Spelling variations: DeLouchrey, Delouchery, Delucry, Deluchry, Deloughry, Deloughery, Deloughrey, Delouckry, Delucre, Delacour – those are the easy ones. They can also be found with a separation between with the first E and L or between the L and the O. It can further have an accent over the first E. And in one final twist a reference I found spelled it Peloughery. Needless to say this one has proven tedious to untangle! I write it as DeLouchrey as that was how Harold signed it in his military documents.

This one is a bit research heavy so if you’re not into genealogy you may find it a pinch dull. The only way to do this family was to dig into each member of the family by using every spelling variation in every archive. There are a lot of accounts on genealogy pages attempting various parts of this family but they’ve hit a lot of dead-ends and there’s a lot of misinformation. Spelling is only one of the issues. If you’ve been working on these people I am about to make your day.

Joseph “Joe” DeLouchrey was the Master Machinist in charge of the Machine Shop of Little Bay mines. He was born about 1850 and he was French. He moved to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia in the 1870s and married a Newfoundlander named Frances “Fanny” Cleary in St. John’s in 1877. The couple is found in the Northern mining region afterward living first in Betts Cove before moving to Little Bay by 1885.

The family moves to Pilley’s Island in 1894 where Joseph worked as a General Dealer before taking on the role of Chief Engineer of the Pilley’s Island mining operation. His death has proven impossible to find but as my last reference to him comes from 1904 when he’s traveling as a tourist I suspect the reason is because he died somewhere he didn’t live. He is dead by 1915 when his son Harold lists his sister Bride as next of kin. Several of the children returned to Little Bay in the early 20th century with the last member of the family to leave being Bride in 1922.

There’s some really weird issues with tracing this family. They’re active in Pilley’s Island in 1901 and at the same time appear on the Nova Scotia census. Further, Fanny dies at Pilley’s Island in 1910 before appearing on the Nova Scotia census the following year. I am most certain it’s the same person because endless facts line-up. My guess is someone else was managing their property there and kept recording the whole family as present. This isn’t a common problem but it’s also not the first time I’ve ran into it. You gotta verify even the most credible sources.

I should mention that some of the sources for Joseph are abbreviated as Jos. and a few are written as Jas. which should mean James. I am inclined to think these are typos given the context but the possibility exists that another Delouchrey family is present. I don’t think that’s the case but I’ll add some more evidence for it after the upcoming section on the kids.

Children of Joseph and Frances (Cleary) DeLouchrey:

Mary is born in Newfoundland in 1881 most likely at Betts Cove. She is involved in school plays as a child and grows up to become a teacher. She is in Little Bay until at least 1899 working as a teacher. She married Fredrick Wells in 1910. She died in 1914.

Brenden is born in Betts Cove in 1883. He was working as a tradesman when he died at Pilley’s Island in 1905.

Joseph Stephen “Junior” was born in Little Bay in 1885. He married Winifred Miller in 1910. He moved to Quebec in 1916 following the death of his brother on the battlefield in France and attempted to join the Canadian Forces but was discharged as medically unfit. He appears to die of electrocution there in 1924 but the age given is 34 when he should be 39.

Bridget H. “Bride” was born in 1887 in Little Bay although one boarder crossing places it at Fleur de Lys. She seems to keep Little Bay as her primary residence until at least 1922 although she makes many trips to visit family in the states. She had been receiving Harold’s military correspondence until that year when it got redirected to their sister Nellie in New York. This may indicate her death although the name Wells on her birth certificate makes me suspect she married into that family and continued her wanderlust to farther-off places.

Ellen C. “Nellie” is the woman pictured here. She was born in Little Bay in 1889. She married Richard Power in Bishop’s Falls in 1912. They were living in New York in 1923 but had returned to Newfoundland and lived in St. John’s two years later. In either case she ended up in the states again and lived a long old life dying in Florida in 1972.

John was born in Little Bay in 1892 and that’s the last I found of him outside the questionable Nova Scotia census references in 1901 and 1911.

Harold was born in Little Bay in 1893. He was working as a machinist in Little Bay like his father when he enlisted with the Newfoundland Regiment in 1915. His life was cut short by the First World War and he died on the battlefield in France the following year. He is somewhere in this image of military men.

Oddly, there are two other children’s names I cannot account for – Maria and Maud. It is possible these are some of the existing kids given the family’s propensity for middle and nicknames. I feel like Maud could be Mary but Maria is an odder problem. She can’t be Mary as she appears with her and the context makes them seem close in age. This could support the existence of another family present but I think the more appealing option is there is an older child still missing. She would have to be born between 1877 and 1881. My only evidence to support this comes from the 1891 listing for Little Bay’s Catholic parish which names all the family members besides the babies and Fanny. In place of Fanny is Miss Delouchery which I first thought a typo of Mrs. but we can entertain another explanation. The Miss could be a missing older girl. There’s no other evidence for her existence and they could just have been hosting a relative. Maria remains a mystery!

That’s all I’ve got. Below you’ll find an assorted list of references to showoff how much bloody work this one was to untangle!

Thanks for reading.

Sources:

• The image used of Nellie is found on various genealogy sites. I don’t know the original poster. I’ll attempt to reach out to the accounts I’ve found with this article.
• The other image comes from a deleted article on TheRooms site which I could not access. It is said to contain Harold.
• 1877, June – Marriage of Joseph Delouchery to Frances Cleary in St. John’s (NL church records)
• 1881, Aug – Birth of their daughter Mary Delouchery in Newfoundland (1901 NS census)
• 1883, March – Birth of their son Brenden Delouchery at Betts Cove (NL births marriages and deaths)
• 1885, June – Birth of Joseph Stephen at Little Bay (Canadian military files)
• 1885, Dec – Mr. Melephant reported to Sergeant Wells on seeing Joseph DeLucry with a very drunk Constable Meaney (All Quiet, Wells)
• 1886, Sept – Joseph DeLucry complained to the police about them shooting two dogs near his home at Loading Wharf without removing them (Wells)
• 1886, Oct – Joseph Deloughery appointed to Little Bay’s Board of Education (Twillingate Sun)
• 1887, Aug – Mr. Peloughery was selected by Father O’Flynn to help organize for the Queen’s Jubilee (Evening Telegram)
• 1887, Oct – Jos. Deloughry was a member of the Little Bay Rifle Club (TS / ET)
• 1888, Oct – Birth of daughter Bridget “Bride” Delouchery in Little Bay (NL births)
• 1888, Oct – Mr. Deloughery on the committee for fire relief (TS)
• 1889, Sept – Birth of daughter Ellen “Nellie” C Delouchery in Newfoundland (1901 NS census)
• 1889, April – Maud Deloughery was among the students to write their thanks to their teacher J.B. Coady (St. John’s Colonist)
• 1889, Oct – J. Deloughery donated to the Harbour Grace Cathedral Fund (SJC)
• 1890, Jan – Joseph Deloughery was a member of the Terra Nova Billiards and Reading Room club (ET)
• 1890, Dec – J. Deluchry was appointed to the Board of Health by the Governor (Evening Herald)
• 1891, Jan – Miss Deloughery, Mary Deloughery, Brenden Deloughery, Joseph Deloughery jr., and Jos Deloughery members of Her Lady of Carmel Parish in Little Bay. Nellie and Bride should be here at this time and are likely absent due to being just babies (SJC)
• 1891, April – Maria and Mary Deloughrey performed in a school play (SJC)
• 1891, June – Birth of John Deloughery (1901 NS census)
• 1893, July – Birth of Harold Deloughrey in Little Bay (Register of Deaths)
• 1894 – Joseph Deloughery was a General Dealer at Pilley’s Island (McAlpine’s)
• 1895 – Joesph  Delouchery signed the Requisition to the Honourable Robert Bond from Pilley’s Island
• 1896, Dec – Joseph Delouchery is the chief engineer of the Pilley’s Island mine (ET)
• 1899, Sept – Mary Delouchery teaching at Methodist school in Little Bay (ET)
• 1901, July – Jas. Delouchery engineer at Pilley’s Island returned from a trip to the states and took a job checking the machinery at various communities around the area (Western Star)
• 1901 – Joseph Delouchery and family in Glace Bay, NS. Fanny’s mother Nora Cleary and her sister Maggie Cleary are also listed there (Census)
• 1904, Jan – Jas Delouckry enters Nova Scotia as a tourist. He is an engineer born 1850 in Newfoundland (Canadian passenger lists)
• 1905, April – Death of Brendon at Pilley’s Island. He’s listed as a tradesman. His place of birth is listed as Betts Cove and he is interred in Little Bay (Civ deaths)
• 1908 – Bride departs Newfoundland for Nova Scotia (Canadian incoming passenger lists)
• 1909 – Bride goes to the US (Boarder crossings)
• 1910, July – Death of Fanny Delouchery of heart disease at age 54 at Pilley’s Island (Death register)
• 1910, Sept – Mary Delouchrey marries Fredrick Wells at Fortune Harbour. Her place of residence is listed as Lewisporte (Twillingate marriages)
• 1910, Nov – Joseph Delouchery married Winifred Miller (Vital records)
• 1911 – Family living in NS (Census)
• 1912, March – Ellen C. Delucre marries Richard Cyril Power in Bishop’s Falls, NL (Vit records)
• 1915, Nov – Harold DeLouchrey was a machinist living in Little Bay when he joined the war effort. He listed his sister Bride DeLouchrey as his next of kin. She was also living in Little Bay (NL Military files)
• 1916, Oct – Death of Harold DeLouchrey in combat in France (Military files)
• 1916, Nov – Joseph Stephen Delouchrey joins the Canadian forces from Montreal. His wife Winnifred is listed as next of kin and she is living in Little Bay, Newfoundland (Can. Military files)
• 1917, March – Joseph Stephen Delouchrey is discharged for being medically unfit and his wife Winnifred is listed living at Verdum, Quebec (Military files)
• 1917 – Bride Delouchery goes to the states (Boarder crossing)
• 1922, June – Bride receives the memorial plaque for Harold at Little Bay (Military files)
• 1923, April – Harold’s military payments start going to sister Nellie Power in New Rochelle, NY (Military files)
• 1924, June – Death of Joseph Delouchery in Montreal by electrocution. Age 34 (Vit records)
• 1925, April – Harold’s sister Nellie Power received money owed which was first sent to New York before going to her new address in St. John’s, NL (Military files)