Lekousi, Lessard, Levesque, & Libby

Photo Friday
Ethel Wight Collection
By Don Taylor

This week, for Photo Friday, I identify the people in five more envelopes from the Ethel Wight Studio Collection[i]. The envelopes contain the names who paid for the photos, not necessarily of the individual portrayed in the image. As such, it is vital to analyze the pictures and information to identify the individual therein.[ii] My goal is to reunite the photos with family members who may have never seen the image.

Dr. Perley Lessard, circa 1934.

The envelope this negative was in says, “Dr. Lessard, 548 ½ Congress #24.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• 

  Dr. Perley Lessard, circa 1934.

  The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Perley J Lessard as a dentist at 458½ Congress, rm 4, and living at 447 Cumberland. His wife is Rose.

• The 1940 Census lists the 42-year-old Perley Lessard living at 16A Deering Street. His occupation is Dentist. Rose, his 36-year-old wife, is a dentist’s assistant. Both were born in Maine. Living with them is their 11-year-old daughter, Jacqueline,

This photo is of Perley Lessard about 1934 before he and Rose moved to Deering Street.

Ancestry has nine public trees that refer to Pearl “Perley” Joseph Lessard “Lessor.”  Family Search has profile L5ZM-2TN for Perley Joseph Lessard. I uploaded two photos of him to his Family Search Memories. 

Jacqueline Lessard, circa 1935 (age 6)

This negative envelope says, “Dr. Perley Lessard, Deering St., #820.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• 

  Jacqueline Lessard, circa 1935 (age 6)

  Based upon the photo package number (#820), the photo was taken about 1935.

• The 1940 Census lists the 42-year-old Perley Lessard, his wife Rose, and his 11-year-old daughter, Jacqueline living at 16A Deering Street. They lived in the “same house” in 1935.

This is a photo of Jacqueline Lessard about 1935 when she was about six years old.

Family Search has profile L5CL-ZQ6 for Jacqueline Lessard, born 12 July 1928 to Perley Joseph and Rove (Gagnon) Lessard. Jacqueline died in 1970, according to her profile. Interestingly enough, a search for Jacqueline Lessard yielded no results; however, Perley Joseph Lessard appears in five public Ancestry trees, one of them includes Jacqueline. So, it seems something is wrong with Ancestry’s record indexing. In any event, I uploaded a photo of Jacqueline to her Family Search Memories.

I also uploaded one additional photo of her to my Flickr photostream.

Lillian Levesque, circa 1935.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Lillian Levesque, 551 Cumberland Ave, #310.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• 

  Lillian Levesque, circa 1935.

  1934, 1935, and 1936 Portland City Directories list no Lillian Levesque and no one with the Levesque surname living at 551 Cumberland any of those years.

• A review of the 1930 Census found 33 Lillian Levesque’s in the United States during 1930—three in Maine and one in New Hampshire.
  • Lillian, the 26-year-old wife of Omer Levesque, lives in Lisbon, Maine.
  • Lillian, the 19-year-old daughter of Joseph and Blanchette Levesque, lives in Auburn, Maine.
  • Lillian, the nine-year-old daughter of Louis & Mabel Levesques, lives in Van Buren.
  • Lillian, the 17-year-old-daughter of Anna Levesque, lives in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

This photo, taken about 1934 or 1935, is of a young woman probably in her late teens or early 20s. It could be either the Auburn or the Hookset Lillian. Also, it could be one of the many other Lillian Levesque’s in the United States and Canada. As such, I cannot identify the Lillian Levesque in this photo.

I have added her photo to Dead Fred. If you can identify which Lillian Levesque this is, I’d love to hear from you. 

Mary Lekousi, circa 1935.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Mary Lekousi, 1005 Congress, #418.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• 

  Mary Lekousi, circa 1935.

  The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Eustace, his wife Helen, and a George Lekousi living at 1005 Congress.

• Ancestry Family Trees suggest this is Mary Eustace Lekousi, daughter of Eustace and Helen Lekouski, born 5 April 1916.

Although Mary’s face is slightly out of focus in this photo, the flowers and her dress are crisp. A view of the 1934 Portland High School yearbook confirms this is the same young woman.

Ancestry has four public trees that refer to Mary Eustace Lekousi. Family Search does not have a profile for Mary or her parents.

So, I have added her photo to Dead Fred. 

Joan Libby, circa 1936.

This negative envelope says, “Mrs. Elton Libby, 69 Sherman St #993.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• 

  Joan Libby, circa 1936.

  The 1936 Portland City Directory lists Alton J. Libby and his wife Elinor C, living at 69 Sherman.

• The 1940 Census lists Elton J Libby and his wife Elenor, living in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine. It also indicates the couple was living in Portland in 1935. With them is their six-year-old daughter, Joan A. Libby.
• Ancestry Family Trees suggest this is Joan L Libby, born 20 July 1933.

This photo was taken about 1936 when Joan was about three years old.

Ancestry has five public trees that refer to Joan L. Libby. Family Search has profile G88N-J6Q for Joan A Libby, daughter of Elton J and Elinor (Tebbetts) Libby. So, I uploaded this photo of her to her Family Search Memories.

 Conclusion

• I fully identified four of the five Three of them have Family Search profiles, so I uploaded their images to their Family Search Memories.
• I identified one individual that did not have a Family Search profile but did appear in Ancestry trees, so I posted her image to Dead Fred.
• There was one individual that I could not differentiate from several people with the same name in the same location. I uploaded her photo to Dead Fred.

If any of these photos are of your family member, I would love to hear your reaction. Especially if this photo is of a loved one for whom you hadn’t seen this photograph before.

Due to software limitations, the images uploaded to Family Search, Dead Fred, and Flickr have a higher image quality than the images linked here.

For all postings of the Ethel Wight Collection, please see here.

Endnotes

[i] The Wight Studio was in Portland, Maine. Many thanks to Ethel Wight’s family for access to and permission to use the collection of their great aunt.

[ii] These images were converted to positives using a lightbox, a Nikon camera and computer software.