The Passing of a Pioneer Cobbler
Rev. Alexander LeClaire, a 96-year-old shoemaker and Civil War-era convert to Protestantism, passes away in Lynden.
Last Saturday morning, the old gentleman Alexander LeClaire sank into a deep slumber and peacefully passed into the world beyond on Sunday morning. He was 96 years old and had lived in this region for over thirteen years. Though he never went to school a day in his life, he read both Greek and Latin, often studying in his cobbler shop while he mended shoes for the public. Born in 1812 in upper Canada, he was a member of the Free Masons for seventy-five years and was buried with lodge honors in the Lynden cemetery. Rev. A. J. Whitfield delivered the funeral address, comparing the pioneer to England's 'Grand Old Man,' William E. Gladstone.
“His patrons in Lynden will be loath to wear the articles which he has mended for them but will keep them as souvenirs of the old gentleman's fine workmanship.”
LeClaire’s life spanned from the Napoleonic era to the dawn of the automobile age. His story highlights how the cobbler's shop once served as both a literal workshop and an intellectual hub for rural communities in the Nooksack Valley.
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