My Genealogy Hound

CYRUS H. LE FEVRE, farmer; P. O. Piqua, was a son of Christian Le Fevre, one of the old pioneers of Miami Co., who was a native of Maryland, and emigrated to this county in 1808, locating upon the farm now owned by Cyrus, his son. This land, when he located upon it, was all a wilderness; he made the first opening and put up his log cabin, but did not get it plastered, but leaving that to be done after he should get back from Lebanon, where he went to marry his wife, it being near Christmas. After the marriage ceremony was performed he returned, arriving home to his cabin on Christmas Eve; while on his way home, it commenced snowing, quite a depth of snow falling, then it turned cold and remained so with frequent snows all winter, so that they had to live in their cabin just as it was, with the cold blasts sweeping through between the logs; they endured it bravely during the winter, cleared up some four acres of timber land, and prepared it for corn the next spring. At this time there were three families by the name of Dye, three families of Knoop, one family of Martin, and one other of Le Fevre; these constituted about the entire population of this part of the township; they braved all the hardships and dangers from wild beasts and savages, and from sickness; they suffered much from fever and ague. All this they endured that they might make homes for themselves, and hand them down to their posterity. Those were the times when they manufactured their own material for clothing for winter and summer wear, and whatever it wanted in beauty, closeness of texture and warmth, was made up in coarseness and roughness, producing irritation of the surface of the body, and keeping up a good circulation of the life-giving fluid—the blood. They persevered, they were industrious, they were economizing, and they were honest. These qualities enabled them to overcome all obstacles, and procured good homes, with as good soil for productiveness as the sun ever shone upon. Mr. Le Fevre, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1824, and has always lived upon the old home farm, which his father, above mentioned, cleared, and upon which he died, his death occurring February, 1871. Mr. Le Fevre was united in marriage, Feb. 26, 1856, with Caroline M. Babb, daughter of Daniel and Leah Babb, who were natives of Virginia, and came to Ohio nearly fifty years ago; by this union they have had two children; viz., Walter and Franklin. He lost his wife by death Feb. 7, 1875; Mr. Le Fevre and his father have erected all the buildings on the place, which are large and commodious, arranged for comfort and convenience; he now owns 260 acres of the excellent bottom land of the Miami Valley, of which 200 acres are in cultivation. The selection of this fine quality of land by his father and the early settlers, while it was all in the wilderness, shows the wisdom and judgment they exhibited in obtaining some of the best land that could be found in the State; and they will be honored and remembered for their noble work by their children’s children for ages to come.