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James Benjamin LeBarron
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Well driller.
Born at Beachburg, Renfrew County, Ontario on 7 August 1876, son of Amos LeBarron (1830-1886) and Mary Forrest (1833-1893). After his parents died, he lived with his older sister Maggie and her husband Samuel Hamilton. He was said to be a good singer and sang in the local church choir.
On 19 February 1902, he married Jessie Wallace (1879-1952) in Renfrew County, Ontario. They had four children: Mary Elizabeth “Beth” LeBarron (1903-1992, wife of Andrew Melvin), Myrtle May LeBarron (1904-1981, wife of Charles MacDonald), James Wallace LeBarron (1906-1992, husband of Mary Jane Robson), and Margaret Blanche LeBarron (1913-1998, wife of Clifford Elmer Polson George).
In 1905, he moved to Deloraine to join his brother Samuel LeBarron, with a dream to farm. Needing immediate work, he hired on with a well-drilling crew operated by Charles Weaver. A few years later, he took over the outfit, drilling wells and installing pumps and windmills. In time, he was able to buy a two-storey brick home at the southeast corner of Lake Street and Stewart Avenue. It remained the family home until July 1952.
During the drought and economic depression of the 1930s, many of the farmers for whom he had drilled wells could not pay him. Despite this, he was able to thrive. He kept a team of horses to operate the drilling rig and also had a milk cow, a large garden, and fancy chickens that he displayed at the Deloraine Fair. He was a member of the Odd Fellows.
He died suddenly at Deloraine on 26 October 1939 while buying a winter’s supply of coal from the Federal grain elevator. He was buried in the Del-Win Cemetery.
Birth registrations [James Wallace Le Barron, Margaret Blanche Le Barron], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Marriage registration [Margaret Blanche Le Barron, Clifford Elmer Polson George], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Charles Bird and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 December 2023
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