Weaver/LeFever/Lefevre name advice please!

[Littlebn20]

Good afternoon. It has been some time since I last posted and I have been beavering away at my family tree. I have since done an Ancestry DNA test and have found out lots of useful stuff from it.

I have desperately been trying to trace my Bethnal Green Weaver's (maternal grandfathers last name) and whichever way I turn I have been reaching a dead end. For those who saw my previous post, I was always advised that his family were french silk weavers (hence the surname). I have been DNA matched with a hell of a lot of people with the name 'LeFever' in their trees in the precise same location and timeframe as my Weavers. The LeFevers that I mention are silk weavers by profession. I also believe that a number of them were in the workhouse and I am wondereing (from anybody's experience) what the likelyhood of somebody changing thier name from LeFever, to Weaver might have been, for any reason whether it be occupational/shame/born out of wedlock etc. In all fairness, Weaver and LeFever even rhymes.

The vast DNA matches to this name lead me to believe that this may have happened to create my granddads Weaver line. Every other avenue is a dead end. I can trace back with certainty to the marriage of Henry Weaver & Ann Hill in 1859. He lists his deceased) father as Robert. However, no other Robert Weaver appears to exsist within the timeframe. However, a Robert LeFever, born in 1778 (married to a Mary Ann Germant) could fit. I have him as a common ancestor to a few of my DNA matches, and I have Jane Dorrington as a common ancestor with 6 people, who married Charles LeFever (born 1791). Any advice would be happily recieved.

[melba_schmelba]

Good afternoon. It has been some time since I last posted and I have been beavering away at my family tree. I have since done an Ancestry DNA test and have found out lots of useful stuff from it.

I have desperately been trying to trace my Bethnal Green Weaver's (maternal grandfathers last name) and whichever way I turn I have been reaching a dead end. For those who saw my previous post, I was always advised that his family were french silk weavers (hence the surname). I have been DNA matched with a hell of a lot of people with the name 'LeFever' in their trees in the precise same location and timeframe as my Weavers. The LeFevers that I mention are silk weavers by profession. I also believe that a number of them were in the workhouse and I am wondereing (from anybody's experience) what the likelyhood of somebody changing thier name from LeFever, to Weaver might have been, for any reason whether it be occupational/shame/born out of wedlock etc. In all fairness, Weaver and LeFever even rhymes.

The vast DNA matches to this name lead me to believe that this may have happened to create my granddads Weaver line. Every other avenue is a dead end. I can trace back with certainty to the marriage of Henry Weaver & Ann Hill in 1859. He lists his deceased) father as Robert. However, no other Robert Weaver appears to exsist within the timeframe. However, a Robert LeFever, born in 1778 (married to a Mary Ann Germant) could fit. I have him as a common ancestor to a few of my DNA matches, and I have Jane Dorrington as a common ancestor with 6 people, who married Charles LeFever (born 1791). Any advice would be happily recieved.

It certainly sounds possible. It wasn't at all uncommon for people to anglicize their names out of frustration at people not spelling it correctly, or possible negativity associated with that national origin, at whatever time - obviously from 1790s-1810s we were at war with France so there was that motivation in this period. The literal translation of the name would be Smith, but Weaver sounds possible as a "sounds like" anglicization. Do you have a rough birthdate and place for Henry from censuses, death certificate? Note the Huguenot churchs in London will probably be in the non conformist section of ancestry, rather than the main London register section, although by the 1800s most Huguenot descended people had moved on to CofE or Methodist, Congregational etc. You should also try looking for Lefevre, Fever, Fevers, Feever, Feevers etc.

[Valkrider]

I am conducting a surname study into Lefever and its variants some of the information is at https://le-fever.org. My paternal grandmother was a Lefever with her ancestors coming from the Bethnal Green area. I have tested my DNA and have the results on FTDNA, Ancestry, MyHeritage and also GedMatch. Check and see if we have any DNA in common. Let me know if I can help you with the Lefever research.