My name is Kathleen Leigh and I am writing from Carlisle, PA, United States, with some information about Arthur Edward Delacour that may be of interest. I am the widow of Arthur Edward Leigh, and Arthur Edward Delacour was his grandfather. I. have Arthur Edward Delacour's US passport, which was in a box of photos, old documents, etc. that had belonged to my husband's mother, Margaret Delacour Leigh. The passport was issued on March 20, 1925. The passport lists his birthdate as March 25, 1865. He signed the passport and noted that his US address was Oak View (later Drexel Hill), Delaware County, Pa. and his foreign address as 29 Cottrell's Row, Queenstown, Ireland. He said that the object of visit was Travel.
I don't know the year that he and his wife emigrated to the US. They had three sons and four daughters. Margaret Delacour Leigh was the oldest daughter and she was born in the US circa 1895. The four daughters were all born in the US. I am not certain where all the sons were born.
One son, James J. Delacour was married to Agnes Ahearn, and they had four daughters, Mary Ellen, Agnes, Julia and Ann. James died on January 1, 1931 at the age of 42. This would make his birth year 1889. His obituary states that he was survived by two brothers, John and Arthur, and four sisters, Margaret, Gertrude, Beatrice and Anna.
I could not find much information on John Delacour, but I know that he had a son, also John Delacour.
The second brother, Arthur E. Delacour, never married and in fact, lived with Margaret and John Leigh for many years. He died very suddenly, of an apparent heart attack, in their home in April, 1959.
The four sisters: Margaret Delacour Leigh was the oldest. They had three children, Julia, Mary, and Arthur, my husband. Gertrude Delacour McGovern was next and they had two children, Julia and James. Beatrice Delacour Sweeney had two children, Katherine and Thomas. Anna Delacour Fullen did not have children.
Arthur Edward Delacour's wife, Julia, died in 1904. There is a gravestone in St. Charles Borromeo cemetery, Drexel Hill, which shows this, but it also shows the date of Arthur's death as 1926. This may well be an error. I also have here a receipt for "Arthur E. Delacour, Dec'd" subscription to the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo which entitled him to Mass, Holy Communion, and prayers of the Seminarians, perpetually. The receipt was for $25.00 for this enrollment. It is dated June 30, 1927. Knowing my mother-in-law, I would think that she obtained this very soon after her father's death, which would be 1927, not 1926.
I don't know what work Arthur Delacour did while he lived in the US. I do know that he built houses in Oak View/Drexel Hill. One was a twin, separate houses for two families, and one was a stand alone. I know that Margaret and John Leigh lived in one, along with brother Arthur. Beatrice and Anna lived in the stand alone after they were widowed, I don't know about before.
A number of emigrants from Ireland lived with Margaret and John, until they became situated. One couple was Jim and Josie Hayes from Cobh. Josie was Margaret's first cousin.We knew this couple. They lived in the US for some years, and then moved back to Cobh, where they opened a small hotel and pub. My husband and I and our two children traveled to Ireland in 1975 and stayed with them for several days. We visited St. Colman's Cathedral in Cobh because it was told us that Arthur Edward Delacour worked on the building of that cathedral while he still lived in Ireland.
We also heard that the Delacour family originated in France. My son might be able to provide some information on this later. For now, that's all I know about the family.
Kathleen
