Individual Details

Felix LURQUIN

(12 Mar 1842 - 24 Nov 1908)

Felix Lurquin built three houses which still face onto Dousman Street, across from Fisk Park. The largest, which his relatives back in Belgium dubbed "Felix's Castle," is currently numbered 974 Dousman (on some earlier censuses it was 1314 Dousman). He and Rosalie lived in this house, and when their two children reached adulthood, he built smaller houses on either side of the big house for them. To the east (on the right when facing them) was the house where Joseph and Frances (Deuster) Lurquin lived until shortly after Felix died in 1909, at which point they moved into the big house with Rosalie. To the west (on the left when facing the house fronts), Felix built a house for his daughter Nettie (Catherine Antoinette) and her husband, Fred DeVolder.

In the late 1930's, when Joseph Lurquin's health was failing, Henry and Dee Lurquin moved their family into the large middle house to care for him. Henry resided in this house until his death in 1974, at which point no one in the family could take it, and it was sold. "Felix's Castle" still stands, but sadly it is no longer a Lurquin home.

Henry Lurquin, Felix's grandson, wrote home from Army service on 24 April 1943, with a tribute to the home his family now inhabited, and to Felix Lurquin, the man who built it. The letter was copied in Lurquin Addition: A Lurquin-Deuster Genealogy by Dorothy Beno Lutomski and Mary Ann Defnet, and and I transcribe it here:

Lurquin Letter News -- Camp Maxey Edition
In reading the Press-Gazette of Thursday, April 22, 1943, an article appears on page 32 calling attention to "The State's Oldest City has many Historic Homes." Although most of the old homes mentioned were built in the early 1800's, I couldn't help thinking that there was one that could have been mentioned because it had a lot of historic or should I say fond memories of the early days of the settlement of the West Side or Fort Howard as it was known at that time.
I don't need to tell you that it is our home. It was built by (Grandpa) Felix Lurquin in about 1876 after a fire had destroyed their small frame house which stood about where Aunt Nettie's house now stands. As you can see to this day, it was built of strong large timber and stone and might even be called a monument to the one who built it; a large strong well-built man. To him and his family it was more than a home. It was a place where hundreds of poor Flemish Belgian emigrants came to get advice.
During the early 1880's while Street Commissioner and Chief of Police of the City of Fort Howard, it was Felix Lurquin who used to meet the train and took charge of these strangers in a new America and if there wasn't anywhere for them to go immediately, the home away out on Dousman Street was always open, no matter how many there were. If Bob's and John's room could talk I'm sure it would talk Flemish for it was the first room that a good many Flemish emigrants slept in in this country. From there they were told where they could find a place to live and a place to work. If work couldn't be found immediately, they would work in the Lurquin gardens until other work could be found.
At the time the home was built it was one of the finest on the west side of the Fox River. There were probably less than five or six houses west of Oakland Avenue. West, was only a muddy trail with practically no sidewalks. The cows could graze in the woods nearby. It was from there that both Grandpa and Grandma Lurquin pushed a wheelbarrow with fresh vegetables to sell to people living along Broadway and Pearl Street, which was the main street then. It was from the Lurquin garden, which extended back beyond Elmore Street that the first dollar's worth of vegetables that the Larson people bought to resell, and that had to be bought on credit.
So you can all see why I take so much pride in being able to say that it is still the Lurquin home, and always want it to be the friendly meeting place for all our friends. I know you all are proud of it too even though it may be a little old fashioned in some ways. Except for the front porch, it looks about the same as it did over sixty-five years. GOD BLESS OUR HOME.

Upon my Easter Rosary I say an earnest prayer,
That He may ever bless you and keep you in his care.

Daddy

Events

Birth	12 Mar 1842	Blanden, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Marriage	16 Nov 1865	Sainte Anna's Church, Oud-Heverlee, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium - Rosaline DEVROYE
Immigration	Jul 1866	New York, New York, New York, United States
Census (family)	1 Jul 1870	Fort Howard, Brown, Wisconsin, United States - Rosaline DEVROYE
Declaration of Intent (Citizenship)	4 Apr 1871	Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Naturalization	11 Apr 1879	Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Occupation	1880	City Marshal - Fort Howard, Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Census (family)	Jun 1880	Dousman Street, Fort Howard, Brown, Wisconsin, United States - Rosaline DEVROYE
Residence (family)	1898	n.s. Dousman, 8 w. Fink, Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States - Rosaline DEVROYE
Occupation	1898	Gardener - n.w. Dousman, 8 w. Fink, Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Census (family)	1 Jun 1900	Dousman Street, Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States - Rosaline DEVROYE
Death	24 Nov 1908	Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Alt name		Joannes Felix LURQUIN
Burial		Allouez Catholic Cemetery and Chapel Mausoleum, Allouez, Brown, Wisconsin, United States

Families

Spouse	Rosaline DEVROYE (1840 - 1922)
Child	Joseph John LURQUIN (1866 - )
Child	Catherine Antoinette V. "Nettie" LURQUIN (1868 - 1954)

Father	Joseph LURQUIN (1807 - 1892)
Mother	Maria Anna HAESENDONCK (1809 - 1892)
Sibling	John Baptiste LURQUIN (1836 - 1915)
Sibling	Coleta LURQUIN (1839 - )
Sibling	Augustus LURQUIN (1845 - 1900)
Sibling	Paulina Leonia "Leonie" LURQUIN (1847 - )
Sibling	Florentina Maria LURQUIN (1852 - )