My Dad's Family

My husband says that every family has one face.  Here's a test of that statement. 

Long time ago, my dad grew up with six older brothers and one little sister. They lived on a large farm near Cedar Rapids, Iowa called Sunny Crest Farm. His father, Henri (a/k/a Henry) Lefebure raised Belgian draft horses, some he bred himself, some he imported from Belgium (his parents' homeland). 

One of his mares won an award as Grand Champion Mare, and my brother Paul found a photograph that seemed to celebrate that event. Who are the people in the photograph? When was it taken? Which horse won the award? Where was the award won? And what in the world is that car?

Paul circulated to a very wide audience this photo asking the following:  "of this bunch of farmyard jokers, what year was this photo taken.... who is the little feller hiding in the lower left....and where did the guy on the right get those sunglasses... "

Various responses dribbled in, first  from me, then from cousin Leo, from sister Elizabeth, cousin Clare.  

My guess was that " Based on the car, the sign and the clothing, I can only guess the second decade of the 1900s, likely after Henri's death."  

 Clare chimed in about the men and guessed "From left to right:  Theodel or Regis on far left,  then Armand--the little guy--in the dark shirt.  Moving further toward the right are Charles and my father, Emil, definitely the 5th and 6th, respectively, from the left."  But Clare missed the little head in the very lower left corner so her numbering was off by one.

Then Leo surmised "I am not sure, but the 4th from the left could be my father, Richard."  I think he also missed the little person down low in the corner.

Then Elizabeth threw in her two cents:   "frpm the left. Henry in the corner then Armand in the other dk shirt; on Armands rt shoulder is Regis, then Charles, then the 2 together is Emile amd Richard, the fellow holding the rope is a cousin or a hand?, then Theodel, the oldest, holding the sign."

Clare then amended her guess:  "Thanks for pointing out the child in the lower left corner--I completely overlooked him.  Of course, that is your father, Henry!  He's two years younger than Armand.  So that puts all of my line-up estimates off by one person.  The second from the right is still my father, Emil, (the one holding the rope)."

Then Paul tries a summary but is still puzzled by at least one:  "leo, i'm agreeing with you on that, putting a number on the little guy down in the corner as zero (looks like he's sucking his thumb) and the tall guy on the left as #1..... the eyebrows on #4 look like richard, your dad....so are the next two charles and then emil, according to claire?.......so emil is holding the cord that atttaches to the sign...also the little guy in the black shirt #2 looks a little like my father tho he could be the little feller in the corner....zero"

Okay.  So we all think that  these people are brothers with perhaps a cousin or hired hand as one of the men.  The birth order of the brothers seems a bit sketchy.  That's when Elois, via a message from her son Tom Cua, tried to set us straight.  In addition she claims to have identified all of the faces, but asks first if there's a prize for being right.   

AND she pointed out that we all have forgotten that Henri and Maggie had eight children, not seven - -   that little head in the corner belongs to Mary Margaret.  

So according to Elois/Tom the birth order was:  Theodel, Regis, Emil, Charles, Armand, Dick, Henry & Mary Margaret.  BUT I know that Armand and Henry were closest in age, and Leo said that his dad (Richard) was older than  Armand.  So it must be this order:   Theodel, Regis, Emil, Charles, Richard[Dick], Armand, Henry, Mary Margaret.

If Elois is correct about the corner child being Mary Margaret, then the other small person must be Henry (in the dark shirt - the one who gave his face to Jonnie and Charlie.  She said that "the second from the left is her dad Regis."

Paul also posted a link to Iowa's census report on the Family of Henry Lefebure during the first 6 months of 1915.  Mary Margaret was listed as age 2.  A footnote adds that ages are shown as given for the last birthday.

2 notes:  ages are in chronological order; the exact date the information was collected is missing.

So what does that do to her age in the photograph?

So MY lineup, from left to right, is this:  

Mary Margaret(lower left corner), 

Regis (head cocked a bit to the right), 

Henry (dark shirt), 

Armand (hatted), 

Richard (holding up a stick), 

Charles (hugging Richard), 

Emil (holding rope), and 

Theodel (with sign). 

So about that sign.  Filling in the blanks, it can be read as:  “Lefebur(e) Grand Cham(pion) Belgian M(are) Never Defea(ted)".  So when was this taken?  And who was that mare?

Many of us remember Dad talking about a Grand Champion Mare named Anna du Balcan.  Tom Cua researched that horse  online and discovered the "Iowa Year Book for Agriculture" for the year 1914, published in 1915.  The Year Book results from the Iowa State Fair of 1914.  H. Lefebure's mare Anna du Balcan won 1st for Grand Champion Mare.  Interestingly, that year the mare also won two other firsts:  Yeld [what's that?] Mare, Four Years or Over, and Grand Champion Mare Owned in Iowa.  (Some of us may recall that Anna du Balcan was featured (but not named) on one of the Lefebure Reunion t-shirts. )

So this is pretty significant evidence for dating the photograph as 1914, and the sign indicates the family's great pride in this mare.   

Now, how about that car.   I recall Dad mentioning a Pierce Arrow car but Paul remembers another name:  Marmon.  Jonnie submitted Ford's Model T "Tin Lizzie" car and included a link to a Wikipedia article.  That article had this photograph:

 1913 Ford Model T Touring car exhibited at the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

The car in the old photo looks a lot like the 1913 Ford Model T Touring car shown in this color photo.  I compared the elements that are easily seen, the supports for the car's canopy/top.  They match up in both photos.  And the hood and fenders seen behind Emil and Theodel match the shape of those in the color photo

So I think we have identified the people, the year, the horse, and the car.  Good job, people.