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It's really worth looking at a number of sources before coming to a conclusion.
For example:
I have a family branch known as Leversha. This is an odd name and doesn't sound very Somerset despite the family coming from a small village in West Somerset.
Trawls through parish records show all sorts of spellings but earlier ones look more like Levacher or even LeVacher. Looks and sounds French. Several sources claim the family were once very skilled plasterworkers and were brought over by the Luttrell family in the 16th century to decorate Dunster Castle. The current head of the Luttrell family confirmed this story when I spoke to him on the phone though his family seem to have lost the proof.
The very odd thing is that most of the line are called Levacher or Leversha alias Vickery in all the registers and for generations. A contact and I mused about this and wondered why.
I have been tidying up my records on this family and I had a good dig about yesterday. I googled Leversha and found one of those surname meaning sites which confidently stated that it was linked to a Norfolk family called Levershaye. Obviously whoever made the link hadn't looked at earlier members of the Somerset ones to see the name gradually change from Levacher.
I then looked for Vickery. One site tried to link it with things to do with vicars and similar names but then I hit a site which finally made a connection.
Someone researching Vickery had found it originated from La Vacherie in Normandy. They didn't appear to know of the LeVacher alias Vickery people.
Bingo! Hence Levacher alias Vickery I think.
So don't take someone's word for it just because it is online. Keep digging and get a second or third opinion.
Sue
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Wonderful break - well done you :)
You can see it now cant you, local people not getting their tongue round a foreign name and plumping for something that they can handle.
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Oh how right you are Sue.
I have gleaned info from other peoples' research which I add to my tree and then try to disprove it. Quite often I can. Strangely I can see other public trees where the info has just been copied and so the inaccurate details are perpetuated.
However, looking at possible matches does sometimes lead me off on a tangent which does give information that is helpful.
Looking for one rellie took me a good week (off and on) and I finally found a clue in parish records where the name was slightly different. Then I searched for that name variation and got lots of info. The name changed to the modern form late 1800s.
I have often added someone who later gets killed off again when I have researched further.
Sue
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