Huguenot le Fèvre (le Febvre; le Febure) families appear to have come to the Cape from 3 different places in France. As they are particularly vulnerable to being merged into each other; this project is intended to figure out how we are going to show them on geni - using the facts that we have.

• All welcome and encouraged to contribute

From Chateau-Thierry in Champagne:

• Paul le Febvre (Sr) from Champagne - possibly on earlier ship in 1694?. Returned to Europe in 1705 x Marie Taillefert (- 17 Aug 1696) Dies on board Vosmaar
  • Paul le Febvre (Jr) fom Champagne x Isabeau Sézille from Zeeland with one child.
    • Paul le Febvre (bap Middelburg 7 Aug 1694)
  • Susanne le Febvre ( - 8 Oct 1696) Dies on board Vosmaar
  • Marie le Febvre ( - Aug 11 1696) Dies on board. Possibly wife of Jacques Bisseux, below. Dies on board Vosmaar
  • Marguerite le Febvre (bap Middelburg Jan 19 1687) No evidence of her at the Cape
• Jacques Bisseux from Picardie x Maria le Febvre possibly do Paul le Febvre & Marie Taillefert above
  • Jacob Bisseux bap Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands Jan 7 1691.No evidence of him at the Cape
  • Pierre Bisseux (1693-1735) bap Middelburg, Zeeland Feb 17 1694
  • Paul Bisseux (bef 26 Nov 1695- 7 Sept 1696) baptised Middelburg, Zeeland. Dies on board Vosmaar

Notes

• ..from the transcription of the records of the Walloon church in the Zeeland capital we learn that the surgeon Paul Lefebvre and his wife Marie Taillefert had reached Middelburg at an earlier date and had been naturalized there on November 17, 1685. ..The Lefebvre children who appeared at Middelburg with their parents were Paul, Pierre, Susanne and Marie... Another daughter Marguerite was born to them in exile and christened at Middelburg on January 10, 1687...It seems a distinct possibility that there were two surgeons named Paul Lefebvre, father and son, at the Cape, the former arriving in the service of the Dutch East India Company in 1694 and the latter two years afterwards. This hypothesis is suggested by entries in the log of the Vosmaar ..The Vosmaar carried ten French refugees. ..On Saturday, August 11 during the first watch a French passenger, Marie Lefebvre, died. Six days later we read: “Smorgens ... is overleeden maria taaljefaar (Marie Taillefert) van Schattoetire (Chateau-Thierry) in vranckrijck zijnde de moeder van den overleede maria La fever franse refugees overvaarende na de Caap de bon Esperance”. Here we have the first link with the family of Paul Lefebvre the surgeon...A third death among the emigrants took place on September 7, that of “een van onse franse passagiers kinders .. . genaamt paulus biosse (Paul Bisseux) gebooren tot middelbg”. On Monday, October 1 sickness claimed “een fransche passa- gier, pieter huet v: maineauel (Monneaux) bij Chateau tierie” and on the Monday following the death of a fifth refugee was recorded, the “fransche jonge dogter Susanna Lavever (Lefebvre)”. The tragic voyage was almost at an end and on October 16 land was sighted. The deaths, however, continued until the day before the vessel anchored and it is not surprising that the accuracy of the running total kept for so long in the log began to falter in the last weeks.The link with the Chateau-Thierry and Monneaux families is an interesting one. It would seem that Marie Taillefert was coming out to join her surgeon husband, bringing with her the children Marie and Susanne. Was her son Pierre also aboard the Vosmaar? A Paul Lefebvre, presumably the son of the Chateau-Thierry surgeon, was married at Middelburg on June 27, 1694 to Elisabeth Sezille, who bore him a child Paul less than six weeks after the ceremony. The boy was baptized in the Zeeland capital on August 4 of that year. The father and his wife Elisabeth Sezille could have been aboard the Vosmaar; they were certainly at the Cape in the last years of the seventeenth century. The name Sezille suggests a Picardy background. ..Two of the five survivors among the Vosmaar's passengers were the baker Jacob Bisseux and his son Pierre, elder brother of the boy Paul who died on the voyage. Pierre Bisseux was christened in Middelburg on February 17, 1694 and Paul on November 26, 1695. The latter was thus less than a year old at the time of his death. A third brother, Jacob, was baptized in the Zeeland capital on January 7, 1691. Their mother was Marie Lefebvre. Was this the daughter of Paul Lefebvre and Marie Taillefert? It is possible, although she is not described as a married woman in the log of the Vosmaar. Bisseux remarried Elisabeth Pochox (Pochot) in 1700 and in the same year an inventory of the goods formerly owned by Marie Lefebvre was drawn up. If Bisseux ’s first wife survived the voyage, then there were two Marie Lefebvres on the Vosmaar. * Boucher.M (1981). French speakers at the Cape: The European Background. Pretoria, UNISA.CHAPTER EIGHT Cape settlers IV: from Burgundy to Picardy pp226-228

From Fleurbaix in Artois:

• Barbe le Fèvre (< 1670 - ) x 30/1/1684 Nikolaus Cleef [but Coertzen says this marriage - to her nephew, Nicolaas (Nikolaus) of Groszalz, in Germany. Dates suggest he was wrong about place.] xx1709 Roelof Jonasz. Comes to the Cape 1683 with brother, Pierre. Settles at Grosze Zalze, Stellenbosch
• Pierre le Fèvre [Fleurbaix &/ or Lille - says Coertzen] x Marie de Grave Comes to the Cape 1683 with wife & 1 child [says Coertzen]. Settles at Fleurbaix, Stellenbosch
  • Guillaume le Fèvre x 27/3/1712 Catharina van der Zande. Comes to the Cape 1683 with his parents Pierre & Marie. Settles at Fleurbaix, Stellenbosch

Notes

• Parents Unknown: NOT Pierre le Fébre b Marq c 1630 x Rachel Le Febre (See Below: 'Never Came to SA'); & NOT David le Févre & Elizabeth 'Isabeau' Le Bleu (See Below: 'From Marck, Picardie').
• Arrivals at the Cape in 1683 were Pierre le Fevre, his wife Marie de Grave and their son Guillaume. It is possible that Pierre was also accompanied by his sister Barbe, born about the year 1670. This family came from the village of Fleurbaix, west of Lille in the Pays de l’Al- leu. ( BOTHA, French refugees, p. 91; J. HOGE, 'Aantekeninge oor Huge- note’, TWK, Nuwe Reeks, VI, 1, Nov. 1945, p. 18).Was Barbe’s second husband of 1709, Roelof (Roloff) Jonasse, from Norway? (G 2, 7/1, Stellenbosch, Huweliksregister: April 22, 1709, p. 4.) There is a hamlet south of Lille called Flequieres which might have been his birthplace. (The first name suggests Scandinavia, however) Jonasse was born about the year 1660.• Boucher.M (1981). French speakers at the Cape: The European Background. Pretoria, UNISA CHAPTER EIGHT Cape settlers IV: from Burgundy to Picardy p263

From Marck in Picardie:

• Marie le Fèvre ( c 1651 - c April 1701) x 8/10/1683 Charles Prevost xx29/8/1688 Heinrich Eckhoff xxx19/10/1692 Louis de Peronne xxxx 1696 Hercule des Prez. Comes to the Cape on 5/6/1688 on 'de Schelde'. Settles at Drakenstein

Notes

• Parents: David le Fevre (d bef1673) & Elisabeth le Bleu (d 1678, Fort de Lincq). [The details of her parents and her Prevot children come from the Church registers of the Protestant Church at Guines, near Calais, as transcribed by W. Minet and W.C. Walter, 1891, and recorded in the book by C. G. Botha: The French Refugees at the Cape, 1919, and the article by M. Boucher, The Cape Huguenots from the Calaisis, in Familia vol.12 no.1, 1975, p.6-17.http://www.ballfamilyrecords.co.uk/burger/I261.html]

From Overschie

• Gysbert le Febre

Notes

• cf http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g14/p14591.htm and Discussion here: https://www.geni.com/discussions/236425?msg=1498580

Never Came to SA:

• Pierre le Fébre b Marq c 1630 x Rachel Le Febre:
  • Isaac le Fevre b Guines c 1656
  • Pierre le Fèvre b Canterbury c 1657 x Marie Guignart
    • Isaac Le Fevre b Guines 1678

Notes

• It appears that the Isaac le Fevre referred to in the GISA entry (cf baptism date) was born in Vieille Eglise, Guines to parents, Pierre le Fevre en Marie Guignart.

See: Isaac le Fevre, geboren te Vieille Eglise (Guines) op 28 Oktober 1678, gedoopt te Calais {dtb Guines} op 13 November 1678 (doopgetuigen waren Isaac le Fevre en Suzanne le Roux), zoon van Pierre le Fevre en Marie Guignart.- "Transcript of the Registers of the Protestant Church at Guisnes, from 1668 to 1685", William Minet, 1891 for Huguenot Society of London on http://www.grijsbaard.nl/Guines/HZ004154.HTM''

Isaac's father was therefore:'Pierre le Fevre geboren te Canterbury (Eng) rond 1657, wonende te Vieille Eglise (Guines), zoon van Pierre le Fevre en Rachel Vanplus, (Vamplus)'.

See: Getuige 1679 bij huwelijk broer Isaac, samen met vader Pierre. Hij is getrouwd te Guînes (62) op 9 mei 1677 voor de kerk met Marie Guignart, geboren te Offekerque (62-Guînes) rond 1654, wonende te Vieille Eglise (Guines), dochter van Jean Guignart en Catherine Coman, (Copman).- "Transcript of the Registers of the Protestant Church at Guisnes, from 1668 to 1685", William Minet, 1891 for Huguenot Society of London on http://www.grijsbaard.nl/Guines/HZ003703.HTM''

This Pierre is clearly not the Pierre le Fèvre who came to the Cape from Fleurbaix, France: (A farming village some 15 miles (24.1 km) northeast of Béthune and 13 miles (20.9 km) west of Lille) with his wife, Marie de Grave, son, Guillaume & possibly his sister, Barbe.

References & Resources

• List of Huguenots embarking from France
• Coertzen, Pieter. 1988. Die Hugenote Van Suid Afrika 1688-1988: Cape Town, Tafelberg.
• Boucher.M (1981). French speakers at the Cape: The European Background. Pretoria, UNISA (Search, using the individual Chapter Names below, to download each as a pdf):
  • CHAPTER EIGHT Cape settlers IV: from Burgundy to Picardy
  • CHAPTER NINE Cape settlers V: from Flanders to Alsace on the turbulent frontier