Trolleys brought small towns together, allowed people to travel further and faster, and opened up the possibilities for largely rural Maine beginning in the mid 19th century.
Lewis Lampron was born in 1880. He married Marie Helen Laberge on May 27, 1907 at St. Hyacinth Church in Westbrook, Maine. They were both twenty
years old.
Marie was born on May 5, 1887 in Westbrook, Maine. Her parents were Charles Auguste Laberge and Elizabeth Julie Mailly.
Laberge Family (1891)
Starting from the left, seated- Charles Auguste Laberge, standing - Josephine Laberge, Emma Laberge, seated on the right -
Elizabeth Mailly
Sitting in front: Marie Helen Laberge, around the age of 6 years old. |
St.Hyacinth Church
|
Lewis and Marie give birth to 12 children. Their first born was Theodore Lampron, born in 1908.
Children of Lewis and Marie Lampron:
| 1. Grace Lampron |
| 2. Dolores Catherine Lampron |
| 3. Roland Charles Lampron |
| 4. Albert Lucien Lampron |
| 5. Hubert Henry Lampron |
| 6. Theodore Lampron |
| 7. Louise Irene Lampron |
| 8. Lillian Olivia Lampron |
| 9. Rebecca Delia Lampron |
| 10. Margaret Veronica Lampron |
| 11. Edmond R. Lampron |
| 12. Gerard Joseph Lampron |
In the 1915 Portland Phone Directory, he is listed as living at 512 Fore Street in Westbrook. At the age of 46 he was working at the furniture factory and he was renting a home at 195 Brown
Street in Westbrook.
Between 1915 and 1920, Lewis bought a small grocery store on Bridge Street, just up the street from the Dana Warp Mills near the corner of North St. and Bridge St. The store provided a
living for him and his family until he sold it and bought a farm on Saco Street where he took up farming while Marie ran the household and raised their 13 children.
The Great Depression
In October 1929 the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common stock. Even after the stock market collapse, however,
politicians and industry leaders continued to issue optimistic predictions for the nation's economy. But the Depression deepened, confidence evaporated and many lost their life savings. By 1933 the value of
stock on the New York Stock Exchange was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929. Business houses closed their doors, factories shut down and banks failed. Farm income fell some 50 percent.
By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans was unemployed.
With a family of 12 children to feed, Lewis managed through one of the hardest times in U.S. history by farming his land and doing occasional carpentry. His
oldest boys Ted and Edmond were able to find work outside the farm and the rest of the family helped at home.
By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Bread lines and soup lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands roamed the country
in search of food, work and shelter. "Brother, can you spare a dime?" went the refrain of a popular song, sung by Westbrook's hometown celebrity, Rudy
Vallee.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
In 1933 the new president, Franklin Roosevelt, brought an air of confidence and optimism that quickly rallied the people to the banner of his program,
known as the New Deal. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," the president declared in his inaugural address to the nation.
By 1935 things were starting to pick up and people were going back to work, but just around the corner a war was about to break out in Europe which would threaten
the nation's weak economy.
Next: The story of Theodore J. Lampron b. 1880
He would be our next ancestor in our ancestry line of decent.
Jehan Laspron - b. 1570
Jean Laspron - b. 1611
Jean Baptiste Laspron, dit
Lacharité - b. 1645
Claude Laspron
Lampron - b. 1679
Pierre Lacharite - b. 1730
Antoine Lacharite.- b. 1760
Amable Lampron, dit Lacharite b. 1798
Paul Lampron - b. 1829
Luc Lampron - b. 1860
Lewis Lampron - B. 1880
Theodore J. Lampron - 1908
