View source for George L Lefevre

'''George Louis Lefevre''' (1865 - 1944)

Copyright 2007 by Will Johnson [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], Professional Genealogist

==How I got interested==
Tonight (Apr 13, 2007) I was listening to George Noory on [http://www.coasttocoastam.com Coast to Coast AM] and his guest was talking about the death of Harry Houdini the magician.  Some of the things the guest was saying I'd never heard before, so I started reading the New York Times archives about Harry Houdini.  As I was reading dozens of articles about him, I came across the [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=591&did=98401616&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1176453103&clientId=54310 one] (NYT, Oct 27, 1926, pg 27) which mentions this doctor Lefevre. 

I'm fairly sure I heard the guest state that while Harry was in the hospital, a doctor Lefevre gave him an injection of something and that nobody is quite sure who this doctor was or what the injection was.

The article states "George L Lefevre of Muskegon, Mich, a noted surgeon" and "A new serum perfected in a Detroit laboratory was used for the first time on Harry Houdini, the magician, to check peritonitis..."

==Biography==
George Lefevre was born in Grand Island, Vermont, October 22, 1865, son of Mathias and Eleanor (LaBreck) LeFevre.  His family moved to Muskegon in 1881 while he was young where he attended school.  He trained to be a doctor there, in Chicago and finally in New York.  He married firstly on November 14, 1894, Alice T. Ducey, and their children were George Louis, William Mathias and Alice Louise LeFevre.  Alice died in 1928 and he married secondly in 1931 in New York to Eunice R. Sexton of Kansas City, Missouri.

He was Chief of Staff for many years at Mercy Hospital.  He served in many civic and charitable positions and in 1942 he was made a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XII. 

He died in March 1944 in Muskegon, Michigan. (cf his obit below)

==Primary documents==
*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=6061&iid=MIT625_788-0759&fn=George+L&ln=Lefevre&st=r&ssrc=&pid=84421230 1920 Census of Muskegon, Michigan] showing "Le Fevre, George L, Head, 54, b VT/Canada/NY, Physician; Alice, wife, 54, b MI/Ireland/Ireland; George L Jr, son, 24 b MI; William M, son, 23, b MI; Alice L, daughter, 21, b MI"

==Secondary sources==
*[http://www.homeoint.org/history/bio/f/fevregll.htm A biography of George Lefevre] on Homeoint.org
*[http://www.rootsweb.com/~mimcgs/infol.html Obituary of George Lefevre] at the Muskegon County Genealogical Society copied [[GeorgeLefevre1|here]]

==Further reading==
*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=bgmi&so=2&rank=0&tips=0&gsfn=George&gsln=Lefevre&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&ufr=0&srchb=r&prox=1&db=&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-b&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=21416 BGMI entry] "Encyclopedia of American Biography", "LeFevre, George L" 1865-1944. New series, Volume 23, American Historical Society.