; think it was the Express boat; gone about a week; landed on east side of the river. He came on the Oneida; saw him early before Gates’ door. He told me to go and get the two jugs on the wharf; I got them and put them in the bar; saw him soon after and told him I had brought the jugs. He said they were put down in the cellar. I next saw the jugs in his trunk, Wednesday after; the trunk was in Lett’s room; it was a dark brown trunk, about 30 inches long, covered with hair. Lett brought the trunk to the room; he said he paid $2 for the trunk-the man asked $3. The jugs were in the trunk half an hour after it was brought in, lying flat with the ends lapping; they were stone jugs, and held about two gallons each. He said he would get a small jug to put powder in; I saw it afterwards; it held about a quart; was a stone jug; I did not see cork taps taken out of jugs. Lett said he had got those things I named in the jugs. I saw powder in small jug; a rope match was put in the small jug; (match produced and identified;) the rope was 18 inches long, double; one end was in the small jug, and the other came out at the end; the small jug was put under the two jugs; Lett cut the hole through the end of the trunk (produced and identified) with one of the bowie knives; three pounds of cotton were put in the trunk; I got it at Hart’s store; Lett told me to get it; I locked the trunk, took it down same day and put it on a cart; a cartman helped me; he took it down to the wharf. The steamboat came up twenty minutes after; I was waiting for the Great Britain. Lett was about; said he would go and fish while I was taking it down. I hired a cartman and paid him; Lett told me to; I did not see Lett till I got on the boat; Lett was fishing on the pier opposite; don’t know how far; I put the trunk next the ladies’ cabin, next the water-side. I first sat in the front end of the boat; I set a loco-foco match to it; it did not burn well; it remained half an hour, but not having a chance to fire it again without hurting some one, I took it off. A cartman took it back to Gates; the bartender set it in the house in the hall; I took it into Lett’s room, and Lett told me to take out the jugs; I took them all out and set them under the bed; I saw Lett ten minutes after I got hack; I told him the reason I had not touched off the match; Lett said I was a little cowardly; this was three weeks ago yesterday, (Wednesday.) I next saw the trunk the Saturday following; the jugs were in the trunk the same as before; Lett put them in; when I came up Lett was fixing the cotton.
Lett told me to speak to a cartman to take the trunk down, and told me where to find him; Lett said he would go down and cut up some maneuvers and get the people on the front of the boat; the cartman and I put the trunk on the cart, and took it down to the wharf; he set it on the boat near the sky-light; I gave him 8 pence and 3 cents; I removed it to the side of the ladies’ cabin. The trunk was on the side of the boat next to the wharf. Perhaps ten minutes after this I set a match to the trunk; I saw a colored boy, Grant, on board; I walked off the boat as I fired the match; it exploded about a minute after; I was then two or three rods from the boat. Lett had tried the matches before, to see how long it would take to burn it up. I saw Lett two or three rods from the boat when I walked off; I saw him sitting on some old timber; I was not on board more than half an hour; I did not go back into the boat; I went out west into the woods, three-quarters of a mile, and stayed till near night. A constable took me on my return to Gates’. Lett walked on behind me a ways, up near the U. S. Hotel, and turned back; I did not talk with Lett after I left the boat.”
William L. Pardee: “I know the steamboat Great Britain; John Hamilton is said to be the owner of her; he resides in Queenstown, U. C.; I heard explosion and saw fragments of jugs, &c., and where the boat had been on fire; I perceived straps of trunks and leather; (piece of jug produced and identified by witness.) There is gum copal and spirits of turpentine in trunk; copal is combustible; I did not see Lett on that occasion; I had seen him about eight or ten days before.”
Warden Newkirk: “I. was three rods from the steamboat when the explosion took place; the report was as loud as a common cannon; I went on board; the boat was on fire; one man seemed burned in the face and hands. The explosion was on starboard side of the boat; I saw Lett at the time walking back and forth; he crossed over on to the pier and back again. The boat always lands at that wharf; her bow was up stream. The boat was 200 or 300 feet from the pier, when I saw Lett, after the boat came in at the time of the explosion Lett was about 100 feet from the boat, on the wharf, opposite; after the explosion I saw Lett walking back and forth on the wharf; others were there. I cannot say who; I next saw him on the pier; I next saw him about 100 feet from the boat, on the opposite side of the wharf; at the time of the explosion he was looking at a boat about being launched. Hukiman is the captain of the Great Britain; I did not see Dafoe at the time; did not know him. I saw Lett walking up with the burnt man. (Question of the court.) The boat appeared to be on fire; no doubt of its being on fire.”
Dr. Holden: ‘I have examined the mixture in jugs; it is composed of ten parts copal, two of saltpetre, two of Venice turpentine, and small quantity of cotton wicking; they are combustible-not very, but produce intense heat when combusted: don’t burn rapidly-(paper handed containing powder;) it is blue vitriol, not combustible of itself; the match is pack thread, saturated with saltpetre, etc.
George Gates: “I keep public house in W. Oswego; saw Lett the 24th of May, in the morning, at my house; he remained two or three days; Dafoe came next day, P. M.; Lett took a room, No. 9; Dafoe, No. 4, adjoining Lett’s; Lett did not bring baggage with him first; Lett said he was going to Rochester when he left; he was gone three or four days; he returned in the morning. The Oneida and another boat were in that evening; I think the Oneida came from Rochester that morning; it stops on this side of the river. I saw jugs at 9 A. M., brought by Dafoe; I think Lett was in the room when Dafoe brought them in; I set them in the hall, and then down in the cellar. Lett said, ‘I wish you would take care of those jugs; they held 1-1/2 or 2 gallons. After putting the jugs in the cellar, two or three days, Lett asked me for the jugs, and I gave them to him; he took them away; I left a small jug at Lett’s room; he had asked me for one; Lett had no apparent business; Lett and Dafoe went out of town with me two days before the explosion on a fishing and hunting excursion; I saw a trunk in Lett’s room; I went to the room an hour or more after the explosion; no trunk in the room; saw a scalping knife, wrench and bullet moulds; Lett spent considerable time in his room afterwards; I saw no trunk taken from the house, nor brought down; Lett was not put into No. 4 at his request; I never saw Lett and Dafoe talk together in a private way, or so but what they could be heard.”
Stephen Parmeter: “I first saw Lett the day of the explosion, 3 or 4 P. M.; Lett asked me to carry a trunk to the steamboat; Dafoe afterwards asked me to go and take the trunk; Dafoe and I put the trunk on the cart; the trunk was near two feet long; Dafoe paid me 8 pence and 3 cents. (Board produced) about the length produced; (skin produced) about the color of trunk.”
William S. Hynrts: “I saw Lett come off the steamboat Oneida, a few days before the explosion; think it was the Tuesday before the explosion, in the morning; landed at Fitzhugh’s wharf, East Oswego; he had two jugs in his hands in the gangway-1 or 1-1/2 gallon jugs, (about the size and kind of fragment produced;) I am employed on the wharf.”
Van Horn: “Two weeks ago last Wednesday or Friday saw Dafoe with trunk at Great Britain.”
Isaac Perry: “I live with Gates at tavern; some five or six weeks ago he came in to Gates’, etc.; on 2d day of June, on his return from Rochester, I saw him; on Tuesday, before the explosion, I think it was after noon, Lett came from Rochester; I saw Dafoe bring jugs; think it was just at night; I was lighting up the bar-room; I think probably I am mistaken, and it was morning; two or three days after I saw jugs in cellar; don’t know who took the jugs away; did not see them after. A young man brought a trunk to the house for a man; I saw trunk going past the house on a cart; this was Saturday; on Wednesday before, trunk was taken down to the boat; when it-was brought hack I took it into the house; I think it was broken; I did not hear Lett say he had been to Rochester.”
N. Mills: “I live in Oswego; my store is 20 or 25 rods from Gates’ tavern; I first saw Lett last fall; I next saw him five or six weeks ago on Water street; two or three weeks after I saw him again; some three weeks ago he was in my store; did not speak except to pass the weather; again in my store; again passing time; I next saw Lett on the day of the explosion; I think on the Monday before the explosion he got a trunk of me-at 1 or 2 o’clock P. M.; I think I saw trunk again the same day I sold trunk; I sold the trunk for $2-asked $2.50; my son took the trunk to Gates’; it was an oval-topped hair trunk; Judge Grant was with Lett when I first saw him; he got an awl the day of the explosion; I think I sold Lett a three foot trunk; he said he wanted one of an oval top to put a hat in; he wanted a cheap one because he had divided his money with a widow whose husband had been hung in Canada; I think it was a dark trunk.
Dafoe recalled, (cross-examined:) I am of French descent; came to the United States 17 months ago; I was at work for Massy when I first saw Lett, One year ago.
John W. Turner; Lett was standing about 100 feet from the boat at explosion.
Stephen Reid; Barker and I found Lett above Whites’ house away from west; he sat on the steps leading to the hotel; I took Lett by the collar; I called for a rope to tie him, and he swore he would not be tied by two men; he resisted when I wanted to tie him; I said to Barker, Lett was armed; Lett said it was no secret, his friends knew he always went armed; he had four pistols and a bowie knife; only one loaded and that only with powder; also powder in paper with the words written on it; I said he was charged with trying to burn the Great Britain; he said he knew nothing about it; had not been there.
John A. Goons: I saw boat Saturday and Monday after the explosion; on Monday I went on board; the paint was blackened as though a fire had been near, but no part of the boat was burned to a coal; I examined it carefully three times; the boat had not been painted since explosion; I examined the boat at the place where the explosion took place; was near the boat when it exploded; boxes were under the stairs; don’t think the boxes were on fire; saw blaze on wood but don’t know if wood was on fire; it might have been cotton.
B. J. Leads: I was on board after explosion same day; I did not examine the boat very particularly; under the stairs the boat was black; I don’t think the boat was burned to a coal under the stairs; I should think a blaze had not been kindled on the boat.
William I. Pardee recalled; Saw Mr. Hamilton two or three months ago; he was not here at the time; the floor of the boat was charred in one place; Hamilton is reputed to be owner.
Daniel Allen: I examined boat fifteen minutes after explosion; I saw no part of the boat burned to a coal or burned; I think I should have seen it if boat had been burned; the floor was wet and black; the wood was not charred at all; I did not examine the floor under the pig iron.
John W. Turner recalled: I saw spots on the floor and thought they were the effects of powder; I had the examination on Monday; the floor was not charred in any place.
The Jury found the prisoner guilty, and the court sentenced him to seven years confinement in the States prison, (being the full extent of the law.)-See note 5.
“I certify that I was the law partner of E. B. Talcott who defended the within named Benjamin Lett; that I am acquainted with his hand-writing, and know the within minutes to be his hand-writing taken at the trial, and that I believe them correct so far as taken, and I have delivered them to Thomas Lett today.”
April 17, 1845.
O. J. HARMON.
After having received the minutes of the trial from Mr. Harmon, I went to Mr. E. B. Talcott, State Senator, (then at Albany,) requesting his certificate and signature to the same, which he pointedly refused, alleging it might injure his political career. I then returned to Oswego and got the above certificate from his partner, Mr. Harmon.
REMARKS ON THE TRIAL. I will pass over the injustice of arresting a man, (on the oath of another whose safety was at stake,) and refusing to put off his trial when he had no witnesses summoned on his behalf, to the facts in the testimony of the principal witnesses. It will be seen by the testimony of Dafoe, the chief witness, (the man who swore that he himself had committed the alleged crime, but that Lett had told him to do so, producing no proof tending in any wise t such a conclusion,) that he, on oath, in open court, identified a piece of a match which he says was the very match Lett had placed in the trunk, although all the witnesses agree as to the fact that there was an explosion, and being an explosion, that explosion must have been caused by the match, which match must have been consumed before any fire could have been communicated to the contents of the jugs, without which communication of fire there could not possibly have been any explosion. Again, the witness, Pardee, swears to a piece of a jug which was produced in court, as being a piece of one of the jugs in the trunk; while Newkirk and Pardee both agree that the boat was on fire, when all the other witnesses for the prosecution swear to the contrary; but it was left for Dr. Holden to put a finish to this truly astonishing testimony, and at the same time give him a favorable opportunity of displaying his own ignorance, when he swore that he had analyzed the contents of the trunk after those contents had exploded.
Totally disregarding the established laws of nature, these model witnesses testified by supernatural wisdom to natural impossibilities, this being so absurd, so vile and so filthy, that it would cause a dog to vomit, poison a hyena, and the stomach of an ostrich could not digest it; yet Gridley, Seward, Bouck and Wright, (one Supreme Court Judge and three Governors of the State of New York) most solemnly swore by the over-living God that it was delicious and good, and that it was AMERICAN JUSTICE.
Upon such contemptible testimony my brother was convicted, (if his punishment could by any means be said to have resulted from conviction,) and being determined to oppose an illegal decision, I addressed a letter to the far-famed Silas Wright, at the time U. S. Senator from the State of New York, giving him my view of the trial, and asking his advice as to how I should proceed, which letter, together with his answer, is a follows:
NORTHVILLE, LASALLE Co., ILL.,
April 29th, 1844.
From Thomas Lett to Mr. Silas Wright,
United States Senator from the State of New York.
Sir: I address you in behalf of my brother, Benjamin Lett, a convict in Auburn State Prison, whom I consider as unjustly and unlawfully condemned without a cause. In the summer of 1840, he was tried by a jury at Oswego who found him guilty of Arson in the fourth degree, and the judge, Gridley, sentenced him to seven years imprisonment in Auburn State’s prison because he would not peaceably walk up the gallows in Canada and be hung, to please such as Prince, Drew and McNab, when they wished to sacrifice him to Queen Victoria, as he was one the proscribed in ‘37 and ‘38. When the blood-hounds of Canada had failed with army, spies, kidnappers and assassins to destroy him, they hired one of their fraternity who pursued him, and managed to be seen in his company as much as possible. When this wretch could entrap him in no other way, he, [Dafoe,] according to his own statement, carried combustibles on board the Steamer Great Britain, then lying in Oswego harbor, he put a match to the combustibles and the explosion burst the trunk that contained them. He then turned States’ evidence, and declared in open court that he had himself committed the act, but that Lett was his adviser, and had furnished him with a trunk, &c., for that purpose. They also found another witness with supernatural wisdom, who had seen Lett carrying a jug through the streets of Oswego three weeks before, and identified a piece of the same broken on board of the Great Britain. This was the evidence they claimed to condemn him [Lett.] Had Dafoe, the State’s evidence, accused Governor Seward or any American of being his adviser, would the decision of the court have been the same? Thus, by adding perjury to crime, he accomplished his design and escaped with impunity. I sent a petition to Gov. Seward, stating that if I could prove by a hundred respectable American citizens that my brother Benjamin Lett, was condemned unjustly and unlawfully without a cause, would he comply with lawful means to release him, and he pointedly declared he would not! I also sent him another petition, requesting him to lay the decision of the Court in the case of Lett before the Legislature of his state, that it might be sanctioned and called law. ‘This he disregarded. I also wrote to Gov. Bouck in behalf of Lett, setting forth the facts of the case, and praying him not to suffer the innocent to die by the poisoned tongue of the perjurer, who it was notoriously known, had committed the offense himself. This his Excellency considered beneath his notice; he would not deign to answer it, like the Emperor of Austria when Washington wrote to him in behalf of LaFayette. And now, most noble Senator, I appeal to you to know if there is law or lawful means whereby Lett can be delivered from such an unjust, unholy and unlawful decision? Do not, I beseech you, refuse or neglect to answer me. If there is no law surely there is equity. If the decision of the Court in the case of Lett was lawful, a man having two enemies might shoot one, turn State’s evidence and swear the other told him to do so, destroy both in one day, and by adding perjury to murier escape with impunity.
THOMAS LETT.
HON. SILAS WRIGHT, of New York, Washington, D. C.
Copy of a Letter in answer to the foregoing:
WASHINGTON, May 23, 1844.
DEAR SIR :-Your letter of the 29th April reached me yesterday through the hands of Mr. Wentworth, your member of Congress. I take a moment during a period of my pressing engagement, to give you a hasty reply to it. By the constitution of New York, the Governor of the State alone has the power to pardon persons convicted of crimes and imprisoned in the state penitentiaries. The Legislature has no power whatever over the matter, and no right to interfere with or direct the Governor in the exercise of his discretion upon such application.
Gov. Bouck is a very plain and business-like man, but his office is one the duties of which are extremely laborious, and I do not suppose it is possible for him to reply to all the letters he receives. I consider him a very just man, and if you can produce testimony to satisfy him that your brother was erroneously convicted, I do not doubt that he will pardon him, but he would not act upon a mere statement in a letter, or petition not sworn to, which I infer from your letter was all you sent to him, if you shall choose to make an application to him, founded upon sworn testimony, and the witnesses certified to be credible, which testimony shall show that your brother was not guilty, I do not doubt that he will act upon it promptly.
In great haste, I am your obedient Servant, THOMAS LETT.
SILAS WRIGHT.
Acting upon the Hon. Senator’s instructions, I procured the affidavit of Major John Morrison, of the United States Army, stating that he was offered large sums of money to allow men to cross over from Canada to seize the person of Benjamin Lett on American soil, thereby showing the strong political hatred that existed towards Lett from a powerful government, who were even willing to break through all international law and thus violate the sacred sovereignty of another and a friendly nation, in order to accomplish the destruction of one man. But the gallant officer, like a true soldier, was above bribery. I also procured the sworn testimony of twenty-two witnesses, including that of the inspector of the port of Oswego, and the evidence of 140 others, all American citizens, and all testify to the fact that the steamer Great Britain never was burned at all, consequently the crime the for which my brother was punished, was proven never to have been committed.
Copy of an affidavit made by Major John Morrison, U. S. A., testifying that the Canadian Tories, through one of their spies, offered him $2,000 to allow the said Tories to come and arrest Benjamin Lett on United States Territory:
STATE OF NEW YORK,
ss:.
NIAGARA COUNTY,
On this sixth day of January, 1845, personally came before me, Major John Morrison, of the town of Porter, in said county, and paid that Alexander Stewart, of Niagara, in the province of Upper Canada, a Barrister at Law, on or about the middle of December, 183, came to this deponent and proposed that if he would consent that he, Stewart, and Tories from Canada, might come to this deponent’s house and secure and take away Benjamin Lett, he should receive two thousand dollars, as four thousand could be got for Lett in Canada. and he further says, that the said Alexander Stewart was a British subject, and was reputed to be a British spy. Said Stewart once told this deponent that that was the case; deponent immediately informed the said Benjamin Lett of the proposed plan, in order that he might be prepared for them. And the weather was such that it was impossible for the party to cross over at the time agreed upon.
J. MORRISON.
Subscribed and sworn, 6th day of January, 1845, before me,
JAMES H. PAGE, Justice of the Peace.
STATE OF NEW YORK,
NIAGARA COUNTY,
CLERK’S OFFICE:
I, James C. Lewis, Clerk of said County, do hereby certify, that James H. Page, Esquire, before whom the annexed instrument appears to have been Sworn or acknowledged was at the time of taking such oath or acknowledgement, a Justice of the Peace in and for said County, duly elected and sworn and authorized by the laws of said state to take the same, that am acquainted with his hand writing and believe that the signature ascribed to said certificate of acknowledgement is genuine and that instrument is executed according to the laws of said state of New York.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and impressed my seal of office at Lockport, the 8th day of January, A. D.
J. O. SURS, Clerk,
In January, 1839, the government of Upper Canada offered a reward of “$20,000, or anything in reason, for the delivery of Lett into the hands of their authorities, either dead or alive.” It will be observed by reading the affidavit of Major J. Morrison, That Lett was a guest at his house the time the offer to bribe was made. This same Stewart, the spy, in 1840, “screwed his courage to the sticking-point,” and lay in ambush armed to the teeth, awaiting Lett approach, intent on his destruction; but it was of no avail; for knowledge of the same having come to the ears of Lett he at once proceeded to Stewarts’ lair, captured and disarmed him, and after advising him to “go and sin no more,” he very generously released “this tall and powerful Highland Scotchman.
Copy of the sworn evidence of John W. Turner, Inspector of the toms for the port of Oswego in 180, who swears that the steamer Great Britain was not burned.-[See page 5.]
Copy of the sworn testimony of twenty-one reliable men, America, citizens, who swear that the steamer Great Britain was not burned.
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY: We, the undersigned residents of the Village of Oswego, in the county and state aforesaid, being duly sworn, do depose and say: That they were all and every one of them, residents of the village of Oswego, in the town, county and state aforesaid, prior to, at the time and subsequent to the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year 1840, at which time and date it is understood and believed by the undersigned deponents, Benjamin Lett was convicted by the circuit court, or court of Oyer and Terminer, held by Judge Gridley then and now a circuit judge of the supreme court of the state of New York aforesaid, of Arson in the fourth degree, on a charge of having Me fire to, or attempted to set fire to the steamer Great Britain, in the County of Oswego, on or about the twenty-fifth day of June; that the undersigned deponent believe that only two days intervened between the indictment found by the Grand jury and the trial and conviction of the said Benjamin Lett, before the aforesaid Judge Gridley, which necessarily left little time for the defendant, the aforesaid Benjamin Lett, to procure witnesses to substantiate his innocence in relation to the aforesaid charge of which he was accused, on which he was tried, on which he was convicted. And these deponents further say, on their oath aforesaid, that the said steamer Great Britain left the port of Oswego shortly after the accident or firing, or attempt to fire the said boat, and on the same day on which said Arson, or attempt to commit Arson, was committed, and did not return but once until after the trial and conviction of said Benjamin Lett, was had. And these, the undersigned deponents, do further depose, that some of them had examined the boat before she left the port of Oswego after the attempt to set fire to her was made as aforesaid, and all of the undersigned deponents had examined the said steamer Great Britain, either before the time she left the port of Oswego after the disaster aforesaid, on the first time she returned to said port of Oswego, which, in the opinion of the undersigned deponents, did not or does not vary much from six days after the date of the disaster of firing aforesaid of the said steamer Great Britain; and these deponents do further depose and certify, that to the best of their knowledge and belief, the said Benjamin Lett was convicted on the testimony of only two witnesses who testified under an excitement, (that might be peculiar to the occasion, without having much time to examine the boat,) that the boat was burnt, when, in the opinion of the undersigned deponents, the boat was in no shape nor in any place burned, which fact they all, without exception, ascertained to their satisfaction by examination personally made as soon as said boat or steamer Great Britain returned to the port of Oswego as aforesaid:
John B. Limerick, Frodo Tibet’s, Robert Greene, George Lee, Jr.
Gee. Jenison, John A. Coon, Paul C. Snyder, Curtis Severance,
Lorenzo Socket, C. J, Whims, A., E. Hill, .John L. Mills,
James Bickford, Hershel Elliston, C. N. Hageman, Cyrus Carrion,
Chas. C Rumored, Lester Parry, Gordon Hatchway, Geo. L... Thomas, H. Hatter
STATE OF NEW YORK, Oswego County, Jan. 23rd, 1845: I, the undersigned, one of the Justices of the peace in and for the county of Oswego do certify that the above named persons, whose names are attached to the above affidavit, did sign the same in my presence after being read to them by me, and that each and every one of them was duly sworn by me after signing their names to the same.
I certify that I am acquainted, with the individuals who have signed the within named deposition and that they are men of respectability and. worthy of credit.
JOHN GRANT, Justice of the Peace
January, 22, 1845.
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY: I, John Carpenter, Clerk of said county, do hereby certify that at the time of the making of the foregoing certificate by John Orant, Jr., the said Grant was a Justice of the Peace of said county, and further that I am well acquainted with the hand writing of the said John Grant, and verily believe the signature to the said certificate to be genuine.
In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and affixed the seal of the court of common pleas of said county, this 11th day of April, 1845
JOHN CARPENTER, Clerk
(Copy of a petition addressed to the Governor of New York by citizens of Monroe County, in said State, praying for the release of Benjamin Lett, then confined in the State prison at Auburn for the crime of arson; being one of numerous petitions sent to Governors Seward, Bouck and Wright, at various times, and which were wholly disregarded. See p. 5.)
Copy of a petition addressed to the Gov. of New York by the citizens of Oswego, in said State, praying for the release of Benjamin Lett:
To His EXCELLENCY, THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK:
The undersigned, citizens of the town and county of Oswego, would respectfully beg leave to present to your Excellency’s consideration and clemency, the case of Benjamin Lett, now confined in the State’s prison at Auburn upon a sentence after a conviction for arson in the fourth degree, your petitioners being fully convinced that the said Lett has now been confined in prison longer than he could legally have been sentenced but for the testimony of two witnesses, who were mistaken as to the boat being actually on fire. This mistake was evident to hundreds of our citizens who examined the boat immediately after the trial. And that the said Lett was indicted one day and put on his trial the next, without the benefit of time to meet the charges preferred, and that it was never claimed nor proved the said Lett ever was connected with the attempt to set fire to the steamboat Great Britain, except a an adviser of Dafoe, (the man who acknowledged that he did the work himself, and testified that Lett advised him to do it,) WHO WAS PARDONED IN CONSIDERATION OF SUCH TESTIMONY! THIS CONVICTION WAS HAD AT A TIME OF GREAT BORDER EXCITEMENT, WHEN THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WERE MAKING STRONG EFFORTS TO PROCURE THE CONFINEMENT OF LETT, your petitioners well know. Your petitioners would respectfully call your attention to the above facts, and that the said Lett is declining with consumption and now very ill, as we are credibly informed. Your petitioners would therefore respectfully solicit the relief of said Lett if, on investigation, your Excellency finds it consistent with his prerogative:
John B. Leveriok, M. Jordon, I. Cochran, A. Jones,
T. Vorce, Easton Cook, T. H. Hoag, Leander McEwen,
James Doyle, Martin Winman, R. C. Morgan, A. Duncan,
S. Carter, L. L. Miller, R. Van Horn, H. D. Freeman,
A. Bush, Thomas Fagh, A. W. Hawley, N. K. Whitney,
P. O. Snyder, Owmir White, B. Townsend, John Stitt,
O. C. Bloss, J. C. Willington, George Moe, A. F. Allen,
Isaac Perry, Jas. Franklin, M. Hotchkiss, Abm’. Swart,
Nels’n Thompson, Neal Reaney, P. T. Briggs, H. Barker,
W. H. VanHorn, Tho. Copland, Frederick Mason, John Pilling,
Jos.Wentworth, A. McCalister, F. G. Elsworth, Dewit Barnes,
Geo. Hart, Geo. McLellan, O. P. Lulin, Robert Anderson,
D. B. Allen, Jr., William Sheldon, R. McWhitcomb, Hiram Pitner,
R. R. Wright, Geo. B. Phillips, Josiah Webb, M. Mulrooney,
Austin Church, C. B. Aspinwall, Z. G. Bloss, S. C. Peck,
S. B. Wells, Gates Phillips, A. P. Williams, Josiah D. Evans,
Ebenezer Cram, D. Allen, J. E. Stevenson, Stephen Parmiton,
John S. McClay, I. Sanger, E. H. Gilman, Jonathan Gasdon,
Amos Bacon, Geo. S. Barlow, Ogden Clark, Wm. H. Watts,
William Coulter, Jas. Bickford, Jacob Wilcox, Thomas McVaner,
James Wiltse, Martin Gillit, I. Willson, John Hanlin,
Jabin B. Downny, Curtis Severance, D. Henman, Jr., Thos. Crampton,
Hiram Turkman, P. Barke, S. Hawley, Nehemiah Doebye
Johnson Stephens, John Telford, L. Sickles, Augustus Brown,
C. W.. Oliver, Ransom Megran, C. Smith, Jr., Wm. H. Snyder,
N. Miller, I. Carpenter, M. P. Hatch, Robt. B Mikles,
A. E. Hill, C. S. Summer, W. I. Bonsell, Oliver Peck,
John L. Millis, Daniel Allen, H. J. Carey, James Jones,
Henry Benedict, O. G. Munger, M. Haloe, D. H. McCoy,
A. G. Willis, William Murray, Sam. Wilson, M. Johnson,
E. Grovenor, Jacob P. Ottman, Hamilton Brace, James Sanders,
C. Hull, Jr., Joseph H. McCoy, Jonathan Norton, Peterson Potter,
Copy of a certificate to the above petition by John Grant, Jr.. a Magistrate of Oswego county, addressed to the Gov. of the State of New York:
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY:
The undersigned, one of the magistrates of the county aforesaid, respectfully certifies to his Excellency, Silas Wright, Esq., Governor of the said State of New York, that he has carefully and deliberately read and considered the within annexed petition for the relief of Benjamin Lett, in the said petition named, a convict now in confinement in the State’s prison at Auburn, for an offense in the within named and annexed petition mentioned; that he, the undersigned, was for many years, not only at the date at which the offense charged against the said Benjamin Lett, in the annexed petition mentioned, was committed, tried and convicted, but for many years prior to and subsequent to said date a resident of said town of Oswego, N. Y. That without any personal knowledge of the act when committed, or of any intention on the part of Left or anybody else to commit said offence he could but know, arid believes he then did know and does now know, -both from actual observation on the steamer, Great Britain, where the offence is charged to have been committed, and also from statements made to the undersigned by some of the most respectable and responsible inhabitants of the village of Oswego, at the time and since-that the facts stated in the said petition are correct and true; and the undersigned therefore cheerfully certifies to the- truth of the facts stated in the said annexed petition. And the undersigned would and does further certify to his Excellency, the Governor, that from information derived from sources and authority in which he has full confidence, that he has not the least doubt but that not only the weeks, but the days of the said Benjamin Lett are numbered, in consequence of bodily infirmities which are beyond the reach of the skill, science and sagacity of man. Of the necessity of official evidence to his Excellency in relation to this statement, and also that this evidence can only be procured by the order of his Excellency himself, I am well aware, butt would most respectfully state that if his Excellency would order and direct that such official evidence in relation’ to this matter should be furnished, as he of right may do, it would present a remarkably strong appeal for the boon of executive mercy, without infringing in the least on the exercise of that high attribute of executive authority (impartial justice) which, so far as I know, has been universal and, as I believe, justly conceded and accorded to your Excellency. All which is most repectfu11y submitted to your Excellency.
JOHN GRANT, Jr.
These petitions are from the very people that Lett sought to murder wholesale, as is alleged, and who evidently must have been made of very forgiving materials, for Governor Wright said that Lett wanted to murder them, and who ever heard of a-Governor telling a lie?
With these evidences that the Arson was not committed in one hand and the instructions of the Hon. Senator in the other, I approached the executive chair, when I found it occupied by the senator himself to whom I presented my papers. His Excellency’s first remark was that I had written to him complaining of his predecessor, Gov. Bouck, but what would I say of him, as if he was predetermined to pervert justice at all hazards. Having left my papers in his hands, his Excellency appointed a day by which he would have examined them, and on which day I was to call again; true to the appointment I again called on him, when he said that he had not had time to consider the evidence, had not time to stay the Judge’s decision, who made a tool of the law, not time to repeal the endorsement of that decision by his executive predecessors not time to free the innocent from an unjust and illegal sentence. As I urged his Excellency from day to day for his decision he told me that it was impossible for him to decide before he received a report from the Judge who presided at the trial.- As his Excellency declared he was waiting for the Judge’s report, which he had written for, thinking I might possibly become tedious in my continual visits to the executive chamber, I requested him to give me a note to Judge Gridley asking for his report of the case, which note I would present in person, hoping this method might render any longer delay unnecessary, telling him that I would trouble him no more until I brought him the report. This act of nonfeasance on part of the Governor occasioned another and unnecessary delay of over a month. His excellency having complied with my request, I at once started from Albany to Utica, where Judge Gridley lived, and handed him the Governor’s letter. Upon reading it the Judge was astonished, promptly declared that he had never received any letter from Governor Wright relating in any way to my brother’s trial. As I demanded that he should say so on paper, he gave me a certificate to that effect, (a copy of which certificate will be found in my letter to the editor of the Albany Argus, published below.) I then returned to Albany with the Judge’s report, arid laid it before His Excellency, when, having perused it, he pronounced the astonishing decision THAT THE SWORN EVIDENCE I HAD PRODUCED WAS NOT WORTHY OF RELIEF! when my witnesses consisted of true Americans- soldiers, (such as Hercules, Aratus, Washington and LaFayette, enemies to tyrants)-farmers, mechanics and merchants-the four best classes among men, the salt of the earth, who would not stoop to bribery to oppress the innocent, nor tremble before power to destroy the oppressed. These were the men who were weighed in the golden scales of Wright’s judgment, and found inferior to Dafoe! Upon this I demanded all my papers in his hands, which he gave me, EXCEPT THE. REPORT OF THE TRIAL, WHICH HE REPUSED TO PART WITH, on the ground, as he said, “THAT IT BELONGED TO HIM AS GOVERNOR OF THE STATE!”
If past decisions are any criterion or guide for man, then, by the decision of Elijah’s God in the case of Naboth, the authorities of New York are guilty; for had Elijah been still in the land of the living, and his God had any respect or regard for the authorities of New York, the prophet would have been compelled to stand before them and rebuke them for their base and vile conduct, declaring their acts, by justice and the God of justice, a public sin. But here is an instance of justice nearer our own times: In the reign of Henry VIII, Richard Hun, a London merchant, was arrested by the Church and imprisoned without a crime. While in prison he was murdered, hung after he was murdered, tried, condemned, his body burned after he was hung, and his property confiscated. This was done by ecclesiastical law. The Church accused him of suicide, but a coroner’s inquest, held before he was burned, proved that he was murdered before he was hung, and consequently a murdered man could not commit felon de se. The case then came before the Parliament, when the King presided in person. They revoked the decision of the clergy, exposed the guilty and vindicated the character of the murdered man by restoring his property to his family, LEAVING THEIR DECISION AS A MONUMENT OF IMPARTIAL JUSTICE FOREVER. One was Catholic England in the 16th century, under the so-called tyranny of Henry VIII; the other Protestant New York in the 19th century, under the so-called justice of Silas Wright!
Copy of a letter from Judge Gridley, of the state of New York addressed to Thomas Lett in reply to one received by said Gridley from said Lett:
UTICA, Feb. 19, 1845
Mr. THOMAS LETT-SIR: In answer to your letter, received this day, I can only say, what every person at all acquainted with law would concur in that as your brother was convicted on a charge of Arson, it was necessary that the jury should have believed and found that fact to justify their verdict. That question was however distinctly presented for their consideration, upon the testimony produced on the trial of the cause, and was by a jury decided against your brother; in other words they believed that the boat was burned, or that the fire had been kindled upon it to some extent before it was extinguished; this fact was proved by the testimony of two witnesses though the testimony of others tended to a contrary conclusion.
How far the Governor will feel himself at liberty to open that question now to be decided upon exparte affidavits, the people’s counsel having no opportunity to cross examine the witnesses, or produce counter affidavits, I am not able to say. That is for him not me to decide. He may also be disinclined to look into that question, after the solemn determination of a jury, upon another ground, to wit: that the CIRCUMSTANCE of the fire and flame being confined to the combustibles employed to fire the boat itself, was in reality an ACCIDENTAL fact, which did not relieve the crime of its atrocity in a MORAL point of view, however important it was as a FACT BEFORE THE JURY.
It occurred to me after I gave you a certificate that I had not received the communication which the Governor’s note to me stated he had sent, and after you informed me that you had intended in the event of your application being unsuccessful, to publish your papers to the world that you might wish to publish my certificate to raise a presumption that no communication had been sent to me. I trust no such use of the certificate will be made, as I cannot consent to any use of it which is intended to reflect upon the Governor or his Secretary.
Your Obedient Servant,
P. GRIDLEY.
(This letter of Judge Gridley is equivalent to the words of a murderer caught in the act, his knife reeking with the blood of his victim, while he gives vent to his fears: “I pray you not to expose me nor my accomplices, else justice be meted us, and we lose our power to kill and plunder, and receive our just deserts, and I CANNOT CONSENT TO THAT!”
Copy of the report of Dr. Pitney to Silas Wright, Governor of the State of New York, on the state of Benjamin Lett’s health, n obedience to commands from his Excellency:
AUBURN, March 8th, 1845.
To HIS EXCELLENCY, SILAS WRIGHT-Sir: You letter to me of the 4th inst., was duly received through Dr. Biglow. In compliance, with your request I have this day, in company with Dr. Biglow, visited the auburn State Prison hospital, and there examined and investigated, cautiously, the present and prospective health of the convict Benjamin Lett, which is the subject of your letter to me. The said Lett is much emaciated and very feeble. He has a chronic and I fear an incurable affection of the left lobe of his lungs, the existence of which I am fully satisfied of by percussion and ausculation of his chest, and the unequivocal statements to me by various officers of the prison, “of his having repeatedly expectorated florid and frothy blood in their presence, unattended with vomiting,” which indicates that it must have come from some portion of his lungs.
I have seen and examined said Lett several times during the past winter, and was then strongly impressed with a sense of his permanently declining health. I had known him well in the prison hospital in 1842, when he was healthy and vigorous, with the exception of several most distressing hemorrhoidal tumors, for with he was subjected to a severe operation and cured. My opinion of the above named convict, Benjamin Lett, is that a longer confinement in the State prison will destroy his health entirely and render premature death inevitable, and that if he should be immediately set at liberty there would be some slight hopes of a restoration of his health, and a prolongation of his life. I
have therefore no hesitation in saying to you, sir, that I consider him a fit subject for executive clemency.
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
JOSEPH T. PITNEY.
(This nation has furnished some of the worst men in the world’s history, of whom I complain; yet it also furnishes some of the best men, of whom it may well be proud, and of the latter class are Messrs. Pitney, and Biglow.)
Copy of the release of Benjamin Lett, by Silas Wright, Governor of the state of New York:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:
Whereas, at a court held in and for our county of Oswego, in the month of June, 1840, Benjamin Lett was convicted of arson, and was thereupon sentenced to be imprisoned in the State prison at hard labor for seven years, under which conviction and sentence thereupon, the said convict now lies imprisoned, and he being represented unto us as a fit object of our mercy; therefore; know ye, that we have pardoned, remised and released, and by these presents do pardon, remise and release the said convict of and from the offense whereof in our said court he stands convicted as aforesaid, and of and from all sentences, judgments and executions thereon.
In testimony whereof, we have caused these, our letters to be made patent, and the great seal of our State to be hereunto affixed.
Witness, Silas Wright, Governor of our said State, at our city of Albany, the 10th day of March, in the year of Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty five.
SILAS WRIGHT.
Passed the Secretary’s office, the 10th day of March,
ARCH’D CAMPBELL, Dep. Secretary of State.
Copy of an editorial that appeared in the “Albany Argus,” dated March 11th, 1845, on the
RELEASE OF BENJAMIN LETT.
“We have been aware for some time that an application was being made to the Governor to pardon Lett, upon the ground of his declining health, and we now learn that a pardon was issued yesterday. Upon an inquiry into the facts, we learn that the physician of the prison has REPEATEDLY represented his case as one requiring a SPEEDY LIBERATION, but that the Governor for greater caution has requested a physician of Auburn of high standing, and in no way connected with the prison, or with the public service in any department, to associate himself with the physician of the prison, make a minute examination into the state of Lett’s health, and report to him; that the report came in yesterday and was such as to satisfy his mind that a pardon should be immediately granted. Lett’s disease is of the lungs, and has advanced to that extent that his physicians consider his recovery very doubtful, even if he is now set at liberty, and certain to be soon fatal, if he is kept in the confined air of the prison. As his case has excited an extensive public interest, and his pardon may produce some surprise, we have thought it proper to take this brief notice of the fact, and of the ground upon which the pardon has been granted.”
Copy of a letter addressed to the editor of the “Albany Argus,” through the columns of the “Albany Evening Journal,” in answer to the above:
To THE EDITOR OF THE ALBANY ARGUS-SIR: In noticing ad article in your paper of this morning respecting the release of my brother, Benjamin Lett, from Auburn State Prison, you appear to convey the idea that there was great CLEMENCY used in his release, all from the cause of his dangerous sickness-but had his Excellency not doubted the truth and veracity of one hundred and sixty two American citizens, twenty-two of them sworn by the most solemn form that HEAVEN OR EARTH EVER INVENTED, and one hundred and forty certifying by the point of honor that the crime for which he has been imprisoned had never been committed, and all these witnesses certified by the magistrates of their respective residences to be men of truth and veracity, he would have released him on his INNOCENCE, ACCORDING TO HIS INSTRUCTIONS O ME FROM WASHINGTON, 23rd MAY, 1844; But there appears to have been unparalleled intrigue for his destruction, since he refused to walk up to the gallows peaceably in Canada and he hung, to please such as Prince, Drew, and McNab, when they wished to sacrifice him to Queen Victoria. The judges and witnesses of Jezebel would have shrunk back with horror had the latter asserted “that they had blasphemed God and the King, but that Naboth had told them to do so”-a similar case.
Herein I give you a specimen of the last intrigue that I know of-a copy of a certificate from Judge Gridley:
“At the request of Mr. Thomas Lett, brother of Benjamin Lett convicted of Arson in June, 1840, I certify that on the 17th instant Mr. Lett brought me a note from the Governor, before whom an application was pending for a pardon for said Benjamin Lett, requesting of me a report of the case of said Lett, which was tried before me; also stating that he had sometime since written me desiring such report. I also certify that I NEVER RECEIVED ANY SUCH COMMUNICATION FROM THE GOVERNOR, before the delivery of the note in question.
Feb. 18, 1845.
P. GRIDLEY.”
The above named certificate and papers I hold myself ready at any
time to produce if any see fit to examine.
THOMAS LETT.
Albany, March 11th, 1845.
It will be seen that the letter published above, which I received from Judge Gridley, is in answer to one wherein I asked his honor how a man could he punished or held in custody for a crime that was proved to have never been committed. How does his honor answer this question? He says the fact of the fire being confined to the combustibles was an accident! Now the very fact of that accident does away with the charge of Arson, no matter what were the intentions of the accused. As there was no burning, there could have been no Arson. When a man is indicted for murder, it is pre-supposed that a murder has been committed; but if one fires at another, no matter whether his intention was to kill him or not, and he misses the object of his aim, he CANNOT be tried for murder, but at best for an attempt to murder. Yet here a man is tried for Arson when there was no Arson, but at best an attempt to commit arson; and upon such an indictment did a Judge of your Supreme Court preside, a jury find guilty, and the same Judge pass sentence, while one Governor, Seward, endorses the decision of that Judge, and two other Governors, Bouck and Wright, refuse to repeal that endorsation. “But,” says Gridley, “this accident does not relieve the crime of its atrocity in a MORAL point of view, however important it might be as a FACT FOR THE JURY.” What is the pleading? Why MORALITY, the MORAL law, it is said, is violated. Now what have the courts of New York to do with the MORAL law? Was Lett tried for breaking the moral law? Is it the business of your Judges and Governors to punish offenses against the moral law? Is your penal code full of penalties for crimes that are infringements of the moral law? Will some of your lawyers answer me? But to crown all, the moral law is the pleading of your Supreme Court Judge to shield an illegal indictment, trial and sentence; while Governor Wright, in his pardon, declares the arson was committed, thereby causing a perjured lie to be put on record in your Secretary of State’s office-for the truth in preference to the truth-truth being the great master wheel of the grand machinery of all civilization, which he sought to destroy.
CITIZENS OF NEW YORK: You have now seen the grounds on which I hare founded my complaint, the proof is before you of the truth of my accusation. It is your duty to see that the lie of. Wright caused to be recorded in the Capitol be forever erased, and the base unblushing falsehood he uttered about the Judge’s report, be forever remembered.
As Gov. Wright asked me what I would say of him when complaining of Gov. Bouck, I now answer that he was as regardless of his word and Oath as Mahomet II. I implore the civilized world to erect him a monument, arid inscribe his epitaph thereon, viz: “If crime be darkness, the midnight darkness of all dark ages was his lifetime, and he the chief actor.”
I would say, however, that I can but remember with heartfelt gratitude the valuable assistance rendered me by Hon. John VanBuren, son of President Martin VanBuren, then Attorney General of New York; also to Major John Morrison, of Niagara county; as well as to the many citizens of Oswego, Rochester and other places, for their untiring efforts in my behalf while striving to release my brother from his would-be-assassins who had imprisoned him nominally in the name of the State and authority of law but really to receive the reward of British gold, so lavishly paid them.
Solon, the wisest of the seven wise men of Greece, said that “he who lights on our side I love; be who shows his bloody hand and fights against us I reject;” while he decreed it infamy for a man to be neutral in a civil war, and that it would be no crime to kill him or his children. The correct principle laid down by Solon-to love a true friend, respect a brave enemy, and detest a neutral man in civil strife-that men MUST TAKE SIDES--is adhered to by all civilized nations; and as all the ancestors of Lett took part in every great struggle for human rights and on the side of truth, justice and equality, is it to be wondered at that he, after having been goaded, driven, hunted, tracked, and assaulted by cut-throats, assassins, murderers and bloodhounds, should take a firm and decided stand in the Patriot war of 1837-8, along with Papineau and McKenzie?
John Turner, before referred to as U. S. Inspector at Oswego, told me at the Washington Hotel in Albany, N. V., Feb. 11, 1845, of a race he had with Lett. He said that in 189 he had a warrant for his arrest for a breach of the neutrality law, passed March 10, 1838. He learned that the man he wanted was to arrive at the hotel in Oswego, and would come in the stage, and he accordingly awaited his arrival at the front door.- The stage soon drove up; Lett was in it, and evidently took in everything at a glance, for he leaped on the platform to the ground in front of the inn, and at once struck out at a brisk trot down the road. The old officer was at once on his horse and in hot pursuit, and although he followed him ten miles in the center of the road, he was utterly unable to overtake him, and had to return, his horse jaded and worn. A few months after this scene Mr. Turner was informed that the affidavit on which the writ was issued was false, and that he should not execute but return the warrant.
Lett was at home with his ax in the forest, his plow on the farm, his gun in defense of his home and right, or with an oar on the wave in a storm. Several times he skimmed Lake Ontario in a two-jawed yawl, often encountering a storm, yet always crossed in safety, although periling his life in the attempt., Sometimes he was compelled to cross in order to save his life or that of some kind friends; at others he dipped the wave in order to obtain assistance for his cause. The last trip he made he was accompanied by two brave men who were bound to never reveal the names of each other in this connection as to do so was to jeopardize both their lives and property; for a man who should assist Lett was looked upon by Gov. Bondhead as an enemy and outlaw, evens if he were a loyalist.
The battle of St. Denis commenced the Patriot War in earnest, and proved there would be but one policy pursued by the followers of Bondhead and Sir John Colbourne-DEATH OR BANISHMENT TO ALL PRISONERS. The battle of St. Charles was a sad one for the patriots, and over one hundred were burned alive in a barn by the enemy; fought Nov. 25.
Dec. 8, 1837, Sir Francis Bondhead issued a lying proclamation offering pardon and forgiveness to all who would lay down their arms and go to their homes, except McKenzie and five others. Many did so, and were arrested as soon as possible, sent to the penitentiaries, banished, or as in the case of Capt. Matthews, hung on a gibbet The battle of St. Eustache, Dec. 14, fought under Sir John Colbourne, proved that officer to have been devoid of pity and a true disciple of the dreaded Ghengis Khan. Dec. 29, 1837, the Caroline was destroyed, and a battle fought on Navy Island. Jan 4-14, 1838, a continual hand to hand struggle at Navy Island between 600 patriots and 5,000 troops under Colbourne, was had, and on the last named day the patriots evacuated the island. Feb. 25, of this year, the battle of Fighting Island found Lett with the patriots and in the front of every danger. At Point-au-Pelee Island, March 3, he proved himself a hero at several points, and carried wounded men from the field when no others dare approach.
April 11, Judge Roinsop, the JEFFRIES of Upper Canada, sentenced John Anderson, Ralph Morden, Dr.Theller and John Montgomery to be hung, drawn, amid their bodies quartered on the 24th of the same month for their love of liberty. The last named gentleman had previously suffered severely by the loss of large estates by the revolt, yet he escaped the second time from Fort Henry, July 30; and all four of them managed to elude pursuit, and cheat Sir John out of the pleasure of attending their funerals. The hard-fought battle at Prescott and the Wind Mill took place Nov. 12, 1838, and Lett was here as in the others, kept busy all the time. It was here that Niels S. Von Schoultz surrendered; he was basely gibbeted and his murder afterwards sanctioned by Queen Victoria. Windsor was the scene of carnage Dec. 4, and many innocent, liberty-loving patriots were here offered up to the gods of tyranny for daring to defend their families and homes. The Welland Canal was used as a “highway” by Bondhead and Colbourne over which to transport their troops and munitions of war. W. L. McKenzie, in his history, “The Volunteer,” published in 1841, says:
“THE LETT FAMILY.-A gentleman from Chippewa states that on the 16th the lock at the summit level of the Welland Canal was blown to atoms; that the water rushed down from the deep cut, a nine-mile level, like a cataract, drowning the country arid damaging the works; that the vessels are stopped on both sides of the break; and that when the canal will be again passable no one knows, as there are so many Letts now-a-days, that it is feared the aqueduct and other locks and culverts will be totally destroyed.”
The whole armed fleet of the tyrants, Bondhead and Clabourne, were wintering at Kingston, and in January, 1839, Lett undertook to burn the entire fleet, and would have successfully done so, but for the accidental meeting of a person who knew him and who managed to rally the entire soldiery in the city. Lett was surrounded, the alarm given by every tongue and fire-bell that “Lett the rebel” was in town. His usual presence of mind did him good service at this moment; he eluded pursuit, turned in with the thousands to help find this enemy to tyrants, and managed to escape unnoticed on his “accommodating” snow shoes from their blood-reeking blades and murderous fire-arms.
The patriots were fighting a common enemy who neither “gave nor asked quarter” as all their flags showed. Thousands of patriots were hung, butchered, burned alive, gibbeted, drawn, quartered, transported and banished, and their estates confiscated; many were compelled to take up arms to defend their families and homes or else die like does at the command of those murderers and cut-throats, Bondhead and Colbourne.
Both the United States and Great Britain made Lett the scape-goat on whom to lay their political sins, and for twenty years sought the opportunity of sacrificing him on their common altar. I have referred to the rigorous treatment of Lett and his friends, who were Protestants, and while Catholics who loved liberty were treated equally severe in Canada, yet one has but to refer to the many cases in Ireland where, in the rebellion of 1798, Catholic women, with their babes at the breast, were shot in cold blood for refusing to disclose the hiding places of their husbands; and to the other numerous instances of Catholics being tried and executed on the charge of “high treason” who were only guilty of saving their neighbors from ruthless assassination by the infuriated rebels. These acts of England were due in order to divide the people and prevent them uniting in a common cause for their rights.
In conclusion, I will mention the facts of my brother’s murder, etc.:
From 1845, until his death, my brother resided in LaSalle county, where he was engaged in farming. On the fifth day of October, he left his home for Lake Michigan, having been induced by some persons interested in his destruction residing from Illinois to Canada, to engage in a trading expedition between the Lake ports. As he did not return home when he intended, we are preparing to look for him when we heard through his enemies that he was drowned at Green Bay; about the same time we read an account in the public journal of his death at Milwaukee.
But before this, a telegram, dated at Milwaukee, Dec. 7, 1858, saying, “Lett is here dying; come with haste to Erie Street. D. Cameron,” had been sent to Ottawa, Illinois, addressed and to be delivered to his brother-in-law, Hiram Springstead, living 15 miles distant; which was kept back from us a whole week by some of his murderers’ accomplices, at the latter place, and until it was too late for any human assistance to save him.
It appears from the statement of Capt. Brenton of the barque Morgan, with whom he bad contracted to sail to Chicago, that my brother on the 29th of November was in good health, that on the first of December he was taken suddenly ill with convulsions and all the other symptoms of having been poisoned; on the 4th of December, at night, while delirious from the effects of the poison, (there was no doctor in Northport,) he was carried on board the propeller “Michigan;” on the 7th he arrived in Milwaukee, speechless and suffering intensely, (this was the day the dispatch was sent,) on the 9th he died. A post mortem examination was held upon his body, at which Prof. J. S. Douglass, of the Medical College, Cleveland, OH., was present, who pronounced his opinion that the deceased died from the effects of strychnine, introduced in small quantities into his system. His trial in this world is over; his next will be at the bar of God, from which no false indictments are issued, where the testimony of perjurers is not admitted, and where Judge and Justice are alike above the influence of British gold.
His death was the result of that same hellish spirit of revenge, that procured his trial on a mockery of an indictment-of that same spirit that could not he emolliated by the hand of time, which dictated his murder by the Canadian tories, who hired some of their companions to take the life of a man by foul means whom they never dared approach by fair. Still they are not secure in their villainy; let them remember that MURDER, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ; and that the time will yet come when, before the tribunal of an impartial Judge, from whose decision there is no appeal, they will he set face to face, the murderers and the murdered- Benjamin’s ancestors, the Letts, (Hollanders), came into England with William Henry, Prince of Orange, Nassau, and afterwards William the Third.
They then emigrated to Wexford, Ireland. His paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Jacobus, came from Holland. His mother was descended from an English family named Warren, and a French family named Pelo, Protestants on both sides. In the year 1798 the rebellion broke out in Ireland, and the rebels occupied the town of Wexford. His mother at this time was only eleven years old, but was not considered too young by the rebels to escape their vengeance. She was twice imprisoned to be burned in the morning and both times was saved by the timely intervention of the British Dragoons, while her only brother, Benjamin Warren, a young man in his 20th year, was taken out of his mother’s house and barbarously murdered for his loyalty to the British Government. In June, 1819, his father, Samuel Lett, and mother, Elizabeth Warren, emigrated from Ireland to Lower Canada, with their family, consisting of four sons, Robert, John, Thomas and Benjamin, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and settled in Chatham, on the Ottawa River, district of Montreal. At that time there was but one abode of civilization between his father’s house and the North Pole.
In September, 1824, his father was killed by a fall off a load of grain, leaving a widow and seven children to lament his loss-Benjamin and four others being under eleven years.
In 1833, the family removed to Darlington, on Lake Ontario, in Upper Canada. In 1837 the rebellion commenced throughout that country. Gov. Bondhead having dissolved the parliament, and a new election being called for, the family sustained the authorities, voting for the government candidates-being loyalists, not bloodhounds; Protestants, but not Orangemen.
The first event that called Lett into notice was a band of Orangemen firing on him near his mother’s house, because he would not join them in murdering those who knew their rights and dare assert them. He then sought to protect himself by applying to the magistrates for redress; but against Orangemen there was none, on the contrary the same magistrates granted the same cut-throats a warrant for his (Lett’s) arrest, on the ground that he was carrying arms, a charge against which there was no law on the statute.
Furious with the treatment he had received, Benjamin left the country, when he was at once declared a notorious rebel because he would not do these acts, and trust to Queen Victoria to have his name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. In 1839 his mother with all her children, except Benjamin, who were then living, emigrated to Texas. While the family were absent south, the Canadian spies tracked Lett, and at last originated the charge against him in order to procure his imprisonment, with what result you are now acquainted with. In 1840 the remainder of the family returned from the south (his mother having died;) and settled in LaSalle County, Ills., where they were joined by Benjamin on his release from prison, in 1845, and where they have resided ever since, in peace and comfort, until the murderer broke in upon the repose and robbed them of a brother, in 1858. The great statesman, Madison, said that “No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable.” Weigh well these words while rebuking those authorities who, by their decisions would lead the world to suppose your government was no longer respectable, at the same time prove by your judgment that those decisions are now, as then, antagonistic to the feelings of the people. To all those officers of the executive or judiciary who are still determined to cry “Lett the convict,” I would advise them to follow the example of Castlereagh, and cut their own throats before that of their country. Then what law-living and law-executing authorities will refuse or neglect, should any take my advice to improve on their own great prototype, and have me hung for the murder!
April 15, 1859, a few days after I had published a history of the trial of my brother at Oswego, 1 received from the Speaker of the House of Parliament of Upper Canada, the following note:
TORONTO, April 15, 1859.
Mr. THOMAS LETT:-
Sir: I remember your kindness for your brother Benjamin when he was in trouble; the same excellent feeling has prompted you to defend his memory when dead. I have just received your pamphlet, and was very sorry to hear of Benjamin’s cruel death. He was warm-hearted and brave as Man can be. I published his life; I am trying to find a copy to send you. Meantime I send you my copy of his trial in exchange for yours.
Best wishes to yourself and friends.
Respectfully Yours,
WM. L. McKENZIE.
NOTES.
NOTE I.-Are not the authorities of Milwaukee guilty of murder and robbery, by so refusing to hold an inquest, at the same time knowing the crimes were committed? Perhaps they had read the London Times, declaring Lett a “fiend let loose,” and had concluded they would quietly assist in getting him out of the way without making public the causes which led to his death.
NOTE II.-These statements of my lawyers were made in response to my telling them “not to hold my hands behind my back while my brother’s murderers robbed me.” Manier had conversed with several of the best citizens of LaSalle county, and told them that he was not a partner of and had had no dealing whatever with Lett, and was but a passenger on the steamer with him.” I had these men as witnesses to prove this conversation, yet Judge Hollister refused to admit the evidence on the ground of “incompetency,” but allowed the deposition of Manier to go to the jury because it was “necessary to prove partnership.” For these and other reasons I appealed to the Supreme Court, well knowing if I could get that tribunal to pass on the case, my evidence would be admitted, Mannier’s refused, and justice be meted out. The testimony of liars and perjurers are to be admitted and the privilege of impeachment denied, then very sad and deplorable is the condition of our courts, and of little avail our boasted magna charta; besides, the deposition itself was an insult to all law, decency and common sense, and should have been stricken from the files as not being pertinent to the issue, and our Supreme Court has frequently held that a jury is bound not to believe an absurdity of any kind, although admitted in evidence in the case.
NOTE III.-This same Dafoe was a hired assassin in the employ of the one government, bent on the destruction of Lett, while the other government pardoned him after he’ had secured Lett’s imprisonment by proving himself a perjurer and villain.
NOTE IV.-C. B. Taylor, in his history of the United States, published in the year 1855, on page 604 says: “In October, 1840, Alexander McLeod, a resident of Upper Canada, was arrested and committed to jail at Lockport, N. Y., on the charge of murder, as having been one of the narty who destroyed the Caroline. The British Government remonstrated through their minister against making McLeod answerable for an act in which, if he participated, he was only executing the commands of a superior officer.- Notwithstanding this, he was removed to Utica and confined there until his trial, which took place in October, 1841, when having proved an alibi, he was set at liberty. Both countries were thus relieved from an embarrassing situation.” How were they relieved? By the United States charging Great Britain with this wholesale murder, and their retort, “we are guilty, and dare you to resent it!” Taylor rushed before the world without any covering, other than withered fig-leaf, which he clapped upon his eyes, exposed his own and his country’s nakedness, and the only apology to be offered for introducing himself among historians is that he happened to be able to use the pen. Governor Thomas Ford, in his History of Illinois, on page 421, says that “there is no doubt but that the power to change the venue in criminal cases, which the constitution of New York vested in the Supreme Court to be executed at discretion, has operated well in all cases of local excitement; and probably saved a war with England, which was likely to grow out of the trial of McLeod for the murder of Durfee and burning the Caroline steamboat on the Niagara frontier.” The whole history of McLeod’s trial shows that the State authorities first examined all persons who might be used as witnesses, and afterward purposely called none on the stand to testify who knew anything of the case. The alibi of McLeod was proven by a Miss Robinson a base British prostitute, who swore she had him in her custody the night the Caroline was destroyed. With such base means did the courts of New York clear McLeod and reward crime; while the same Judge found Lett guilty, thereby punishing innocence!
NOTE V;-If Wright’s decision is a just criterion by which to judge the veracity of the American nation, then the foulest devil in hell would shudder and shrink back with horror, lest the touch of an American would pollute said devil, while said American passed to the black, unexplored regions of hell to take up his final abode.
NOTE VI.-Governor Samuel J. Tilden said of Wright, “that he was Ms friend and his father’s friend,” and yet this same Tilden utterly neglected to defend him, redress his wrongs, or cause the lie on record to be expunged, although I requested him to do so, and at the same time sent him a copy of the facts and circumstances of the case.
NOTE VII.-Although Left was sentenced June 25, 1840, and was at once hastened off for his destined cell at Auburn, on a special train, shackled and handcuffed and under guard of two sheriffs, when about ten miles from Oswego, Lett got away from the guards and jumped from the doorway in the side of the car, down an embankment twenty feet high. Slipping the cuffs over his hands, and cutting the shackles from his ankles, he managed to elude pursuit, went to Illinois, where he remained until September, 1841, when he returned to New York. While in Buffalo he was re-arrested by a company of armed policemen at the residence of the mate of a steamer. This “mate,” had invited Lett to partake of his hospitality, and after stealing away his arms managed to have the policemen rush bravely in and “scoop” him.- He was then conveyed to State Prison at Auburn, where he was committed Sept. 7, having been this time taken under orders of Governor Seward, who had offered a reward of $1,000 therefore.
The great question I ask all civilized nations is WHETHER THE VERACITY OF ALL THE TRUE MEN OF THE AMERICAN NATION SHALL BE MADE SUBSERVIENT TO THAT OF SUCH WRETCHES AS DAFOE?
THOMAS LETT.
Sandwich, DeKalb Co., Ill., Nov. 1, 1876."
What caused Ben Lett to leave Leland, which resulted in his demise? . . .
British agents were in Ottawa and Earlville, IL, and took advantage of a liquor dispute to frame Ben Lett to get him to leave the state - and the protection of his family.
Earlville had a man named Jonathan Reed selling liquor illegally. The British stopped him. Reed and his pals arsoned the NEW brick schoolhouse in Earlville, and it blew up.
Immediately the British agents began spreading it that only one person could blow up a building and that was the infamous Ben Lett, in their midst!!! Emotions ran high and Reed slunk to the wayside for awhile.
Ben couldn't downplay it as they were saying he was right down the tracks from Earlville, etc., etc. So Ben got his gear and went off on a trading trip (via Milwaukee) to give the courts a chance to work on REED. He was murdered on that trip.
There were agents in Ottawa, IL, asking about Springsteads and Letts. They intercepted the mail which delayed Tom Lett receiving word of his brother's plight in Milwaukee. And an Ottawa man got paid off (for his services involved in holding mail), as well as a Milwaukee judge got paid off, too, BIG TIME. (same as what happened in 1840, the corrupt Oswego, NY, judge was suddenly VERY wealthy and built a mansion after Ben's trial and conviction.)
(While Ben Lett was being murdered, Bill Cottew (the husband of Sara Lett Springstead Cottew, the Poet) was brought up on charges of drunken rape of a minor girl. Bill Cottew had a problem with the bottle and with his anger.)
Husband Charles Nichols Lett
Born: July 30, 1890
Baptized:
Died: October 10, 1951
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Mother: Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Marriage: February 10, 1913
Wife Lillian Rohrer
Born: December 9, 1890
Baptized:
Died: September 8, 1969
Buried:
Children
Husband Clare Everett Lett
Born: August 12, 1885 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: July 9, 1962
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Mother: Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Marriage: April 14, 1906 - Sandwich, IL
Wife Ethel Abigail Patten
Born: July 5, 1885 - Collins, IA
Baptized:
Died: December 19, 1973
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Edward Patten
Mother: Harriett Marcellus
Children
1 F Helen Virginia Lett
Born: September 16, 1907
Baptized:
Died: November 10, 1999
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Haller Moyers
2 M Charles Patten Lett
Born: March 16, 1910
Baptized:
Died: December 10, 1981
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Martha Lucille Doderlein
Marr: February 22, 1933
3 F Phoebe Elizabeth Lett
Born: December 7, 1911
Baptized:
Died: October 21, 1997
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: David Shepard
4 F Lett
Born: January 20, 1913
Baptized:
Died: January 22, 1913
Cause of Death: Premature
Buried:
5 F Harriet Louise Lett
Born: April 6, 1914
Baptized:
Died: February 17, 1990
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
6 F Clarabelle Jean Lett
Born: August 12, 1920
Baptized:
Died: February 17, 1990
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Cyrus Gorder
Husband David Springstead
Born: November 11, 1817 - Clay, Onandaga County, NY
Baptized:
Died: August 4, 1901 - Sheridan, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Sheridan, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Jeremiah Springstead
Mother: Comfort Kinne
Marriage: January 1, 1841 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Wife Elizabeth Betsy Lett
Born: May 12, 1816 - Wexford, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 23, 1897 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Children
1 F Eliza Ann Springstead
Born: 1841 - Sec. 26, Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: - Crete, Saline County, NE
Buried:
Spouse: Ezra Stones Abbott
Marr: September 3, 1861 - Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
2 F Emeline Springstead
Born: 1844 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 17, 1923 - Plano, Kendall County, IL
Buried:
Spouse: John Johannes Ludwig Sauer
3 F Sarah Springstead
Born: 1846 - Sec. 26, Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Thomas M. Colwell
General Notes: Husband - David Springstead
Military Service: 7 Sep 1861, Co. K, 8th Cavalry, injured at Alexandria, VA. Injury to the spinal column; discharged 8 Mar 1862.
Went to the California Gold Rush, between 1849-1850 (with his brother-in-law, John Strider?). Went to California overland and returned a year later by way of the Isthmus of Panama. (see notes for John Strider)
Husband Rudolph Segade
Born: October 22, 1872 - Germany
Baptized:
Died: 1938 - Canora, Saskatchewan, Canada
Buried:
Father: Frederick K. Segade
Mother: Augusta Spore
Marriage: August 6, 1900 - Detroit, MI
Wife Ellen Lett
Born: - Greenwood, St. Clair County, MI
Baptized:
Died: - St. Clair County, MI
Cause of Death: Giving birth
Buried:
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Jane Craig
Children
1 M Clarence Shorty Segade
Born: - Michigan
Baptized:
Died: 1959 - Canora, Saskatchewan, Canada
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Buried: - Hoffenthal Cemetery, Saskatchewan, Canada
2 F Margaret Segade
Born: 1903 - St. Clair County, MI
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Rudolph Segade
He and the son, Clarence, lived for some time with the Letts (in-laws) after the death of Ellen.
His daughter, Margaret, was raised by his in-laws after the death of his wife, Ellen.
General Notes: Child - Clarence Shorty Segade
Mentally handicapped as a result of a fall down a flight of stairs during childhood.
Lived with Roy and Viola Segade until his death in the barn of Roy and Viola, on their farm.
General Notes: Child - Margaret Segade
Raised by the Letts after her mother died giving her birth in 1903.
Husband Haller Moyers
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Helen Virginia Lett
Born: September 16, 1907
Baptized:
Died: November 10, 1999
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Clare Everett Lett
Mother: Ethel Abigail Patten
Children
Husband Herbert Samuel Lett
Born: November 30, 1887
Baptized:
Died: December 3, 1969
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Mother: Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Marriage: November 30, 1911
Other Spouse: Esther A. Noack - February 8, 1917
Wife Bessie Van Tassell
Born: November 18, 1890 - Millbrook, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 1, 1914
Buried: May 3, 1914 - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Dewitt Van Tassell
Mother: Mother
Children
1 U Lett
Born: 1913
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 U Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Wife - Bessie Van Tassell
Obituary:
Mrs. Herbert Lett
Bessie, daughter of Mr & Mrs Dewitt VanTassel was born near Millbrook, Illinois, November 18, 1890. Her mother died in February 1893, when she was two years old. Her childhood was spent at Millbrook where she attended school and later was a pupil for some time in the high school at Yorkville, though not graduating there.
On November 30, 1911, she was united in marriage to Herbert Samuel Lett, going to the home he had prepared for her north of Sandwich. In march of this year (1914) they moved to their new home south of Sandwich, that she had taken so much pleasure in arranging. This was destined to last but a few weeks. She was striken with disease and was taken to the St. Charles hospital in Aurora where she passed away Thursday.
She leaves besides her devoted husband, her father, one brother, Glen, and two sisters, Marguerite and Catherine, living near Millbrook. During the early years of her life after the death of her mother she was cared for by Mrs. Jacob Budd, with all the tenderness and affection of a mother.
From a child she was always a favorite with her associates. She was a wide acquaintance and many friends. Few persons her age are more highly esteemed than she, or had brighter prospects for a useful and happy life.
Funeral services were conducted from the house of Mr. Samuel Lett at two o'clock Sunday afternoon by Dr. J. M. Lewis, interment at Oak Ridge cemetery.
Husband Herbert Samuel Lett
Born: November 30, 1887
Baptized:
Died: December 3, 1969
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Mother: Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Marriage: February 8, 1917
Other Spouse: Bessie Van Tassell - November 30, 1911
Wife Esther A. Noack
Born: 1897
Baptized:
Died: 1979
Buried:
Children
1 F Daughter Lett
Born: 1918
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Thomas P. Lett
Born: 1919
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
3 M James Richard Lett
Born: 1921
Baptized:
Died: 1940
Buried:
Husband Hiram Springstead
Born: October 16, 1819 - Clay, Onandaga County, NY
Baptized:
Died: October 1895 - Sec 34, Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Northville Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Jeremiah Springstead
Mother: Comfort Kinne
Marriage: January 4, 1844 - Harding, Lasalle County, IL
Wife Maria Lett
Born: October 29, 1821 - Chatham Township, Quebec Region, Canada
Baptized:
Died: March 2, 1900 - Sec 34, Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Northville Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Children
1 M Riley Springstead
Born: 1846 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 F Mary Springstead
Born: 1852 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Joseph Nelson
3 M Hiram Springstead
Born: 1853 - Sec 3, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: 1925 - Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Spouse: Springstead
4 M Benjamin Springstead
Born: June 22, 1856 - Sec 3, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: November 23, 1929 - Daughter Vera Knight's Home, Sandwich, IL
Buried:
Spouse: Luna B. Nichols
Marr: July 26, 1888
5 F Sarah Maria Springstead
Born: September 22, 1860 - Sec 3, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: December 31, 1879 - Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Springstead Family Burial Ground, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
6 F Emma Springstead
Born: 1865 - Sec 3, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: 1947
Buried:
Spouse: Gustav Grandgeorge
General Notes: Husband - Hiram Springstead
(1900) One of the sterling, rugged pioneers of LaSalle County, IL, Hiram Springsteed, settled there three-score years ago, in October, 1839, and thenceforward was associated with the welfare of the community. He was a native of Onondaga County, New York, born October 16, 1819. He had but limited educational advantages in his youth, but was a man of practical business ability, possessing sound common sense and good judgment. When he was a lad of twelve or fourteen years he left his native state, lived four years in Ohio, and, going to the pine woods of Michigan, found employment in the forests. He worked very hard for the two years he was there, becoming noted for the number of rails which he could split in a day, and after coming to Illinois, in 1839, he was similarly occupied for some time, chiefly employed by a Mr. Borap, of Bureau County. Carefully husbanding his means, he was at length enabled to purchase a quarter section of land from the government, and part of his original farm is now in the possession of Henry Harthan, of Adams Township. Selling this homestead later, Mr. Springsteed invested his funds in a piece of timber land in Adams Township, and subsequently he secured adjoining lands in Serena Township. He cleared and improved his possessions, gave to each of his two eldest children a farm, and still owns five hundred and fifty acres (in 1900). He hauled to the Chicago market one of the first loads of wheat that were hauled to Chicago, and he took it to Whiting's warehouse. During the gold excitement, in 1850, he went to the Pacific coast, crossing the plains, but was not of the fortunate few who reaped a fortune, and at the end of a year he returned home, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, but little richer than when he started. He was very active in the support of the Democratic party and took an active interest in local affairs, though in no wise a politician. His death occurred in October, 1895.
January 4, 1844, Hiram Springsteed married Maria, a daughter of Samuel Lett, and a sister of Benjamin Lett, the celebrated Canadian patriot, and revolutionist who blew up the monument to General Brock and had a price set on his head by the British Government. To Hiram and Maria Springsteed several children were born, and those surviving are: Riley, of Kansas City, Missouri; Mary, the wife of Joseph Nelson, of Serena; Hiram, a prominent farmer of Serena Township; Benjamin; and Emma, the wife of Gus Grandgeorge, of Adams Township.
NOTE: Hiram was a brother of Amanda Harriet Springstead Strider Montgomery, 2nd wife of John Nelson Montgomery. May have gone to the Gold Rush with his brother-in-law, John Strider, who died in 1851, leaving over $3,000-worth of gold dust in his estate (Probate records - LaSalle County, IL @ LSCGG, Ottawa, IL).
The above excerpted from:
Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois
By Lewis Publishing Company, 1900
The Springstead School - 1847-1949, Sec 35, on the northern bank of the Little Indian Creek & N42nd Road:
Deeded to the County of LaSalle, in June 1847, by Hiram Springstead, its one-room wooden school dimensions match those of an 1850 school renovated and on display in rural western Peoria. It had a woodstove near the north wall where the blackboard was, and an outer and inner door to hang up coats and store water. It had six 6-foot-tall windows, three on the east side and three on the west side. Outhouses were in the back of the building. It was an active school from at least 1847 to 1949. It was called by the County: "Dist.#9, Dist. #317, the Union School, and the Indian Creek School". The area locals knew it as the Springstead School. It was sold at auction in 1951 for $100.00; it was sold again in the 60's; and once more, this time in the 1970's to ComEd for an unheard-of $73,000. In 1984-85, it was sold for $15,000. It was then sold to its present owners in 1988. (picture on file)
General Notes: Child - Riley Springstead
Living in Kansas City, KS, in 1900.
Excerpted from:
Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois
By Lewis Publishing Company, 1900
General Notes: Child - Hiram Springstead
Farmed in Serena Township, LsSalle County, IL.
Excerpted from:
Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois
By Lewis Publishing Company, 1900.
General Notes: Child - Benjamin Springstead
BENJAMIN SPRINGSTEED. (Springstead)
Benjamin Springsteed, of Serena Township, LaSalle County, has a wide acquaintanceship in this section of the state and is highly esteemed by everyone. He is a son of one of the sterling, rugged pioneers of this County, Hiram Springsteed.
The birth of our subject, Benjamin Springsteed, took place upon the farm which is his present (1900) place of abode, the date of the event being June 22, 1856. He received a fair district-school education, and early mastered the details of farming. Possessing the industrious spirit which animated his father, he has been justly successful, and is the owner of two hundred and twenty-seven acres of valuable, improved property. Politically he is a Democrat and takes an interest in the management of Township matters as well as in the greater state and national issues.
Joy and sorrow have come into the life of Mr. Springsteed, as to every one, and he has endeavored to act the manly, noble part, under all circumstances. The lady who is his wife, and sharer of his fortunes, is a native of New York state, and was visiting a cousin in Serena Township when she made the acquaintance of her future husband. Her maiden name was Luna B. Nichols, her father being George Nichols, of Niagara County, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Springsteed were married July 26, 1888. Their eldest child, born in 1889, and named Mabel, was killed accidentally, April 4, 1899. Two daughters and three sons remain to cheer and brighten the home. Their names are given in order of their ages: Jessie Ellen, Harry Bryan, Vera Belle, Riley G., and an unnamed baby.
Died at home of daughter Vera Belle Springstead Knight.
(Local history has it that the last name of Springstead was changed to Springsteed (by Benjamin and Maria) after Springstead family differences.)
Excerpted from:
Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois
By Lewis Publishing Company, 1900
General Notes: Child - Sarah Maria Springstead
Aged 19 years, 4 months, 6 days at time of death. Her Death Certificate states: she died at her Father’s residence (Adams Township, LaSalle Co, IL) of Diptheria which terminated in asphyxia. She had been sick with Diptheria about 12 days. Prior to the Diptheria she had complained of a fever and cold producing an extra shock, which lasted about 7 days. Doctore signing the Death Certificate was F.A. Butler, M.D., Sheridan, ILL.
Husband James Ivor Montgomery
Born: March 13, 1847 - Dayton Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: January 29, 1928 - Aurora, IL
Buried: February 3, 1928 - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: John Nelson Montgomery
Mother: Luceva Ward
Marriage: May 21, 1871 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Wife Mary Aleumena Lett
Born: December 1, 1853 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 9, 1929 - Aurora, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Merrilla Jerusha Pease
Children
1 F Jessie Merrilla Montgomery
Born: March 30, 1872 - Village Of Sandwich, IL
Baptized:
Died: 1937 - Grand Rapids, MI
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Ernest Emile Bernard
Marr: October 19, 1892
2 M Florian Lett Montgomery
Born: September 3, 1877 - Village Of Sandwich, IL
Baptized:
Died: 1941 - Chicago, IL
Buried: - Chicago, IL
Spouse: Harriet Amelia Myers
Marr: June 17, 1908 - Kendall County, IL
3 M Ward Pease Montgomery
Born: October 24, 1879 - Village Of Sandwich, IL
Baptized:
Died: July 2, 1923 - Aurora, IL
Buried: July 5, 1923 - Oswego Cemetery, Oswego, IL
Spouse: May Belle Fitzgerald
Marr: February 21, 1906 - Sugar Grove, IL
4 F Edith Aleumena Montgomery
Born: September 1, 1886 - Lett Farm Homestead, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: July 1968 - Illinois State Mental Hospital, Elgin, IL
Buried: - Elgin, IL
General Notes: Husband - James Ivor Montgomery
Born 1847 in Dayton Township, 4.5 miles north of Ottawa, IL.
His Mother passed away in 1850 and his Father remarried in the year 1851 Amanda Harriet (Springstead) Strider, and so, a step-mother for James Ivor, and brother William Harper. Amanda had had a daughter, Mary, with her first husband, John Strider, who had died in 1851 (see Strider notes, re: Goldrush). The Federal Census of 1850 shows Amanda living with her parents with a 2 year old daughter, Mary.
At the age of 4, James Ivor had a brother and step-sister to grow up with, followed by other step-sisters and step-brothers as company between the years 1850 and 1863, when he left home to teach school. All of those siblings are recorded to have been born in Illinois between 1854 and 1870.
Witnessed the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, with his father, John Nelson Montgomery, on the shoulders of his Grandfather, John Harper Montgomery, at Ottawa, IL, at age 11, August 21, 1858.
Lived at home until 16 years old (1863), at which time he became a school teacher, teaching for about 9 years. He taught his second term of school in the winter of 1864-65 at the Henry Parr School in Serena Township, LaSalle County, IL (see manuscripts). During the 1869-1870 school year he taught at South-Somonauk School, Somonauk, IL. He taught school until 25 years old (1872).
One of his "County Superintendent's Certifcate" to teach (1870) specified he was successfully examined in the subjects of "Orthography, Reading in English, Penmanship, Arithmetic, English Grammar, Modern Geography, and the History of the United States", and later (1875) the requirement of "Elements of Natural Science" and "Physiology and Laws of Health", which qualified him to teach First Grade, for two years.
In his "manuscripts", he writes of being caught in two terrible blizzards, one while teaching country school (1864-65) at the Henry K. Parr School, and one while surveying for the CNW Railroad, in the Dakota Territory and in Minnesota, in 1888. He describes both in the re-telling, "The Worst Blizzard I Have Known In 75 Years", written in 1921.
During that period of teaching, he filled the position of Deputy Superintendent of Schools of LaSalle County for 4 years, while also reading Law. One of his duties was performing the work of Examining School Teachers in the northern LaSalle County area, being paid $5.00 for each full day's work at each respective school. From February 5, 1870 to April 29, 1871, he examined Teachers on 15 occasions, to include; Earlville (5 times), Leland (4 times), Northville (4 times), and Meriden (2 times). He was paid $75 for the Examinations and $15 for publishing notices of meetings, postage, envelopes, and paper.
His law tutoring was done by E. S. (Ezra Stones) Abbott, Attorney, of Leland, IL (see bio). He was admitted to the Bar, on examination, in Ottawa, IL, in October, 1869.
On the 1870 US Census he was living in the "Frederick and Amelia Smith" household, in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL. His profession is shown to be Attorney at Law.
At one time, he owned 33.22 acres of land on the SE corner of Leland, as shown on an 1876 Plat of Leland.
Practiced Law at Leland, IL, LaSalle County, October 1869 until 1875. His Law Office was in the basement of the Somonauk Hotel in Leland, IL, then owned and operated by Mr. John M. Goodell. Moved his Law Practice to Sandwich, IL, in 1875. Officiated as City Attorney of Sandwich, IL, and four years as a Justice of the Peace. Later practiced Law for many years in Aurora and Chicago, IL. Practiced Law in State and Federal Courts. Remained a Lawyer until his death. With the aid of the internet, some of J. Ivor's Appellate Court Case involvements can be seen. He also operated a Collection Agency business out of his Leland Law Offices.
21 May 1871 - He married Mary A. Lett.
1871 - Assessor for Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL. (Taken from The History of LaSalle County, Illinois, Volume II, Chicago, Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886)
7 Nov 1871 - General Election, LaSalle County: J. Ivor ran for Circuit Clerk of LaSalle County, IL, in this Election against Charles H. Hook. Fell short of being elected by 2,375 votes. (Taken from "The History of LaSalle County, Illinois, Volume I", Chicago, Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886)
The 1880 US Census finds James Ivor, Mary, Jessie, Florian, Ward, and a Gertrude Case, living on the Lett Farm, Sandwich, LaSalle County, IL.
1882 - Nominated for State Senator at the 1882 Illinois Senatorial District Convention (DeKalb County / LaSalle County District?). His personal acquaintance Herbert Wells Fay, a DeKalb County Publisher and long-time Custodian of the Lincoln Monument in Springfield, IL, was present at the convention (1942, "Lincoln Tomb Notes" by H.W. Fay, newspaper clipping).
7 Nov 1882 - General Election, LaSalle County: J. Ivor was on the Ballot for Senator in this Election, running against three other candidates; James Duncan, Joseph Hart, J. W. Barnhart. He garnered the least amount of votes, 466. James Duncan was elected with 6,778 votes. (Taken from "The History of LaSalle County, Illinois, Volume I", Chicago, Inter-State Publishing Co., 1886)
Nov 1883 - Moved his family from the Village of Sandwich onto the Lett Farm Homestead south of Sandwich.
1883 and later - Surveyor of lands in the upper LaSalle and lower DeKalb County, IL areas.
1885 - Member of the Masonic Fraternity and the Order of Odd Fellows.
1888 - 1889 - Surveyor for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad in the Territory of Dakota, prior to the Dakota Statehoods. Also Surveyed lands in Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin, not to mention survey work in LaSalle County and DeKalb County, IL, with many lands surveyed in the Dakotas, Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin being recorded in his "Land Owner Pocket Tract Book, 1876, Chicago, J. M Wing & Co."
1895 - Mary and Merilla purchased a house in Aurora approximately 27 March 1895 (for $2300??). The Warranty Deed of that 1895 date, for a house at 115 North View Street (pre-1929 address, now 319 North View Street), lists the grantor as "Mary A. Montgomery et al (Agreement to purchase included Merilla J. Lett, with John M. Raymond)". (N56 feet in width of Lot 16 in Block 11 in Hoyt's addition to Aurora, Kane County, IL.)
1897 - Had a Law Office at "Room 220, Coulter Block", in Aurora.
1897 - Had a Law Office in Chicago at: "704 Atwood Building, Corner Clark & Madison Streets".
1897, Private Journal - 12 June: "Returning from business trip to Philadelphia and New York, visited relatives in Penn Line, PA, about 15 miles from Andover, OH. "Saw Maria, Eli, Bert, and Ivor Platt, siblings of his Grandmother Malinda Platt Montgomery." His visit to the area was also mentioned in The Conneautville Courier, Thursday Morning, September 23, 1897 (microfiche copy). From an 1885 "Township History Sketch" of Conneaut Township, Crawford County, PA, "Penn Line Post Office is a hamlet in the western part of Conneaut, consisting of about fifteen dwellings scattered along the road, from the State line eastward, for a distance of half a mile - a store, hotel, cheese factory, two blacksmith shops, shoe shop and schoolhouse."
1897, Private Journal - June 14 to June 23: While on the trip he was sick with lung congestion and lung disease. While on the trip he was taking / selling many deposits for stock in some entity or proposition. J. Ivor was continually sending money back to "Colwell" that he had collected from purchasers of the shares at $25 each.
And this is what he was selling shares in, from the published,
"ACTS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF WEST VIRGINIA
AT ITS 24TH REGULAR SESSION, Commencing January 11, 1899
"ABSTRACTS OF CERTIFICATES OF INCORPORATION
ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE,
And not before Reported
"ABSTRACTS OF CORPORATIONS: (page 98/99)
"INTERNATIONAL POWER CO.
"The selling and dealing in rotary and other engines; principal office, Chicago, Ill; charter issued August 15, 1898; charter expires August 1, 1948; amount subscribed, $1,000; amount paid in, $100; authorized capital, $5,000,000: par value shares, $25; incorporators, T. M. Colwell, H. L. Gilbert, J. Ivor Montgomery, Edward S. Colwell, Chicago, Ill.; A. M. Merrifield, Brooklyn, N. Y."
1900 Census - living with Mary at the Lett Farm, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL - Mary was "head of household" on Census. (Had they sold the house on View Street in Aurora?)
1901 - Had "Corporation Law" Office in Chicago at: "804-805 New York Life Building".
1901 - Wrote (typed) Obituary for his Mother-in-Law, Merilla Jerusha Pease Lett, on his Chicago Law Office letterhead.
1910 Census - Living with Mary, daughter Edith, his son Ward and his wife May and daughter Marilla, at the Lett Farm, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL.
1913, Jan - Feb - Living in Aurora, as noted in the Diary of his Daughter-in-law, May Belle Montgomery.
1919, March - Living at 469 Spruce Street, Aurora, IL.
1920 Census - Living with wife Mary and daughter Edith at 374 Oak Avenue, Aurora, IL.
1923-1925 - Living with wife Mary, daughter Jessie, Jessie's son Stanley and daughter Mary, daughter Edith, and granddaughter Marilla (daughter of son Ward) who was finishing high school at West High School, at 236 Plum Street.
Died 29 January 1928.
His brother, Allen Lee Montgomery, died 27 Feb 1928, in San Antonio, TX.
General Notes: Wife - Mary Aleumena Lett
Was Mary's middle name Amanda?
Thomas had 3 sisters who each married 3 Springstead brothers. Those 3 Springstead brothers had a younger sister named Amanda Harriet.
Notes: Marriage
Marriage License No. 766, Volume D, LaSalle County, from the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 @ www.lscgg.org. (LaSalle County Geneology Guild)
General Notes: Child - Florian Lett Montgomery
21 Feb 1898 - Sang Bass in the "City Club Minstrels", under the auspices of the Aurora City Club, in a concert at the Aurora Opera House. His brother Ward sang baritone.
1910 Census - Shown to be a "Lawyer Clerk" - at his father's Law office?
Registered for the WWI Draft on 12 September 1918, stating his residence to be R2 RFD, Sandwich, Northville Township, LaSalle Co, ILL, with nearest relative, Mary A. Montgomery, R D 2, Sandwich, ILL.
Died in Chicago, 1941.
General Notes: Child - Ward Pease Montgomery
Lived at 115 N. View Street, Aurora, while in West Aurora High School. Parents bought the house in about 1895.
Ward produced artwork throughout high school for various booklets and pamphlets, and more. He longed to be a commercial artist. Produced many fine pen and ink drawings as early as 1896.
He was a Tackle for and Captain of the West Aurora Football Team for at least two years: 1896 & 1897, Manager of the Track Team in 1896.
21 Feb 1898 - Sang Baritone in the "City Club Minstrels", under the auspices of the Aurora City Club, in a concert at the Aurora Opera House. His brother Florian sang bass.
Graduated from West Aurora High School at the age of 20, in 1899, in the same Class as his future wife, May Belle Fitzgerald.
1899-1900 - He attended the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan he was initiated into Phi Delta Theta fraternity on Sunday, November 17, 1899. He was enrolled in a course of study for Commercial Artist, or The Law School, according to Phi Delta Theta fraternity archives / records.
He engaged in farming on the Lett Farm after returning from College.
21 Feb 1906 - Married May Belle Fitzgerald. Lived with his new bride and farmed the Lett Farm.
17 Feb 1907 - Marilla May Montgomery born.
13 Dec 1911 - James Robert Montgomery born.
18 Jul 1913 - Mary Louise Montgomery born.
After 1915 - Moved to a farm on Base Line Road west of Montgomery, IL, and again to another farm on Randall Road just north of Galena Street, in Aurora. He developed Tuberculosis for a while, while living on the farm, and lived in a screened-in house and was quarantined there for a while.
1922 - Moved his family into Aurora, on Blackhawk Street.
13 March 1919 - Abstract of Title and Articles of Agreement - Mary and J. Ivor Montgomery agreed to sell the Land surrounding the Lett farm site, excepting the Lett cemetery and the village hall site (NW corner) to a Frank Ropp, Jr., for $19,000.00, with terms to be satisfied later. Frank Ropp would take out a $9,000 mortgage as part of the transaction monies. Ropp had apparently leased the farm earlier, as mentioned in the Articles of Agreement, how long previously is not indicated.
21 March 1919 - Eight (8) days later - Indenture (Agreement): Frank Ropp, Jr., and wife, Convey and Warrant (sell) to W.P. Montgomery (Ward Pease Montgomery) the same Lett Farm property, for $9,000.00 (so as to satisfy the $9,000 mortgage the Ropps took out as part of the earlier sale), with F. L. Montgomery (Florian) "appointed and made successor in trust, with like power and authority as is hereby vested in said grantee". NOTE: The $9,000 was payable in the form of six (6) various promissory notes, all due five years after 21 March 1919. (In 1919, there existed a rural school, "School No. 6", about 1/2 of a mile north of the Lett Cemetery, across the road to the west, as did exist a "Town Hall" on the east side of the road, as the Lett Cemetery is, 200 yards to the north.) But Ward farmed elsewhere, on Base Line Road and Randall Road, and, after leaving farming and moving into Aurora in 1922, had time to sell Real Estate and did some Surveying, as family history is related. That scenario does not sound like one which allowed him time to farm the farm he was born on.
1922-1923 - Ward took a correspondence art course, during which his talent truly began to emerge. Many of the pieces remain examples of the true artist more than one hundred years after they were carefully penned, painted and drawn. Ward continued to do a little land surveying and sold real estate after the move to Aurora.
25 June to 2 July 1923 - Admitted to hospital in Aurora. He succumbed to a ruptured duodenal ulcer from which his Doctor could not provide relief nor a cure. He died of inoperable conditions.
21 March 1924 - Five (5) years to the day after the Indenture (Agreement) with Frank Ropp, Jr., and wife - LaSalle County Recorder's Office, Release Record No. 609, pg. 173: "That Whereas W.P. Montgomery is dead", F. L. Montgomery (Florian) filed a Release of the Lett Farm property, essentially returning it to Frank Ropp, Jr., and his wife, "for and in consideration of one dollar, and for other good and valuable consideration". What these documents dated 1919 and 1924 indicate is the Lett farm was not "sold for taxes", as was family "legend". But it does create a new void as to why Ward Pease would sign an agreement to buy the farm from Ropp and be farming elsewhere, as early as 1918 and up until 1922. NOTE: His brother, Florian, stated his residence to be the Lett Farm (RD2, Sandwich, IL) when he registered for the WWI Draft on September 12, 1918.
He was a kind, sweet and gentle man, as recorded in his wife May Belle's personal Journal of January 1 to February 4, 1913.
General Notes: Child - Edith Aleumena Montgomery
Age 13, living with her parents, Ivor and Mary, her brothers Florian and Ward - 1900 Census - at the Lett Farm, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL.
Engaged to be married between 1908-1920 - engagement broken up by her mother as "he was not good enough for her".
Age 23, living with her parents, Ivor and Mary, her brother Ward and his wife May and niece Marilla - 1910 Census - at the Lett Farm, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL.
Age 33, living with her parents, Ivor and Mary - 1920 Census - at 374 Oak Avenue.
Age 36-38, living on Plum Street with her sister, Jessie, parents Ivor and Mary, Jessie's son Stanley and daughter Mary, and her niece Marilla who was finishing high school at West High School.
Age 43, living with her sister, Jessie Montgomery Bernard age 58 - 1930 Census - at 236 Plum Street.
(Aurora's street numbering system changed about 1929.)
Age 48, living with her sister Jessie Bernard, at 236 Plum Street.
Admitted to Elgin Mental Health Center after her parents died, and after 1934.
SSN issued 1966: 334-44-7154.
Died at Elgin MHC, July 1968.
Husband David Shepard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Phoebe Elizabeth Lett
Born: December 7, 1911
Baptized:
Died: October 21, 1997
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Clare Everett Lett
Mother: Ethel Abigail Patten
Children
1 F Shepard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Shepard
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Child - Shepard
Contact submitter for discretionary information about Living Individuals.
General Notes: Child - Shepard
Contact submitter for discretionary information about Living Individuals.
Husband Robert Lett
Born: October 29, 1803 - County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 4, 1883 - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Marriage: June 9, 1845 - Lasalle County, IL
Other Spouse: Mary Brundage Thompson - 1866
Wife Margaret White
Born: 1816 - NY
Baptized:
Died: October 2, 1861 - LA
Buried:
Children
1 M Robert Lett
Born: 1849 - Northville, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Zina W. Lett
Born: 1852 - Northville, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 6, 1935 - Lasalle County Poor Farm, Ottawa, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Lasalle County Poor Farm Cemetery, Lasalle County, IL
3 F Anna Lett
Born: December 26, 1854 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: August 24, 1883 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Spouse: John Bothwell
4 F Emma Lett
Born: October 9, 1856
Baptized:
Died: March 16, 1884
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Abram Cottew
General Notes: Husband - Robert Lett
Shown in the 1860 Federal Census, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL with 3 children as listed, and wife named Margaret.
General Notes: Child - Zina W. Lett
Deranged:
The sad tale of ZINA LETT
Born 1852 to Robert Lett (brother of Tom Lett), Zina Lett was not known for any trouble that was newsworthy, at first. But by the 1880’s, Zina was going insane. Heredity? Lead pipes? Metal poisoning from tin cans? Alcoholism? Alcohol poisoning?
August 1881, he first comes into the news, was still living at home with his father, Bob, when he came out of a Somonauk butcher shop, drunk, and is thrown in jail awhile and released .
December 1883, Bob died and Zina was left to carry on at the farm. A LaSalle County "folklore" book erroneously published that some Alsacian immigrants’ family story was the "infamous" BEN LETT never cared for his Northville farm so they had to do that for him. With the facts indentifying what family that came from and where their farm was, compared to census etc, it was definitely plausible it was ZINA Lett they were confusing with Ben, whom they never knew, who died 25 years earlier.
Zina’s sisters died young wives, of consumption - Anna, died 1883 (m. John Bothwell, son of the horrific suicide Bothwell at David Springstead's); and Emma, died 1884 (m. Abram Cottew, nephew of Bill Cottew).
Zina went on a trip thru the West and Southwest but January15, 1886, a telegram missive (sent by Martin Flaherty, a J.P. and farm neighbor of Hiram Springstead) was sent from Ottawa, IL, to Water Valley, Mississippi: Zina had wound up in a JAIL after he killed a man in TX.
He arrived in Naperville, January 21, 1886, "after several months in the South". Zina was the terror of Naperville, a dead shot. He could drive a tack with a revolver at 4 rods, and strike a half dollar with a Winchester at 50 yards.
He then lived with Hiram Springstead "a year", through April 1887. In October of 1887, he was supposed to have been in South America and he turned up in Crete, NE. But Zina was going deranged.
May 1889, after several weeks of his acting unsound, "Ivor Montgomery" went to the farm and wanted to conduct business and met Zina parading around in the yard . . . and had a rifle on Montgomery. Montgomery had to pray and beg for his life, on his knees, and Zina let him go.
Zina was then apprehended and taken to the county asylum awaiting a hearing and was ''one of the treacherous men'' the warden had to deal with. June 7, 1889, Zina was judged insane and was waiting to be shipped off to Elgin or Kankakee, when . . .
June 21, 1889 - Zina, in a strait jacket, pulls an Uncle Ben and leaps from the (railroad) "car" in Aurora, but is captured. "He is a desperate fellow." Zina was sent to an insane asylum
Sam Lett bought back & moved onto Bob / Zina's farm in March, 1896.
Zina later on somehow died in the LaSalle County nursing / Poor Farm, in west Ottawa. He has an official, " DEATH RECORDS OF COUNTY HOME" grave plotted there, died 6 May 1935, age 84.7.1: "Buried County Farm".
Husband Robert Lett
Born: October 29, 1803 - County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 4, 1883 - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Marriage: 1866
Other Spouse: Margaret White - June 9, 1845 - Lasalle County, IL
Wife Mary Brundage Thompson
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Robert Lett
Shown in the 1860 Federal Census, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL with 3 children as listed, and wife named Margaret.
Husband Samuel Lett
Born: 1784 - Wexford, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: 1824 - Chatham, Canada
Buried:
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Jacobus
Marriage: 1803 - Wexford, Ireland
Wife Elizabeth Warren
Born: 1787 - Wexford, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: 1839 - Nacogdoches, TX
Buried:
Father: Warren
Mother: Pileaux
Children
1 M Robert Lett
Born: October 29, 1803 - County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 4, 1883 - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Spouse: Margaret White
Marr: June 9, 1845 - Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Mary Brundage Thompson
Marr: 1866
2 M John Lett
Born: 1806 - Ireland
Baptized:
Died: - Solina, Lower Canada
Buried:
3 M Thomas Lett
Born: June 17, 1809 - Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: July 8, 1885 - Sandwich, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Sophronia Nichols
Marr: May 1, 1839 - Lewiston, Niagara County, NY
Spouse: Merrilla Jerusha Pease
Marr: February 23, 1843 - Kendall County, IL
4 M Benjamin Lett
Born: November 14, 1813 - County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 9, 1858 - Milwaukee, WI
Cause of Death: Poison - strychnine
Buried: - Sandwich, IL
5 F Elizabeth Betsy Lett
Born: May 12, 1816 - Wexford, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: December 23, 1897 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: David Springstead
Marr: January 1, 1841 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
6 F Anne Lett
Born: 1818 - Ireland
Baptized:
Died: 1839 - Natchitoches, LA
Buried:
7 F Maria Lett
Born: October 29, 1821 - Chatham Township, Quebec Region, Canada
Baptized:
Died: March 2, 1900 - Sec 34, Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Northville Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Hiram Springstead
Marr: January 4, 1844 - Harding, Lasalle County, IL
8 F Sarah Sally Lett
Born: February 29, 1824 - Chatham Township, Quebec Region, Canada
Baptized:
Died: August 11, 1887 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Cause of Death: Diptheria
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: Harvey Springstead
Marr: September 3, 1843 - Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: William Cottew
Marr: July 26, 1852
General Notes: Husband - Samuel Lett
The Lett Family were originally Hollanders, who went to England with William Henry, Prince of Orange, Nassua, and afterward William the Third, whence they migrated to Wexford, Ireland.
According to page 31 of Tom's booklet, "The Life Trial & Death of Benjamin Lett - The Canadian Patriot of 1837-'38", the following is stated:
"In June 1819, his (Ben's) father, Samuel Lett and Mother Elizabeth Warren, emigrated from Ireland to Lower Canada with their family, consisting of four sons, Robert, John, Thomas and Benjamin and two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and settled on the Ottawa River, district of Montreal".
Maria and Sarah were born in Chatham, Canada.
By accident, Samuel died on his farm in Chatham, in 1824, falling from a hayrack and breaking his neck.
In 1833, his widow and the family moved to Darlington, Ontario.
The Family moved to Texas in 1837, as far from the Canadian Rebellion as possible.
After the widow Elizabeth's death in Nathitoches, LA, from yellow fever, the family moved to Nagadotches, Louisiana in 1839, where his son Thomas' wife, Sophronia, died, as well as his daughter Anne, also from yellow fever.
Shortly thereafter, in 1839, son Thomas and the remaining family moved to Illinois, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, wintering in Kentucky along the way, and into northern LaSalle County, Northville Township.
General Notes: Wife - Elizabeth Warren
At the age of 11, in 1798, the Irish Rebellion broke out and she was imprisoned twice, to be burned. She was saved both times by the British Dragoons, but her only brother, Benjamin, was murdered for his loyalty to the British. Benjamin died a gruesome death (see Thomas Lett's obit).
It is believed one of the soldiers who saved her eventually became her husband at age 16, the soldier Samuel Lett.
Suffering a nervous breakdown after being widowed in 1824, she moved with her family in 1833 to Solina, Darlington, Canada, never to recover from the breakdown.
She died of yellow fever in 1839 while in Natchitoches, LA, after her sons had moved her entire family to Texas/Louisiana, as far away as possible from the pressures brought upon the family by her son Benjamin's efforts in the Canadian Rebellion of 1838.
General Notes: Child - Robert Lett
Shown in the 1860 Federal Census, Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL with 3 children as listed, and wife named Margaret.
General Notes: Child - John Lett
John LETT was in OTTAWA, LASALLE CO, IL, and the family bios never mentioned him but for one time in an obituary.
WAS HE PART OF THEIR 1849 GOLD RUSH EXPEDITION TO CALIFORNIA? HE DIED c1850?
A LOT OF LETT IN-LAWS DIED IN 1850 LASALLE CO, ILLINOIS?
General Notes: Child - Thomas Lett
Moved with his Mother, Elizabeth, and his brothers and sisters from Canada to Texas to Illinois, via Arkansas and Kentucky, all between 1837 and 1839. His wife and his sister Anne succumbed to yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Shortly thereafter, in 1839, Thomas and the remaining family moved to Illinois, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, wintering 1839-40 in Kentucky along the way, and into northern LaSalle County, Northville Township. The family of Jeremiah and Comfort Kinne Springstead were the first people they met when they arrived at Ottawa, IL, in 1840. Three of the Lett daughters would marry three of the Springstead sons. There families woud intertwine for many more years.
In 1843 Thomas "broke sod where Sandwich now stands", according to J. Ivor Montgomery's writings, most likely after just marrying Merilla Jerusha Pease, 23 Feb 1843, immediately establishing the Lett Farm Homestead just south of Sandwich, IL, in Northville Township.
Thomas purchased many land parcels which were wooded in the area of lower Adams and upper Serena Townships, and in Northville Township, LaSalle County. The Letts were farmers and loggers by trade, back in Canada.
Among other lands, Thomas entered US Government land in LaSalle County, IL, in 1840, later gaining these 10 Mar 1843 dated Federal Land Grants:
80 acres: E1/2 of the W1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6695. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SE1/4, Sec 21, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6696. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SW1/4, Sec 26, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6697. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
80 acres: S1/2 of the E1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6718. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
11 Sep 1848, Warranty Deed: purchased 160 Acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, from Wm. Cumberland for $300.00.
26 Sep 1876, sold 160 acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, to son Samuel Jackson Lett.
Thomas and Merilla's first four children all died before 1853;
Richard, b 25 Mar 1844, d 7 Oct 1844, at 6-1/2 months old;
Sarah, b 18 Feb 1846, d 25 May 1849, at 3 years 3 months old;
John, b 4 Aug 1848, d 9 Sep 1851, at 3 years 1 month old;
Harriet, b 13 Jan 1852, d 29 Oct 1853, at 1 year 9 months old
And then came;
Mary A. (Amanda?) Lett, b 1 Dec 1853, 1 month after Harriet died;
Samuel Jackson, b 26 Dec 1855, d 30 Aug 1921.
In the 1860 US Census, Mary, age 6, and Samuel, age 4, are listed with Thomas and Merilla in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL. The Charles and Marie Gould family, with their 3 children, appear also living with Thomas and Merilla under the same roof. (Dwelling 581; Families 588 (Lett) and 589 (Gould))
Living in Sandwich with wife Merilla, in 1885, where he died.
Obituary of Thomas Lett, b 17 June 1809, d 8 July 1885
(From The Aurora Beacon, July 1885?, submitted by J. Ivor Montgomery "of this city"?)
(with Benjamin Lett edited out)
Thomas Lett was born in Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland, June 17th in the year 1809 and died at his home on Church St., in Sandwich, Ill., July 8, 1885, aged 76 years, 21 days.
His father was Samuel Lett, and his mother Elizabeth Warren Lett. While young his mother passed through the rebellion in Ireland of 1798 alive, barely; others of the family having been killed for their loyalty to Great Britain. Elizabeth, then eleven years old, was twice imprisoned to be burned alive, but each time was saved by the British Dragoons. Elizabeth’s only brother, Benjamin Warren, 20 years old, was taken out of his mother’s house and barbarously murdered: he was at first shot, but finding this did not kill him, his murderers ran his body through twenty-four times with spikes. Subsequently, at his own solicitations, his brains were beaten out with a club to end his sufferings. His body was then left in the streets of Wexford, to be devoured by swine.
In June, 1819, the father and mother of Thomas Lett emigrated from Ireland to Chatham, Lower Canada, with their sons, Robert, who died one year ago last winter at his home in LaSalle County, John, who died several years ago, Benjamin, who was poisoned in 1858, and four daughters, Ann, long since died, Elizabeth, Maria, and Sarah, now living.
In Sept., 1824, the father of Thomas Lett was killed by an accident, leaving a widow and seven children.
From 1830 to 1832, Thomas Lett was engaged in lumbering and rafting upon the Ottawa River, one of the most dangerous rivers for rafting purposes in America.
In 1833, the mother and seven children removed to Darlington, Upper Canada on Lake Ontario, and again west to Solina, Upper Canada, where the brothers continued to engage in lumbering and rafting.
In 1838 Thomas Lett was married to Sophronia Nichols, of Niagara County, N. Y., and the same year all the Lett family removed to Texas. (NOTE: Original Land Agreement / Promissory Note given to Thomas Lett for a “league of land” - 14,300 acres - in Texas exists, and is dated 1838.)
While south, in 1839, his mother Elizabeth died in Nacogdoches, TX, and later his wife Mrs. Sophronia Lett and his sister Ann died of yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Immediately, in 1839, the remainder of the family removed for LaSalle County, Illinois, wintering over 1839-1840 in Kentucky, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, disembarking at Ottawa, IL, early 1840.
Feb. 23, 1843, Thomas Lett was married to Merrilla Pease, daughter of Sylvanus Pease, then of Kendall County, Illinois. They moved at once upon his farm in the Township of Northville, in LaSalle County, which he had bought in 1840.
In 1862 and 1864 Mr. Lett erected two monuments to the memory of his brother Benjamin, in the Lett Cemetery which are wonderfully descriptive of his life; one of which contains over eight thousand letters alone.
In 1883, Thomas Lett and wife moved to Sandwich where they have since resided.
Six children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lett, four of whom died in early years. The other two are Mary A., wife of J. Ivor Montgomery, of this city, and Samuel Lett, of Northville, LaSalle.
General Notes: Child - Benjamin Lett
From the booklet,
THE LIFE TRIAL AND DEATH OF BENJAMIN LETT
CANADIAN PATRIOT - 1837 - 1838
BY THOMAS LETT, PUBLISHED 1876
IN MEMORIAM
THERE are two monuments erected to the memory of BENJAMIN LETT, by his brother, Thomas Lett, and mark his resting place in the Lett Cemetery in Northville, LaSalle County, about six miles southwest from Sandwich, Illinois. The footstone is nine feet high from its base, six inches thick, and three feet wide; the main column is eleven feet high from its base, which is four feet square.
The slab reads thus:
“THE RECORDS OF AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP IN THE CASE OF BENJAMIN LETT-THEY ARE LIKE A CHRISTIAN HELL WITHOUT A JESUS CHRIST:
NO ESCAPE.
When the blood-hounds of Canada had failed with army, spies, kidnappers and assassins to destroy him, they selected DaFoe, one of their own fraternity. When he could entrap him in no other way, he attempted to set fire to a British steamboat, in Oswego port, swore he was a criminal not caught in the act, nor running away, but coming back, and said Lett told him to do so. This constituted partnership in New York! They indicted Lett one day and convicted him the next, without a copy of his indictment, or a witness. This was Seward’s policy, while the shrieks of his roasted countrymen were still ringing in his ears. His father-in-law, Judge Miller, then came to me and said, “You can write and say what you please, if you will not take personal satisfaction.”
Lett was accused of blowing up Brock’s Monument, which was used as a watch-tower for military purposes during a civil war. Was it a crime? If so, then it is murder to hang a spy! He was also accused of slaying Captain Usher in his own foul den-the captain and pilot of the gang of bloody pirates, who stole on to you at midnight, with muffled oars, and destroyed the Caroline. if that was wrong, then Hercules was the monster, and not, Cerberus.
His next partner was Stewart Wilson, of Milwaukee, who drugged him with poison and robbed him. When told so by Mr. Biers, then a member of the Legislature of Michigan, he threw the remainder in the lake. When arrived at Milwaukee, the citizens cried, “God of Heaven protect us. You let a stranger into our city; he is murdered and robbed, and you refuse to hold an inquest!” (See Note I.) Wilson was arrested, and it was proven he was a vagabond, living in open adultery with another man’s wife, whom Lett had never seen; and on her person his property was found, as they said, for “safe keeping.” Then the Circuit Judge, Arthur McArthur, arose and addressed the jury, saying: “If you find this man guilty, I will grant him a new trial.” This he did without being asked, or a plea being made on either side. Such was Milwaukee justice in January, 1859. At the same time another case of partnership was in shipping merchandise from Grand Traverse Bay, Mich., to A. Wolford, commission merchant and butcher, Ottawa, Ill. When called upon for a settlement, he produced one of the gang, whose deposition is thus:
“Question-What is your name?” Answer-”James M. Mauler. I am a Democrat; my father was a Democrat.”
Question-”Where is your residence?” Answer-”Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.”
Question-”Do you know Benjamin Lett?” Answer-”I am his partner.”
Question-”What was your occupation?“ Answer-”Fever mind ague; what I mean is, it made no difference who paid for the whiskey; Wolford paid me all the money.”
This was the testimony that established partnership before (Champlin, the Probate .Judge at Ottawa, and Hollister, Circuit Judge of Kendall County, Illinois, who would not suffer me to speak, nor show cause why I should have a new trial. These were the partners they found for a farmer who had produced twenty one hundred bushels of wheat on his own land in 1857. Such were the tools that Bushnell, Avery and Gray used upon Lett. I had the great law firms of Cook & Glover, Leland & Leland and Smith & Helm employed in this suit. Glover said, “You go to law with the Devil, and hold the court in Hell.” Leland said, ‘‘I can ho no more for you after passing the Probate office.’ My reply was, “Judge, you do not like to expose the murderer, because he is your neighbor; keep him.” The others lost their papers and let it go by default, after an appeal being taken to the Supreme Court. (See note II.)
What shall I say of these honest men? The notorious murderers, Burke and Hare, who insidiously enticed the strangers to their abode for the express purpose of cutting their throats while they were asleep, are fit company for the Eternal Gods, when compared to them, for it is always some risk to cut a strong man‘s throat! Oh, consider the judges clothed in ermine, invoking the God of light, wisdom and justice to come down and preside at such a farce, while their weapons were perjury and poison! I would impeach the Eternal Gods, dare they justify such crimes as these and call upon the foulest devils in hell to laugh them to scorn. (This grand and sublime idea is not my own, but came rushing down from the God of Light, through the medium of a woman’s brain, at the preparation for the funeral of Aratus.) Pluto, the King of Hell, would not break his word, nor tell a falsehood for Proserpina, the fairest woman in the land, and the one he most adored, but restored her to her husband according to his promise; such was the dignity of the heathen Devil.
Time will tell, with burning shame,
Of Newkirk’s foul and perjured name;
And of his brow and brazen cheek,
When he swore false to please the clique.
When to falsehood you’re inclined,
And silver coin runs in your mind,
I’d have you pause ere it be too late,
And think on perjured Newkirk’s fate.-Benjamin Lett.
Silas Wright, U. S. Senator, wrote to me from Washington on the 23d day of May, 1844, that “it was not only the Governor’s privilege, but his express duty, to release the innocent; that Gov. Bouck’s office was one, the duties of which are extremely laborious and he did not suppose he had time to reply to all the letters he received.”
Nero governed from the rising to the setting sun, from the Torrid to the Frigid Zone; yet he had time to hear the complaint of one poor mechanic, Paul. All the priests of the Jews and Pagans, the pettifoggers and office-seekers of his realm, fell down before Nero, asking Paul’s life, saying, “he was a blasphemer of their gods, and ring-leader of a sect seeking to overturn the government, and destroy them all.” Nero said, “Paul shall have a hearing.” Then Paul stood before Nero, not a muscle refusing to do its duty, stretched forth his hand and said: - “Most illustrious Emperor, your judges have condemned me to die, contrary to your laws; will you execute their judgment?”
Then Nero, with the strength of a Hercules, a hundred fold twice told, drove back the ferocious monsters from the blood of the innocent man. Nero, like the God whom I adore, could not be bribed nor frightened. What will posterity say of these Iagos? “That their blood was cold as an iceberg, towering ten thousand feet above the level of the ocean, and their souls made of the concentrated essence of human excrement.” They dare not rest their decisions by their personality, nor plead stupidity and shove human nature off its platform. There is no power in earth, sea or skies, that can defend them, unless the first person in the God-head decrees that himself and all his creatures shall have no memory of the past. Then he will never know he made man, and you will never know von are here, and the bee will never find its road home. What can the God of all Mercies do for them? Thrust them into utter darkness, where they will never see their own deformity. When the McLeod case came up before both governments, the lion-faced Webster, the God-like Dan, was then Secretary of State, but he trembled like a dog in a wet sack at the frown of Mr. Fox, the haughty English embassador, when he told him “McLeod was acting under a superior officer.” But oh heavens! he was ferocious when let loose upon the negro wench, whom he had bound hand and foot with heavier chains than ever Cerberus had his prisoners bound at hell’s gate. How changed the blood of man since Jupiter was a boy, when he thundered at the sight of the roasted embassador. Jupiter was so fair and so modest that he passed in disguise among the maidens long after.
Address to the Voters of the 17th Senatorial District of Illinois:
November 17, 1864.
There are three Iagos. The first two, fawning upon their victim,- your neighbor; while one turns poison down his throat, the second stands sentry, hears the shriek of “Murder! Murder! Murder!” He claps his hand on his victim’s mouth; keeps it there until all is hushed in death. The third saw it, admits it horrid murder, being at the same time sworn to prosecute the guilty and paid for doing it; but he takes the second in his arms, calls him brother, and says, “I will protect you!” Which of these three is the honest man, that you would vote to send to the Legislature, to make laws for yourselves and your children? Vote for Washington Bushnell, and you vote for one of the three. The second was A. Wolford, who kept the dispatch a whole week that came from Milwaukee saying, “Lett is here dying; come with haste.” These fellows took beef from the hands of Wolford, all saturated with the blood of the murdered Lett till their bone, muscle, mind and soul became rotten like his own.
“There are a few other things in regard to this case that should be known. The captain and mate of the vessel on which Lett came here expressed their confident belief that he was poisoned and they doubted not by whom. The captain states that on going into his stateroom he found the man whom he suspected, attempting to administer nourishment to Mr. Lett, who perseveringly refused to admit a particle into his mouth. Suspecting the cause of his refusal, he brought him nourishment which he readily took. After arriving here he made evident efforts to answer questions by nodding his head, or shaking it. lie was asked if he believed that he was poisoned? A prompt nod of the head two or three times repeated was the significant answer.”-Milwaukee Sentinel, December 15, 1858.
If the decision in the case of Lett was lawful, a man having two enemies might shoot one and turn State’s evidence, and swear the other told him to do so, and destroy both in one day; and by adding perjury to murder, escape with impunity, as Dafoe did. Speak! Iagos, speak! and prove the villain a liar.
THOS. LETT.
Remarks of T. Stickle, the Artist:
‘Lett’s brother falls upon them like a hurricane upon the ocean-lashes them into fury, and dares them to leap the bounds. He brings them to the light and shows them to the people.’”
(On Base of Stone:)-”The most exalted lords of Great Britain had to implore their republican ancestors to come and protect them in their political and religious rights. When the proud Englishman was ordered to be whipped once a fortnight for seven years, and the whelp’s paw sold for five shillings and six-pence sterling for food for the fighting soldiers; when James stole the great seals of the nation and flung them into the Thames, sought to destroy friend and foe with one blow, and fled a vagrant because he could not have absolute power over body and mind of the British nation-it was then the Letts rushed to the fight, made the quarrel their own, and helped to pluck England from the bloody jaws of Rome, which she could neither obviate nor shun.
CITY AND COUNTY OF ALBANY:-John W. Turner, of Oswego, N. V., being duly sworn, deposeth and saith: that he has resided in the village of Oswego for more than twenty years; that in 1840 he was an inspector of the customs for the port of Oswego, and as such inspector was in the practice of visiting all boats on their arrival from a Canadian port; that he “as in attendance on such business at the time of the explosion of a trunk on board the British steamer Great Britain, it being the same as proved to have been placed on board by one Dafoe, and for which Benjamin Lett was convicted as an accomplice for setting fire to said boat; that said deponent was present at the trial of said Lett at the Oyer and Terminer, .Judge Gridley presiding, in 1840, and was sworn as a witness on said trial, and that two witnesses sworn on the part of the people, testified that the boat was actually on fire, that a place on the main deck, and where the explosion took place, was actually on fire, and was burned or charred a fourth of an inch in depth, and over a surface of some six inches in diameter; that this deponent was, at the time of said explosion, standing some forty feet from the gangway, where said trunk was placed at the time of said explosion; that he went immediately on board and saw cotton on fire about said boat, and that it was, not to exceed one minute from the explosion before all the combustibles on fire were swept from the boat. This deponent further saith, that where the said explosion was had that the deck was blackened by the powder, &c., which the trunk contained, and had the appearance of having been burned; but this deponent further says that he saw it after it was washed off, and that no appearance of fire was to be traced there or elsewhere as testified by the said witnesses, Pardee and Newkirk, and that he, on several occasions, after as well as before the trial, examined said boat, and that on one occasion he asked the captain to point out a place where the boat was on fire, which seemed to offend said captain, and he asked if any thanks were due Lett if it was not actually on fire; he, Lett, had attempted to burn it. And further this deponent saith not.
J. W. TURNER.
Sworn and subscribed before me, this 11th day of February, 1845.
WM. I. D. HILTON, Justice, etc.
To SILAS WRIGHT, Governor. etc.: - The undersigned, citizens of the county of Monroe, would respectfully beg leave to present to your consideration and clemency the case of Benjamin Lett, now confined in the State’s Prison at Auburn upon a sentence after conviction for arson in the fourth degree. The circumstances, as they appeared in the public prints previous to and at the time of the trial, are probably familiar to your Excellency, but will, as your petitioners understand, be presented to you in a more distinct and authentic manner along with petitions from various parts of the State. The case of Lett has excited a deep sympathy upon the frontier, and many have been led to believe that his conviction was effected by MEANS OF PERJURY. It is well known that Lett entertained strong feelings of hostility towards the British Government, and was by the Government authorities in the Canadas looked upon as a dangerous man to the Government. It has been supposed, and your petitioners believe there is good ground for the supposition that strong efforts were it made in Canada to effect the conviction of Lett as a convenient means of removing an inveterate and untiring political enemy.
Your petitioners respectfully solicit the attention of your Excellency to the investigation of this matter at your earliest convenience, and that unless wholly inconsistent with a proper exercise of executive prerogative, that you will be pleased to restore to liberty a man who is believed to be by all who know him, but an ardent patriot, whatever may be his errors of judgment.
Rochester, January 9th, 1845.
John Allen, Jacob Gould, George Byington, L. B. Swan,
L. B. King, Arid Wentworth, Geo. G. Root, C. A. Jones,
R. R. Lothridge, E. Hagar, Matthew Cavanagh, H. L. Stevens,
Wm. Breck, Isaac Port, John B. Thomas, E. Tinnsner,
Erastus Ide, G. W. Fisher, C. S. Martin, Jas. Abrams,
Isaac Hills, Jno.W. Duimelle, Z. S. Davis, Jno. C. Humasen,
A. N. Curtis, Wm. Alling, James C. Briggs, Jas. McIntosh,
M. S. Newton, C. Seymour, H. N. Shaw, H. A. Tucker,
Alfred Ely, E. Terry, Geo. F. James, D. McKay,
T. E. Hastings, Jonathan Child, Gilbert W. Potter, H. E. Peck,
C. O. B. Stuart, E. C. Dibbles, T. M. Donaldson, Geo. Davison,
Jas. M. Bruff, J. W. Hatch, M. Phillips,Josiah Snow,
H. H. Paddock, George Charles, George Gates, Alvah Strong,
Seth C. Jones, L. E. Harris, A. Senisky, Roswell Hait,
E. Cook, P. 5. McCollum, E. W. Carr, Rooney L. Adams,
L. A. Allen, James C. Marsh, Walter White, L. B. Langworthy,
Jno. G. Parker, Henry W. Davis, J. Cutler, I. H. Gates,
Wm. T. Kennedy, J. Seymour, S. A. Leach, H. H. Bunett,
T. J. Parker, H. S. Fairchild, O. G. Gibbs, Edwin Rowe,
Samuel Miller, A. Newton, E. H. Mason, S. M. Nevans,
Dan’l D. Lynch, B. Richmond, P. B. Brack, S. M. Boughton,
Simeon Ashley, C. Pattison, T. S. Hall, L. Lowell,
N. B. Northup, Caleb Wilder, N. Frost, G. H. Buck,
Wm. P. Smith, Chas. Morton, W. N. Blossom, H. Ringman.
The signers of this petition were citizens of Rochester; John Allen was then Mayor of the city, Jacob Gould, U. S. Marshal, and the rest not inferior in respectability.”
The main column has the following inscription:
“BENJAMIN LETT, THE CANADIAN PATRIOT, DIED DEC. 9TH, 1858, AGED 45 YEARS AND 25 DAYS,
Who was pursued for more than twenty years by the most powerful political party upon earth. England had not money enough to hire any of their cut-throats to shoot him down, and they had to stoop to slander, perjury and poison to accomplish his destruction. He was a true disciple of Aratus, whose generosity surpassed his courage - they both died by poison. He was son to Samuel Lett, a mighty mathematician; the heavens was his time-piece and his brain a perpetual almanac. He was descended of ‘William’s men, the champion of Protestantism. On his mother’s side the Warrens were Republicans under Milton, when he was Secretary of War; another root, the Pelos, were French Huguenots; both male and female suffered martyrdom, and but two escaped, and only with their lives.
Such were his ancestors in the great struggle for human rights.
“INTRODUCTION TO SLANDER-Not knowing how they could rob me of my liberty, without assassinating my character, they trumped up a foul, false, hellish, malignant report of blowing up the boat-wholesale murder! SLANDER-The vilest imp of hell: earth’s greatest monster; Satan’s right hand champion-who hath escaped him? Not Joseph the patriarch; nor Moses, the great legislator, and God’s high priest; Confucius, the sage, nor Socrates, the philosopher; George Washington, nor Dan O’Connell. Yea, he is the most unenviable wretch imaginable. He infests the pulpit, the bench and the bar; he scorns not to enter the meanest hut, and blushes not to enter the proudest palace; he makes the most delicious meals on good men’s names, on matron virtue and maiden innocence. Yea, he even dared with relentless hate and with more than hellish fury thrust his infernal fangs into the pure and unspotted character of the only begotten of the Most High God!
(Written on the margin of a pamphlet, while in prison.)
BENJAMIN LETT.”
The judges and the witnesses of Jezebel would have shuddered and shrunk back with honor from the acts that Lett’s destroyers stooped to. The authorities of New York committed three crimes against him (Lett) that have no parallel in fact or fiction. It will he seen by the testimony of Dafoe, the chief witness-the man who swore that he himself had committed the alleged crime, but that Lett had told him to do so-(See Note III.)-producing no proof tending in any wise to such a conclusion that he on oath, in open court, identified a piece of a match which he says was the very, match Lett had placed in the trunk, although all the witnesses agree to the fact that there was an explosion and being an explosion that explosion must have been caused by the match, which match must have been consumed before any fire could have been communicated to the contents of the jugs, without which communication of fire there could not possibly have been any explosion. Again, the witness, Pardee, swears to a piece of a jug, which was produced in court as being a piece of one of the jugs in the trunk; while Newkirk and Pardee both agree that the boat was on fire, when all the other witnesses for the prosecution swear to the contrary; but it was left for Dr. Holden to put a finish to this truly astonishing testimony, and at the same time give him a favorable opportunity of displaying his own ignorance, when he swore that lie had analyzed the contents of the trunk after those contents had exploded. Totally disregarding the established laws of nature, these model witnesses testified by supernatural wisdom to natural impossibilities-this being so absurd, so vile and filthy that it would cause a dog to vomit, poison a hyena, and the stomach of an ostrich could not digest it. Yet, Gridley, Seward, Bouck arid Wright-one a Supreme Judge, the three others Governors of the State of New York-most solemnly swore by the Ever-Living God that it was delicious and good, and that it was American justice.
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
(See Note IV.) McLeod and his party invaded your territory when they were bound by the most solemn treaties of peace, murdered your sleeping countrymen on your own soil, cut out your ship from under your flag and fired it; sent the living and the dead in the burning steamer, Caroline, over the hideous falls of Niagara, and shouted with joy at the horrid scene and cursed the American name and nation. Had Lett done all this, then he would have bad American editors, orators and politicians to respect and protect him.
Lett’s enemies are like the criminal at the feast of the Great Jehovah-speechless.
[At this point there is cut in the monument in bold relief, a figure about eighteen inches square, representing Gov. Wright holding the golden scales spoken of, in one side of which are 162 men and in the other the criminal, Dafoe, and the balance showing that the veracity of the one outweighs that of the 162, in explanation of which are the terrible, scorching words;]
AMERICAN VERACITY BY SILAS WRIGHT, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WHO BRANDED 162 OF HIS OWN CONSTITUENTS FALSE WITNESSES TO PLEASE THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSINS OF HIS OWN SLEEPING COUNTRYMEN.
Governor Wright pronounced the astonishing decision that the sworn evidence I had produced was not worthy of belief (!) when my witnesses consisted of true Americans-soldiers, such as Hercules, Aratus, Washington and LaFayette, enemies to tyrants-farmers, mechanics and merchants, the four best classes among men-the salt of the earth, who would not stoop to bribery to oppress the innocent, nor tremble before power to destroy the oppressed. These were the men who were weighed in the golden scales of Wright’s judgment and found inferior to Dafoe.
(See Note V) Governor Silas Wright released Lett, but in so doing he outdid Gessler. He selected two physicians, Doctors Pitney and Biglow, of Auburn, political and personal enemies to each other, said they must agree that the prison was killing him, and would kill him, and had not so far killed him but that a release would prolong his life; they agreed to that effect. Then he, acting under oath, remitted a crime that was proven by 162 witnesses never to have been committed, and called it American mercy!
But to crown all, the moral law is the pleading of your Supreme Court’s Judge, to shield an illegal indictment, trial and sentence; while Governor Wright, in his pardon, declares the arson was committed, thereby causing a perjured lie to be put on record in your Secretary of State’s office-for the truth in preference to the truth-truth being the great master-wheel of the grand machinery of all civilization, which he sought to destroy. (See Note VI.) Judge Gridley knowingly and willfully violated the common law of all civilized countries, the statute law of his State and the solemn and sacred oath of his office to please the midnight assassins of his own sleeping countrymen; then his apology-morality-- is worse than all these hellish outrages.
This trial took place at Oswego, N. Y., June, 1840.
Erected by Thomas Lett, with extracts from his “Appeal to the Protestant Christian Republic of the State of New York,” Feb. 12, 1862, that the nation might render that justice to the dead which was so revengefully denied by their authorities to the living.”
HAVING given my readers, on the foregoing pages, a copy of the inscriptions on the monuments, I herewith present the following true copies of original papers in my possession relating to the trial, conviction and pardon of Benjamin Lett, his life, etc.
Copy of the trial of Benjamin Lett, for Arson, at Oswego, June 25, 1840.
OYER AND TERMINER.
BENJAMIN LETT
vs Arson for firing steamboat Great Britain, June 25, 1840.
THE PEOPLE.
NICHOLAS HILL, Jr., and E. B. TALCOTT, Counsel for Prisoner; O. Robinson, District Attorney, and A. P. GRANT, for people.
David Dafoe: “I have been in jail a fortnight last Saturday; before that, I resided in Watertown, 17 or 18 months; before that, in Bellville in U. C. 15 years; born in Canada; am 37 years old; have a child; I know Benjamin Lett, have known him since last July; first saw him in Watertown; I next saw him at Watertown, five weeks ago, Thursday or Friday. Lett spoke of an expedition to burn British steamboats; the object was to assist in a revolution in Canada, and prevent carrying troops, &c. Lett left Watertown Saturday morning, four weeks last Saturday; I left next day, and Monday morning left Sackett’s Harbor, in the U. S., and arrived here between 2 and 3 o’clock p. m., and went to the Commercial tavern. Lett told me to stop at the Commercial, (Gates’), before I came here; I saw Lett on the other side; he told me to go to Gates, and gave as a reason that Gates was a fine man, a good fellow. I next saw him at Gates’, and talked with him in the sitting room alone; he said he would go to Rochester to get materials-alcohol, sulphur, resin, etc. He left soon after for Rochester, (next afternoon.) I occupied a small room with one bed; he had one a little larger. 1 don’t know what boat he went on; saw him on the deck when it was going out; think it was the Express boat; gone about a week; landed on east side of the river. He came on the Oneida; saw him early before Gates’ door. He told me to go and get the two jugs on the wharf; I got them and put them in the bar; saw him soon after and told him I had brought the jugs. He said they were put down in the cellar. I next saw the jugs in his trunk, Wednesday after; the trunk was in Lett’s room; it was a dark brown trunk, about 30 inches long, covered with hair. Lett brought the trunk to the room; he said he paid $2 for the trunk-the man asked $3. The jugs were in the trunk half an hour after it was brought in, lying flat with the ends lapping; they were stone jugs, and held about two gallons each. He said he would get a small jug to put powder in; I saw it afterwards; it held about a quart; was a stone jug; I did not see cork taps taken out of jugs. Lett said he had got those things I named in the jugs. I saw powder in small jug; a rope match was put in the small jug; (match produced and identified;) the rope was 18 inches long, double; one end was in the small jug, and the other came out at the end; the small jug was put under the two jugs; Lett cut the hole through the end of the trunk (produced and identified) with one of the bowie knives; three pounds of cotton were put in the trunk; I got it at Hart’s store; Lett told me to get it; I locked the trunk, took it down same day and put it on a cart; a cartman helped me; he took it down to the wharf. The steamboat came up twenty minutes after; I was waiting for the Great Britain. Lett was about; said he would go and fish while I was taking it down. I hired a cartman and paid him; Lett told me to; I did not see Lett till I got on the boat; Lett was fishing on the pier opposite; don’t know how far; I put the trunk next the ladies’ cabin, next the water-side. I first sat in the front end of the boat; I set a loco-foco match to it; it did not burn well; it remained half an hour, but not having a chance to fire it again without hurting some one, I took it off. A cartman took it back to Gates; the bartender set it in the house in the hall; I took it into Lett’s room, and Lett told me to take out the jugs; I took them all out and set them under the bed; I saw Lett ten minutes after I got hack; I told him the reason I had not touched off the match; Lett said I was a little cowardly; this was three weeks ago yesterday, (Wednesday.) I next saw the trunk the Saturday following; the jugs were in the trunk the same as before; Lett put them in; when I came up Lett was fixing the cotton.
Lett told me to speak to a cartman to take the trunk down, and told me where to find him; Lett said he would go down and cut up some maneuvers and get the people on the front of the boat; the cartman and I put the trunk on the cart, and took it down to the wharf; he set it on the boat near the sky-light; I gave him 8 pence and 3 cents; I removed it to the side of the ladies’ cabin. The trunk was on the side of the boat next to the wharf. Perhaps ten minutes after this I set a match to the trunk; I saw a colored boy, Grant, on board; I walked off the boat as I fired the match; it exploded about a minute after; I was then two or three rods from the boat. Lett had tried the matches before, to see how long it would take to burn it up. I saw Lett two or three rods from the boat when I walked off; I saw him sitting on some old timber; I was not on board more than half an hour; I did not go back into the boat; I went out west into the woods, three-quarters of a mile, and stayed till near night. A constable took me on my return to Gates’. Lett walked on behind me a ways, up near the U. S. Hotel, and turned back; I did not talk with Lett after I left the boat.”
William L. Pardee: “I know the steamboat Great Britain; John Hamilton is said to be the owner of her; he resides in Queenstown, U. C.; I heard explosion and saw fragments of jugs, &c., and where the boat had been on fire; I perceived straps of trunks and leather; (piece of jug produced and identified by witness.) There is gum copal and spirits of turpentine in trunk; copal is combustible; I did not see Lett on that occasion; I had seen him about eight or ten days before.”
Warden Newkirk: “I. was three rods from the steamboat when the explosion took place; the report was as loud as a common cannon; I went on board; the boat was on fire; one man seemed burned in the face and hands. The explosion was on starboard side of the boat; I saw Lett at the time walking back and forth; he crossed over on to the pier and back again. The boat always lands at that wharf; her bow was up stream. The boat was 200 or 300 feet from the pier, when I saw Lett, after the boat came in at the time of the explosion Lett was about 100 feet from the boat, on the wharf, opposite; after the explosion I saw Lett walking back and forth on the wharf; others were there. I cannot say who; I next saw him on the pier; I next saw him about 100 feet from the boat, on the opposite side of the wharf; at the time of the explosion he was looking at a boat about being launched. Hukiman is the captain of the Great Britain; I did not see Dafoe at the time; did not know him. I saw Lett walking up with the burnt man. (Question of the court.) The boat appeared to be on fire; no doubt of its being on fire.”
Dr. Holden: ‘I have examined the mixture in jugs; it is composed of ten parts copal, two of saltpetre, two of Venice turpentine, and small quantity of cotton wicking; they are combustible-not very, but produce intense heat when combusted: don’t burn rapidly-(paper handed containing powder;) it is blue vitriol, not combustible of itself; the match is pack thread, saturated with saltpetre, etc.
George Gates: “I keep public house in W. Oswego; saw Lett the 24th of May, in the morning, at my house; he remained two or three days; Dafoe came next day, P. M.; Lett took a room, No. 9; Dafoe, No. 4, adjoining Lett’s; Lett did not bring baggage with him first; Lett said he was going to Rochester when he left; he was gone three or four days; he returned in the morning. The Oneida and another boat were in that evening; I think the Oneida came from Rochester that morning; it stops on this side of the river. I saw jugs at 9 A. M., brought by Dafoe; I think Lett was in the room when Dafoe brought them in; I set them in the hall, and then down in the cellar. Lett said, ‘I wish you would take care of those jugs; they held 1-1/2 or 2 gallons. After putting the jugs in the cellar, two or three days, Lett asked me for the jugs, and I gave them to him; he took them away; I left a small jug at Lett’s room; he had asked me for one; Lett had no apparent business; Lett and Dafoe went out of town with me two days before the explosion on a fishing and hunting excursion; I saw a trunk in Lett’s room; I went to the room an hour or more after the explosion; no trunk in the room; saw a scalping knife, wrench and bullet moulds; Lett spent considerable time in his room afterwards; I saw no trunk taken from the house, nor brought down; Lett was not put into No. 4 at his request; I never saw Lett and Dafoe talk together in a private way, or so but what they could be heard.”
Stephen Parmeter: “I first saw Lett the day of the explosion, 3 or 4 P. M.; Lett asked me to carry a trunk to the steamboat; Dafoe afterwards asked me to go and take the trunk; Dafoe and I put the trunk on the cart; the trunk was near two feet long; Dafoe paid me 8 pence and 3 cents. (Board produced) about the length produced; (skin produced) about the color of trunk.”
William S. Hynrts: “I saw Lett come off the steamboat Oneida, a few days before the explosion; think it was the Tuesday before the explosion, in the morning; landed at Fitzhugh’s wharf, East Oswego; he had two jugs in his hands in the gangway-1 or 1-1/2 gallon jugs, (about the size and kind of fragment produced;) I am employed on the wharf.”
Van Horn: “Two weeks ago last Wednesday or Friday saw Dafoe with trunk at Great Britain.”
Isaac Perry: “I live with Gates at tavern; some five or six weeks ago he came in to Gates’, etc.; on 2d day of June, on his return from Rochester, I saw him; on Tuesday, before the explosion, I think it was after noon, Lett came from Rochester; I saw Dafoe bring jugs; think it was just at night; I was lighting up the bar-room; I think probably I am mistaken, and it was morning; two or three days after I saw jugs in cellar; don’t know who took the jugs away; did not see them after. A young man brought a trunk to the house for a man; I saw trunk going past the house on a cart; this was Saturday; on Wednesday before, trunk was taken down to the boat; when it-was brought hack I took it into the house; I think it was broken; I did not hear Lett say he had been to Rochester.”
N. Mills: “I live in Oswego; my store is 20 or 25 rods from Gates’ tavern; I first saw Lett last fall; I next saw him five or six weeks ago on Water street; two or three weeks after I saw him again; some three weeks ago he was in my store; did not speak except to pass the weather; again in my store; again passing time; I next saw Lett on the day of the explosion; I think on the Monday before the explosion he got a trunk of me-at 1 or 2 o’clock P. M.; I think I saw trunk again the same day I sold trunk; I sold the trunk for $2-asked $2.50; my son took the trunk to Gates’; it was an oval-topped hair trunk; Judge Grant was with Lett when I first saw him; he got an awl the day of the explosion; I think I sold Lett a three foot trunk; he said he wanted one of an oval top to put a hat in; he wanted a cheap one because he had divided his money with a widow whose husband had been hung in Canada; I think it was a dark trunk.
Dafoe recalled, (cross-examined:) I am of French descent; came to the United States 17 months ago; I was at work for Massy when I first saw Lett, One year ago.
John W. Turner; Lett was standing about 100 feet from the boat at explosion.
Stephen Reid; Barker and I found Lett above Whites’ house away from west; he sat on the steps leading to the hotel; I took Lett by the collar; I called for a rope to tie him, and he swore he would not be tied by two men; he resisted when I wanted to tie him; I said to Barker, Lett was armed; Lett said it was no secret, his friends knew he always went armed; he had four pistols and a bowie knife; only one loaded and that only with powder; also powder in paper with the words written on it; I said he was charged with trying to burn the Great Britain; he said he knew nothing about it; had not been there.
John A. Goons: I saw boat Saturday and Monday after the explosion; on Monday I went on board; the paint was blackened as though a fire had been near, but no part of the boat was burned to a coal; I examined it carefully three times; the boat had not been painted since explosion; I examined the boat at the place where the explosion took place; was near the boat when it exploded; boxes were under the stairs; don’t think the boxes were on fire; saw blaze on wood but don’t know if wood was on fire; it might have been cotton.
B. J. Leads: I was on board after explosion same day; I did not examine the boat very particularly; under the stairs the boat was black; I don’t think the boat was burned to a coal under the stairs; I should think a blaze had not been kindled on the boat.
William I. Pardee recalled; Saw Mr. Hamilton two or three months ago; he was not here at the time; the floor of the boat was charred in one place; Hamilton is reputed to be owner.
Daniel Allen: I examined boat fifteen minutes after explosion; I saw no part of the boat burned to a coal or burned; I think I should have seen it if boat had been burned; the floor was wet and black; the wood was not charred at all; I did not examine the floor under the pig iron.
John W. Turner recalled: I saw spots on the floor and thought they were the effects of powder; I had the examination on Monday; the floor was not charred in any place.
The Jury found the prisoner guilty, and the court sentenced him to seven years confinement in the States prison, (being the full extent of the law.)-See note 5.
“I certify that I was the law partner of E. B. Talcott who defended the within named Benjamin Lett; that I am acquainted with his hand-writing, and know the within minutes to be his hand-writing taken at the trial, and that I believe them correct so far as taken, and I have delivered them to Thomas Lett today.”
April 17, 1845.
O. J. HARMON.
After having received the minutes of the trial from Mr. Harmon, I went to Mr. E. B. Talcott, State Senator, (then at Albany,) requesting his certificate and signature to the same, which he pointedly refused, alleging it might injure his political career. I then returned to Oswego and got the above certificate from his partner, Mr. Harmon.
REMARKS ON THE TRIAL. I will pass over the injustice of arresting a man, (on the oath of another whose safety was at stake,) and refusing to put off his trial when he had no witnesses summoned on his behalf, to the facts in the testimony of the principal witnesses. It will be seen by the testimony of Dafoe, the chief witness, (the man who swore that he himself had committed the alleged crime, but that Lett had told him to do so, producing no proof tending in any wise t such a conclusion,) that he, on oath, in open court, identified a piece of a match which he says was the very match Lett had placed in the trunk, although all the witnesses agree as to the fact that there was an explosion, and being an explosion, that explosion must have been caused by the match, which match must have been consumed before any fire could have been communicated to the contents of the jugs, without which communication of fire there could not possibly have been any explosion. Again, the witness, Pardee, swears to a piece of a jug which was produced in court, as being a piece of one of the jugs in the trunk; while Newkirk and Pardee both agree that the boat was on fire, when all the other witnesses for the prosecution swear to the contrary; but it was left for Dr. Holden to put a finish to this truly astonishing testimony, and at the same time give him a favorable opportunity of displaying his own ignorance, when he swore that he had analyzed the contents of the trunk after those contents had exploded.
Totally disregarding the established laws of nature, these model witnesses testified by supernatural wisdom to natural impossibilities, this being so absurd, so vile and so filthy, that it would cause a dog to vomit, poison a hyena, and the stomach of an ostrich could not digest it; yet Gridley, Seward, Bouck and Wright, (one Supreme Court Judge and three Governors of the State of New York) most solemnly swore by the over-living God that it was delicious and good, and that it was AMERICAN JUSTICE.
Upon such contemptible testimony my brother was convicted, (if his punishment could by any means be said to have resulted from conviction,) and being determined to oppose an illegal decision, I addressed a letter to the far-famed Silas Wright, at the time U. S. Senator from the State of New York, giving him my view of the trial, and asking his advice as to how I should proceed, which letter, together with his answer, is a follows:
NORTHVILLE, LASALLE Co., ILL.,
April 29th, 1844.
From Thomas Lett to Mr. Silas Wright,
United States Senator from the State of New York.
Sir: I address you in behalf of my brother, Benjamin Lett, a convict in Auburn State Prison, whom I consider as unjustly and unlawfully condemned without a cause. In the summer of 1840, he was tried by a jury at Oswego who found him guilty of Arson in the fourth degree, and the judge, Gridley, sentenced him to seven years imprisonment in Auburn State’s prison because he would not peaceably walk up the gallows in Canada and be hung, to please such as Prince, Drew and McNab, when they wished to sacrifice him to Queen Victoria, as he was one the proscribed in ‘37 and ‘38. When the blood-hounds of Canada had failed with army, spies, kidnappers and assassins to destroy him, they hired one of their fraternity who pursued him, and managed to be seen in his company as much as possible. When this wretch could entrap him in no other way, he, [Dafoe,] according to his own statement, carried combustibles on board the Steamer Great Britain, then lying in Oswego harbor, he put a match to the combustibles and the explosion burst the trunk that contained them. He then turned States’ evidence, and declared in open court that he had himself committed the act, but that Lett was his adviser, and had furnished him with a trunk, &c., for that purpose. They also found another witness with supernatural wisdom, who had seen Lett carrying a jug through the streets of Oswego three weeks before, and identified a piece of the same broken on board of the Great Britain. This was the evidence they claimed to condemn him [Lett.] Had Dafoe, the State’s evidence, accused Governor Seward or any American of being his adviser, would the decision of the court have been the same? Thus, by adding perjury to crime, he accomplished his design and escaped with impunity. I sent a petition to Gov. Seward, stating that if I could prove by a hundred respectable American citizens that my brother Benjamin Lett, was condemned unjustly and unlawfully without a cause, would he comply with lawful means to release him, and he pointedly declared he would not! I also sent him another petition, requesting him to lay the decision of the Court in the case of Lett before the Legislature of his state, that it might be sanctioned and called law. ‘This he disregarded. I also wrote to Gov. Bouck in behalf of Lett, setting forth the facts of the case, and praying him not to suffer the innocent to die by the poisoned tongue of the perjurer, who it was notoriously known, had committed the offense himself. This his Excellency considered beneath his notice; he would not deign to answer it, like the Emperor of Austria when Washington wrote to him in behalf of LaFayette. And now, most noble Senator, I appeal to you to know if there is law or lawful means whereby Lett can be delivered from such an unjust, unholy and unlawful decision? Do not, I beseech you, refuse or neglect to answer me. If there is no law surely there is equity. If the decision of the Court in the case of Lett was lawful, a man having two enemies might shoot one, turn State’s evidence and swear the other told him to do so, destroy both in one day, and by adding perjury to murier escape with impunity.
THOMAS LETT.
HON. SILAS WRIGHT, of New York, Washington, D. C.
Copy of a Letter in answer to the foregoing:
WASHINGTON, May 23, 1844.
DEAR SIR :-Your letter of the 29th April reached me yesterday through the hands of Mr. Wentworth, your member of Congress. I take a moment during a period of my pressing engagement, to give you a hasty reply to it. By the constitution of New York, the Governor of the State alone has the power to pardon persons convicted of crimes and imprisoned in the state penitentiaries. The Legislature has no power whatever over the matter, and no right to interfere with or direct the Governor in the exercise of his discretion upon such application.
Gov. Bouck is a very plain and business-like man, but his office is one the duties of which are extremely laborious, and I do not suppose it is possible for him to reply to all the letters he receives. I consider him a very just man, and if you can produce testimony to satisfy him that your brother was erroneously convicted, I do not doubt that he will pardon him, but he would not act upon a mere statement in a letter, or petition not sworn to, which I infer from your letter was all you sent to him, if you shall choose to make an application to him, founded upon sworn testimony, and the witnesses certified to be credible, which testimony shall show that your brother was not guilty, I do not doubt that he will act upon it promptly.
In great haste, I am your obedient Servant, THOMAS LETT.
SILAS WRIGHT.
Acting upon the Hon. Senator’s instructions, I procured the affidavit of Major John Morrison, of the United States Army, stating that he was offered large sums of money to allow men to cross over from Canada to seize the person of Benjamin Lett on American soil, thereby showing the strong political hatred that existed towards Lett from a powerful government, who were even willing to break through all international law and thus violate the sacred sovereignty of another and a friendly nation, in order to accomplish the destruction of one man. But the gallant officer, like a true soldier, was above bribery. I also procured the sworn testimony of twenty-two witnesses, including that of the inspector of the port of Oswego, and the evidence of 140 others, all American citizens, and all testify to the fact that the steamer Great Britain never was burned at all, consequently the crime the for which my brother was punished, was proven never to have been committed.
Copy of an affidavit made by Major John Morrison, U. S. A., testifying that the Canadian Tories, through one of their spies, offered him $2,000 to allow the said Tories to come and arrest Benjamin Lett on United States Territory:
STATE OF NEW YORK,
ss:.
NIAGARA COUNTY,
On this sixth day of January, 1845, personally came before me, Major John Morrison, of the town of Porter, in said county, and paid that Alexander Stewart, of Niagara, in the province of Upper Canada, a Barrister at Law, on or about the middle of December, 183, came to this deponent and proposed that if he would consent that he, Stewart, and Tories from Canada, might come to this deponent’s house and secure and take away Benjamin Lett, he should receive two thousand dollars, as four thousand could be got for Lett in Canada. and he further says, that the said Alexander Stewart was a British subject, and was reputed to be a British spy. Said Stewart once told this deponent that that was the case; deponent immediately informed the said Benjamin Lett of the proposed plan, in order that he might be prepared for them. And the weather was such that it was impossible for the party to cross over at the time agreed upon.
J. MORRISON.
Subscribed and sworn, 6th day of January, 1845, before me,
JAMES H. PAGE, Justice of the Peace.
STATE OF NEW YORK,
NIAGARA COUNTY,
CLERK’S OFFICE:
I, James C. Lewis, Clerk of said County, do hereby certify, that James H. Page, Esquire, before whom the annexed instrument appears to have been Sworn or acknowledged was at the time of taking such oath or acknowledgement, a Justice of the Peace in and for said County, duly elected and sworn and authorized by the laws of said state to take the same, that am acquainted with his hand writing and believe that the signature ascribed to said certificate of acknowledgement is genuine and that instrument is executed according to the laws of said state of New York.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and impressed my seal of office at Lockport, the 8th day of January, A. D.
J. O. SURS, Clerk,
In January, 1839, the government of Upper Canada offered a reward of “$20,000, or anything in reason, for the delivery of Lett into the hands of their authorities, either dead or alive.” It will be observed by reading the affidavit of Major J. Morrison, That Lett was a guest at his house the time the offer to bribe was made. This same Stewart, the spy, in 1840, “screwed his courage to the sticking-point,” and lay in ambush armed to the teeth, awaiting Lett approach, intent on his destruction; but it was of no avail; for knowledge of the same having come to the ears of Lett he at once proceeded to Stewarts’ lair, captured and disarmed him, and after advising him to “go and sin no more,” he very generously released “this tall and powerful Highland Scotchman.
Copy of the sworn evidence of John W. Turner, Inspector of the toms for the port of Oswego in 180, who swears that the steamer Great Britain was not burned.-[See page 5.]
Copy of the sworn testimony of twenty-one reliable men, America, citizens, who swear that the steamer Great Britain was not burned.
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY: We, the undersigned residents of the Village of Oswego, in the county and state aforesaid, being duly sworn, do depose and say: That they were all and every one of them, residents of the village of Oswego, in the town, county and state aforesaid, prior to, at the time and subsequent to the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year 1840, at which time and date it is understood and believed by the undersigned deponents, Benjamin Lett was convicted by the circuit court, or court of Oyer and Terminer, held by Judge Gridley then and now a circuit judge of the supreme court of the state of New York aforesaid, of Arson in the fourth degree, on a charge of having Me fire to, or attempted to set fire to the steamer Great Britain, in the County of Oswego, on or about the twenty-fifth day of June; that the undersigned deponent believe that only two days intervened between the indictment found by the Grand jury and the trial and conviction of the said Benjamin Lett, before the aforesaid Judge Gridley, which necessarily left little time for the defendant, the aforesaid Benjamin Lett, to procure witnesses to substantiate his innocence in relation to the aforesaid charge of which he was accused, on which he was tried, on which he was convicted. And these deponents further say, on their oath aforesaid, that the said steamer Great Britain left the port of Oswego shortly after the accident or firing, or attempt to fire the said boat, and on the same day on which said Arson, or attempt to commit Arson, was committed, and did not return but once until after the trial and conviction of said Benjamin Lett, was had. And these, the undersigned deponents, do further depose, that some of them had examined the boat before she left the port of Oswego after the attempt to set fire to her was made as aforesaid, and all of the undersigned deponents had examined the said steamer Great Britain, either before the time she left the port of Oswego after the disaster aforesaid, on the first time she returned to said port of Oswego, which, in the opinion of the undersigned deponents, did not or does not vary much from six days after the date of the disaster of firing aforesaid of the said steamer Great Britain; and these deponents do further depose and certify, that to the best of their knowledge and belief, the said Benjamin Lett was convicted on the testimony of only two witnesses who testified under an excitement, (that might be peculiar to the occasion, without having much time to examine the boat,) that the boat was burnt, when, in the opinion of the undersigned deponents, the boat was in no shape nor in any place burned, which fact they all, without exception, ascertained to their satisfaction by examination personally made as soon as said boat or steamer Great Britain returned to the port of Oswego as aforesaid:
John B. Limerick, Frodo Tibet’s, Robert Greene, George Lee, Jr.
Gee. Jenison, John A. Coon, Paul C. Snyder, Curtis Severance,
Lorenzo Socket, C. J, Whims, A., E. Hill, .John L. Mills,
James Bickford, Hershel Elliston, C. N. Hageman, Cyrus Carrion,
Chas. C Rumored, Lester Parry, Gordon Hatchway, Geo. L... Thomas, H. Hatter
STATE OF NEW YORK, Oswego County, Jan. 23rd, 1845: I, the undersigned, one of the Justices of the peace in and for the county of Oswego do certify that the above named persons, whose names are attached to the above affidavit, did sign the same in my presence after being read to them by me, and that each and every one of them was duly sworn by me after signing their names to the same.
I certify that I am acquainted, with the individuals who have signed the within named deposition and that they are men of respectability and. worthy of credit.
JOHN GRANT, Justice of the Peace
January, 22, 1845.
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY: I, John Carpenter, Clerk of said county, do hereby certify that at the time of the making of the foregoing certificate by John Orant, Jr., the said Grant was a Justice of the Peace of said county, and further that I am well acquainted with the hand writing of the said John Grant, and verily believe the signature to the said certificate to be genuine.
In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand and affixed the seal of the court of common pleas of said county, this 11th day of April, 1845
JOHN CARPENTER, Clerk
(Copy of a petition addressed to the Governor of New York by citizens of Monroe County, in said State, praying for the release of Benjamin Lett, then confined in the State prison at Auburn for the crime of arson; being one of numerous petitions sent to Governors Seward, Bouck and Wright, at various times, and which were wholly disregarded. See p. 5.)
Copy of a petition addressed to the Gov. of New York by the citizens of Oswego, in said State, praying for the release of Benjamin Lett:
To His EXCELLENCY, THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK:
The undersigned, citizens of the town and county of Oswego, would respectfully beg leave to present to your Excellency’s consideration and clemency, the case of Benjamin Lett, now confined in the State’s prison at Auburn upon a sentence after a conviction for arson in the fourth degree, your petitioners being fully convinced that the said Lett has now been confined in prison longer than he could legally have been sentenced but for the testimony of two witnesses, who were mistaken as to the boat being actually on fire. This mistake was evident to hundreds of our citizens who examined the boat immediately after the trial. And that the said Lett was indicted one day and put on his trial the next, without the benefit of time to meet the charges preferred, and that it was never claimed nor proved the said Lett ever was connected with the attempt to set fire to the steamboat Great Britain, except a an adviser of Dafoe, (the man who acknowledged that he did the work himself, and testified that Lett advised him to do it,) WHO WAS PARDONED IN CONSIDERATION OF SUCH TESTIMONY! THIS CONVICTION WAS HAD AT A TIME OF GREAT BORDER EXCITEMENT, WHEN THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WERE MAKING STRONG EFFORTS TO PROCURE THE CONFINEMENT OF LETT, your petitioners well know. Your petitioners would respectfully call your attention to the above facts, and that the said Lett is declining with consumption and now very ill, as we are credibly informed. Your petitioners would therefore respectfully solicit the relief of said Lett if, on investigation, your Excellency finds it consistent with his prerogative:
John B. Leveriok, M. Jordon, I. Cochran, A. Jones,
T. Vorce, Easton Cook, T. H. Hoag, Leander McEwen,
James Doyle, Martin Winman, R. C. Morgan, A. Duncan,
S. Carter, L. L. Miller, R. Van Horn, H. D. Freeman,
A. Bush, Thomas Fagh, A. W. Hawley, N. K. Whitney,
P. O. Snyder, Owmir White, B. Townsend, John Stitt,
O. C. Bloss, J. C. Willington, George Moe, A. F. Allen,
Isaac Perry, Jas. Franklin, M. Hotchkiss, Abm’. Swart,
Nels’n Thompson, Neal Reaney, P. T. Briggs, H. Barker,
W. H. VanHorn, Tho. Copland, Frederick Mason, John Pilling,
Jos.Wentworth, A. McCalister, F. G. Elsworth, Dewit Barnes,
Geo. Hart, Geo. McLellan, O. P. Lulin, Robert Anderson,
D. B. Allen, Jr., William Sheldon, R. McWhitcomb, Hiram Pitner,
R. R. Wright, Geo. B. Phillips, Josiah Webb, M. Mulrooney,
Austin Church, C. B. Aspinwall, Z. G. Bloss, S. C. Peck,
S. B. Wells, Gates Phillips, A. P. Williams, Josiah D. Evans,
Ebenezer Cram, D. Allen, J. E. Stevenson, Stephen Parmiton,
John S. McClay, I. Sanger, E. H. Gilman, Jonathan Gasdon,
Amos Bacon, Geo. S. Barlow, Ogden Clark, Wm. H. Watts,
William Coulter, Jas. Bickford, Jacob Wilcox, Thomas McVaner,
James Wiltse, Martin Gillit, I. Willson, John Hanlin,
Jabin B. Downny, Curtis Severance, D. Henman, Jr., Thos. Crampton,
Hiram Turkman, P. Barke, S. Hawley, Nehemiah Doebye
Johnson Stephens, John Telford, L. Sickles, Augustus Brown,
C. W.. Oliver, Ransom Megran, C. Smith, Jr., Wm. H. Snyder,
N. Miller, I. Carpenter, M. P. Hatch, Robt. B Mikles,
A. E. Hill, C. S. Summer, W. I. Bonsell, Oliver Peck,
John L. Millis, Daniel Allen, H. J. Carey, James Jones,
Henry Benedict, O. G. Munger, M. Haloe, D. H. McCoy,
A. G. Willis, William Murray, Sam. Wilson, M. Johnson,
E. Grovenor, Jacob P. Ottman, Hamilton Brace, James Sanders,
C. Hull, Jr., Joseph H. McCoy, Jonathan Norton, Peterson Potter,
Copy of a certificate to the above petition by John Grant, Jr.. a Magistrate of Oswego county, addressed to the Gov. of the State of New York:
STATE OF NEW YORK, OSWEGO COUNTY:
The undersigned, one of the magistrates of the county aforesaid, respectfully certifies to his Excellency, Silas Wright, Esq., Governor of the said State of New York, that he has carefully and deliberately read and considered the within annexed petition for the relief of Benjamin Lett, in the said petition named, a convict now in confinement in the State’s prison at Auburn, for an offense in the within named and annexed petition mentioned; that he, the undersigned, was for many years, not only at the date at which the offense charged against the said Benjamin Lett, in the annexed petition mentioned, was committed, tried and convicted, but for many years prior to and subsequent to said date a resident of said town of Oswego, N. Y. That without any personal knowledge of the act when committed, or of any intention on the part of Left or anybody else to commit said offence he could but know, arid believes he then did know and does now know, -both from actual observation on the steamer, Great Britain, where the offence is charged to have been committed, and also from statements made to the undersigned by some of the most respectable and responsible inhabitants of the village of Oswego, at the time and since-that the facts stated in the said petition are correct and true; and the undersigned therefore cheerfully certifies to the- truth of the facts stated in the said annexed petition. And the undersigned would and does further certify to his Excellency, the Governor, that from information derived from sources and authority in which he has full confidence, that he has not the least doubt but that not only the weeks, but the days of the said Benjamin Lett are numbered, in consequence of bodily infirmities which are beyond the reach of the skill, science and sagacity of man. Of the necessity of official evidence to his Excellency in relation to this statement, and also that this evidence can only be procured by the order of his Excellency himself, I am well aware, butt would most respectfully state that if his Excellency would order and direct that such official evidence in relation’ to this matter should be furnished, as he of right may do, it would present a remarkably strong appeal for the boon of executive mercy, without infringing in the least on the exercise of that high attribute of executive authority (impartial justice) which, so far as I know, has been universal and, as I believe, justly conceded and accorded to your Excellency. All which is most repectfu11y submitted to your Excellency.
JOHN GRANT, Jr.
These petitions are from the very people that Lett sought to murder wholesale, as is alleged, and who evidently must have been made of very forgiving materials, for Governor Wright said that Lett wanted to murder them, and who ever heard of a-Governor telling a lie?
With these evidences that the Arson was not committed in one hand and the instructions of the Hon. Senator in the other, I approached the executive chair, when I found it occupied by the senator himself to whom I presented my papers. His Excellency’s first remark was that I had written to him complaining of his predecessor, Gov. Bouck, but what would I say of him, as if he was predetermined to pervert justice at all hazards. Having left my papers in his hands, his Excellency appointed a day by which he would have examined them, and on which day I was to call again; true to the appointment I again called on him, when he said that he had not had time to consider the evidence, had not time to stay the Judge’s decision, who made a tool of the law, not time to repeal the endorsement of that decision by his executive predecessors not time to free the innocent from an unjust and illegal sentence. As I urged his Excellency from day to day for his decision he told me that it was impossible for him to decide before he received a report from the Judge who presided at the trial.- As his Excellency declared he was waiting for the Judge’s report, which he had written for, thinking I might possibly become tedious in my continual visits to the executive chamber, I requested him to give me a note to Judge Gridley asking for his report of the case, which note I would present in person, hoping this method might render any longer delay unnecessary, telling him that I would trouble him no more until I brought him the report. This act of nonfeasance on part of the Governor occasioned another and unnecessary delay of over a month. His excellency having complied with my request, I at once started from Albany to Utica, where Judge Gridley lived, and handed him the Governor’s letter. Upon reading it the Judge was astonished, promptly declared that he had never received any letter from Governor Wright relating in any way to my brother’s trial. As I demanded that he should say so on paper, he gave me a certificate to that effect, (a copy of which certificate will be found in my letter to the editor of the Albany Argus, published below.) I then returned to Albany with the Judge’s report, arid laid it before His Excellency, when, having perused it, he pronounced the astonishing decision THAT THE SWORN EVIDENCE I HAD PRODUCED WAS NOT WORTHY OF RELIEF! when my witnesses consisted of true Americans- soldiers, (such as Hercules, Aratus, Washington and LaFayette, enemies to tyrants)-farmers, mechanics and merchants-the four best classes among men, the salt of the earth, who would not stoop to bribery to oppress the innocent, nor tremble before power to destroy the oppressed. These were the men who were weighed in the golden scales of Wright’s judgment, and found inferior to Dafoe! Upon this I demanded all my papers in his hands, which he gave me, EXCEPT THE. REPORT OF THE TRIAL, WHICH HE REPUSED TO PART WITH, on the ground, as he said, “THAT IT BELONGED TO HIM AS GOVERNOR OF THE STATE!”
If past decisions are any criterion or guide for man, then, by the decision of Elijah’s God in the case of Naboth, the authorities of New York are guilty; for had Elijah been still in the land of the living, and his God had any respect or regard for the authorities of New York, the prophet would have been compelled to stand before them and rebuke them for their base and vile conduct, declaring their acts, by justice and the God of justice, a public sin. But here is an instance of justice nearer our own times: In the reign of Henry VIII, Richard Hun, a London merchant, was arrested by the Church and imprisoned without a crime. While in prison he was murdered, hung after he was murdered, tried, condemned, his body burned after he was hung, and his property confiscated. This was done by ecclesiastical law. The Church accused him of suicide, but a coroner’s inquest, held before he was burned, proved that he was murdered before he was hung, and consequently a murdered man could not commit felon de se. The case then came before the Parliament, when the King presided in person. They revoked the decision of the clergy, exposed the guilty and vindicated the character of the murdered man by restoring his property to his family, LEAVING THEIR DECISION AS A MONUMENT OF IMPARTIAL JUSTICE FOREVER. One was Catholic England in the 16th century, under the so-called tyranny of Henry VIII; the other Protestant New York in the 19th century, under the so-called justice of Silas Wright!
Copy of a letter from Judge Gridley, of the state of New York addressed to Thomas Lett in reply to one received by said Gridley from said Lett:
UTICA, Feb. 19, 1845
Mr. THOMAS LETT-SIR: In answer to your letter, received this day, I can only say, what every person at all acquainted with law would concur in that as your brother was convicted on a charge of Arson, it was necessary that the jury should have believed and found that fact to justify their verdict. That question was however distinctly presented for their consideration, upon the testimony produced on the trial of the cause, and was by a jury decided against your brother; in other words they believed that the boat was burned, or that the fire had been kindled upon it to some extent before it was extinguished; this fact was proved by the testimony of two witnesses though the testimony of others tended to a contrary conclusion.
How far the Governor will feel himself at liberty to open that question now to be decided upon exparte affidavits, the people’s counsel having no opportunity to cross examine the witnesses, or produce counter affidavits, I am not able to say. That is for him not me to decide. He may also be disinclined to look into that question, after the solemn determination of a jury, upon another ground, to wit: that the CIRCUMSTANCE of the fire and flame being confined to the combustibles employed to fire the boat itself, was in reality an ACCIDENTAL fact, which did not relieve the crime of its atrocity in a MORAL point of view, however important it was as a FACT BEFORE THE JURY.
It occurred to me after I gave you a certificate that I had not received the communication which the Governor’s note to me stated he had sent, and after you informed me that you had intended in the event of your application being unsuccessful, to publish your papers to the world that you might wish to publish my certificate to raise a presumption that no communication had been sent to me. I trust no such use of the certificate will be made, as I cannot consent to any use of it which is intended to reflect upon the Governor or his Secretary.
Your Obedient Servant,
P. GRIDLEY.
(This letter of Judge Gridley is equivalent to the words of a murderer caught in the act, his knife reeking with the blood of his victim, while he gives vent to his fears: “I pray you not to expose me nor my accomplices, else justice be meted us, and we lose our power to kill and plunder, and receive our just deserts, and I CANNOT CONSENT TO THAT!”
Copy of the report of Dr. Pitney to Silas Wright, Governor of the State of New York, on the state of Benjamin Lett’s health, n obedience to commands from his Excellency:
AUBURN, March 8th, 1845.
To HIS EXCELLENCY, SILAS WRIGHT-Sir: You letter to me of the 4th inst., was duly received through Dr. Biglow. In compliance, with your request I have this day, in company with Dr. Biglow, visited the auburn State Prison hospital, and there examined and investigated, cautiously, the present and prospective health of the convict Benjamin Lett, which is the subject of your letter to me. The said Lett is much emaciated and very feeble. He has a chronic and I fear an incurable affection of the left lobe of his lungs, the existence of which I am fully satisfied of by percussion and ausculation of his chest, and the unequivocal statements to me by various officers of the prison, “of his having repeatedly expectorated florid and frothy blood in their presence, unattended with vomiting,” which indicates that it must have come from some portion of his lungs.
I have seen and examined said Lett several times during the past winter, and was then strongly impressed with a sense of his permanently declining health. I had known him well in the prison hospital in 1842, when he was healthy and vigorous, with the exception of several most distressing hemorrhoidal tumors, for with he was subjected to a severe operation and cured. My opinion of the above named convict, Benjamin Lett, is that a longer confinement in the State prison will destroy his health entirely and render premature death inevitable, and that if he should be immediately set at liberty there would be some slight hopes of a restoration of his health, and a prolongation of his life. I
have therefore no hesitation in saying to you, sir, that I consider him a fit subject for executive clemency.
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
JOSEPH T. PITNEY.
(This nation has furnished some of the worst men in the world’s history, of whom I complain; yet it also furnishes some of the best men, of whom it may well be proud, and of the latter class are Messrs. Pitney, and Biglow.)
Copy of the release of Benjamin Lett, by Silas Wright, Governor of the state of New York:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:
Whereas, at a court held in and for our county of Oswego, in the month of June, 1840, Benjamin Lett was convicted of arson, and was thereupon sentenced to be imprisoned in the State prison at hard labor for seven years, under which conviction and sentence thereupon, the said convict now lies imprisoned, and he being represented unto us as a fit object of our mercy; therefore; know ye, that we have pardoned, remised and released, and by these presents do pardon, remise and release the said convict of and from the offense whereof in our said court he stands convicted as aforesaid, and of and from all sentences, judgments and executions thereon.
In testimony whereof, we have caused these, our letters to be made patent, and the great seal of our State to be hereunto affixed.
Witness, Silas Wright, Governor of our said State, at our city of Albany, the 10th day of March, in the year of Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty five.
SILAS WRIGHT.
Passed the Secretary’s office, the 10th day of March,
ARCH’D CAMPBELL, Dep. Secretary of State.
Copy of an editorial that appeared in the “Albany Argus,” dated March 11th, 1845, on the
RELEASE OF BENJAMIN LETT.
“We have been aware for some time that an application was being made to the Governor to pardon Lett, upon the ground of his declining health, and we now learn that a pardon was issued yesterday. Upon an inquiry into the facts, we learn that the physician of the prison has REPEATEDLY represented his case as one requiring a SPEEDY LIBERATION, but that the Governor for greater caution has requested a physician of Auburn of high standing, and in no way connected with the prison, or with the public service in any department, to associate himself with the physician of the prison, make a minute examination into the state of Lett’s health, and report to him; that the report came in yesterday and was such as to satisfy his mind that a pardon should be immediately granted. Lett’s disease is of the lungs, and has advanced to that extent that his physicians consider his recovery very doubtful, even if he is now set at liberty, and certain to be soon fatal, if he is kept in the confined air of the prison. As his case has excited an extensive public interest, and his pardon may produce some surprise, we have thought it proper to take this brief notice of the fact, and of the ground upon which the pardon has been granted.”
Copy of a letter addressed to the editor of the “Albany Argus,” through the columns of the “Albany Evening Journal,” in answer to the above:
To THE EDITOR OF THE ALBANY ARGUS-SIR: In noticing ad article in your paper of this morning respecting the release of my brother, Benjamin Lett, from Auburn State Prison, you appear to convey the idea that there was great CLEMENCY used in his release, all from the cause of his dangerous sickness-but had his Excellency not doubted the truth and veracity of one hundred and sixty two American citizens, twenty-two of them sworn by the most solemn form that HEAVEN OR EARTH EVER INVENTED, and one hundred and forty certifying by the point of honor that the crime for which he has been imprisoned had never been committed, and all these witnesses certified by the magistrates of their respective residences to be men of truth and veracity, he would have released him on his INNOCENCE, ACCORDING TO HIS INSTRUCTIONS O ME FROM WASHINGTON, 23rd MAY, 1844; But there appears to have been unparalleled intrigue for his destruction, since he refused to walk up to the gallows peaceably in Canada and he hung, to please such as Prince, Drew, and McNab, when they wished to sacrifice him to Queen Victoria. The judges and witnesses of Jezebel would have shrunk back with horror had the latter asserted “that they had blasphemed God and the King, but that Naboth had told them to do so”-a similar case.
Herein I give you a specimen of the last intrigue that I know of-a copy of a certificate from Judge Gridley:
“At the request of Mr. Thomas Lett, brother of Benjamin Lett convicted of Arson in June, 1840, I certify that on the 17th instant Mr. Lett brought me a note from the Governor, before whom an application was pending for a pardon for said Benjamin Lett, requesting of me a report of the case of said Lett, which was tried before me; also stating that he had sometime since written me desiring such report. I also certify that I NEVER RECEIVED ANY SUCH COMMUNICATION FROM THE GOVERNOR, before the delivery of the note in question.
Feb. 18, 1845.
P. GRIDLEY.”
The above named certificate and papers I hold myself ready at any
time to produce if any see fit to examine.
THOMAS LETT.
Albany, March 11th, 1845.
It will be seen that the letter published above, which I received from Judge Gridley, is in answer to one wherein I asked his honor how a man could he punished or held in custody for a crime that was proved to have never been committed. How does his honor answer this question? He says the fact of the fire being confined to the combustibles was an accident! Now the very fact of that accident does away with the charge of Arson, no matter what were the intentions of the accused. As there was no burning, there could have been no Arson. When a man is indicted for murder, it is pre-supposed that a murder has been committed; but if one fires at another, no matter whether his intention was to kill him or not, and he misses the object of his aim, he CANNOT be tried for murder, but at best for an attempt to murder. Yet here a man is tried for Arson when there was no Arson, but at best an attempt to commit arson; and upon such an indictment did a Judge of your Supreme Court preside, a jury find guilty, and the same Judge pass sentence, while one Governor, Seward, endorses the decision of that Judge, and two other Governors, Bouck and Wright, refuse to repeal that endorsation. “But,” says Gridley, “this accident does not relieve the crime of its atrocity in a MORAL point of view, however important it might be as a FACT FOR THE JURY.” What is the pleading? Why MORALITY, the MORAL law, it is said, is violated. Now what have the courts of New York to do with the MORAL law? Was Lett tried for breaking the moral law? Is it the business of your Judges and Governors to punish offenses against the moral law? Is your penal code full of penalties for crimes that are infringements of the moral law? Will some of your lawyers answer me? But to crown all, the moral law is the pleading of your Supreme Court Judge to shield an illegal indictment, trial and sentence; while Governor Wright, in his pardon, declares the arson was committed, thereby causing a perjured lie to be put on record in your Secretary of State’s office-for the truth in preference to the truth-truth being the great master wheel of the grand machinery of all civilization, which he sought to destroy.
CITIZENS OF NEW YORK: You have now seen the grounds on which I hare founded my complaint, the proof is before you of the truth of my accusation. It is your duty to see that the lie of. Wright caused to be recorded in the Capitol be forever erased, and the base unblushing falsehood he uttered about the Judge’s report, be forever remembered.
As Gov. Wright asked me what I would say of him when complaining of Gov. Bouck, I now answer that he was as regardless of his word and Oath as Mahomet II. I implore the civilized world to erect him a monument, arid inscribe his epitaph thereon, viz: “If crime be darkness, the midnight darkness of all dark ages was his lifetime, and he the chief actor.”
I would say, however, that I can but remember with heartfelt gratitude the valuable assistance rendered me by Hon. John VanBuren, son of President Martin VanBuren, then Attorney General of New York; also to Major John Morrison, of Niagara county; as well as to the many citizens of Oswego, Rochester and other places, for their untiring efforts in my behalf while striving to release my brother from his would-be-assassins who had imprisoned him nominally in the name of the State and authority of law but really to receive the reward of British gold, so lavishly paid them.
Solon, the wisest of the seven wise men of Greece, said that “he who lights on our side I love; be who shows his bloody hand and fights against us I reject;” while he decreed it infamy for a man to be neutral in a civil war, and that it would be no crime to kill him or his children. The correct principle laid down by Solon-to love a true friend, respect a brave enemy, and detest a neutral man in civil strife-that men MUST TAKE SIDES--is adhered to by all civilized nations; and as all the ancestors of Lett took part in every great struggle for human rights and on the side of truth, justice and equality, is it to be wondered at that he, after having been goaded, driven, hunted, tracked, and assaulted by cut-throats, assassins, murderers and bloodhounds, should take a firm and decided stand in the Patriot war of 1837-8, along with Papineau and McKenzie?
John Turner, before referred to as U. S. Inspector at Oswego, told me at the Washington Hotel in Albany, N. V., Feb. 11, 1845, of a race he had with Lett. He said that in 189 he had a warrant for his arrest for a breach of the neutrality law, passed March 10, 1838. He learned that the man he wanted was to arrive at the hotel in Oswego, and would come in the stage, and he accordingly awaited his arrival at the front door.- The stage soon drove up; Lett was in it, and evidently took in everything at a glance, for he leaped on the platform to the ground in front of the inn, and at once struck out at a brisk trot down the road. The old officer was at once on his horse and in hot pursuit, and although he followed him ten miles in the center of the road, he was utterly unable to overtake him, and had to return, his horse jaded and worn. A few months after this scene Mr. Turner was informed that the affidavit on which the writ was issued was false, and that he should not execute but return the warrant.
Lett was at home with his ax in the forest, his plow on the farm, his gun in defense of his home and right, or with an oar on the wave in a storm. Several times he skimmed Lake Ontario in a two-jawed yawl, often encountering a storm, yet always crossed in safety, although periling his life in the attempt., Sometimes he was compelled to cross in order to save his life or that of some kind friends; at others he dipped the wave in order to obtain assistance for his cause. The last trip he made he was accompanied by two brave men who were bound to never reveal the names of each other in this connection as to do so was to jeopardize both their lives and property; for a man who should assist Lett was looked upon by Gov. Bondhead as an enemy and outlaw, evens if he were a loyalist.
The battle of St. Denis commenced the Patriot War in earnest, and proved there would be but one policy pursued by the followers of Bondhead and Sir John Colbourne-DEATH OR BANISHMENT TO ALL PRISONERS. The battle of St. Charles was a sad one for the patriots, and over one hundred were burned alive in a barn by the enemy; fought Nov. 25.
Dec. 8, 1837, Sir Francis Bondhead issued a lying proclamation offering pardon and forgiveness to all who would lay down their arms and go to their homes, except McKenzie and five others. Many did so, and were arrested as soon as possible, sent to the penitentiaries, banished, or as in the case of Capt. Matthews, hung on a gibbet The battle of St. Eustache, Dec. 14, fought under Sir John Colbourne, proved that officer to have been devoid of pity and a true disciple of the dreaded Ghengis Khan. Dec. 29, 1837, the Caroline was destroyed, and a battle fought on Navy Island. Jan 4-14, 1838, a continual hand to hand struggle at Navy Island between 600 patriots and 5,000 troops under Colbourne, was had, and on the last named day the patriots evacuated the island. Feb. 25, of this year, the battle of Fighting Island found Lett with the patriots and in the front of every danger. At Point-au-Pelee Island, March 3, he proved himself a hero at several points, and carried wounded men from the field when no others dare approach.
April 11, Judge Roinsop, the JEFFRIES of Upper Canada, sentenced John Anderson, Ralph Morden, Dr.Theller and John Montgomery to be hung, drawn, amid their bodies quartered on the 24th of the same month for their love of liberty. The last named gentleman had previously suffered severely by the loss of large estates by the revolt, yet he escaped the second time from Fort Henry, July 30; and all four of them managed to elude pursuit, and cheat Sir John out of the pleasure of attending their funerals. The hard-fought battle at Prescott and the Wind Mill took place Nov. 12, 1838, and Lett was here as in the others, kept busy all the time. It was here that Niels S. Von Schoultz surrendered; he was basely gibbeted and his murder afterwards sanctioned by Queen Victoria. Windsor was the scene of carnage Dec. 4, and many innocent, liberty-loving patriots were here offered up to the gods of tyranny for daring to defend their families and homes. The Welland Canal was used as a “highway” by Bondhead and Colbourne over which to transport their troops and munitions of war. W. L. McKenzie, in his history, “The Volunteer,” published in 1841, says:
“THE LETT FAMILY.-A gentleman from Chippewa states that on the 16th the lock at the summit level of the Welland Canal was blown to atoms; that the water rushed down from the deep cut, a nine-mile level, like a cataract, drowning the country arid damaging the works; that the vessels are stopped on both sides of the break; and that when the canal will be again passable no one knows, as there are so many Letts now-a-days, that it is feared the aqueduct and other locks and culverts will be totally destroyed.”
The whole armed fleet of the tyrants, Bondhead and Clabourne, were wintering at Kingston, and in January, 1839, Lett undertook to burn the entire fleet, and would have successfully done so, but for the accidental meeting of a person who knew him and who managed to rally the entire soldiery in the city. Lett was surrounded, the alarm given by every tongue and fire-bell that “Lett the rebel” was in town. His usual presence of mind did him good service at this moment; he eluded pursuit, turned in with the thousands to help find this enemy to tyrants, and managed to escape unnoticed on his “accommodating” snow shoes from their blood-reeking blades and murderous fire-arms.
The patriots were fighting a common enemy who neither “gave nor asked quarter” as all their flags showed. Thousands of patriots were hung, butchered, burned alive, gibbeted, drawn, quartered, transported and banished, and their estates confiscated; many were compelled to take up arms to defend their families and homes or else die like does at the command of those murderers and cut-throats, Bondhead and Colbourne.
Both the United States and Great Britain made Lett the scape-goat on whom to lay their political sins, and for twenty years sought the opportunity of sacrificing him on their common altar. I have referred to the rigorous treatment of Lett and his friends, who were Protestants, and while Catholics who loved liberty were treated equally severe in Canada, yet one has but to refer to the many cases in Ireland where, in the rebellion of 1798, Catholic women, with their babes at the breast, were shot in cold blood for refusing to disclose the hiding places of their husbands; and to the other numerous instances of Catholics being tried and executed on the charge of “high treason” who were only guilty of saving their neighbors from ruthless assassination by the infuriated rebels. These acts of England were due in order to divide the people and prevent them uniting in a common cause for their rights.
In conclusion, I will mention the facts of my brother’s murder, etc.:
From 1845, until his death, my brother resided in LaSalle county, where he was engaged in farming. On the fifth day of October, he left his home for Lake Michigan, having been induced by some persons interested in his destruction residing from Illinois to Canada, to engage in a trading expedition between the Lake ports. As he did not return home when he intended, we are preparing to look for him when we heard through his enemies that he was drowned at Green Bay; about the same time we read an account in the public journal of his death at Milwaukee.
But before this, a telegram, dated at Milwaukee, Dec. 7, 1858, saying, “Lett is here dying; come with haste to Erie Street. D. Cameron,” had been sent to Ottawa, Illinois, addressed and to be delivered to his brother-in-law, Hiram Springstead, living 15 miles distant; which was kept back from us a whole week by some of his murderers’ accomplices, at the latter place, and until it was too late for any human assistance to save him.
It appears from the statement of Capt. Brenton of the barque Morgan, with whom he bad contracted to sail to Chicago, that my brother on the 29th of November was in good health, that on the first of December he was taken suddenly ill with convulsions and all the other symptoms of having been poisoned; on the 4th of December, at night, while delirious from the effects of the poison, (there was no doctor in Northport,) he was carried on board the propeller “Michigan;” on the 7th he arrived in Milwaukee, speechless and suffering intensely, (this was the day the dispatch was sent,) on the 9th he died. A post mortem examination was held upon his body, at which Prof. J. S. Douglass, of the Medical College, Cleveland, OH., was present, who pronounced his opinion that the deceased died from the effects of strychnine, introduced in small quantities into his system. His trial in this world is over; his next will be at the bar of God, from which no false indictments are issued, where the testimony of perjurers is not admitted, and where Judge and Justice are alike above the influence of British gold.
His death was the result of that same hellish spirit of revenge, that procured his trial on a mockery of an indictment-of that same spirit that could not he emolliated by the hand of time, which dictated his murder by the Canadian tories, who hired some of their companions to take the life of a man by foul means whom they never dared approach by fair. Still they are not secure in their villainy; let them remember that MURDER, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ; and that the time will yet come when, before the tribunal of an impartial Judge, from whose decision there is no appeal, they will he set face to face, the murderers and the murdered- Benjamin’s ancestors, the Letts, (Hollanders), came into England with William Henry, Prince of Orange, Nassau, and afterwards William the Third.
They then emigrated to Wexford, Ireland. His paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Jacobus, came from Holland. His mother was descended from an English family named Warren, and a French family named Pelo, Protestants on both sides. In the year 1798 the rebellion broke out in Ireland, and the rebels occupied the town of Wexford. His mother at this time was only eleven years old, but was not considered too young by the rebels to escape their vengeance. She was twice imprisoned to be burned in the morning and both times was saved by the timely intervention of the British Dragoons, while her only brother, Benjamin Warren, a young man in his 20th year, was taken out of his mother’s house and barbarously murdered for his loyalty to the British Government. In June, 1819, his father, Samuel Lett, and mother, Elizabeth Warren, emigrated from Ireland to Lower Canada, with their family, consisting of four sons, Robert, John, Thomas and Benjamin, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and settled in Chatham, on the Ottawa River, district of Montreal. At that time there was but one abode of civilization between his father’s house and the North Pole.
In September, 1824, his father was killed by a fall off a load of grain, leaving a widow and seven children to lament his loss-Benjamin and four others being under eleven years.
In 1833, the family removed to Darlington, on Lake Ontario, in Upper Canada. In 1837 the rebellion commenced throughout that country. Gov. Bondhead having dissolved the parliament, and a new election being called for, the family sustained the authorities, voting for the government candidates-being loyalists, not bloodhounds; Protestants, but not Orangemen.
The first event that called Lett into notice was a band of Orangemen firing on him near his mother’s house, because he would not join them in murdering those who knew their rights and dare assert them. He then sought to protect himself by applying to the magistrates for redress; but against Orangemen there was none, on the contrary the same magistrates granted the same cut-throats a warrant for his (Lett’s) arrest, on the ground that he was carrying arms, a charge against which there was no law on the statute.
Furious with the treatment he had received, Benjamin left the country, when he was at once declared a notorious rebel because he would not do these acts, and trust to Queen Victoria to have his name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. In 1839 his mother with all her children, except Benjamin, who were then living, emigrated to Texas. While the family were absent south, the Canadian spies tracked Lett, and at last originated the charge against him in order to procure his imprisonment, with what result you are now acquainted with. In 1840 the remainder of the family returned from the south (his mother having died;) and settled in LaSalle County, Ills., where they were joined by Benjamin on his release from prison, in 1845, and where they have resided ever since, in peace and comfort, until the murderer broke in upon the repose and robbed them of a brother, in 1858. The great statesman, Madison, said that “No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable.” Weigh well these words while rebuking those authorities who, by their decisions would lead the world to suppose your government was no longer respectable, at the same time prove by your judgment that those decisions are now, as then, antagonistic to the feelings of the people. To all those officers of the executive or judiciary who are still determined to cry “Lett the convict,” I would advise them to follow the example of Castlereagh, and cut their own throats before that of their country. Then what law-living and law-executing authorities will refuse or neglect, should any take my advice to improve on their own great prototype, and have me hung for the murder!
April 15, 1859, a few days after I had published a history of the trial of my brother at Oswego, 1 received from the Speaker of the House of Parliament of Upper Canada, the following note:
TORONTO, April 15, 1859.
Mr. THOMAS LETT:-
Sir: I remember your kindness for your brother Benjamin when he was in trouble; the same excellent feeling has prompted you to defend his memory when dead. I have just received your pamphlet, and was very sorry to hear of Benjamin’s cruel death. He was warm-hearted and brave as Man can be. I published his life; I am trying to find a copy to send you. Meantime I send you my copy of his trial in exchange for yours.
Best wishes to yourself and friends.
Respectfully Yours,
WM. L. McKENZIE.
NOTES.
NOTE I.-Are not the authorities of Milwaukee guilty of murder and robbery, by so refusing to hold an inquest, at the same time knowing the crimes were committed? Perhaps they had read the London Times, declaring Lett a “fiend let loose,” and had concluded they would quietly assist in getting him out of the way without making public the causes which led to his death.
NOTE II.-These statements of my lawyers were made in response to my telling them “not to hold my hands behind my back while my brother’s murderers robbed me.” Manier had conversed with several of the best citizens of LaSalle county, and told them that he was not a partner of and had had no dealing whatever with Lett, and was but a passenger on the steamer with him.” I had these men as witnesses to prove this conversation, yet Judge Hollister refused to admit the evidence on the ground of “incompetency,” but allowed the deposition of Manier to go to the jury because it was “necessary to prove partnership.” For these and other reasons I appealed to the Supreme Court, well knowing if I could get that tribunal to pass on the case, my evidence would be admitted, Mannier’s refused, and justice be meted out. The testimony of liars and perjurers are to be admitted and the privilege of impeachment denied, then very sad and deplorable is the condition of our courts, and of little avail our boasted magna charta; besides, the deposition itself was an insult to all law, decency and common sense, and should have been stricken from the files as not being pertinent to the issue, and our Supreme Court has frequently held that a jury is bound not to believe an absurdity of any kind, although admitted in evidence in the case.
NOTE III.-This same Dafoe was a hired assassin in the employ of the one government, bent on the destruction of Lett, while the other government pardoned him after he’ had secured Lett’s imprisonment by proving himself a perjurer and villain.
NOTE IV.-C. B. Taylor, in his history of the United States, published in the year 1855, on page 604 says: “In October, 1840, Alexander McLeod, a resident of Upper Canada, was arrested and committed to jail at Lockport, N. Y., on the charge of murder, as having been one of the narty who destroyed the Caroline. The British Government remonstrated through their minister against making McLeod answerable for an act in which, if he participated, he was only executing the commands of a superior officer.- Notwithstanding this, he was removed to Utica and confined there until his trial, which took place in October, 1841, when having proved an alibi, he was set at liberty. Both countries were thus relieved from an embarrassing situation.” How were they relieved? By the United States charging Great Britain with this wholesale murder, and their retort, “we are guilty, and dare you to resent it!” Taylor rushed before the world without any covering, other than withered fig-leaf, which he clapped upon his eyes, exposed his own and his country’s nakedness, and the only apology to be offered for introducing himself among historians is that he happened to be able to use the pen. Governor Thomas Ford, in his History of Illinois, on page 421, says that “there is no doubt but that the power to change the venue in criminal cases, which the constitution of New York vested in the Supreme Court to be executed at discretion, has operated well in all cases of local excitement; and probably saved a war with England, which was likely to grow out of the trial of McLeod for the murder of Durfee and burning the Caroline steamboat on the Niagara frontier.” The whole history of McLeod’s trial shows that the State authorities first examined all persons who might be used as witnesses, and afterward purposely called none on the stand to testify who knew anything of the case. The alibi of McLeod was proven by a Miss Robinson a base British prostitute, who swore she had him in her custody the night the Caroline was destroyed. With such base means did the courts of New York clear McLeod and reward crime; while the same Judge found Lett guilty, thereby punishing innocence!
NOTE V;-If Wright’s decision is a just criterion by which to judge the veracity of the American nation, then the foulest devil in hell would shudder and shrink back with horror, lest the touch of an American would pollute said devil, while said American passed to the black, unexplored regions of hell to take up his final abode.
NOTE VI.-Governor Samuel J. Tilden said of Wright, “that he was Ms friend and his father’s friend,” and yet this same Tilden utterly neglected to defend him, redress his wrongs, or cause the lie on record to be expunged, although I requested him to do so, and at the same time sent him a copy of the facts and circumstances of the case.
NOTE VII.-Although Left was sentenced June 25, 1840, and was at once hastened off for his destined cell at Auburn, on a special train, shackled and handcuffed and under guard of two sheriffs, when about ten miles from Oswego, Lett got away from the guards and jumped from the doorway in the side of the car, down an embankment twenty feet high. Slipping the cuffs over his hands, and cutting the shackles from his ankles, he managed to elude pursuit, went to Illinois, where he remained until September, 1841, when he returned to New York. While in Buffalo he was re-arrested by a company of armed policemen at the residence of the mate of a steamer. This “mate,” had invited Lett to partake of his hospitality, and after stealing away his arms managed to have the policemen rush bravely in and “scoop” him.- He was then conveyed to State Prison at Auburn, where he was committed Sept. 7, having been this time taken under orders of Governor Seward, who had offered a reward of $1,000 therefore.
The great question I ask all civilized nations is WHETHER THE VERACITY OF ALL THE TRUE MEN OF THE AMERICAN NATION SHALL BE MADE SUBSERVIENT TO THAT OF SUCH WRETCHES AS DAFOE?
THOMAS LETT.
Sandwich, DeKalb Co., Ill., Nov. 1, 1876."
What caused Ben Lett to leave Leland, which resulted in his demise? . . .
British agents were in Ottawa and Earlville, IL, and took advantage of a liquor dispute to frame Ben Lett to get him to leave the state - and the protection of his family.
Earlville had a man named Jonathan Reed selling liquor illegally. The British stopped him. Reed and his pals arsoned the NEW brick schoolhouse in Earlville, and it blew up.
Immediately the British agents began spreading it that only one person could blow up a building and that was the infamous Ben Lett, in their midst!!! Emotions ran high and Reed slunk to the wayside for awhile.
Ben couldn't downplay it as they were saying he was right down the tracks from Earlville, etc., etc. So Ben got his gear and went off on a trading trip (via Milwaukee) to give the courts a chance to work on REED. He was murdered on that trip.
There were agents in Ottawa, IL, asking about Springsteads and Letts. They intercepted the mail which delayed Tom Lett receiving word of his brother's plight in Milwaukee. And an Ottawa man got paid off (for his services involved in holding mail), as well as a Milwaukee judge got paid off, too, BIG TIME. (same as what happened in 1840, the corrupt Oswego, NY, judge was suddenly VERY wealthy and built a mansion after Ben's trial and conviction.)
(While Ben Lett was being murdered, Bill Cottew (the husband of Sara Lett Springstead Cottew, the Poet) was brought up on charges of drunken rape of a minor girl. Bill Cottew had a problem with the bottle and with his anger.)
General Notes: Child - Sarah Sally Lett
Sarah was born with certain physical deformities and a cleft pallette. Sarah was an author of Poetry and songs.
Doctor (Sarah) Ida Cottew, her daughter, published her mother's poems, "Mother's Poems", in 1901 and 1906, 177 pages, 8 leaves of plates.
As of 2002, copies of the book reside at the following Libraries:
Heritage Trail Library System
Illinois State Historical Library
Reddick Library, Ottawa, IL
Minnesota Historical Society
University of Southern California
Loyola University, Chicago
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Brown University, NY
McMurry University
Kendall Young Public Library, Webster City, IA
Excerpt from Pages 138-139 of:
Publication Number 13 of the Illinois State Histrorical Library:
Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the year 1908
Ninth Annual Meeting of the Society, Springfield, lll., January 30-31, 1908.
Published by Authority of the
Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Histrorical Library, Springfield: Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers, 1909
"About the same time, in the northern end of the State, another poet was sighing over the sad fate that condemned her to live and die unappreciated. Sarah Lett was born in Chatham, Ontario, in 1824, afflicted with a frail body, and, in her early years, an impediment in speech. Nevertheless she possessed an intelligent mind and a poetic nature, as the sequel showed. Having lost both father and mother, the remnant of the family, after various wanderings, drifted to the northern part of LaSalle County, where Sara married a young farmer named Cotteau, whose family had settled a short distance from the Lett homestead.
Being of a sensitive disposition, she lived among her books and flowers, as quiet a life as was compatible with the manifold duties of a pioneer farmer's wife; reading her weekly newspaper at night by the light of fireplace and tallow candle. And all the while, she was singing blithely or sadly, her own little songs, almost as spontaneously and unconsciously as the birds sang in the trees about her door. Some of these little poems found a haven in the columns of the weekly newspapers of the day, and a few were set to music, that she never heard sung.
She sang of the every-day things that hedged her in-of her joys and sorrows, but most of all she sang of patriotism-of the heroes of her own Canadian home, of her adopted country's flag,' of the gallant deeds of the boys in blue, of the sorrow and pity of slavery and oppression everywhere. That she longed for a larger audience and more intelligent appreciation is shown by her half-ironical, half-sad author's preface:
"Oh, isn't it hard to be a poet,
And live and die, and let nobody know it!
To sing your songs to the passing breeze,
Or jot them down when nobody sees,-
Poor little pitiful things like these!"
Years after her death, her poems were painstakingly gathered from hither and yon, by her daughter, Ida Cotteau, of whom she sang, as a child:
"She stood by the pasture bars, And she looked so pretty and sweet; Her eyes were like luminous stars; There was dust on her little bare feet."
The problem of finding a publisher for the little old-fashioned songs, was solved by means of an advertisement in a Chicago paper; and, after half a lifetime, (Dr. Sarah) Ida Cotteau had the satisfaction of completing her labor of love, and only just in time, for, a few weeks ago, she, too, passed away.
The poetry of early Illinois may need an occasional twist in the pronunciation to help out a rhyme, or it may now and then be necessary to use artificial means to keep its metrical feet from "interfering," but three characteristics it undoubtedly possessed-religious fervor, patriotism and appreciation of the beauties of nature.
That some of our early Illinois poets were crude in their manner of expressing the message that clamored "to be heard of mankind," there is no use denying; but, when all is said and done, I doubt very much whether the newspaper jingles of the present day will stand very much higher in the estimation of coming generations than those perpetrated by our forefathers and mothers.
Our aim nowadays, seems to be solely to amuse, but these pioneer verses, almost without exception, bring in their hands some underlying admonition, precept or moral to justify their presence upon the sea of literature. It may be more practical to hitch your Pegasus to a fence-post, but even the frustrated attempt to hitch him to a star ought to be more uplifting."
Husband Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Born: December 26, 1855 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: August 30, 1921 - Sandwich, IL
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Merrilla Jerusha Pease
Marriage: August 12, 1884 - Niagra Falls, NY
Wife Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Born: January 20, 1865 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: February 22, 1953 - Sandwich, Lasalle County, IL
Buried:
Father: Alonzo Nichols
Mother:
Father: Alonzo Nichols
Mother:
Other Spouse: Charles Patten - September 29, 1925
Children
1 M Clare Everett Lett
Born: August 12, 1885 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: July 9, 1962
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Ethel Abigail Patten
Marr: April 14, 1906 - Sandwich, IL
2 M Herbert Samuel Lett
Born: November 30, 1887
Baptized:
Died: December 3, 1969
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Bessie Van Tassell
Marr: November 30, 1911
Spouse: Esther A. Noack
Marr: February 8, 1917
3 M Charles Nichols Lett
Born: July 30, 1890
Baptized:
Died: October 10, 1951
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Lillian Rohrer
Marr: February 10, 1913
General Notes: Husband - Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
1901 - Samuel's Mother, Merrilla Jerusha Pease Lett, was living with him at the time of her death, in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL.
In about 1905-1906, a document was filed with the LaSalle County Recorder's Office, stating all differences between Samuel Jackson Lett and his sister Mary A. Lett Montgomery, regarding matters of inheritance as a result of their parents, Thomas and Merilla Lett, had been settled.
Husband Harvey Springstead
Born: 1821 - Clay, Onandaga County, NY
Baptized:
Died: 1850 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Springstead Family Burial Ground, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Jeremiah Springstead
Mother: Comfort Kinne
Marriage: September 3, 1843 - Lasalle County, IL
Wife Sarah Sally Lett
Born: February 29, 1824 - Chatham Township, Quebec Region, Canada
Baptized:
Died: August 11, 1887 - Adams Township, Lasalle County, IL
Cause of Death: Diptheria
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Other Spouse: William Cottew - July 26, 1852
Children
1 M Oscar Springstead
Born: 1848
Baptized:
Died: September 1850
Cause of Death: Dysentary
Buried: - Springstead Family Burial Ground, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
2 M Albert Springstead
Born: 1848
Baptized:
Died: September 1850
Cause of Death: Dysentary
Buried: - Springstead Family Burial Ground, Serena Township, Lasalle County, IL
General Notes: Wife - Sarah Sally Lett
Sarah was born with certain physical deformities and a cleft pallette. Sarah was an author of Poetry and songs.
Doctor (Sarah) Ida Cottew, her daughter, published her mother's poems, "Mother's Poems", in 1901 and 1906, 177 pages, 8 leaves of plates.
As of 2002, copies of the book reside at the following Libraries:
Heritage Trail Library System
Illinois State Historical Library
Reddick Library, Ottawa, IL
Minnesota Historical Society
University of Southern California
Loyola University, Chicago
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Brown University, NY
McMurry University
Kendall Young Public Library, Webster City, IA
Excerpt from Pages 138-139 of:
Publication Number 13 of the Illinois State Histrorical Library:
Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the year 1908
Ninth Annual Meeting of the Society, Springfield, lll., January 30-31, 1908.
Published by Authority of the
Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Histrorical Library, Springfield: Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers, 1909
"About the same time, in the northern end of the State, another poet was sighing over the sad fate that condemned her to live and die unappreciated. Sarah Lett was born in Chatham, Ontario, in 1824, afflicted with a frail body, and, in her early years, an impediment in speech. Nevertheless she possessed an intelligent mind and a poetic nature, as the sequel showed. Having lost both father and mother, the remnant of the family, after various wanderings, drifted to the northern part of LaSalle County, where Sara married a young farmer named Cotteau, whose family had settled a short distance from the Lett homestead.
Being of a sensitive disposition, she lived among her books and flowers, as quiet a life as was compatible with the manifold duties of a pioneer farmer's wife; reading her weekly newspaper at night by the light of fireplace and tallow candle. And all the while, she was singing blithely or sadly, her own little songs, almost as spontaneously and unconsciously as the birds sang in the trees about her door. Some of these little poems found a haven in the columns of the weekly newspapers of the day, and a few were set to music, that she never heard sung.
She sang of the every-day things that hedged her in-of her joys and sorrows, but most of all she sang of patriotism-of the heroes of her own Canadian home, of her adopted country's flag,' of the gallant deeds of the boys in blue, of the sorrow and pity of slavery and oppression everywhere. That she longed for a larger audience and more intelligent appreciation is shown by her half-ironical, half-sad author's preface:
"Oh, isn't it hard to be a poet,
And live and die, and let nobody know it!
To sing your songs to the passing breeze,
Or jot them down when nobody sees,-
Poor little pitiful things like these!"
Years after her death, her poems were painstakingly gathered from hither and yon, by her daughter, Ida Cotteau, of whom she sang, as a child:
"She stood by the pasture bars, And she looked so pretty and sweet; Her eyes were like luminous stars; There was dust on her little bare feet."
The problem of finding a publisher for the little old-fashioned songs, was solved by means of an advertisement in a Chicago paper; and, after half a lifetime, (Dr. Sarah) Ida Cotteau had the satisfaction of completing her labor of love, and only just in time, for, a few weeks ago, she, too, passed away.
The poetry of early Illinois may need an occasional twist in the pronunciation to help out a rhyme, or it may now and then be necessary to use artificial means to keep its metrical feet from "interfering," but three characteristics it undoubtedly possessed-religious fervor, patriotism and appreciation of the beauties of nature.
That some of our early Illinois poets were crude in their manner of expressing the message that clamored "to be heard of mankind," there is no use denying; but, when all is said and done, I doubt very much whether the newspaper jingles of the present day will stand very much higher in the estimation of coming generations than those perpetrated by our forefathers and mothers.
Our aim nowadays, seems to be solely to amuse, but these pioneer verses, almost without exception, bring in their hands some underlying admonition, precept or moral to justify their presence upon the sea of literature. It may be more practical to hitch your Pegasus to a fence-post, but even the frustrated attempt to hitch him to a star ought to be more uplifting."
Husband George Yeets
Born: - Sanilac County, MI
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Sarah J. Lett
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Thomas Lett
Mother: Jane Craig
Children
Husband Thomas Lett
Born: June 17, 1809 - Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: July 8, 1885 - Sandwich, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Marriage: May 1, 1839 - Lewiston, Niagara County, NY
Other Spouse: Merrilla Jerusha Pease - February 23, 1843 - Kendall County, IL
Wife Sophronia Nichols
Born: - Lewiston, Niagara County, NY
Baptized:
Died: November 6, 1839 - Natchitoches, LA
Buried:
Father: Gad Pierce Nichols
Mother:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Thomas Lett
Moved with his Mother, Elizabeth, and his brothers and sisters from Canada to Texas to Illinois, via Arkansas and Kentucky, all between 1837 and 1839. His wife and his sister Anne succumbed to yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Shortly thereafter, in 1839, Thomas and the remaining family moved to Illinois, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, wintering 1839-40 in Kentucky along the way, and into northern LaSalle County, Northville Township. The family of Jeremiah and Comfort Kinne Springstead were the first people they met when they arrived at Ottawa, IL, in 1840. Three of the Lett daughters would marry three of the Springstead sons. There families woud intertwine for many more years.
In 1843 Thomas "broke sod where Sandwich now stands", according to J. Ivor Montgomery's writings, most likely after just marrying Merilla Jerusha Pease, 23 Feb 1843, immediately establishing the Lett Farm Homestead just south of Sandwich, IL, in Northville Township.
Thomas purchased many land parcels which were wooded in the area of lower Adams and upper Serena Townships, and in Northville Township, LaSalle County. The Letts were farmers and loggers by trade, back in Canada.
Among other lands, Thomas entered US Government land in LaSalle County, IL, in 1840, later gaining these 10 Mar 1843 dated Federal Land Grants:
80 acres: E1/2 of the W1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6695. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SE1/4, Sec 21, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6696. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SW1/4, Sec 26, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6697. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
80 acres: S1/2 of the E1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6718. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
11 Sep 1848, Warranty Deed: purchased 160 Acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, from Wm. Cumberland for $300.00.
26 Sep 1876, sold 160 acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, to son Samuel Jackson Lett.
Thomas and Merilla's first four children all died before 1853;
Richard, b 25 Mar 1844, d 7 Oct 1844, at 6-1/2 months old;
Sarah, b 18 Feb 1846, d 25 May 1849, at 3 years 3 months old;
John, b 4 Aug 1848, d 9 Sep 1851, at 3 years 1 month old;
Harriet, b 13 Jan 1852, d 29 Oct 1853, at 1 year 9 months old
And then came;
Mary A. (Amanda?) Lett, b 1 Dec 1853, 1 month after Harriet died;
Samuel Jackson, b 26 Dec 1855, d 30 Aug 1921.
In the 1860 US Census, Mary, age 6, and Samuel, age 4, are listed with Thomas and Merilla in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL. The Charles and Marie Gould family, with their 3 children, appear also living with Thomas and Merilla under the same roof. (Dwelling 581; Families 588 (Lett) and 589 (Gould))
Living in Sandwich with wife Merilla, in 1885, where he died.
Obituary of Thomas Lett, b 17 June 1809, d 8 July 1885
(From The Aurora Beacon, July 1885?, submitted by J. Ivor Montgomery "of this city"?)
(with Benjamin Lett edited out)
Thomas Lett was born in Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland, June 17th in the year 1809 and died at his home on Church St., in Sandwich, Ill., July 8, 1885, aged 76 years, 21 days.
His father was Samuel Lett, and his mother Elizabeth Warren Lett. While young his mother passed through the rebellion in Ireland of 1798 alive, barely; others of the family having been killed for their loyalty to Great Britain. Elizabeth, then eleven years old, was twice imprisoned to be burned alive, but each time was saved by the British Dragoons. Elizabeth’s only brother, Benjamin Warren, 20 years old, was taken out of his mother’s house and barbarously murdered: he was at first shot, but finding this did not kill him, his murderers ran his body through twenty-four times with spikes. Subsequently, at his own solicitations, his brains were beaten out with a club to end his sufferings. His body was then left in the streets of Wexford, to be devoured by swine.
In June, 1819, the father and mother of Thomas Lett emigrated from Ireland to Chatham, Lower Canada, with their sons, Robert, who died one year ago last winter at his home in LaSalle County, John, who died several years ago, Benjamin, who was poisoned in 1858, and four daughters, Ann, long since died, Elizabeth, Maria, and Sarah, now living.
In Sept., 1824, the father of Thomas Lett was killed by an accident, leaving a widow and seven children.
From 1830 to 1832, Thomas Lett was engaged in lumbering and rafting upon the Ottawa River, one of the most dangerous rivers for rafting purposes in America.
In 1833, the mother and seven children removed to Darlington, Upper Canada on Lake Ontario, and again west to Solina, Upper Canada, where the brothers continued to engage in lumbering and rafting.
In 1838 Thomas Lett was married to Sophronia Nichols, of Niagara County, N. Y., and the same year all the Lett family removed to Texas. (NOTE: Original Land Agreement / Promissory Note given to Thomas Lett for a “league of land” - 14,300 acres - in Texas exists, and is dated 1838.)
While south, in 1839, his mother Elizabeth died in Nacogdoches, TX, and later his wife Mrs. Sophronia Lett and his sister Ann died of yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Immediately, in 1839, the remainder of the family removed for LaSalle County, Illinois, wintering over 1839-1840 in Kentucky, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, disembarking at Ottawa, IL, early 1840.
Feb. 23, 1843, Thomas Lett was married to Merrilla Pease, daughter of Sylvanus Pease, then of Kendall County, Illinois. They moved at once upon his farm in the Township of Northville, in LaSalle County, which he had bought in 1840.
In 1862 and 1864 Mr. Lett erected two monuments to the memory of his brother Benjamin, in the Lett Cemetery which are wonderfully descriptive of his life; one of which contains over eight thousand letters alone.
In 1883, Thomas Lett and wife moved to Sandwich where they have since resided.
Six children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lett, four of whom died in early years. The other two are Mary A., wife of J. Ivor Montgomery, of this city, and Samuel Lett, of Northville, LaSalle.
Husband Thomas Lett
Born: June 17, 1809 - Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland
Baptized:
Died: July 8, 1885 - Sandwich, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Samuel Lett
Mother: Elizabeth Warren
Marriage: February 23, 1843 - Kendall County, IL
Other Spouse: Sophronia Nichols - May 1, 1839 - Lewiston, Niagara County, NY
Wife Merrilla Jerusha Pease
Born: March 10, 1824 - Howard, Steuben County, NY
Baptized:
Died: December 15, 1901 - Sandwich, Lasalle County, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Father: Sylvanus Pease
Mother: Charlotte Lottie Taylor
Children
1 M Richard M. Lett
Born: March 25, 1844 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: October 7, 1844
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
2 F Sarah Amelia Lett
Born: February 18, 1846 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 25, 1849
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
3 M John W. Lett
Born: August 4, 1848 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: September 9, 1851
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
4 F Harriett Almeda Lett
Born: January 13, 1852 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: October 29, 1853
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
5 F Mary Aleumena Lett
Born: December 1, 1853 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: May 9, 1929 - Aurora, IL
Buried: - Lett Cemetery, Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Spouse: James Ivor Montgomery
Marr: May 21, 1871 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
6 M Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
Born: December 26, 1855 - Northville Township, Lasalle County, IL
Baptized:
Died: August 30, 1921 - Sandwich, IL
Buried: - Oak Ridge Cemetery, Sandwich, IL
Spouse: Phoebe Lorena Nichols
Marr: August 12, 1884 - Niagra Falls, NY
General Notes: Husband - Thomas Lett
Moved with his Mother, Elizabeth, and his brothers and sisters from Canada to Texas to Illinois, via Arkansas and Kentucky, all between 1837 and 1839. His wife and his sister Anne succumbed to yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Shortly thereafter, in 1839, Thomas and the remaining family moved to Illinois, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, wintering 1839-40 in Kentucky along the way, and into northern LaSalle County, Northville Township. The family of Jeremiah and Comfort Kinne Springstead were the first people they met when they arrived at Ottawa, IL, in 1840. Three of the Lett daughters would marry three of the Springstead sons. There families woud intertwine for many more years.
In 1843 Thomas "broke sod where Sandwich now stands", according to J. Ivor Montgomery's writings, most likely after just marrying Merilla Jerusha Pease, 23 Feb 1843, immediately establishing the Lett Farm Homestead just south of Sandwich, IL, in Northville Township.
Thomas purchased many land parcels which were wooded in the area of lower Adams and upper Serena Townships, and in Northville Township, LaSalle County. The Letts were farmers and loggers by trade, back in Canada.
Among other lands, Thomas entered US Government land in LaSalle County, IL, in 1840, later gaining these 10 Mar 1843 dated Federal Land Grants:
80 acres: E1/2 of the W1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6695. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SE1/4, Sec 21, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6696. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
40 acres: SW1/4 of the SW1/4, Sec 26, Twsp 36N, R4E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6697. (south of Sandwich, Northville Township)
80 acres: S1/2 of the E1/4, Sec 22, Twsp 36N, R5E, Sands District, Certificate No. 6718. (southwest of Sandwich, Adams Township)
11 Sep 1848, Warranty Deed: purchased 160 Acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, from Wm. Cumberland for $300.00.
26 Sep 1876, sold 160 acres, NW1/4.23.36.5, to son Samuel Jackson Lett.
Thomas and Merilla's first four children all died before 1853;
Richard, b 25 Mar 1844, d 7 Oct 1844, at 6-1/2 months old;
Sarah, b 18 Feb 1846, d 25 May 1849, at 3 years 3 months old;
John, b 4 Aug 1848, d 9 Sep 1851, at 3 years 1 month old;
Harriet, b 13 Jan 1852, d 29 Oct 1853, at 1 year 9 months old
And then came;
Mary A. (Amanda?) Lett, b 1 Dec 1853, 1 month after Harriet died;
Samuel Jackson, b 26 Dec 1855, d 30 Aug 1921.
In the 1860 US Census, Mary, age 6, and Samuel, age 4, are listed with Thomas and Merilla in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL. The Charles and Marie Gould family, with their 3 children, appear also living with Thomas and Merilla under the same roof. (Dwelling 581; Families 588 (Lett) and 589 (Gould))
Living in Sandwich with wife Merilla, in 1885, where he died.
Obituary of Thomas Lett, b 17 June 1809, d 8 July 1885
(From The Aurora Beacon, July 1885?, submitted by J. Ivor Montgomery "of this city"?)
(with Benjamin Lett edited out)
Thomas Lett was born in Kildemond, County Carlow, Ireland, June 17th in the year 1809 and died at his home on Church St., in Sandwich, Ill., July 8, 1885, aged 76 years, 21 days.
His father was Samuel Lett, and his mother Elizabeth Warren Lett. While young his mother passed through the rebellion in Ireland of 1798 alive, barely; others of the family having been killed for their loyalty to Great Britain. Elizabeth, then eleven years old, was twice imprisoned to be burned alive, but each time was saved by the British Dragoons. Elizabeth’s only brother, Benjamin Warren, 20 years old, was taken out of his mother’s house and barbarously murdered: he was at first shot, but finding this did not kill him, his murderers ran his body through twenty-four times with spikes. Subsequently, at his own solicitations, his brains were beaten out with a club to end his sufferings. His body was then left in the streets of Wexford, to be devoured by swine.
In June, 1819, the father and mother of Thomas Lett emigrated from Ireland to Chatham, Lower Canada, with their sons, Robert, who died one year ago last winter at his home in LaSalle County, John, who died several years ago, Benjamin, who was poisoned in 1858, and four daughters, Ann, long since died, Elizabeth, Maria, and Sarah, now living.
In Sept., 1824, the father of Thomas Lett was killed by an accident, leaving a widow and seven children.
From 1830 to 1832, Thomas Lett was engaged in lumbering and rafting upon the Ottawa River, one of the most dangerous rivers for rafting purposes in America.
In 1833, the mother and seven children removed to Darlington, Upper Canada on Lake Ontario, and again west to Solina, Upper Canada, where the brothers continued to engage in lumbering and rafting.
In 1838 Thomas Lett was married to Sophronia Nichols, of Niagara County, N. Y., and the same year all the Lett family removed to Texas. (NOTE: Original Land Agreement / Promissory Note given to Thomas Lett for a “league of land” - 14,300 acres - in Texas exists, and is dated 1838.)
While south, in 1839, his mother Elizabeth died in Nacogdoches, TX, and later his wife Mrs. Sophronia Lett and his sister Ann died of yellow fever in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Immediately, in 1839, the remainder of the family removed for LaSalle County, Illinois, wintering over 1839-1840 in Kentucky, traveling up the Mississippi River onto the Illinois River, disembarking at Ottawa, IL, early 1840.
Feb. 23, 1843, Thomas Lett was married to Merrilla Pease, daughter of Sylvanus Pease, then of Kendall County, Illinois. They moved at once upon his farm in the Township of Northville, in LaSalle County, which he had bought in 1840.
In 1862 and 1864 Mr. Lett erected two monuments to the memory of his brother Benjamin, in the Lett Cemetery which are wonderfully descriptive of his life; one of which contains over eight thousand letters alone.
In 1883, Thomas Lett and wife moved to Sandwich where they have since resided.
Six children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lett, four of whom died in early years. The other two are Mary A., wife of J. Ivor Montgomery, of this city, and Samuel Lett, of Northville, LaSalle.
General Notes: Wife - Merrilla Jerusha Pease
Settled in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL, in 1838, at the age of 14, with her Mother and Father and siblings.
Merilla Pease Lett was the fifth child of twelve in the family of Sylvanus and Lottie Taylor Pease.
General Notes: Child - John W. Lett
Was John named after his father's brother, his Uncle John Lett?
General Notes: Child - Mary Aleumena Lett
Was Mary's middle name Amanda?
Thomas had 3 sisters who each married 3 Springstead brothers. Those 3 Springstead brothers had a younger sister named Amanda Harriet.
General Notes: Child - Samuel Jackson Pease Lett
1901 - Samuel's Mother, Merrilla Jerusha Pease Lett, was living with him at the time of her death, in Northville Township, LaSalle County, IL.
In about 1905-1906, a document was filed with the LaSalle County Recorder's Office, stating all differences between Samuel Jackson Lett and his sister Mary A. Lett Montgomery, regarding matters of inheritance as a result of their parents, Thomas and Merilla Lett, had been settled.
Husband Thomas J. Lett
Born: December 1872 - Greenwood, St. Clair County, MI
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John Lett
Mother: Sarah F. Currier
Marriage: November 18, 1896 - Yale, MI
Wife Maude Segade
Born: 1877
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Frederick K. Segade
Mother: Augusta Spore
Children
1 F Hazel Elizabeth Lett
Born: September 12, 1897 - Greenwood, St. Clair County, MI
Baptized:
Died: September 1979 - Pinellas, FL
Buried:
Spouse: Black
2 M Floyd J. Lett
Born: October 1, 1899 - Michigan
Baptized:
Died: 1902 - St. Clair, MI
Buried:
Husband Thomas Lettice
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Elizabeth Lettice
Born:
Baptized:
Died: October 31, 1693 - Swansea, MA
Buried:
Spouse: Jacob Cooke 13
2 F Dorothy Lettice
Born:
Baptized:
Died: - Plymouth, MA
Buried:
Spouse: Edward Gray
Husband German Philbrick
Born: 1863
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Francis Gilman Philbrick
Mother: Rosina W. Richardson
Marriage:
Wife Lettie
Born: 1865
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Mathew Webster
Born: - Ipswich, Essex, MA
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Phoebe Or Lettie
Born: - Oulton, Suffolk, England
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M John Webster
Born:
Baptized:
Died: 1645 - Ipswich, Essex, MA
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Shatswell
Marr: 1634
Husband Nicolas Roy
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: - France
Wife Madeleine Letu
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Nicolas Roy
Born: - Arcanville, Caux, , France
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Catherine Barre
Marr: October 22, 1663 - Quebec, , Qc
Husband Matthew Ap Leuan
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Robert Ap Mathew
Born: 1368 - Castell Kibwr, Brynwith, Glamorgan, Glamorganshire, Wales
Baptized:
Died: 1419 - Llandaff, Glamorgan, Glamorganshire, Wales
Buried:
Spouse: Jonet Fleming
Marr: 1400
Husband Adalbert I Count Von Ebersberg
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Ratold Count Von Ebersberg
Mother: Engelmat
Marriage:
Wife Leucarde
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Marquis Ulrich Ebersberg Krain
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Isar
Husband Ness Of Leuchars
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: 1135
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Orbella Of Leuchars
Born: 1135 - Long Buckley, Northamptonshire, England
Baptized:
Died: June 1203 - England
Buried:
Spouse: Robert I De Quincy
Marr: 1155 - England
Husband Robert Quincy
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Orabella Leuchars
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Saier Quincy Fourth
Born: 1155 - Winchester, Hampshire, England
Baptized:
Died: November 3, 1219 - Damietta, On Way To Holy Land, Palestine
Buried: 1219 - Acre, Palestine
Spouse: Margaret Beaumont
Husband William Leuchars
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Ness De Leuchars
Born: 1107 - Loches, Fifeshire, Scotland
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Death Notes: Child - Ness De Leuchars
Husband Carl Leucht
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Maria Netzel
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Mary Rose Leicht
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Christian Stahl
Marr: February 24, 1886 - Huntington, IN
Husband Plumer
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Plumer
Mother: Joyce
Marriage:
Wife Leue
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Plumer
rEFERENCE SOURCES CAN BE FOUND IN THE INDEX AS REFERENCES THEY ARE CONTAINED IN FOUR FILES UNDER REFERENCES
TO VIEW REFERENCES GO TO THE INDEX AND SELECT REFERENCES THEY ARE GROUPED INTO FOUR FILES.
General Notes: Wife - Leue
rEFERENCE SOURCES CAN BE FOUND IN THE INDEX AS REFERENCES THEY ARE CONTAINED IN FOUR FILES UNDER REFERENCES
TO VIEW REFERENCES GO TO THE INDEX AND SELECT REFERENCES THEY ARE GROUPED INTO FOUR FILES.
Husband Jacques Pilon
Born: March 26, 1767 - Ste-Anne-DE-Bellevue, Vaudreuil, Qc
Baptized: March 28, 1767 - Ste-Anne-DE-Bellevue, Vaudreuil, Qc
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jacques Pilon
Mother: Francoise Charlebois
Marriage: May 14, 1810 - St-Joseph, Les Cèdres, Cté DE Soulanges, Qc
Other Spouse: Francoise Sagala Sanschagrin - October 12, 1789 - St-Joseph, Les Cèdres, Cté DE Soulanges, Qc
Wife Martin Levac
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Death Notes: Husband - Jacques Pilon
Husband Leonard Montreau Francoeur
Born: 1646 - Maillé, Vienne, France
Baptized:
Died: - St-Antoine-DE-Longueuil, Qc
Buried: - Ste-Famille-DE-Boucherville, Qc
Father: Leonard Montreau
Mother: Jeanne Canin
Marriage: - Notre-Dame-DE-Montréal, Qc
Wife Marguerite Levaigneur
Born: 1651 - St-Saëns, Seine-Maritime, France
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Jean Levaigneur
Mother: Perrette Cailletot
Children
1 F Barbe Montreau Francoeur
Born: 1669
Baptized:
Died: - Terrebonne, Qc
Buried: - Terrebonne, Qc
Spouse: Pierre Gareau St Onge
Marr: November 13, 1684 - Ste-Famille-DE-Boucherville, Qc
Death Notes: Wife - Marguerite Levaigneur
Husband Pierre Mourier
Born: 1636 - France
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: April 26, 1677 - Notre-Dame-DE-Québec, Qc
Wife Suzanne Levalet
Born: 1661
Baptized:
Died: - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Buried: - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Children
1 F Marie Mourier
Born: October 26, 1682
Baptized: October 27, 1682
Died: August 26, 1742 - Québec, Qc
Buried: September 27, 1742 - Notre-Dame-DE-Québec, Qc
Spouse: Charles Genest Labarre
Marr: November 25, 1699 - St-Jean-Baptiste, Ile-D'orléans, Cté Montmorency, Qc
Death Notes: Husband - Pierre Mourier
Husband Christopher W. Levalley
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Noted events in his life were:
1. Fact 1
See Note Page
Wife Ellen P. Spencer
Born: February 14, 1844
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Owen Spencer
Mother: Mary Pitkin
Children
Husband James L. Levalley
Born: 1892
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: January 8, 1913 - Lapeer County, Michigan, USA
Wife Beatrice McNevin
Born: February 26, 1896 - Michigan, USA
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Duncan McNevin
Mother: Violetta Churchill
Children
Husband Jacques Levanier Langevin
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: 1687 - Acadie, , , Nouvelle-Ecosse, Canada,
Wife Jeanne Pelletret 14 15
Born: 1643 - Paris France 16 17 18
Baptized:
Died: January 10, 1706 - Port-Royal 17 19
Buried: January 11, 1706 - Port-Royal 17 19
Father: Simon Pelletret 14 20 21 22 23
Mother: Perrine Bourg 14 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Other Spouse: Barnabe Martin - 1666 - Port-Royal Annapolis , , Acadie, Nouvelle-Ecosse, Canada, N.E. Can
Noted events in her life were:
1. AKA 31
2. Census 32, 1671
3. Census 33, 1678
4. Census 34, 1686
5. Census 35, 1693
6. Census 36, 1700
Children
General Notes: Wife - Jeanne Pelletret
From a doubtful source. Must be verified in primary source
Husband Christopher Levanseller
Born: August 26, 1771 - Waldoboro, Maine
Baptized:
Died: - Belfast, Maine
Buried:
Father: Christophel Lievenzollner
Mother: Elizabetha Ulmer
Marriage: December 18, 1795 - Camden, Maine
Wife Jemimah Young
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Leonard W. Levanseller
Born:
Baptized:
Died: February 12, 1867
Buried:
Spouse: Evaline Benner
Marr: May 10, 1832 - Waldoboro, Maine
2 M John K. Levanseller
Born: May 21, 1807 - Waldoboro, Maine
Baptized:
Died: July 8, 1868 - Waldoboro, Maine
Buried:
Spouse: Sarah W. Gay
Husband Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Grace Lynch
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Stephen Steven Lynch
Mother: Helen Smith Lunt
Children
Husband Thibodeau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Adren Thibodeau
Mother: Izy Theriault
Marriage:
Wife Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 F Thibodeau
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Husband Norbert Miville Deschenes
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Pierre Miville Deschenes
Mother: Marie Rose Levesque
Marriage: June 11, 1855 - Kamouraska, Qc
Wife Adelaïde Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Anselme Levasseur
Mother: Euphrosine Labourliere Laplante
Children
1 F Olivia Deschenes
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Cyprien Ouellet
Marr: May 14, 1889 - St-Pascal, Kamouraska, Qc
Husband Adelard Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Felix Levasseur
Mother: Helene Ouellet
Marriage: September 14, 1915 - Pohénégamook St-Eleuthère , Kamouraska, Qc
Wife Elisabeth Sirois
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Polycarpe Sirois
Mother: Exilda Guilda Dionne
Children
1 F Berthe Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Alphonse Ouellet
Marr: July 15, 1944 - Pohénégamook St-Eleuthère , Kamouraska, Qc
Husband Joseph Normandin Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Zacharie Normandin Lajoie
Mother: Victoire Boisbrillant
Marriage: November 23, 1847 - Kamouraska, Qc
Other Spouse: Helene Boisbrillant - August 27, 1868 - Kamouraska, Qc
Wife Adelina Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Alexandre Levasseur
Mother: Angele Roy Desjardins
Other Spouse: Joseph Normandin Lajoie - November 23, 1847 - Kamouraska, Qc
Children
1 F Exilda Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Francois Dionne
Marr: October 2, 1885 - Kamouraska, Qc
2 M Eustache Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Helene Charest
Marr: July 27, 1875 - Ste-Hélène, Kamouraska, Qc
3 M Arthur Normandin Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Marie Michaud
Marr: July 28, 1885 - St-Pascal, Kamouraska, Qc
4 M Joseph Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Amanda Lebel
Marr: July 26, 1887 - St-Arsène, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
5 M Israel Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Rose Anna Rose Thibault
Marr: July 17, 1877 - Kamouraska, Qc
6 M Alphonse Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Catherine Briand
Marr: January 16, 1883 - St-Arsène, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Spouse: Celina Ouellet
Marr: January 3, 1897 - Cacouna, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Husband Joseph Normandin Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: November 23, 1847 - Kamouraska, Qc
Wife Adelina Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Alexandre Levasseur
Mother: Angele Roy Desjardins
Other Spouse: Joseph Normandin Lajoie - November 23, 1847 - Kamouraska, Qc
Children
1 F Exilda Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Francois Dionne
Marr: October 2, 1885 - Kamouraska, Qc
2 M Eustache Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Helene Charest
Marr: July 27, 1875 - Ste-Hélène, Kamouraska, Qc
3 M Arthur Normandin Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Marie Michaud
Marr: July 28, 1885 - St-Pascal, Kamouraska, Qc
4 M Joseph Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Amanda Lebel
Marr: July 26, 1887 - St-Arsène, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
5 M Israel Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Rose Anna Rose Thibault
Marr: July 17, 1877 - Kamouraska, Qc
6 M Alphonse Lajoie
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Catherine Briand
Marr: January 16, 1883 - St-Arsène, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Spouse: Celina Ouellet
Marr: January 3, 1897 - Cacouna, Rivière-Du-Loup, Qc
Husband Germain Michaud
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Joseph Michaud
Mother: Marie Barbe Vaillancourt
Marriage: October 2, 1794 - Kamouraska, , Qc
Wife Agathe Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
Husband Maxime Sirois
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage: November 8, 1853 - St. Andre DE Kamouraska, Québec, Canada
Wife Aglae Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Fabien Levasseur
Mother: Emelie Roy
Children
Husband Joseph H. Parent
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Marriage:
Wife Agnes Levasseur
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Children
1 M Segur Parent
Born:
Baptized:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Patricia Moreau