Margaret LeClaire (died 1876)

LECLAIRE

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 1/20/2009 at 23:26:34

Sabula Gazette
October 28, 1876

Mrs. Margaret LeClaire, widow of Antoine LeClaire, one of the original incorporators of the city of Davenport, died last Wednesday morning, aged 74 years. She had lived there for forty-four years. She was of Indian extraction, and spoke many Indian dialects, beside English and French. She leaves to her heirs, of whom there are about eighty, forty acres of very valuable land in the heart of the city. Her husband built St. Marguerite’s Catholic Church, in Davenport, costing about $75,000. He was for years an Indian interpreter and scout, and was one of the very first settlers in Iowa, building a hut on the banks of the Mississippi, which was then desolate, but upon which there is now the city of Davenport, with its 40,000 population.