Leon Mathye Lagier (9/9/1884-6/12/1934) was born in Saint Julien-en-Champ Saur, Hautes-Alpes, France. He immigrated to the United State in either 1901 or 1902 as sources do not agree. He married Elodie Virginie Roussel (9/22/1882-6/22/1964) on 7/9/1906 in Los Angeles. She was born in Saint Laurent-du-Cros, Hautes-Alpes, France. She immigrated in either 1902 or 1904. Nothing could be found about their sponsorship or where they lived until he became a citizen in San Diego County, California on 9/10/1918. His World War I draft card dated 9/12/1918 shows him farming in San Luis Rey, San Diego County California.
Prior to 1920, Leon leased land from the Irvine Company, at Delhi SW corner of Redhill (currently Redhill and Barranca) where Leon grew sugar beets. He died at home at age 49.
Elodie remained on the ranch living with her son, Ernie, and his family for a few years before moving to a home in Santa Ana. For the last eleven years of her life, she lived with her daughter Bertha in Knight’s Landing in Sutter County, California. The family had also acquired property near their leased land which they sold in 1941.
Leon and Elodie are buried in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange California. Elodie outlived Leon by thirty years. The family were devout Catholics.
The story of their children follows:
Bertha Lagier (6/5/1907-1/6/1989) married Henry Daniel Richter (9/18/1894-10/2/1983) in April 1926. He was 31 and she was 19. He was raised in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. They settled in Knights Landing in Yolo County, where they owned a farm. Daniel was active in the Farm Bureau and served on the elementary school board. They had two sons, Henry Jr and Lee Wallace.
Leon Lagier (6/24/1908-2/7/1926) died at the family home at the age of 18. The circumstance of his death is unknown. He was buried in Fairhaven Cemetery. After his father died, his remains were moved to the family plot in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange California.
Ernest A “Ernie” (8/12/1911-8/11/1994) attended Tustin High School but did not graduate. For recreation, he played several positions for the Irvine “Beanpickers” in the Orange County Baseball League for ten years. He was the team manager when they won the league championship in 1936. One news story referred to him as the “Irvine Baseball Magnate”. He worked at the ranch before taking over his father’s lease in 1934 upon his father’s death.
He married Anna J. Goeman (5/14/1918-5/19/2009) on 11/3/1938. Anna arrived in the United States from Belgium on the SS Lapland on 12/6/1919 when she was one year old. She was accompanied by her parents, Hippoliet (5/23/1884-4/9/1962) and Marie (5/31/1877-7/26/1972) and sisters Pauline and Clara. The Goeman’s later had a fourth child: Louis Joseph (1921-1996). The families came to Orange County, living on the Bixby Ranch, then renting land from the Holly Sugar Company for 13 years. In 1937, they bought and farmed property on Bolsa Avenue. Pauline (1914-2004) married James Robert Spain (1921-1998). Clara (1915-1996) married Walter Donald Davis (1914-1983). Louis married Doris Jean Sullivan (1926-1978).
In 1948, Ernie’s ranch was the site of an experimental test flight of the “Flying Windmill”. This was a helicopter that flew about three feet over furrows to dust crops for pest control. The demonstration was staged by the White-Davy Company using a helicopter from the Armstrong Fleet.
Ernie’s labor came through the Bracero Program, (existing from 1942-1964) with some of his laborers living on site or being trucked in during harvest. Ernie was also a mentor to his nephew, Donald (Don) Dwight Davis. Don worked for and learned from Ernie, graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and went on the be a manager for J. G. Boswell, one of the largest growers in the San Joaquin Valley. Don made his home in Bakersfield.
At some point, Ernie also began raising tomatoes as well as lima beans and in 1958 was the Orange County Director of the California Tomato Growers Association. By 1962, he converted some of his acreage to chili peppers. In 1964, he was appointed by the California Director of Agriculture to the Advisory Order for Standard Lima Beans along with Harold Segerstrom and William C Cook.
Ernie lost his lease with the Irvine Company in 1970 and relocated to a site on Sand Canyon. He retired in 1976. They bought a home at 13041 Chirping Sparrow in Tustin.
For pleasure, Ernie and Anna were avid bowlers playing in several leagues and taking home their share of trophies. When not bowling, they dined at the Revere House in Tustin several nights a week as Anna did not like to cook.
They had a daughter, Rachel Anne (11/21/1939-10/6/2019). Rachel, who was developmentally disabled, was able to graduate from Mater Dei High School in 1958. For several years after graduation, she worked in the Mater Dei Cafeteria. She never married. Childlike, Rachel was lovingly cared for by her parents and had a happy life.
Shortly before Ernie’s death, the family moved to the St Francis Home at 1718 W Sixth St in Santa Ana. Rachel was admitted on 1/1/1994 and Anna was admitted on 1/16/1994. Ernie was in and out of the home between hospitalizations when he died the same year. Anna died in a board and care home and Rachel Anne spent the remainder of her life receiving loving care from the sisters at St. Francis.
All three family members are both buried in Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest.
Mary (1/23/1915-1/15/1992) graduated from Tustin High School in 1934. She married Albert Frank (Bert) Baeskens (3/23/1908-2/24/1997) on 2/7/1936. He was 27 and she was 21. Albert was the son of Emil (9/5/1875-1/26/1953) and Sylvia Vlasschaert Baeskens (9/27/1886-7/4/1936) who had immigrated from Belgium.
In their early years of marriage, Bert worked for the De Brouwer Family, also from Belgium, who were also ranchers in the Delhi area. By 1950 they moved to Soledad in Monterey County California where he owned a farm. They later relocated to Yuba City in Sutter County where they both died.
They had three sons: Paul Albert (1937-2009), Frank John (1942-2009) and Albert Ernie (1948-2001).
Rene Louis 6/3/1919-12/7/1970) attended Tustin High School for two years. Rene enlisted in the Army Air Corp at the San Bernardino Army Airfield on 11/17/1942. He achieved the rank of Corporal.
He married Dorothy Marie Hufford Prochaska (2/22/1916-5/26/1965) on 7/26/1946. They lived in Sanger, Fresno County, California where he was a grocer. She had a daughter, Mary Prochaska, from a prior marriage and they had a son. Leon, in 1950. They were divorced and she married Robert S Rathborn (1920-2009) in 1956. She died at age 49 in San Francisco and is buried in Sierra View Memorial Park in Olivehurst, Yuba County.
Rene then married Darkis Lorene Jackson (8/17/1926-10/31/1996) in 1969. Relocating to South Lake Tahoe where he died at age 51. He was employed as a chef. He is buried in Happy Homestead Cemetery in South Lake Tahoe.
Created 8/19/2024. Researched by Vicki Gray, Nick Spain (nephew of Ernie Lagier), Dorothy Davis Matlock (niece of Ernie Lagier)
