Abraham Lefevre (abt. 1632 - abt. 1685)

Born about 1632 in Etaples, , Picardie, France

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1685 at about age 53 in Yonne Valley, , , France

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Abraham Lefevre was a Huguenot who did not emigrate (1540-1790).

Biography

This profile is for the Abraham Lefevre who is mentioned in George Newton LeFevre’s The Pennsylvania LeFevres, said there to have been born in 1632 and died in 1685. But no evidence has been found so far that he actually existed.

Here is what LeFevre has to say about him, his father Andrew, and his children:

Of Andrew LeFevre of 1604 is recorded by his Huguenot pastor: “They (Andrew LeFevre and his wife) were the best people among us.” Another person wrote of them: “Having walked before God in Christian simplicity and performed their duty, they both died at a good old age.” Andrew’s son Isaac, of 1648, suffered severe persecution by the Roman Catholics for seventeen years because of his loyalty to Christ his Saviour. He died in a dungeon in a fort in 1702. Abraham LeFevre, of 1632, another son and a faithful Huguenot, with his wife and three sons and three daughters were killed by the Roman Catholics in 1685, after the revoking of the Edict of Nantes, because of the nobility of their character.”

Abraham’s son, Isaac LeFevre of 1669, our American ancestor, at the age of sixteen, alone esaped “with difficulty” as he himself stated, from being killed along with the rest of the family. All that he saved out of his wrecked home was his father’s Bible…”^[1]

On page 11: "Abraham, b (?) 1632 (In Vol. 5 of some book, the name not now recalled, it is recorded-"Abraham LeFevre b near Strasburg, France, in 1632.) m about 1658; d 1685. He and his family being Huguenots, French Protestants, were killed by the Roman Catholics after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, October 18, 1685..." [the date is the date of the revocation, not his death date.] ^[2]

Abraham also figures in a family tree on p. 10, where he is shown as the brother of actual, documented individuals Simon Lefevre (abt.1640-1690) and Andrew Lefevre (abt.1636-1696) (pioneers of New Paltz, New York) and the father of Isaac LeFevre (1669-1751), early settler of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania).

However, no primary evidence has yet been uncovered that he, his father Andre Lefevre (abt.1604-abt.1670) or his siblings Isaac Lefevre (1648-1702) and Judith Lefevre (1644-1690) ever existed, or if they did, that they had any relationship to Simon Lefevre (abt.1640-1690), Andrew Lefevre (abt.1636-1696) or Isaac LeFevre (1669-1751).

Research Notes

Alternative birth locations: Etaples, "Picardie" / "Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France". [source needed.] The idea that he came from Etaples may have come from the idea, reported in some secondary sources, that he was related to Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (c. 1455 – c. 1536), who was a French theologian and a leading figure in French humanism. ^[3] But that man lived almost 200 years earlier, and no tie to later Lefèvres has been found. Lefèvre is an extremely common name.

Alternative death locations: "Yonne, Burgundy, France" / "Yonne Valley, France". [source needed.]

Sources

1. ↑ LeFevre, George Newton, The Pennsylvania LeFevres. 1952. p. xiii, at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89061954632&view=1up&seq=1&q1=Isaac.
2. ↑ LeFevre, p. 11.
3. ↑ Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lef%C3%A8vre_d%27%C3%89taples.

• Heisterkamp, Charles III, M.D., The Ferree Family -- The First Five Generations in America (2007: Charles Heisterkamp, III, M.D.), Page 4

Acknowledgments

• This person was created through the import of Elise Free_2011-04-22.ged on 23 April 2011.
• merged profiles LeFevre-89 & Lefevre-7, Clear duplicates, completed Jan. 9, 2018.
• This person was created on 14 September 2010 through the import of 124-DeCoursey.ged.
• WikiTree profile Lefevre-82 created through the import of 2010-09-14.ged on Jul 28, 2011 by Bob Carson.