Le Claire

Ancien Régime

Arms of the Van de Vyvere family of the Land van Waas (Rietstap, Armorial Général)

Jacqueline Antoinette Marie Catherine Van der Vyvere

⚭Jean Pierre Le Claire

1726, 1789

Heiress of the Van der Vyvere family who brought substantial Flemish wealth into the LeClaire line. Family tradition records a dowry of approximately 90,000 livres, exceptional by eighteenth-century standards.

The Name Through History

A single continuous line, recorded under many forms as it passed through Lorraine, France, the Rhineland and Britain.

  1. Von Mengen

    before 1310

    Lords of Dalheim — Rhenish-Lorrain ministerial nobility

  2. Moingins dis li clers

    c. 1310 – 1400

    Lorrain vernacular byname, 1355 charter

  3. Le Clerc · Leclerc

    15th – 17th c.

    French-Lorraine seigneurial line

  4. Le Claire

    late 17th – 18th c.

    Transitional French spelling of the direct line

  5. Leclaire

    18th – 19th c.

    Napoleonic-era French form

  6. Le Clair · Leclair

    19th c.

    Rhineland branch, German civil registers

  7. Licklär

    1880 – 1970

    Germanised orthography, 20th-century Rhineland

  8. LeClaire

    21st c.

    Restored British form, House of Greenland-LeClaire

Family connection

Spouse. Jean Pierre Le Claire (1718, 1793).

Married Jean Pierre Le Claire (1718–1793).

Children. Mother of Théodore François Joseph Leclaire (1752–1811), Louis Jean Baptiste Leclaire (1753–1825) and Marie J. A. Leclaire (1755–1830).

Position in the Direct Line

Jacqueline Antoinette Marie Catherine Van der Vyvere is a collateral figure of the wider House and is not part of the continuous bloodline shown on the home-page pedigree. Their branch descends from Jean Pierre Le Claire, Très Noble Seigneur in the direct line.

Historical context

Jacqueline Van der Vyvere brought substantial wealth and prestige into the LeClaire family. Family tradition records a dowry of approximately 90,000 livres, a figure suggesting exceptional resources by eighteenth-century standards. Through her descendants, the Van der Vyvere inheritance became intertwined with the later military and LeClaire family branches.

Born into the Van der Vyvere family in 1726, she was the mother of Général de Division Théodore François Joseph Leclaire and of Louis Jean Baptiste Leclaire, the direct ancestor of the modern House. She died in 1789, shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Significance & legacy

The Van der Vyvere marriage stands as one of the strongest indicators of wealth within the documented family history. A dowry of approximately 90,000 livres would, in eighteenth-century Europe, have been associated with major merchants, financiers, office-holders or noble families.

Known records & evidence

Biographical, parish, notarial, seigneurial and military records of Lorraine, Alsace and the Rhineland, preserved in the LeClaire Family Historical Archive.

Related entities

Other documented people, family branches, places and armorial records connected to this entry in the archive.

Sources & references

Authoritative archives, libraries and reference collections that hold — or can be used to verify, records of this entity. External sources are cited only where they genuinely support the historical record; not every claim on this page is yet matched to a digitised primary source.

  • Parish, notarial, seigneurial and military records of Lorraine, Alsace and the Rhineland preserved in the LeClaire Family Historical Archive.

Canonical URL: https://leclaire.co.uk/people/jacqueline-antoinette-catherine-van-der-vyvere