Fonds 118 Bill LeMarquand fonds

Bill LeMarquand fonds. — 1926-1992. — 1.5 cm of textual records, 2 photographs, 4 sound recordings.

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Agency History

William LeMarquand was born in 1908 on Honeymoon Island (Jersey Islands) in the English Channel, the seventh child in a large family. Because of the paucity of land on Jersey, Bill was attracted to the idea of homesteading in Canada where 160 acres of land could be purchased for $10.00, the equivalent of two English pounds at the time. He emigrated to Canada in 1926, sailing on the Alaunia on June 26, and was met by his brother George who had been clerking in Edmonton since 1921.

The two brothers homesteaded at Thorhill, north of Edmonton. In 1949, they were attracted by the Lassiter Project north of Wanham when it was opened up to non-soldiers. Here Bill bought a half section of land for the $10.00 homesteading fee. In an area where many farmers had failed, he worked two farms into production. His farming guide was the Llewellan Moon Sign Book and Planetary Guide for “farming with the moon.” He respected the earth and was willing to work with the land and not against it.

Bill retired from farming in 1965, and turned his profit into rental properties. He loved carpentry work and renovating old houses. Bill moved to Sexsmith with his brother George and, after George’s death in 1972, traveled back to Jersey to see the family he had not seen for 47 years. In 1976 he moved to Pioneer Lodge in Grande Prairie where he became active as a volunteer with the Golden Age Center and the Queen Elizabeth II hospital. In one of his peak years he logged 1,500 hours of volunteer work at the QE II, and in 1981 he was awarded Volunteer of the Year.

Bill passed away in 1992, at the age of 84, while he was still a resident of Pioneer Lodge.

Custodial History

The records were passed on to Grande Prairie Regional Archives by Jean Lowe. Mrs. Lowe was the administrator of the Grande Spirit Foundation, which operated Pioneer Lodge, and the executrix of Mr. LeMarquand’s will.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of records relating to the LeMarquand family in the Jersey Islands, ships’ records for Bill’s immigration to Canada, papers from his homestead at Thorhild and his farms at Wanham, and news clippings detailing his volunteer career after retirement. The sound recordings include an oral history of Mr. LeMarquand and some communications from the family in the Jersey Islanders. The photographs are of Bill with his first automobile in 1940 and of Bill in retirement, when he received the Volunteer of the Year award.

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