Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2021 12 20

Home Browse Search

August LeComte and his family may have purchased the house and started living here even earlier than 1905, as their address in the 1904 directory is listed as being on Jefferson between Pine and Hutchinson (which is a description of the location of 612 Jefferson). The 1910 census shows the family as living in this location next to the De Santo family next door at 600 Jefferson (5131_11287). The family was made up of August LeComte Sr. (1859- 1923) and Louisa Helart LeComte (1859-1912); their children, August Jr., Florence, Leah, Victor; and Louisa's mother. August, Louisa, August Jr., and Louisa's mother had all been born in France and came to the US in 1887 or 1888. August LeComte Jr. was born in 1886 and died in 1951. According to the 1916 directory, August LeComte Sr. and August LeComte Jr. were both living at this house, which then had the address of 121 Jefferson. Father and son worked as coal miners in Louisville, and August LeComte Sr. also worked as a carpenter. A family history of the LeComte family in the files of the Louisville Historical Museum shows that August LeComte Sr. was conscripted into the French Territorial Army and he served from 1879 to 1886. His hometown was Bethune in the Pas de Calais province in northwestern France. Louisa Helart was his wife; this is just one of several connections between the LeComte and Helart families, which were also closely related to the Warembourg family of Louisville. In 1920, August LeComte sold the house to Monroe Hicks. The house would be associated with the Hicks family for many decades to come. Monroe Hicks (1882-1952) married Beatrice Thirlaway (1887-1983) of the English Thirlaway family of Louisville in 1904. Beatrice was also related to John and Emma Barker who lived nearby at 801 Pine Street (5BL8023) in Jefferson Place. Their only child, John Hicks (1905-1998), married Bessie Truitt (1904-2000) in 1930. Monroe Hicks and his son, John, primarily worked as coal miners in the Louisville area, according to their obituaries. Bessie Hicks worked for Remington -Kaiser during World War II. She also worked as a waitress at the Blue Parrot Restaurant in Louisville at 640 Main (5BL8037). r 10