Sarah LeFever & John Nichols v. Remington & Sons
 

I happened to come across the following on Google Books, and thought I'd share. I also posted this over on the Lefever forum.

Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Second Circuit - LeFever v. Remington

It is the August 4, 1882 court case of "Sarah LeFever and John A. Nichols versus E. Remington and Sons". The case also appears in Robert Elliott’s book "Uncle Dan LeFever – Master Gunmaker" (page 122), but is titled as "LeFever and another v. E. Remington and Sons".
Sarah LeFever was DM LeFever’s wife, and I find it interesting that her name appears on the case, instead of his. I’m thinking that there was probably some legal reasoning behind her name being used.

-Sara

Sara, I can't help unravel the court case but in reading it I see their surname is spelled LeFever as is yours. Any idea why Lefever was used in catalogues and adverts? It seems to be the accepted gun maker spelling nowadays?

That is cool Sara that the patent co-ownership is in Sarah LaFevers name along with the other fella which I guess was an equity investor. I assume since she must of been part of the declared ownership of the patents is why her name was used in the court case. Dan must of have put that ownership in her name as some sort of asset protection.

I assume during actual court case there were probably exhibits such as blueprints and maybe even actual receivers from LaFever and Remington presented that would not be part of the decision that was recorded.

Very cool.

Very interesting

Frank,

Great question. The "capital F" topic has come up in discussion before, but I don't think there is a definite answer. From what I know, Dan started out as "Lefever", and the company was named "Lefever Arms Company". At some point I believe Dan began to spell it "LeFever". I don't know if it was a business decision, or a personal decision. It could have been a way for him to separate himself from the Lefever Arms Company, after he left in 1901. I'm not sure if all of his sons followed suit with the change either. I descended from his son, Frank, and he used the capital "F" (see Frank's signature and letterhead on page 173 in Elliott's book).

There is a genealogy book called "The Pennsylvania LeFevres", and the man that did most of the original research for it, felt that "LeFevre" was the original, correct spelling. I don't know the time frame of when he was tracing the family lines across the country, but there certainly is a possibility that he contacted Dan (or his sons) during that process. Maybe this prompted Dan to make the partial change to a capital "F".

Now you've got me wondering. I'll have to start looking back through documents on Ancestry.com and see if I can glean any information as to who and when it started being used. :)

Sara

Todd,

John Nichols was Dan Lefever's partner for a brief period. They made guns as "Nichols & Lefever".

Sara

Sara,
I have several hand written letters from Dan Lefever from the 1884 period in which he signed his name "Lefever".
My understand is that Frank and George used LeFever at the time of the family break-up in 1903-04 when Dan, Frank, and George left Syracuse for Defiance (and the Bowling Green) Ohio. Charles F. (Fred) did not join them and apparently maintained the "Lefever" spelling.

I do not recall any mention of Charles in the family (Frank's descendants) as a child. Our late cousin George remembered the same from his childhood, having descendent from Dan's son George. You would think that my Grandfather, while teaching me how to shoot with a daisy BB gun, would have mentioned that it had been invented by his uncle.

Therefore, I believe the spelling differences were to differentiate the Dan, Frank, and George faction of the family from Charles (Fred). Frank stayed loyal to Dan all his life and he and his wife are buried next to Dan in Syracuse. I do not know what became of Charles (Fred) except that he retired from Daisy in the 1950's.

Surely no news to Dr Bob or Sara, but le Fevre / LeFèvre / Lefebvre is a French Huguenot name, with some impressive American kin
https://www.geni.com/projects/Notabl...d-States/12999

Jan Antoon Neuhuys "Emigration of the Huguenots, 1566"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../392969190.jpg

leading up to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre Aug. 24, 1572
https://www.christianity.com/church/...-11630022.html

which turned out to be a good thing for the U.S., esp. N.Y., Virginia and S. Carolina

Bob,

I've researched Charles (Fred) a little on Ancestry.com, and I did find him working at Daisy as late as 1956, in Plymouth, Michigan (he's in the city directory, and it's spelled "LeFever" in that instance). He died 03/10/1961. From a few marriage and death records related to him, I've seen "Lefever" and "LeFever" used. Granted, none of them are his personal signature, so nothing definite or consistent. His gravestone is all caps, with no indication of a capital F. From what I have found, he was married three times, and had at least three children (it appears his second wife, and a son died in car accident).

Sara