Albert George LeBlanc

    Albert George LeBlanc, my Paternal Grandfather, was born on 7 July 1895 in Aitkin Minnesota. Albert was the first of my LeBlanc line, after nine generations in North America, to be born in the United States. Albert was the second child and the first son of of thirteen children born to George LeBlanc and Helena Graton, subjects of earlier posts at: http://leblancroots.blogspot.com/2012/07/george-osias-leblanc.html and http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8545416888743417776#editor/target=post;postID=8757320980295552262

  Albert would grow up on the family farm on the outskirts of Aitkin Minnesota. He was educated in a one room school, where most of the students were his siblings and cousins. (See school momento's)

  At the age of twenty-three, on 22 July 1918, Albert was drafted into the United States Army at Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was sent to Camp Custer Michigan, where the 14th Infantry Division was being trained for overseas deployment to Europe for WWI. Albert would serve in Battery C, 40th Field Artillery, where he would attain the rank of Corporal. WWI ended before the 14th Division was deployed, and the Division was demobilized by the end of February 1919. Albert was discharged on 7 February 1919 and returned home to Aitkin Minnesota.

  In the early 1920's, Albert moved to Duluth Minnesota where he would become a Truck Driver, an occupation he would do for the rest of his life. In Duluth, Albert met his future wife, Lois Clarke (subject of an earlier posts: http://leblancroots.blogspot.com/2011/06/eloise-pauline-clarke-single-years.html and http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8545416888743417776#editor/target=post;postID=6982931587365043378 )  Albert and Lois would marry on 16 June 1925 at St Mary Church, Stone Lake Wisconsin. The couple would reside in Duluth Minnesota, where they would have two sons and adopt a daughter. The couple would also serve as foster parents for numerous children while in Duluth.

  In the early 1940's, Albert moved his family to Southern California, where he continued to work as a Truck Driver. In the 1950's, Albert and his wife bought property in Wilmington California and built and operated a small motel until they retired in the early 1960's.

  Albert would die on 9 October 1974 in Bellflower California and is buried at "All Souls Cemetery" in Long Beach California. For Family genealogy see: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I18