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.
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