As I've researched my family history over the years and found so much information and many details about my ancestors, my great grandparents, Florian & Odilia LeGrave, have fascinated me the most. They were typical, hard-working, Belgian farmers in northeast Wisconsin, raising a family of 13 children (including my grandmother Emerence) in a small farmhouse. They had 65 grandchildren and 175 great grandchildren (including me)! Over the years, I've had the fortune to meet several of my relatives with whom I'm connected through those 13 children. Note that Odelia was commonly called Odile; I've used those names interchangeably here.

Family group sheet.

Here's some data that you might find on a traditional family group sheet. With each child having a spouse, and James and Clifford having two, there are a total of 30 people mentioned in this section. I was able to track down all 30 obituaries and gravesites. Click on the name of any person in this section to see more details/links.

Florian LeGrave (1880-1960)
     m. 1900
Odile LeRoy (1882-1971)

1. Daniel LeGrave (1901-1952)
       ↳ m. 1923: Palmy Gerondale (1906-1982)
   
   
2. Elsie LeGrave (1903-1973)
       ↳ m. 1920: John Nellis (1901-1988)
   
   
3. Rosamond LeGrave (1905-1997)
       ↳ m. 1925: Steven (Goldie) Nellis (1892-1981)
   
   
4. Clayton LeGrave (1906-2001)
       ↳ m. 1921: Myrtle Virlee (1909-1997)
   
   
5. Anna LeGrave (1908-1994)
       ↳ m. 1928: William Virlee (1902-1987)
   
   
6. Mary LeGrave (1910-1968)
       ↳ m. 1927: George Dart (1908-1971)
   
   
7. Celia LeGrave (1912-2006)
       ↳ m. 1929: John Adams (1907-1978)
   
   
8. Lawrence LeGrave (1914-1991)
       ↳ m. 1936: Dora Agamaite (1917-2003)
   
   
9. Florence LeGrave (1916-2011)
       ↳ m. 1934: Myron Lardinois (1915-1992)
   
   
10. Emerence LeGrave (1918-2000)
        ↳ m. 1935: Wilfred Crevier (1915-1989)
    
    
11. Clifford LeGrave (1921-2003)
        ↳ m. 1942: Esther Vandervest (1923-1987)
        ↳ m. 1988: Anna DuBois (1926-2000)
    
    
12. Ruth LeGrave (1921-2012)
        ↳ m. 1939: Edmund Engebose (1919-1997)
    
    
13. James LeGrave (1926-2008)
        ↳ m. 1945: Mathilda Guellette (1928-1971)
        ↳ m. 1972: Betty Weyenberg (1939-2019)
    
    

Incomplete dates.

I have incomplete dates for the following pieces of info. If you can help me fill in the blanks, please let me know.

• Marriage between Elsie LeGrave and John Nellis (1920)
• Marriage between Mary LeGrave and George Dart Sr. (1927)
• Marriage between Clifford LeGrave and Esther Vandervest (May 1942)
• Birthdate of Mathilda Guellette (1928)

Family notes.

• Doing the math, when Florian and Odile married, he was 20, she was 18. They had their 13 children (including one set of twins) over the next 26 years. When their last child was born, he was 46, she was 44.
• Clifford LeGrave and Ruth LeGrave were twins, the only multiple birth of the thirteen children.
• Clayton LeGrave married Myrtle Virlee on Jun 11, 1921. Seven years later, Clayton's younger sister, Anna LeGrave, married William Virlee on Jun 12, 1928. Myrtle and William were siblings, the children of Anton Virlee and Flora (Neuville) Virlee.
• The obituary of Daniel LeGrave says that he married Palmy Gerondale on Jul 30, 1924. However, Palmy's obituary says that they were married in Jul 1923.
• The obituary of Rosemond LeGrave says that she married Goldie Nellis on Dec 22, 1925. However, Goldie's obituary says that they were married on Apr 29, 1926. Goldie's obituary also missspelled his wife's name as "Rosmond" (missing the letter "e").

Family news.

Click any of these thumbnails to read the entire article. I included the first one here as it was the announcement of the birth of my father, Stanley, Florian & Odile's grandson.

Ancestors.

Florian & Odile lived on the family homestead in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, originally settled by Florian's grandfather, Alexis LeGrave. Alexis was born in Ohain, Belgium and emigrated in July 1856. His son Francois LeGrave and Francois' wife Harriet (Meunier) LeGrave (Florian's parents) bought the homestead in 1868. In 1907, Francois and Harriett retired from active farming and sold their land to three sons, including Florian. 41 years later, Florian sold the farm to his son Clifford (as mentioned in the above newspaper article).

Here's a chart of Florian's ancestors and here's a chart of Odile's ancestors. (I'm always open to receiving new data to fill in the holes in my tree.)

The spelling.

The original spelling of the last name is "LeGrave." However, at some point in their lives, the following LeGraves changed the spelling to "LeGreve":

• Alexander LeGrave (b. 1878); Florian's brother.
• Henry LeGrave (b. 1898); son of Florian's brother Alexis LeGrave (b. 1869).
• Wallace LeGrave (b. 1930); Florian's grandson.

So of course, all of their descendants now have the surname "LeGreve".

Family photo.

This photo includes the entire family, yes, all 13 children. I don't know the year or occasion. I figure that with such a large family, a photo like this must have been rare and perhaps a very special occasion. The boy in the front center looks like the youngest, so that must be James. He looks to be about 14 or so, which would put the photo at about 1940. The woman in the front far right is my grandmother Emerence (who turned 22 in 1940).

Click the photo to see an enlarged version with the names I know of indicated.

50th wedding anniversary.

Florian & Odile celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1950. This photo (with all 13 children like the one above) along with the article below was printed in the Algoma Record-Herald on Thursday, November 9th, 1950. It was taken on the church steps at a special Mass a week earlier. What a treasure to have!

Belgian roadside chapels.

It's a very common tradition for a Belgian farmer to build a small chapel on his farm, usually dedicated to a specific cause or saint. Most of these chapels are near the road and open for all to use. The LeGrave homestead is no exception, with their St. Jude chapel being at the northeast corner of the farm.

Several organizations have published pamphlets and maps of these chapels over the years, like this one. On most of those maps, the LeGrave homestead is chapel #15.

If you want to learn more, here are some related links:

• Faith Along the Road: The Belgian Roadside Chapels of Northeastern Wisconsin - Fr. Edward Looney
• Belgian Roadside Chapels of NE Wisconsin (Facebook page)
• Belgian Roadside Chapels (Brown Co. Historical Society)

Census.

I found Florian & Odile and their family in the censuses of 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950, all in the Town of Red River in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. When you click on a census image below, you'll see the full image of that page from the census, with Florian and Odile's household outlined in red.

In addition to the images, I've transcribed as best I can the key data from each image and listed it in table format for easy reading. Some of the text is very difficult to read, especially in the older documents. Even the column headings can be difficult to read. I'm open to any thoughts or corrections you may have.

Interestingly, from 1920 to 1940, Florian was the head of household. But by 1950, the census shows that he and Odile were living in the household of his son, Clifford LeGrave and his wife Esther (Vandervest) LeGrave and their two children.

Census observations.

1920

• This census tracks the birthplace of each person's parents.
• Note that both Florian and Odile's parents were born in Belgium.
• Ten of their thirteen children were living, ranging in age from 1 to 18.

1930

• Only six children remain at home, ranging in age from 3 to 15.
• Florian and Odile have a 3-year-old son, James, and a 2-year-old granddaughter Esther. This closeness of age in different generations is bound to happen in such a large family.
• Sons Clayton and Daniel are both married and living nearby in their own households.

1940

• Only two children remain at home, ages 13 and 18.
• Their farm is valued at $2,000.
• While this census tracks wages, none are listed here. Their farm income was not considered a wage.
• It's interesting that the record shows that Florian is working but Odile is not. Can you imagine the mother of a large family living on a farm, and it says she doesn't work? 😃

1950

• Florian and Odile are now living in the household of their son Clifford, his wife Esther, their 6-year-old grandson, and their 3-month-old granddaughter. But, remember the newspaper aritcle I shared above which said that Forian sold his farm to Clifford in 1948. So, I suspect they're all still at the same place, but now Clifford is the head of the household.
• Florian is listed as not working, while Odile works 20 hours per week.

Obituaries.

Even though I provided link to their obituaries in the 'Family Group Sheet' section above, I've included the text of their obituaries here as well to make them easy to find when searching the web. In addition to the obituaries, a nice memorial was written about Odelia by her sister-in-law Grace LeMense. Grace (Florian's sister) was married to Harvey Lemense. I believe this was submitted as a letter to the editor to a local newspaper (I don't know which one). My grandmother (Emerence) saved it along with the death notice at the top.

Be sure to click the "newspaper article" link in each of these to see the original.

Cemetery.

Florian and Odile, along with many LeGraves, are buried at St. Hubert's Cemetery on the grounds of St. Hubert's Catholic Church in Rosiere, Wisconsin. Their headstone is located at these coordinates: 44.674715, -87.612724.

Geography.

These links are maps to some key locations:

• LeGrave Homestead (St. Jude Roadside Chapel)
• St. Hubert's Catholic Church
• St. Hubert's Catholic Cemetery
• Florian & Odile LeGrave gravesite

Links.

There are a couple of sites that feature a single web page for one person. These links are to the unique pages for Florian and Odile.

• Find a Grave: Florian LeGrave
• Find a Grave: Odelia (LeRoy) LeGrave

Their descendants.

Years ago, my family and I were at a birthday party for my grandmother Emerence (LeGrave) Crevier and I recognized an older couple there as the parents of my neighbor, Mike Nellis. We got to talking and, long story short, it turns out that Mike and I are 2nd cousins. His grandmother, Rosemond (LeGrave) Nellis, was my grandmother's older sister.

We had moved into Nellis' neighborhood in De Pere, Wisconsin a few years prior and our daughters (he has 2, I have 3) had become very good friends. And now they all found out that they are actually 3rd cousins!

Our families continue to be very good friends. In 2004, we vacationed together on a drive out to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and we had this picture taken in Wall of our two families together. The 5 girls in the photo are Florian and Odile's 2nd great granddaughters.

Grateful.

I was fortunate to have heard stories first hand about my great grandparents and life on their farm; I didn't have to just read it in a book. I've been able to visit the farm on occasion and chat with my cousin who still owns it. This connection has given me a great appreciation for how they lived and what it took for me to be here today. I find it hard to complain about anything these days, knowing how they persevered.

I'm grateful for their unwavering faith in God and for passing that down to me through the generations.

Last update: Wed, Jul 23, 2025