In 1900, Mabel Canavan moved from Michigan back to Kankakee County, where her father had grown up. There she married Edward Lecour.

Edward’s family was of French extraction and had emigrated from Quebec, Canada to Illinois. He and his family owned and operated a dry goods retail establishment in downtown Kankakee.

Mabel and Edward Lecour had two children, Julia and Josephine, known as Dodi.