John J LeFan

Photographer: Knight's Gallery
J. J. LeFan Proprietor
Greenville, Texas

John J LeFan
(1860 - 1927)

Timeline
1860 Jan 14
John J. LeFan born in Alabama
1886 Mar 11
LeFan marries Georgia D McKelvey in Lauderdale, AL

1887 Feb 16
LeFan’s wife Georgia McKelvey dies in Lauderdale AL
1887 Jun 01
Greenville (TX) Banner news item Dr. T W Blanchard, Dentist occupies Knight’s Gallery over W. H. Bush Drug Store
1889 Feb
Alabama Enquirer, arrives in Hartsel, AL, to stay for three months
1889 Apr 26
Alabama Enquirer, Hartsel, AL, news item LeFan leaving for Lynville, TN, after spending three months in Hartsel, AL
1889 Nov 28
LeFan marries Ermendine Irwin
1895 Jan 13
LeFan’s wife Ermendine Irwin dies in Hunt County, TX; Ermendine and son Bertram Cleon LeFan both die during childbirth
1895 Jun 28
Lawrence Democrat, Lawrenceburg, TN, news item about LeFan considering a studio location in Lawrenceburg, TN
1895 Sep 06
Lawrence Democrat, Lawrenceburg, TN, LeFan ad for cabinet card special
1895 Sep 20
Lawrence Democrat, Lawrenceburg, TN, news/ad says Lefan will be in city only ten more days
1896 May 10
J J LeFan marries Lula Richardson in Lawrence, TN

1900 Jun 04
US census LeFan as photographer in Pulaski, TN
1903 Sep 25
daughter Dorcus Elizabeth LeFan is born in Savoy, Fannin, TX
1905, 1906, 1907
As patron of Eastern Star of Greenville, TX
1910 Jan 06
Tennessean Sun (Nashville) news item says that LeFan is now living in Greenville, TX
1910 Apr 20
US census LeFan a photographer in Greenville, TX
1910 Oct 27
Greenville (TX) Morning Herald news item social club meeting at home of LeFan on Oneal st
1910 Oct 29
Galveston (TX) Daily News news item about fire in Greenville, TX, which damages the office of Dr Miles L Moody and photograph gallery of Photographer House. LeFan is mentioned as being injured. Perhaps LeFan worked at the “Photographer House” studio
1911
Greenville, TX, city directory LeFan as photographer at 2510 1/2 Lee; res 1614 Oneal
1913
Greenville, TX, city directory LeFan as photographer at 2510 1/2 Lee; res 1614 Oneal

1914-1915
TSG Greenville, TX, as photographer
1916
Greenville, TX, city directory LeFan as photographer at 2510 ½ Lee; res 1420 Oneal
1920 Jan 02
US census Lefan as photographer; res 1620 Oneal
1927 Dec 27
John J LeFan dies of kidney tumor in Greenville, TX, age 67

Sources, city directories; US census; “Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide” by Peter E. Palmquist & Thomas R. Kailbourn; “Lens on Texas Frontier” by Lawrence T. Jones III; Texas State Gazetteer; Brazos Past: Waco’s wild world of 19th century photography by Terri Jo Ryan; Ancestry.com; Catching Shadows: A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers,” by David Haynes

J J LeFan seems to have moved around a bit so his locations are usually brief before about 1905 when he settled in Greenville, TX.

The records get a bit thin after 1910 but it appears LeFan worked at the same location, 2510 ½ Lee, in Greenville, TX, from 1910 until his death in 1927

Now, Knight’s Studio is a separate story. See Fayette W Knight

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. Listed here are all the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY. This is a work in progress. For a look at the original postings go to LOST GALLERY.