Revolution & Empire
'Louis Benjamin' Jean Baptiste Alexis Leclaire
24 June 1754 – 29 July 1825
Termonde (Dendermonde), Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
⚭ Elisabeth J. Grégoire
Younger son of Jean Pierre Le Claire and Jacqueline Van der Vyvere; younger brother of Général Théodore François Joseph Leclaire. Through Louis the direct bloodline of the modern House descends into the Rhineland.
Whilst his elder brother Théodore pursued distinction in military service, 'Louis Benjamin' Jean Baptiste Alexis Leclaire carried forward the direct family line. Through Louis, the LeClaire family continued into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, eventually leading to the modern descendants of the house.
Born at Termonde (Dendermonde) in Oost-Vlaanderen on 24 June 1754 and dying at Paris on 29 July 1825, his life spans an extraordinary arc of European history — the Ancien Régime of his birth, the Revolution of his middle years, the First Empire, and the Bourbon Restoration in which he died. By his generation the family name is most often recorded in its single-word French form, Leclaire. Family records preserve him under his everyday name 'Louis Benjamin', with the full baptismal style Jean Baptiste Alexis Leclaire.
Louis is the direct ancestor of the modern line: from him the descent runs Johann Baptiste Le Clair, Gottfried Leclair, Julius Leclair, Bernhardine Licklär, Monika Ute Licklär, Andrea Michaela Tai-Noble, and Brandon Noble LeClaire. His elder brother Théodore François Joseph Leclaire, Général de division, founded a parallel — and now collateral — military branch.
The direct line preserves a recurring Jean Baptiste naming tradition — Jean Pierre Le Claire → 'Louis Benjamin' Jean Baptiste Alexis Leclaire → Johann Baptiste Le Clair — reflecting the family's French Catholic heritage and providing an additional genealogical link connecting successive generations.
Biographical Record
Parents+
Son of Jean Pierre Le Claire (1718–1793) and Jacqueline Antoinette Marie Catherine Van der Vyvere (1726–1789), through whom the direct line descends from the historic Le Clerc de Pulligny family of Lorraine and is joined to the seigneurial Van de Vyvere of the Land van Waas.
Direct Line
7 generations to Brandon Noble LeClaire
Story Mode
Their chapter in the dynasty'Louis Benjamin' Jean Baptiste Alexis Leclaire belongs to the Ancien Régime. Born around 1754 in Termonde (Dendermonde), Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium, the line continued through their hand. They stand at generation 12 of 19 in the documented bloodline that leads to the present House of Greenland-LeClaire.
The ancien régime shaped every aspect of 'Louis's world — its laws of inheritance, its wars, its faith and its limits.
Marriage to Elisabeth J. Grégoire bound the line to a wider noble network.
In France, Louis XV ruled. Lorraine answered to Stanislas Leszczyński.
Through 'Louis, the House continued — its name, its arms and its memory carried forward to every generation that followed, down to Brandon Noble LeClaire.
The World They Lived In
'Louis's lifetime · 1754–1825
Who governed their world
- King of FranceLouis XV
- Duke of LorraineStanislas Leszczyński
- Holy Roman EmperorFrancis I (Lorraine)
Contemporary figures
- VoltairePhilosophe · 1694–1778
- MozartComposer · 1756–1791
- Napoleon BonaparteEmperor of the French · 1769–1821
- Victor HugoNovelist · 1802–1885
Major events during their life
- Lorraine annexed to the Kingdom of France1766 · Lorraine
- French Revolution begins1789 · France
- Napoleon crowned Emperor1804 · France
- Battle of Waterloo1815 · Europe
Dynasty Explorer
See the family network
Legacy Flow
Trace what they passed on
How Did I Get Here?
Path from 'Louis to Brandon