Chapter 4

This M. Lebeau, who married Adam Bruneer is confirmed by marriage records as follows: "Adam Bruner of Gosfield & Modlin Levy of Mersea, 17 November, 1835, witnesses William Tate and John Whittle, by Reverand Charlie Stewart in the Regular Baptist Church, Gosfield."

This Modlin Levy is further identified as a daughter of John Levi (Liebo), brother of Frederick John Levi. The Frederick Lebeau, who married Mary Bruner is in all probability our ancestor Frederick John Levi. We don't know how long they resided in Mersea or whether Frederick was widowed or if they divorced. We believe that he married a second wife, Julia Ann Carroll in 1832.

Frederick and Julia Ann had a son, David and a daughter Mary Ann in 1833 and 1835, both in Gosfield.

The registration of the patent to their land had not been registered as scheduled in July of 1836, when they, on June 25, made Bargain and Sale of Lot 230 to one Isaac Bufsel (or Russel) for 100 lbs. lawful money of Upper Canada, which transaction was signed and sealed on the 6th of August, 1836. For some reason, they had decided to sell the farm. Frederick also sold, together with John Whittle, his cousin, for 275 lbs. on 6 October, 1838, their Lot 8 property.

In the meantime, Fred and Julia Ann had moved to Toronto to set up business there. This was undoubtedly a new business for them, but may have been the re-entry into a line of business they were already familiar, for Frederick John and his father, Frederick Sr., who may have been engaged in the Fur Trading and Commissary Business at the Garrison where we first have possible trace of Frederick Liebo.

A third child, a daughter Barbara Jane was born to Frederick and Julia Ann at Toronto on the 24th of July, 1837. Probably the best evidence of their business was given by their daughter Barbara Jane later in her life from what she maybe remembered and had heard related by her parents. In history of Jewish business in Toronto, they are referred to as follows:

"Two brothers, Goodman and Samuel Benjamin arrived from Montreal about 1835 and set up a wholesale dry goods establishment on King Street. Two others, the Levies, whose origin is unknown, sold cloth and suits in Market Square about the same period. But, whereas the Levies apparently did not do well and dissolved their business in 1840, the Benjamin’s seem to have enjoyed the confidence of government officials and certainly had good business connections outside the city, since they were contracted to supply the local troops with greatcoats during the rebellions of 1837 - 1838."

.They ae also referred to in the Commercial Directory of Toronto: "Levie's Clothing Store, Market Square."

We do not know who the "Two Levies" were other than Frederick and Julia Ann, but we are inclined to take exception with the purported reason given, the "the Levies apparently did not do well and dissolved their business in 1840." We as well as their daughter, Barbara Jane, attribute their departure from Toronto to Fredericks joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and being essentially expelled and selling his business for a part of it's worth before departing to join the Mormons in Missouri.
Frederick John Levi

NAUVOO AND AFTER

We have too few pieces of the puzzle to put together a clear picture of the location of the home or homes and the movements of the Levi family in Illinois. We, with many other descendants (and historians) have difficulty following the movement of the L. D. S. people who settled in Hancock County.

There is a source called "Reference Book for Nauvoo Family History And Property Identification Department" which is located in the Nauvoo Visitors Center of the L. D. S. Church in Nauvoo, IL, and which was published by Nauvoo Restoration Incorporated, May 1, 1990. This source has been helpful. There is another private organization, "Early Mormon Research Institute", P. O. Box 2650, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84110, which publishes THE NAUVOO JOURNAL. In Volume 2, N2, April, 1990 at page 38 of the Journal, it says with regard to tax records:

"One of the weaknesses of the 1842 census in that it does not include the County area surrounding Nauvoo (City). Most of the membership of the church was living in the county and in the surrounding counties. As the main impact of the expulsion from Missouri diminished, families spread out to work wherever they could, many moving hundreds of miles South, East and North, and some into Iowa. Thousands, however, stayed in Hancock County." The tax records are useful in identifying in conjunction with the 1842 census. We have not had the time and opportunity to do an adequate research of the Levis in Hancock County.

As has been discussed, Frederick John Levi owned land in Gosfield with John Whittle. After we had searched the land records of Gosfield in 1977, my wife Rae Levie returned from Detroit through Nauvoo. She at that time thought she identified land owned jointly by Frederick Levi and Thomas Levi Whittle in Hancock County over which there is now some confusion. We have additional research to do.

Our first somewhat positive location of the Levis in Hancock County, or at least as to Julia Ann Levi, is by the birth of their daughter, Charlotte on 29 December, 1839 in Chili, Hancock County, Illinois.

The town, Chili, is located near the center of the South line of the County, and was laid out in April, 1836 on the West half of Section 30, Twp. 3 North, Range 6 West by Elisha Worrell and James W. Brattle surveyor. It lies 13 miles directly South of Carthage.

We have found no land records for Frederick Levi in Chile Precinct. We have found that two months later, to the day, after Charlotte was born, February 20, 1840, Frederick and "Julian" sold 160 acres to a J. Bingham in Pontoosuc Township. That parcel of land lies almost equal distance, or 13 miles north of Carthage (25 miles from Chili) being the SE 1/4 of Section 13, Twp. 7 North, R 7 West.

We wonder, did they just own land in Pontoosuc and live in Chili? Or did they live on the land in Pontooosuc and Julia Ann went to Chile to the home of a friend of family member to have her baby? It is quite certain that they did not live in Chili and commute to the farm some 25 miles away. Farmers at that time of necessity lived on the land they farmed as transportation was difficult and their presence on the farm was necessary to care for horses, cattle and other livestock which were a necessity on the farm in that day. Or, did Frederick and Thomas Page Whittle buy and sell land? These questions have not yet been answered.

Another area in Hancock County or land that Frederick Levi may have had an interest in or may have been associated with lies in Appanoose Township, 7N8W, in parts of Sections 32 and 34. This land lies between one and four miles directly East of the Eastern boundary of the City of Nauvoo. Thomas Levi Whittle, a cousin of Frederick Levi, took title from John C. & Caroline E. Austin of 160 acres, being the NW 1/4 of Section 34, on August 2, 1843. He and his wife Mary sold 25 acres of that parcel to William Brewster on September 4, 1844.

I don't know when he took title to land in the South 1/2 of Section 32, or if he and his wife, Mary, owned the land alone or possibly with Frederick Levi, but he sold two six acre parcels out of that section, one to William Nokes on June 18, 1844, and one to William Cairm on April 9, 1845. I again wonder if Fred and his cousin Thomas Levi Whittle were engaged in buying and sell land. It is quite clear that Thomas Whittle was buying larger parcels to be sold in smaller parcels.

It was in this area that I had understood from my wife Rae, that Whittle and Levi owned land and that the place Keg Creek was located. It was supposedly also nearby to the farm of the Prophet Joseph Smith. We have not found or have lost the deeds showing the ownership by Whittle and Levi, if such was in fact the case. It the Keg Creek, where Joseph Hyrum Levi was born on December 30, 1844, is located in this area, that will substantiate this theory.

It was in this area that I thought the last son of Frederick and Julia Ann was born about six months after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, (June 27). Family records show that Joseph Hyrum was born in Keg Creek, Hancock County, Illinois. (We are now searching to definitely locate Keg Creek where he was born.)

Very little is thus known of the Levi family in Illinois. Two children, their last two were born there. They owned land there and sold it in 1840, actually before the great influx of converts to the L. D. S. Church expanded the population from a very few in 1840 to approximately 15,000 at the time of the exodus.

We have found another reference to Frederick Levie in Nauvoo, the records reflect that a contribution was made by him toward the construction of the Nauvoo House.

I knew nothing further of their departure from Nauvoo until the summer of 1993. Dewey J. Levie and I were gathering information and visited Norma Jensen Easton, one of David's granddaughters in Beaver, Utah. She was very gracious and accommodating in pulling out all of her old pictures, papers and letters that had been handed down. I had visited her sister Clerynth Jensen Larson a few years before her death, but hadn't met Norma Easton. Among the old papers, we found two letters from William Francis Boring, one to his half brother David and one to his mother, Julia Ann. We also found another letter that same day in the papers of Veda Kimball Davis, descendant of Barbara Jane Levi Watts, in Kanosh, Utah. those letters will be set forth in full herein, as it appears that William Francis Boring happened to be the chief letter writer of the family giving us some insight into family history.

Chapter 5