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Descendants of Pierre Jean LeBon




Generation No. 1


1. PIERRE JEAN1 LEBON was born 13 November 1713 in France, and died 15 August 1779 in Rochefort France. He married MARIE CAPET in Rochefort France. She was born 1718 in France, and died 08 August 1803 in Anderson Dist., South Carolina.

Notes for PIERRE JEAN LEBON:
Some of the information that is included below is found listed many, many times by many, many descendants of the LeBon/LaBoon family. It is fairly common knowledge so I have not at all times included who posted it on Ancestry.com or other location.

Most of this information is from the hard work of Leonardo Andrea to who we owe much gratitude.


I have personal knowledge of all of this information no matter the source. Those out there that see this will know if they are the information provider.

You will see reference to Pierre Jr.'s grave having been marked with a VA marker. Sometime in the 50's the graves of Pierre's mother, Marie, Peter Jr. , as I will refer to him as, his wife Ann, Peter, III and his wife Rachel were marked in a large ceremony. This made the land owner very mad,(the land had gotten out of the LeBon family by this time).
Later the land was sold to another person who still owned it in the late 80's when I went there along with Harvey Mullikin and a LaBoon cousin from the area to try to find the cemetery. The person that purchased the land back in the late 50's and lived there at that time said he knew nothing of the cemetery. The LaBoon cousin stated that he was positive the cemetery was located where this person had built his house and that his father has tried to hire a attorney back in the 60's to do something about the cemetery but no one would take the case for fear of the man who sold him the land.
Though he de nighed any responsibility or knowledge of the cemeteries demise, a witness in the area, who said they would not testify, told us that with out a shadow of doubt that this man was the one who destroyed the cemetery. It was there one day and gone the next.
We were told that the markers maybe in the bottom of a lake or in the dam this man had built at that time.
Harvey, some years latter, talked to the man that built the lake and he said he knew with out a doubt that the markers were not in the dam or the lake. He said we might want to check as wash ditch or two on the back side of the property because he was sure that was where they were.

Till this day nothing has been done about this! I must say that no matter who was responsible, it is a sad thing to know that any one would decimate the grave of a brave soldier who risk his life to help in the formation of the United States of America.

I have, for one, supplemented my SAR membership of Peter/Pierre's service.

Name: PIERRE LEBON
Sex: M
Birth: 6 JAN 1744/45 in Rochefort, France
Death: 12 DEC 1799 in Anderson County, SC. Office of the Dead read by his son December 13, 1799.
Military Service: Revolutionary War soldier.
Baptism: 25 JAN 1744/45 Feast Day of his patron saint, St. Paul
Burial: 13 DEC 1799 On the hilltop across the road from his son's house.
Note:
This surname underwent a gradual change from LeBon to LaBoon. When he came to America in or about 1785 and settled in South Carolina, he evidently spoke but broken English. His family spoke none. LeBon was likely pronounced in English as LaBoun. The first census-taker in North Orangeburg placed the name as Peter Laboone. I have found many foreigners who came in began to spell their surnames the way the English clerks recorded it.

When Pierre called in some men to write his will (some time between 1795 and 1799), that man began the will with the name as Petter LeBoon. However, he spelled the wife's name as Hanah when she, herself, spelled it Anne. This is proof the man writing the will did not fully understand the broken English spoken by the people who had arrived some 12 years earlier. In the lawsuit papers, Anne LeBon signs once that way. Her name is signed later by "Her X Mark" as Anne LeBoon. As late as 1828, when the later Peter LaBoon signed his will it was LeBoon, not LaBoon. The various census records list LeBoon until as late as 1850. Mason C. LeBoon shows in the 1850 census.

See the Pendleton Messenger where, as late as 1837, the newspapers spelled the name LeBoon. By 1850 the entire family seems to have taken over the new spelling of LaBoon.

Mr. Worthington Dawson, 19 Rue du Marechal Joffre, Versailles, France, traced Pierre LeBon from Rochefort. He provided his service record and record of his move from France to South Carolina. In a letter dated October 22, 1933, Mr. Dawson wrote, "The name LaBoon has certainly departed from the original spelling, the continuation of a double "oo" as a would sound does not exist in French. It can only exist in such combinations as co-operation--two syllables. It could not have been LaBon, because bon is masculine and la feminine. But LeBon (French) might well have been pronounced in American as La 'boun and corrupted into LaBoon."

All the data furnished on this family, except where so stated, can be proved and certified. Original wills and deeds are available. The war record of Pierre LeBon is available.

State of South Carolina
County of Richland

This 19th day of March, Leonardo Andrea did appear before me and made oath that, so far as he knows, all the above data in the 10 pages of this paper, are true and accurate. Notary public for the State of South Carolina.

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Birth date as given in the French Missal or Family Bible is January 6, 1745, but the program will not accept this correction. GJK, SLC, UT, 1999.

Immigrated to America in 1785 and entered through the port of Baltimore, MD. An account I have written by Leonardo Andrea in 1953, states Pierre LeBon (Peter LeBoon) was the ancestor who served with the French Fleet during the American Revolution (1778-1781) on the ship, Le Fendant, with a rank of "Mousses". It may mean "gunsmith". An account given below is from Les Combatants Francais, de la Guerre Americaine (DAR Library, Washington, D.C., pp. 99 and 106. Miss Margaret E. LaBoon has a statement from Lt. Col. L. M. Fellbaum, Memorial Division, Office of the Quartermaster General, Department of the Army, Washington, marking his grave. She attached it to her application for membership in the DAR.) He was born in Rochefort, France and died in the Pendleton District, SC. His wife, according to family tradition, was Anne Gervais. He brought his family to America ca. 1786 and settled in the north Orangeburg District, SC (now Lexington County). By 1793 he had moved to the Pendleton District (now Anderson County) where he bought land from his son-in-law, Charles Waters, as shown in a deed in Anderson County.

WILL OF PETER LABOON (PIERRE LeBON)

In the name of God, amen. I, Peter Laboon of the State of South Carolina and County Pendleton, being very sick and weak in body, but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God; calling into mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this, my Last Will and Testament; that is to say, principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hand of almighty God that gave it and my body I recommend to the Earth, to be buried in decent Christian burial at the discretion of my executors, nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God and as touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I give and devise and dispose of the land in the following manner and form: First I give and bequeath to Hannah Laboon, my dearly beloved wife, one-third of all my moveable effects, together with my present dwelling house, lands, measures and tenements by her freely to be possessed and enjoyed during her life, then to be equally divided between my dearly beloved daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth Laboon. Also, I give my two daughters before mentioned, viz. Catherine and Elizabeth Laboon, at my decease, two-thirds of all my moveable effects, whom I likewise constitute my sole executrixes (executrices) of this, my Last Will and Testament. Also, my dearly beloved son, Peter Laboon, I give one shilling sterling to be raised of my moveable effects, also my dearly beloved daughter Mary Waters, I give and bequeath the sum of one shilling sterling to be likewise levied and raised out of my estate and I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disannul all and every other former testaments, wills, legacies, bequeaths, executors by me in any ways before named, ratifying this and no other to be my Last Will and Testament. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this day of October and year. Signed, sealed, published and pronounced in the presence of us. The Testator's name and witnesses cut of as fully appears in Minute Book A, page first the above will.

Peter Laboon

Witnesses: John Terrall
William Terrall

Recorded in Will Book A, Page 1
Date of recording not available.
Proven June 7, 1800
by John Harris, O.P.D who swore that he saw Peter Laboon sign the will. Roll No. 368

He gave Catherine LeBoon 1/2 of the land at the death of her mother; Elizabeth LeBoon 1/2 of the land at the death of her mother; Peter, my well beloved son, 1 shilling; Mary Waters, my well beloved daughter, 1 shilling. The witnesses names and the date of signing was cut from the will.

The name, Hannah likely sounded correct when the Frenchman gave instructions to the man who drew up his will. In a lawsuit and other data, she signs once as Anne LeBon. Someone signed again for her with "Her X Mark" as Anne LeBoon and this shows she was named Anne, not Hannah, as shown in the will.

A lawsuit ensuing about probate of the will shows Peter died some time in December 1799. His widow, since the will had no date or witness, gave power of attorney to her son-in-law, Charles Waters, dated December 19, 1799 to administer the estate. The son, Peter LeBoon, advised his mother to try and prove the will. The suit was brought in two courts. One piece of testimony was made by the widow and (partly translated) stated: In October 1799 (she did not recollect the exact day) her husband, Peter LeBoon was sitting under an apple tree in the yard. She was sitting by the window and had her sewing basket and scissors. Her husband called to her to fetch her scissors and his black box and key. She fetched them and he told her to return to the house. About an hour later he called for her to come and get the box and the scissors. She saw small bits of finely cut paper beside his chair. She asked what it was and he told here, "I have cut that will I made, but the paper was excellent and cost me a bit. I just cut off the date and the names of the witnesses. I guess now that this will stop all the fussing and quarreling and Charles Waters will be satisfied. I want to die in peace and cannot do so with all of his fussing.", etc. His son, Peter, stated his father had given him the gun shop and instruments and had helped him buy a farm when he got married. He also helped his daughter, Mary, buy a farm when she got married. He thought his other daughters and their mother ought to have the rest. The witnesses to the will swore . . . June 7, 1800, the court probated the will and Eben Light was named as executor. It seemed Eben Light had married a daughter, Elizabeth, about the time the will was signed, but it was never proven.

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LES COMBATTANTS FRANCAIS DE LA GUERRE AMERICAINE, 1778-1783. Du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres. Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 1969. (Translation)

Le Fendant (1778-1781)

M. de Vaudreuil, Capitaine de vaisseau, Commandant

Louis-Phillippe Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil, born at Rochefort April 18, 1724, died at Paris December 1802. Became lieutenant-general of naval forces. His father occupied the same post.

This vessel was twice put in commission in 1778; does not appear to have joined the squadron of the Count d'Estaing until 1779.

On the first roll of the Fendant (C 463), armament from January to October, 1778, there is mention of a combat which had taken place on July 27, 1778.

The abstract roll of the Archives (II-I, 208, p. 194) indicates a volume (B 136-Cotes de France), which mentions a combat at Ouessant July 27, 1778, in which the Fendant took part.

This vessel was not, therefore, with the Count d'Estaing when the French fleet left Toulon April 13, 1779.

It appears that the Fendant left for Senegal and the Antilles in December, 1778.

The Second Armament in 1778

Armament began November 1, 1778; sailed from Brest December 15; arrived at Quiberon December. Left Quiberon December 25; anchored at Senegal January 28; cannonaded the fort the same day; the fort surrendered the 30th.

Sailed from Senegal March 4, 1779; anchored at Praya March 7, left April 7; arrived at Martinique at Port Royal April 21, left June 30; arrived at La Grenada July 2, sailed the 6th and fought the English fleet, returned to La Grenada July 7, left July 15; arrived at La Guadeloupe July 19, left the 20th; anchored at cape (Ile St. Domingue) July 31, left August 3; anchored Port-au-Prince August 7, left August 13; anchored the coast of Georgia September 1, 1779; out of port of Georgia October 26; anchored in Chesapeake Bay November 11, 1779; passed to York November 20; left York January 25, 1780; arrived at Port Royal February 16, 1780; left March 21; returned the 23d with the fleet and the convoi (convoy) of the Count de Guichen; sailed March 24; returned March 27; left Port Royal with the fleet April 12, 1780; combat with the English April 17; second combat May 15; third combat May 19; returned to Port Royal May 22, left June 9; met with the Spaniards June 19; returned with the Spaniards, Port Royal, June 25; sailed July 5; arrived at the cape July 26; left cape August 13, under the orders of Count de Guichen; arrived at Cadix October 23, under the orders of Count d'Estaing; left Cadix November 6; arrived at Brest January 3, 1781 and entered the port February 23, 1781.

ETAT-MAJOR

Capitaines de vaisseau

Le Marquis de VAUDREUIL. Commandant chef d'escadre du 1st juillet 1779.

DUCHAFFAULT, Second, Capitaine de pavillon

Lieutenants de vaisseau

MACARTY de MAGTEQUE, Capitaine de vaisseau en mars 1780 a en la pannie de la main gauche brulee en voulant eteindre le fen dans le cambat du 6 juillet 1779.

POTRIN de la MORINIERE, Le Chevalier de l'EGUILLE, aide-major.
Le S NORDENVCHOEL, suedois, Surnumeraire.

Enseignes de vaisseau

Le Baron de PAROY, employe comme Lieutenant de vaisseau du fevrier 1780.
De MELFORT (Henry), mort le 19 avril, 1779, d'une fievre putride.
De PANAT, enseigne de vaisseau, par ordre de M. le comte de Guichen
Le S' DU PETIT-THOUARS, des Gardes de la marine, Enseigne de vaisseau du 1st Janvier 1781.

Officiers auxiliaires Chirurgien-major

Le S' de BOUSSARD Le S' NIELLY
Le S' ANDRIEU
Le S' CORIOU de Quimper Aumoniers
Le S' HUGON, de Saint-Malo
Le S' de PRENEUF, de Saint-Malo NICOLAS (R.P.), Capuein, mort a bord 2 fevrier 1780
L'abbe BOUCHER, aumonier, en replacement du R.P.
Nicolas, le 2 fevrier, 1780.
Mousses
LE BON (PIERRE), de Rochefort

The LABOON FAMILY IN AMERICA by Leonardo Andres 4204 Devine Street, Columbia, SC (Manuscript dated October, 1945)

The name Leboon is French and was used by the family with the original French spelling up until about 1825 when the form, Laboon, was adopted. The latter is far from correct French grammar. Any French student knows the spelling is badly bungled after once glance at L A B O O N, for "la" is a feminine form and connot take a double "o" after a consonant, such as "b". Le Bon means, in a literal translation, "The Good" and can be used in no other form in French.

The Pendleton Messenger, in 1835, in a write-up of the wedding of Mason C. Laboon spells it Leboon, which shows that until that date the family still used "Le". In Anderson Court House, the will of the first Pierre LeBon (1799) is on file and the name was spelled by the English clerk who wrote the will PETTER LEBOON. In the files where a suit was brought and the widow of Pierre made a sworn statement, she signed her name distinctly in French as Anne Lebon.

About 1930, I wrote to the American attache in Paris, France, to ask if he could send me some data on Pierre Laboon and he wrote back immediately saying that there could be no such French name as LaBoon, that I must be looking for Laboue or Laboure. I had not then seen such spellings in Anderson County in 1799 and wrote back to Paris that LaBoon was the only form I had ever heard of for the family surname. Mr. Warrington Dawson was the American attache to the embassy in Paris and he sent me back the names of all Frenchmen who had served in the American Revolution with names similar to Laboon and Peter. He sent two Pierre Labour, one Pierre Laboche and one Pierre Labrun. He then called my attention to a Pierre Lebon who, in France, had a brother named Joseph. Mr. Dawson said the brothers, Pierre and Joseph, were born in the little town of Rochefort, France. Joseph became a Catholic priest, but when the French Revolution arose, he renounced his priesthood and became a leader in the Proletariat, a fiery one at that. He then wed and had several children. He was later beheaded by the Communists who had gained the upper hand. I know that the name, Joseph, always came down in our family along with Peter and decided to begin an investigation in South Carolina. That was when I found that the first Pierre spelled his name Lebon instead of Laboon as it is spelled now. The first arrivals, being French, probably did not speak English any too well. Since Lebon is pronounced in French "Ley boune", I suppose the spelling became similar to the pronunciation.

GENERATION 1 IN AMERICA

Pierre Lebon was born in Rochefort, France, some time around 1745 and was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church in Rochefort village. He was married about 1765 in the Catholic Church to Anne ??? Her surname is thought to have been Gervais, the same as the street in Columbia, SC, which runs in front of the capitol building, named for Louis Gervais. Louis was a Frenchman who came to America some time before the Revolutionary War and amassed a large amount of land in South Carolina. He induced Pierre Lebon to come to South Carolina after the Revolution and called Pierre's wife his "kinswoman on my father's side of the house"; hence the conjecture that Anne, wife of Pierre Lebon was Anne Gervais.

Pierre Lebon (1) and his wife, Anne Gervais Lebon, had two children born in France, as follows: Marie Lebon and Pierre Lebon (2). When the American Revolution broke out, France aided the young American nation. She sent soldiers and ships to the colonies. Pierre Lebon was a French sailor and a gunsmith in the French Navy and was much away from home. He was a gunsmith on the French ship, Le Fendant, sent to America in 1778 and was continuously in American waters from 1780 to 1782. For a long time he sailed along the inner bay shore of Maryland, where he became a fast friend to the French family of Jarves and into which his son Pierre (2) married. The French ship Le Fendant was at the surrender at Yorktown, VA, and it is said that Pierre Lebon took part in some of the land fighting there. It is also said, but not proved, that as a gunsmith he was with the Jarves in Maryland and went with them to aid with the guns at the Battle of Brandywine and that he took part in that battle.

After the Revolution ended with the Battler of Yorktown, Pierre Lebon returned to his home in France. While he was in America he had contacted Louis Gervais in South Carolina, who was a kinsman of his wife, Anne. Louis told Pierre that if he would bring his wife and two children from France, he would give him a tract of land in the Orangeburg District. Pierre did so and, in 1784, they all came to South Carolina and settled in the Orangeburg District on the lands provided by Louis. About 3 years after arriving in South Carolina, his daughter, Marie, married Charles Waters and moved to the Old Pendleton District, where she was living in the 1790 census. The same census shows Pierre Lebon as living in upper Orangeburg--himself, a son over 16, a wife and two daughters (Marie was already married and living in the Pendleton District). The two daughters were born, according to family tradition, in South Carolina and were named Catherine and Elizabeth. In 1799, when Pierre died, both of these girls were minors.

In 1793 the son-in-law, Charles Waters, induced his father-in-law to move from upper Orangeburg and settle in Pendleton. There is a deed in Anderson County transferring land on Brushy Creek from Charles Waters to Pierre Lebon. There, on Brushy Creek, Pierre built a home. He followed the trade of a gunsmith and taught the same trade to his only son, Pierre (2). He was also a farmer. They were evidently still Catholic and in the annals of the Catholic Church in Charleston there is an account of a traveling priest who was in Pendleton and said Mass at the home of the "Frenchman on Brushy Creek" and baptized his two daughters and two grandchildren. The priest does not, however, give the name of the Frenchman nor the names of those he baptized. He heard confessions, baptized the children, said Mass and administered Holy Communion to the family while he spent some days resting. This family was the only Catholic one in that section.

I do not know whether the missionary and traveling priest was at the home of Pierre Lebon or not but it seems likely, for there were no other French families living along Brushy Creek. I have searched all the records of the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches in that area and no Lebons or Laboons were members of any of them until a generation later when the children of Peter Laboon (2) became Methodist and were members of the Fairview Methodist Church. None of the first set of Lebons, nor the children were members of any church in Anderson County until the younger set became members of the Fairview Church. According to history, Joseph Lebon was a Catholic priest before he became a leader in the French Revolution, as any historical dictionary will show. The family tradition says that our Pierre Lebon (1) was a brother of Joseph. This is also confirmed in one of the pamphlets by Thomas Paine, the atheist writer who, in praise of the part the renegade priest, Joseph Lebon played, says, "The fiery Joseph Lebon has a brother, Pierre, who came to America and lives in South Carolina."

It seems likely that since the family was Catholic in France, the older family members remained so in South Carolina and that the Mass said in 1795 on Brushy Creek in Pendleton District was at the home of the elder Pierre Lebon and was likely the first Mass ever said in Anderson County. The fact remains, however, that the "Frenchman on Brush Creek" may have been some other man.

Pierre Lebon died in December, 1799, and was buried in a family graveyard which was begun on his farm. This cemetery is near the old Lebon home, now called, "The Brick House," and is on a knoll just off the road. In it are scores of graves, including those of Pierre Lebon (1) and his wife, Anne, his son Pierre (2) and his wife, Rachel, his daughter Catherine and her husband, James Byrum.

A Presbyterian minister of old Carmel Church wrote the will of Pierre Lebon (1) and his spelling was singular. He names Pierre Lebon as Petter Lebon and his wife, Anne, he calls Hanah. The son, Pierre, he calls Peter, the daughter, Marie, he calls Mary Waters, the daughter, Catherine, he calls Caterin, and Elizabeth he calls Elizabetta. A student of French will recognize how the minister tried to get the French names correct. Peter Laboone was how the 1790 census taker spelled the name and I think that the French name, Pierre, was soon dropped for the English one, Peter. In the papers filled with the will, the wife is clearly called Hanah, but her own handwriting spells her name Anne Lebon and her daughter's name Mary Water, Marie Waters. The minister got two names correct--Catherin is the French pronunciation for Catherine and Elizabetta is French for Elizabeth.

There was a trial over the will and it is likely the only will in South Carolina which was probated with the signature of the maker and the signature of the witnesses cut off the document by the maker before he died. The cut pieces were, "torn to shreds," as a witness stated. The two children who were born in France, Marie and Pierre (2) were given one shilling each because Pierre (1) had already deeded them land. The widow, Anne, was given the land and house which eventually passed to the two daughter born in America. Eben Light and his wife moved to northern Georgia with an Elrod niece about 1820 and, since one of Pierre's (2) daughters married a John Elrod, I am inclined to think this was the niece with whom Eben Light and his wife moved to Georgia.

Pierre Lebon (1) died in 1799 and his wife, Anne Gervais Lebon died in 1804. They had 4 children:

Marie Lebon, b. in France and married Charles Waters (Mary Laboon)
Pierre Lebon (2), b. in France and married Rachel Jerves (Peter Laboon [2] and Rachel Jarvis)
Elizabeth Lebon, b. in America and married (I think) Eben Light
Catherine Lebon, b. inin America and married James Byrum.

I have found none of the children of Charles Waters and his wife, Marie. I know only that one son was named Peter L. Waters

More About PIERRE LEBON and MARIE CAPET:
Marriage: Rochefort France
     
Children of PIERRE LEBON and MARIE CAPET are:
  i.   JOSEPH2 LEBON, d. Unknown, Rochefort France.
  ii.   CHARLES LEBON, d. Unknown.
  iii.   ELIZABETH LEBON, d. Unknown; m. JOSEPH LIVNGSTON; d. Unknown.
  More About ELIZABETH LEBON:
Unknow Relation: May not be a daughter, came with family from France.
2. iv.   PIERRE LEBON, (REV. SOLIDER), b. 06 January 1745, Rochefort, France; d. 12 December 1799, Anderson Dist., South Carolina.

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