NEUCHATEL FAMILIES

TO TOP

BONJOUR, LOUIS ALFRED

Louis Alfred Bonjour and his wife , Zelie Melanie Simon, were the parents of Alfred Bonjour. Alfred married Lina Junod, daughter of Alexander Junod, and they were thre parents of Armand and George Bonjour. Armand married Alice Vautravers, daughter of Fred and Laura Jacot Vautravers. Alice and Armand had one son, Everett, and one daughter, Sylvia. Everett married Bertha Nicewander; and Sylvia married Paul Hartwich. Sylvia and Paul had five children.

TO TOP

BONJOUR, CHARLES

Charles Bonjour came to Neuchatel in the spring of 1858, and homesteaded the quarter of land on which Neuchatel is built. He married Louise Zurcher in 1864. In 1877, he bought an organ and their home became the meeting place for the young people in the community. Their children were: Matilda (Mrs. Leon Besancon), Eugene (who died at one year of age, Charles (who was accidently shot and killed), Pauline (Mrs. Julius Perrussel), and Silas (who died at the age of two months).

Leonard married Alice Hammerly. Sam and Ellen had six children: Marjorie, Bud, Rosella, Betty, mary Lou and Dale. Leonard and Alice had three children: Lydia, Lawrence and Merle.

TO TOP

BONJOUR, JONAS A.

During the fall of 1857, Jonas Aimie Bonjour and his wife, Sophia, came to Neuchatel and eventually homesteaded the farm now belonging to the heirs of Walter and Anna Myers Bonjour.

They had three sons: Charles J. (moved to Washington), Jonas Aimie (Amos), and Roland J. In 1866, Mr. Bonjour built the first frame house in the township. The lumber was hauled from Leavenworth and Atchison.

Amos Bonjour married Julia Theys and to this union were born: Goodlet, (married Anna Fairbanks); Rose (Mrs. Charles Hazlett); Gertrude (Mrs. Roy Keeney), Vira (Mrs. Clarence Mitchell), Aletha (Mrs. Paullesen), and Hazel (Mrs. George Dronberger).

Roland Bonjour married Nan Burdette and to this union were born: Walter (married Anna Myers), and Effie (Mrs. George Talley).

TO TOP

BURDETTE, PRESTON

Preston Burdette was born in West Virginia February 24, 1835. His wife, Rachel Hill Burdette, was born in Monroe County, West Virginia, January 17, 1843. They were married in St. Albans, W. VA., April 26, 1859, and lived in that area until coming to Kansas with their family by covered wagon in 1882.

The family included six sons: William, Lem, Rush, Thomas, Joseph, and George, and two daughters: Mary and Leah. Also accompanying them were two nieces of Mr. Burdette, Nan and Esther.

The family settled on 80 acres in the SE 1/4 of section 35, Neuchatel Township, Nemaha County. This was later known as "The George Burdette Place".

Three of the sons moved from this area -- Lem to Falfurrias, TX; Rush to LaPryor, TX; and Joseph to Hobart OK. The other sons stayed in this area -- William, Centralia; George, Neuchatel; and Thomas, north of Onaga. Mary was married to Ned Keeney; and Leah died in 1899, at the age of 20.

Preston died in 1904, while visiting relatives in West Virginia. His widow lived with her son George in the Neuchatel area until her death in 1926. Both are buried in the Onaga Cemetery. Mrs. Burdette's grave marker is made from a rock that was for many years a step on her back porch.

TO TOP

BURDETTE, THOMAS

Thomas Powhattan Burdette was born in St. Albans,West Virginia, in 1874, and came to Kansas in 1882.

Etta McDevitt was born in Earlville, IL, in 1873, and came to Kansas at the age of six. She received her education in the Rocky Scrabble School north of Onaga.

They were married in Onaga in 1897, in the house at 109 W. Fourth where Sol Becker used to live.

After their marriage they farmed in the Westmoreland area for a few years and then moved to a farm northeast of Havensville. Tom traded farms with his father-in-law, James McDevitt, and they lived on this farm for 40 years. He served on the school board for Rocky Scrabble and Highland for many years.

The Burdettes had five children, Tressie (Mrs. Clarence Florence), Eula (Mrs. Roy Stephenson), Wilma (Mrs. William Ballentine), Clyde, and Gertrude, who died at the age of 18 in 1934.

In the 1940's, the Burdettes left the farm and retired to Onaga where they were living at the time of their deaths. Etta died in 1959, and Tom a few months later in April 1960. Buth are buried in the Onaga Cemetery.

TO TOP

CREVECOEUR

Charles Crevecoeur was born March 20, 1828, in Belgium and died January 26, 1892.

He came to Kansas by wagon in 1869, and homesteaded 80 acres. He built a log house which he covered with walnut shingles made by Henry Hoover.

In 1870, his brother's widow, Dora (Dorothy) Delmar Crevecoeur, born June 30, 1826, who came from Germany arrived from Chicago accompanied by her young son. Soon after her arrival, Charles and Dorothy were married at Louisville, KS. She died April 24, 1908.

The son of Dorothy Delmar Crevecoeur, by her first husband, August, was Ferdinand Frederick, who was born June 23, 1862, an died in April of 1931, at Onaga. He was found dead under his harnessed horses on the farm.

Fred was a self-taught naturalist who gave several insect collections to colleges. He collected dead birds and sent them to Kansas State so they could study what they had eaten.

He also wrote a book about the earliest pioneers of this locality until 1877, and called it "Old Settlers Tales". It was first printed about 1901 or 1902.

TO TOP

JEANNERET, ARTHUR

Arthur Jeanneret came to this country in 1876, from Les Bressels, Switzerland, where he was born June 9, 1852. He settled in Kansas for a year or two, then went to Dallas, TX, for his health. He married Adrienne Lisa Sterkey. She came to Dallas from Canton De Berne, Switzerland, where she was born October 18, 1858.

They were childhood sweethearts and she made the long trip to the United states to be married. They came back to Kansas in the middle 1880's and homesteaded a farm in the Neuchatel community, just north of the parallel in Nemaha County.

They were the parents of the following children: Angela Adrienne, who died at the age of eight years in 1893; and Jules August, who married Alice Becker.

Jules and Alice's children were Harold (deceased); Florence (Mrs. J. E. Stone, ); Kenneth (deceased); Wilbur; Leonard; Irene (Mrs. William Truesdell); Ellen (who married Walter Robbins); George Armand (who married Barbara Ladner). Mr. Jeanneret, whose health was always poor, died at his home of typhoid- malaria November 16, 1893, at the age of 41 years.

Mrs. Jeanneret remained on the homestead with her four small children.

In 1900, she made a trip back to her native Switzerland. She left on June 3, and sailed from New York. It took two weeks to cross the Atlantic by ship. She stayed in Switzerland for three months and when she returned, her nephew, George Weber, came back with her and made his home in the United States.

His brother, Albert, came over later and his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb Weber came still later to settle in Onaga.

After Mrs. Jeanneret's children were grown and married, she continued to live on the farm alone for many years before moving to Onaga in the early 1920s, where she passed away June 3, 1935.

TO TOP

KEENEY, S. JADE

Stires Jade Keeney, son of Robert and Julia Keeney, was born in West Virginia May 20, 1869, and died in Onaga on MNay 3, 1953.

He married Rosa MenthaAugust 18, 1891. Rosa was born in Switzerland and lived to be 102 years of age.

They settled in the Neuchatel neighborhood. To this union were born: Ida Unphenour, LeRoy, Blanche Stotts, Earl and Claude.

TO TOP

KELLY, JACOB M.

Jacob Kelly was a riverboat man by profession and traveled all the larger streams in the United States. His home was in West Virginia. In 1860, he made a trip overland and came to the Neuchatel community. He pre-empted 420 acres on Kelly Creek, which was named after him.

He returend to West Virginia for his wife, Elizabeth, and two sons, Reuben and William. they made Neuchatel their home.

Reuben Kelly married Valerie reboul in 1873. They had one daughter, Ida, who died at age seven; and a son, Charles. Charles married Jennie McDevitt, and had three children: Floyd, Myrtle, and Fern.

TO TOP

LABBE, PIERRE

Pierre Labbe and his wife, Marianne, came from France to Wisconsin in 1859, with his sons, Joseph and John. The family moved to Neuchatel in the fall of 1872, and their other children, David and Mary, were born in Neuchatel.

They bought the August Seigneur farm north of the parallel.

Pierre Labbe was born in France December 17, 1820, and died at Neuchatel October 13, 1887. Soon after his death his wife, Marianne, moved to Oregon where she died in 1894.

David Labbe, son of Pierre and Marianne, married Bertha Vautravers in 1882. they were the parents of Anthony, Fred, and Roland. Tony married Cassie Meeks and had one daughter.

Fred married Jennie Smith and had three sons. Lawrence, and Glenn who married Velma Hodge and had five children.

TO TOP

LEFEBVRE, ALEXIS JOSEPH

Alexis Joseph Lefebvre was born February 21, 1827, at Pont de Loup near Charleror, Belgium, and died February 8, 1905, at Onaga.

He married Rosalie M. Hosquim in 1856. She was born October 2, 1836, in Belgium, and died march 8, 1898, at Onaga. They are both buried in Regar Cemetery.

In 1871, they came to the United States and homesteaded near Primghar, O'Brien County, IA. Religious persecution seems to have been the motive for leaving their homeland, the Lefebvre family being the only Protestants in the village.

It was said that when the Lefebvre children walked along the streets, wearing their wooden "sabots" as was the custom of the times, other children would taunt them by calling "Prot, Prot,", so Joseph and Rosalie determined to come to Iowa where Rosalies brother was living. However, they found the cold, severe winters more than they had anticipated.

Fuel was scarce, firewood was to be secured only by a 20-mile trip to the river and evenings were spent twisting hay into a not-too-satisfactory substitute.

When grasshoppers destroyed their crops, they sold the homestead for a team of horses and in 1876, came overland by covered wagon to Mill Creek Township, where Noel Lefebvre, Joseph's brother, had settled.

It seems Noel had informed them by letter that there were no grasshoppers in Kansas.

They purchased a farm and settled down to pioneer life. According to family history, Joseph, devout Christian and Bible student though he was, could not reconcile himself to the privations of their new life. He was a cabinet maker by trade and accustomed to the secure, comfortable life of a tradesman in Belgium. To be thrown upon his own resources in a new and untamed land was a cross almost too heavy for him to bear. He always regretted coming to America. Consideration should be given to the fact that he never learned to speak English and that he was somewhat older than most who made the transition.

Joseph and Rosalie had five children.

Felicie Mary was born May 24, 1858, at Namour, Belgium, and died at Onaga on January 3, 1944. She was married January 9, 1878, to Frank B. Pinet, son of Louis and Emma Pinet, who was born May 3, 1854, at Excideul, France.

Jacob Desiree was born in 1865 and died in 1944, unmarried.

Joshua J. was born in 1869 and died in 1948, unmarried.

Rosalie was married to Ernest Frezieres, son of Alfred and Ernestine (Leroux) Frezieres, and she died in Colorado.

Elie Joseph was born August 10, 1873, at Primghar, IA, and died September 14, 1956. He was married to Hattie Thomas and later to Bessie Roderick on December 5, 1906.

Natalie was born at Onaga on November 17, 1880, and died October 3, 1888.

TO TOP

MCDEVITT, JAMES

James, the oldest son of John and Lucy McDevitt, was born in Champlain, NY, in 1838.

In 1861, at the age of 23, he enlisted in the army and served three years in Company I of the 118th New York Infantry. After receiving his discharge in 1864, he went to Illinois where his parents were living.

In 1870, he was married to Sylvia ann Phillips, daughter of James and Jane Phillips.

In 1879, they brought their family to Kansas and moved to the farm that had been homesteaded by his father.

Nine children were born into this family: three died in infancy. Those who survived were George, James Jr., Etta, who married Tom Burdette, Estella Jane "Jennie" who married Charles Kelly, Pearl, who married Earl Watkins (after her first husband, Lou Lomax, died), and Grace, who never married. James was living north of Havensville at the time of his death in 1913. His wife died in 1928. Both are buried in the Onaga Cemetery.

TO TOP

MCDEVITT, JOHN

John McDevitt was born in Ireland in 1806; his wife, Lucy, in 1816. He was a sailor by trade. After coming to this country they settled in Champlain, NY, where their children were born. their children were Lucy (Mrs. Hogwood), James, Lizzie (Mrs. Henry Eytchison), and Thomas, who married Laura Hoover in 1877.

John moved with his family to Earlville, IL, in 1863, while his oldest son, James, was serving in the Army. He came to Kansas with his wife and two children, Lizzie and Thomas, in 1871, homesteading 80 acres in the SW 1/4 of Section 6, Grant township. John died in 1876, at the age of 70. Lucy lived with her son James on the homestead until her death in 1899. They are both buried in the Irish Creek Cemetery west of Lillis.

TO TOP

PERRUSSEL

Bartholomew Perrussel emigrated to New York City from Lyon, France, in 1854 at the age of 29. He later settled in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he married Adell Morell in 1863. They moved to a farm near Oconto, Wisconsin, where their eight children were born.

In 1883, they moved to Kansas, settling at Neuchatel near Mrs. Perrussel's father, the Reverend Henry Morell. Mr. Morell and a daughter, Tamar Morell, are buried in the Neuchatel Cemetery.

The Perrussel's oldest daughter, Louise, married G. Kapfhammer and lived in Louisville, KY. Her son, Gilbert, and his family still live there.

Henry's twin died in infancy. Henry Perrussel married Tilla Chavanne. He was a rural letter carrier at Onaga many years. When he retired they moved to Salina. Their two children Raymond and Laura Vaniman lived in Salina.

Julius R. Perrussel married Pauline Bonjour. they lived in the Neuchatel area until he retired and they moved to Onaga. Their daughter, Grace, lives in Seattle, WA.

The children who live or lived in Onaga were Mrs. Elsie Lewis, Russell Perrussel, Mrs. Waunita Cass, Tamar Perrussel, and Florence.

Russell owned a shoe repair shop in Onaga for more than 50 years before he retired.

Eli Perrussel married Sarah Gibson. They had two sons, Truman and Percy. Henrietta Perrussel married Benjamin Wells. They had one daughter.

Ida Perrussel was a school teacher for many years. she lived in Centralia for some time, but spent her remaining years in Onaga.

More Perrussel Family information. (Please save the Onaga website before leaving.)

TO TOP

REBOUL, JOHN

John Reboul, his wife Mary, and children: Josephine (Mrs. August Peyrouse); Albert; Henry; Clemence (Mrs. Joseph Voye, Pittsburgh, PA); Valerie (Mrs. Reuben Kelly); Mary (wife of William Kelly, deceased); August and Paul, all natives of France, came to the United States in 1865, and stopped near Pittsburgh, PA. The whole family, except Clemence (who married Mr. Voye), came to Kansas in 1870.

John Reboul was a stone mason and built several buildings.

August Peyrouse was an iron ore rolling mill worker, and had worked at this occupation in France from the time he was 11 years old.

TO TOP

ROBBINS, WILLIAM D.

William D. Robbins came to Kansas from Warren County, PA., where he was born February 14, 1833. He settled near Wheaton after the Civil War.

He and his brother, H. F. Robbins, were members of the 12th Illinois Cavalry. He enlisted in August 1862, and was discharged in June 1865.

Their regiment saw some hard service during the campaign, and earned the unique distinction of having made the first exclusive sabre charge of the war. Other organizations had carried out a sabre charge supported by infantry and artillery, but on September 7, 1862, the 12th Illinois Cavalry, consisting of 58 men under Lt. Col. Davis, fought and defeated the celebrated "Black Horse Cavalry" at Darkesville, West Virginia, in a hand-to-hand sabre charge. It was the first time that the "Drop Carbine, Draw Sabre" charge had been given and executed by Union forces.

Mr. Robbins received a Medal of Honor for his services with this famous regiment.

In February of 1869, he married Margaret E. Kelley. She was born in New York May 8, 1949, and with her family, came to Kansas and settled on a homestead in the Irish Creek community near what is now known as Lillis.

They made their home near Wheaton until 1883, when they moved to the farm northeast of Onaga, on the Red Vermillion River, now owned by Earl Bonjour.

Mr. Robbins was a stone mason by trade, and helped build many of the old stone arch bridges used in the community at that time.

The Robbins were the parents of nine children: Lawrence (Shorty), Hannah Mae (Mrs. Bud Bleu), John William, Mary Delilah "Duck" ((Mrs. William Tanner), Joseph, Charles Centennial "Punch", Lula (Mrs. Lon Robinson), Katie Bell (Mrs. Coughlin), and Walter LeRoy.

Mr. Robbins died suddenly on the farm, northeast of Onaga, February 18, 1905. Mrs. Robbins continued to live on the farm with her youngest son, Walter, until he married Ellen Jeanneret in 1907. She later moved to Onaga where she lived until her death in 1929.

TO TOP

BONJOUR AND VAUTRAVERS

Fred Crevecoeur, who was author of Old Settler's Tales, said that he had enough curiosity to ask two of the first settlers what had induced them to leave civilization and the beautiful country of Switzerland to cast their fortunes in a wild country. The answer in both cases was the same. "the spirit that inspired Horace Greeley to write Go West, Young Man, was the prime factor which caused our early pioneers to come here.

The Bonjours first came to Nobelsville, IN, from Neuchatel, Switzerland, during the early 1850's.

Aime Bonjour said he found Indiana a comparatively long- settled country. Friends told him they had found a raw, uninhabited country when they came, but now they were well off and in easy circumstances (the land was then worth $20 an acre in Indiana. He and some of the other Bonjours were told if they would go west where land was cheap, they might do well.

While in Switzerland, we asked how it happened that my great-grandfather, Louis Alfred Bonjour, and his brothers, Charles and Gustave, came to the United States, though the other brother, who was Philip Cosandier's grandfather, did not come. We were told that the oldest son in the family always inherited the family home and the parents usually helped the other sons get started with an occupation.

Louis Alfred Bonjour married Zelie Melanie Simon at Nobelsville, IN. They came to Neuchatel in 1856.

They had 13 children and only four boys survived. they were Alfred, who was my grandfather, Alciede, Emile and Ephriam. The children, including one set of triplets, died in infancy.

Louis Alfred built the stone house on the parallel a mile west of Neuchatel. It is now owned by Donand Bonjour, his grandson.

My grandfather, Alfred, married Lina Junod who was born in Linieres, Switzerland. They were the parents of George Bonjour and Armand Bonjour, Everett's and my father. Our mother was Alice Vautravers Bonjour, whose grandparents also came to the Neuchatel area during the 1850's from the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

My mother's grandfather's name was David Frederick Vautravers, who was also Harvey Gray's grandfather.

Mr. Vautravers was a tailor by trade and during the winters of 1856 and 1857, while living in Leavenworth, he followed his profession, clearing a dollar a day making pants and vests, receiving fifty cents each for making a pair of pants or a vest.

He and his wife came to Neuchatel in 1857, where they pre-empted 160 acres of land. Their son, David Frederick Vautravers, Jr., who was my grandfather, married Laura Henrietta Jacot who had come from La Choix de Fonds, Switzerland to Neuchatel when she was 18.

Their children were my mother, Alice Laura, and Walter Vautravers, who now reside in Onaga.

My grandfather, known as Fred Vautravers, moved to Onaga in 1905 with his family. They bought the house in which Mrs. Andrew Hauk now lives.

Grandpa was a carpenter and helped with the construction of many houses that are now standing. After moving from the farm, he soon became active in helping promote the growth of Onaga.

Mrs. Ephriam Bonjour (Leonie) told me recently that in 1905, when the Congregational Church was built, Grandpa went to their place to solicit for funds.

She also told me that the church was built by Mr. Droz, who built other houses in Onaga, one of which is the house south of the Onaga Clinic, in which the Marten sisters live.

Uncle Walter Vautravers sold cars in the bulding which is now the Onaga Locker. Walter served in the Navy during World War I. After the war, he married Ruby Jillsap.

They lived on the family homestead in Neuchatel and moved to Onaga in 1971.

My grandfather Vautravers owned the building when the Onaga High School used it for a gym. In 1944, my father, Armand Bonjour, bought the building and started the Frozen Food Locker plant in Onaga. He operated it until 1947, when he passed away. After that my mother was the operator until she sold it to my brother, Everett, in the early '50s. Everett was the operator until Larry Rollenhagen bought in in 1970.

By Sylvia Bonjour Galloway

TO TOP

ZERCHER L. AUGUST

L. August Zercher came to Neuchatel in July of 1857. He stayed for three years and then moved around in other states. When the Civil War started, he enlisted in the infantry and served until the end of the war, when he found himself in Indiana. There he met and married Mrs. Mary Dodds, whose husband, Will, was killed in the War.

Mr. and Mrs. Dodds had two sons, Milton and Newton. They all returned to Neuchatel in the spring of 1867. He homesteaded the place south of David Labbe's where they lived in a dugout. Later he built a log cabin on his place.

Newton Dodds married Kate Higgs and they had the following children: Roy, Carl, Bud, Lucy, Zella, Mick, Clarence, Chester, Rheva and Fonnie. Milton was married and had two children. He died at the age of 30.

TO TOP

JUNOD, Paul Aimé (1846 – 1918)

3rd child of Aimé Junod and his second wife Marguerite Julie Naine, Paul Aimé was born in Lignières, county Neuchâtel, Switzerland on 20 February 1846.

His departure from Switzerland to Neuchatel Kansas took place in 1876, shortly after the death of his first wife Hortense Victoire Samson in March 1876. Hortense was from France and their two first sons were born there (near Le Havre), while their third child, also named Paul Aimé, was born in the village of Nods near Lignières.

After a quick trip back to Switzerland, he returned to settle in Neuchatel Kansas in 1877.

During this second voyage, he was accompanied by his second wife Sophie Berthe Bonjour (1850-1930) and by cousins including Alexandre Junod, Alfred, Aimé and Zélim Bonjour, all related. In these days, a single passage from Le Havre (France) to New York came to US$ 20.- one way in the lowest class.

He first lived in the house that was to be the one of Charles Bonjour, before buying the house that would become the one of Zélim Bonjour.

Children of Paul Aimé and Sophie Berthe included Georges (1878-1947), the twins Marguerite (1885 – 1937) and Marie Julie (died as infant) and Emile Alfred “Skinny” (1886 – 1953).

In 1902, Paul Aimé and his daughter Marguerite (spouse of Ernest Bishop) went back to Switzerland, returning on board the ship “La Savoie” that arrived in New York on October 25th, 1902. Paul Aimé died on July 18th, 1918 in Onaga, Kansas.

Farmer, cattle raiser and pioneer, many descendants live today in the Onaga area, Kansas and of course across the United States.

Neuchatel was founded by the Bonjour who arrived there in 1856 (Louis Alfred Bonjour) and later named what became Neuchatel township, in memory of their homeland.

Nicolas A. Junod Switzerland
http://www.junod.ch (Please save this site before leaving.)

TO TOP