Nuts from the Sparks Family Tree:Information about Daniel Ferree
Daniel Ferree (b. March 10, 1645/46, d. 1687)
Notes for Daniel Ferree:SOURCE:http://www.artglenn.com/family/Lefevre/LEFEVRE.html
In the northeastern part of France was situated the beautiful Province of Alsace, with its magnificent city of Strasburg, founded by the Romans near the beginning of the Christian Era. The neighboring Province of Lorraine was formally ceded to France by the Treaty of Bonn in 921, and became a part of Alsace. It was the home of Mengen LeFevre, of 1510. It was subsequently held by many kings and dukes until 1477 when Charles of Burgundy, who then held it, lost his life at the battle of Nancy, Jan. 4, 1477. After this, Lorraine merged more and more into the stream of French history. At the death of Rene II (1508), his eldest son Anthony, who had been educated in the court of France, inherited Lorraine with its dependencies. He became known as the "Good Duke of Lorraine," and was the one who granted the Coat-of-Arms to Mengen LeFevre, of 1510. In 1525 the country was invaded by German insurgents, and Lutheranism began to spread in the towns. At this time the LeFevres may have become Protestants.
The Cost-of-Arms of Mengen LeFevre of 1510, granted by the Royal Duke Antoine, the "Good Duke of Lorraine," was registered in 1543. The following is the official description, as translated from the French: Blue field, Three Crosses, re-crossed, of Gold, so constructed as to permit being driven, -- Stag head of Silver. (It was traced by R. G. LeFevre, of Cleveland, Ohio.)
In 1552, just after the LeFevre Coat-of-Arms was registered, war broke out by the Elector of Saxony and some German princes against the German Emperor Charles V, and Lorraine was overrun by the Emperor's troops. Then the LeFevres may have fled to the French province of Nivernois, southwest of Strasburg, and over one hundred miles from Lorraine. Here in the shelter of the Vosges mountains where they meet the ridge running southeast from Paris, in the valley of the river Yonne, near Chatel-Chinon, the LeFevres made their home until 1685. By Geo. N. LeFevre.
About the middle of the sixteenth century the French Protestants were nicknamed Huguenots by the Roman Catholics. In 1562 a struggle began between the Huguenots and the government, for religious freedom. This was the beginning of the eight religious wars which covered more than thirty years.
On Sunday, August 14, 1572, when a large number of Huguenots had gathered in Paris for the wedding of one of their chiefs, the Roman Catholics made an attack and killed several thousand. This was known as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Massacres were ordered in other parts of France, and all together seventy thousand perished. The Pope sent congratulations to Catherine de Medici, the queen regent, and both felt that they were finished with the Huguenots. But the Huguenots rallied and fought on. (From "The Growth of the Christian Church" by Nichols.)
Catherine de Medici ruled her son, Charles IX, with an iron hand. He became very discouraged and despondent, and died in 1574, being only twenty-four years of age. His brother Henry III then ascended the throne, but disaster befell him in 1589 when he was stabbed by a monk. Being childless, he called for Henry, King of Navarre, and declared him as his successor to the throne of France.
This man was crowned as Henry IV. Being a friend of the Huguenots he did much to aid them and to lessen their persecution. In April of 1598 he issued the famous Edict of Nantes, which put an end to the religious wars for a short time.
Henry IV met his death at the hand of an assassin on May 14, 1610. His son Prince Louis being only a child, Henry's wife Maria de Medici, was regent queen. She became interested in Cardinal Richelieu and they governed young Louis until he took the throne as Louis XIII in 1617.
Persecutions gradually began again, and many Huguenots endeavoring to flee were pursued and killed. Cardinal Richelieu was made prime minister of France and became very powerful. He expressed his desire to break the Huguenot party that was opposing the Pope, and to completely wipe out the new Reformed religion.
Louis XIII died in 1643, and the throne passed to his son Louis XIV, who turned out to be one of the most cruel rulers of recent times. (From Judge Edgar O. LeFevre's Family History.)
In 1666 a new set of Regulations, comprising Fifty-nine Articles, was issued, the provisions of which so invaded all the rights of humanity that they evoked a remonstrance from several Protestant Sovereigns in whose continued friendship Louis XIV was interested. This had some effect, and in 1669 several of the most inhuman Articles were revoked and others were modified. (Stapleton, p.15.)
The Regulations of 1666 was the occasion of the first emigration of the Huguenots, and in a short time thousands of the better class had sought refuge in foreign lands. Louis XIV, whose immoralities had greatly scandalized his court, professed in 1676 to have reformed, and in order to signalize his devotion to the Roman Catholic church undertook anew the complete destruction of Protestant Christianity. This was the beginning of the end.
On October 18, 1685, Louis XIV signed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Huguenots were not allowed to hold public offices any longer. Protestant marriages were declared illegal. Pastors were ordered to leave the country in fifteen days. Parents could no longer instruct their children in the Reformed faith, but were compelled, under heavy penalty, to have them baptized and instructed by the priests. They were forbidden to emigrate, and those who had done so must return in four months or suffer the confiscation of their property. Churches and records were destroyed. Notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts to prevent it, there was a stampede of the Protestants to leave the kingdom, and we are told that about 400,000 of them left France.
Many of the refugees settled in England, and their descendants have been an honor to the land of their adoption. Among them was a LeFevre, speaker of the House of Commons, who was elevated to the peerage as Lord Eversly.
In October, 1685, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the parents of our ancestor, Isaac of 1669, and his three brothers and three sisters were murdered by the Roman Catholics, he alone escaping. But Isaac, then a boy of sixteen, took with him his father's Bible, which his mother had concealed by baking it in a loaf of bread. This Bible he clung to and cherished during all his journeyings and hardships for sixty-six years.
Our French ancestors, beginning with Mengen LeFevre of 1510, are then: His son John of 1540; Philip of 1574, son of John; Andrew of 1604, son of Philip, Abraham of 1632, son of Andrew; and Isaac of 1669, son of Abraham, who is our American ancestor.
The record of our French ancestry is based in part on circumstantial evidence. We must remember that the Roman Catholics, besides killing the Protestants, also wrecked their churches and destroyed all Huguenot records they could lay their hands on, as I found out when I was in Strasburg, France, in 1929. I tried to get records of Protestants in the Strasburg Cathedral, and in the Strasburg City Archives. Geo. N. LeFevre.
Another Huguenot family known as LeFerree, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuehre, Fierre, Firre, Ferie, were of the nobility of France, and originally seated at Forchamps, in Lower Normandy. The founder of the family was Robert Ferree, who in A.D. 1265 was confirmed to an extensive estate. (See "Nobility of Normandy," Vol. II, p.357. Stapleton, p.100-108.)
A descendant of this family was Daniel Ferree, born about 1650. In 1675 he married Marie de la Warembur (Warembuer or Warrembere). He was a Huguenot, and a wealthy silk manufacturer. They lived in Landau, France, along the Rhine River, and to this union were born six children: Daniel, Catherine, Mary, Jane, Philip, and John. France then controlled this territory east as far as the Rhine.
After the Revocation of the Edict of nantes, in 1685 the family fled to Strasburg. While here they were joined by the previously mentioned Isaac LeFevre, a lad of sixteen, who also had fled his home when the other members of his family were killed. They later fled on into Bavaria in Germany, taking with them Isaac, and while living there Isaac and Catherine were married. They stayed in Bavaria until the early part of 1708 when the senior Daniel died. At this time his widow assumed her maiden name as an additional means of safety.
Some time before this (1707) Queen Anne of England had issued a proclamation inviting the suffering Huguenots to come to England. However, the Ferrees had heard of Pennsylvania in America, and desiring to go there began to make plans to cross the Atlantic. Consent for them to leave the country was granted by the following paper:
"Whereas Marie, Daniel Ferree's widow, and her son Daniel Ferree with his wife, and other single children, in view of improving their condition and in furtherance of their prosperity, propose to emigrate from Steinweiler in the Mayoralty of Bittingheim, High Bailiwick, Gersheim, via Holland and England, to the island of Pennsylvania to reside there, they have requested an accredited certificate that they left the town of Steinweiler with the knowledge of the proper authorities and have deported themselves peaceably and without cause for censure, and are indebted to no one, and not subject to vassalage, being duly solicited, it has been thought proper to grant their petition declaring that the above named persons are not moving away clandestinely, that during the time their father, the widow and children resided in this place, they behaved themselves piously and honestly, that it would have been highly gratifying to us to see them remain among us, that they are not subject to bodily bondage, they mayoralty not being subject to vassalage -- they have also paid for their permission to emigrate; Mr. Fischer, the Mayor of Steinweiler being expressly interrograted, it has been ascertained that they are not liable for any debts.
In witness thereof, I have, in the absence of the counsellor of the Palatinate, etc., signed these presents, gave the same to the persons who intended to emigrate. Dated Bittingheim, March 10, 1708." (L.S.) J. P. Dietrich, "Court Clerk."
(From an old record belonging to Mrs. Minnie E. Foulk of Gap, Pa., a descendant of the above Philip Ferree. See also "Memorials of the Huguenots" by A. Stapleton, and "Rupp's History.")
"Upon their arrival in London, Madame Ferree visited William Penn in person, to whom she made known her situation. Penn became deeply interested in the sad story of her misfortunes, and the next day introduced her to Queen Anne the Sovereign of England. The good Queen promised her substantial aid which she in due time rendered. William Penn consented to give her a tract of land, which she obtained upon her settlement in Pennsylvania.
"The party remained in London for about six months during which time the colony of Rev. Joshua Kocherthal was organized, composed of French and Palatinate refugees from Bavaria. This party which the Ferrees and the LeFevres joined, obtained from the Queen a patent of naturalization and permission to colonize in America. This instrument, which is dated Aug. 27, 1708, contains the names of fifty-four persons, most of whom came to Pennsylvania some years later." (The ship's register shows only twenty-five sailed at this time.) (From "Memorials of the Huguenots" by A. Stapleton.)
Daniel Ferree, Jr., and Isaac LeFevre were already heads of families when in 1708 Madame Ferree's entire family joined the party of the Rev. Joshua Kocherthal in the proposed emigration to America.
It is recorded in the Pennsylvania archives that Penn secured 2000 acres of land for Madame Ferree. (Stapleton.)
According to an article which appeared in the Philadelphia Reformed Church Messenger dated March 13, 1872, we have the following regarding Isaac LeFevre: "The ship he came to America on set sail October 15, 1708, being transport 'Globe,' and arrived in New York December 31, 1708. He and his wife Catherine and his son Abraham, who was two years old."
After their arrival in new York the Ferree-LeFevre party proceeded to Esopus (now Kingston, N.Y.), about ninety miles up the Hudson River, where they remained several years with Huguenot friends who had come to America some forty years before. According to this compiler, two of these were Andrew and Simon LeFevre, uncles of Isaac. Andrew was never married. Simon's descendants are known to us as the New York State LeFevres.
Madame Ferree and her children remained here until the spring of 1712. In the meantime, March 16, 1710, a second son named Philip was born to Isaac and Catherine. According to a letter written by Solomon LeFevre, one of the New York State LeFevres, the Kingston Church records give Catherine's maiden name as "Fire" and states that Philip was baptized Apr. 1, 1711.
In the spring of 1712 they left Esopus and traveled overland to Philadelphia, where Madame Ferree presented her letters of introduction and recommendation from William Penn to his agents.
Madame Ferree's tract consisting of 2000 acres was located along Pequea creek about fifty-five miles west of Philadelphia. It was a part of the ten thousand acres granted by William Penn to a Martin Kindig and other agents of the Mennonite colony. This land had been surveyed in October 1710 and was subdivided in April 1711. ("Memorials of the Huguenots" by Stapleton.)
On Sept. 10, 1712, William Penn's Commissioners granted and confirmed to Daniel Ferree and Isaac LeFevre 2000 acres of land for 150 pounds, in what was then Chester County, Pa. (Lancaster County was not organized until the year of 1729.) -- Rupp's History.
According to the above record the land was deeded to Daniel and Isaac, and not to Madame Ferree.
They arrived at their destination late one summer afternoon. After all their trials and travels, it looked so good to them that they called the place "Paradise," and so the town and the township remains to this day.
From an unknown early writer we have the following:
"It was on the evening of a summer day when the Huguenots reached the verge of a hill commanding the view of the valley of the Pequea. It was a woodland scene, a forest inhabited by wild beasts, for no indication of civilized life was very near. Scattered along the Pequea among the dark green hazel inhabited by wild beast could be discerned the Indian wigwams, and the smoke coming therefrom.
"Suddenly a number of Indians darted from the woods. The females shrieked when an Indian advanced and in broken English said to Madame Ferree, 'Indian no harm white; white good to Indian; go to our Chief; come to Beaver.' Few were the words of the Indian. They went with him to Beaver Cabin, and Beaver, with the humanity which distinguishes the Indian of that period, gave to the emigrants his wigwam.
"The next day Beaver introduced them to Tawana, who lived on the great flats of Pequea and was a chief of a band of Conestoga Indians who occupied this region." -- Stapleton.
The above mentioned Tawana was one of the Chiefs who signed the famous treaty made by William Penn at Shackamaxon on Nov. 4, 1682. His remains rest in the burying ground used by the Episcopal Church in Paradise, Pa.
Four years after their arrival, in 1716, after she had through much hardship and trouble established a home for each of her children in the New World, Madame Ferree passed from the scenes of this life. Her body was laid to rest in what is now known as Carpenter's Cemetery, a plot one mile south of Paradise, which she herself had selected before her death.
The 2000 acre tract was later found to contain 2300 acres. Its western boundary was near to where U.S. 30 crosses the Pequea Creek and included the area now known as Gordonville, Paradise and Leaman Place, and extended southward to the Strasburg-Gap Road. It was about 1 1/3 miles wide, its northern and southern boundaries running east and west; and almost 3 miles long, its eastern and western boundaries running slightly north-west and south-east. The tract was divided among the Ferree Children. Isaac LeFevre's share was 383 1/3 acres near the center and extended the entire width of the tract.
Several years later Isaac purchased three other tracts, thus having one for each of his four boys. The one lay one and one-half miles north of Willow Street -- east of the Eshelman Mill Road; and the other two lay in a line north of Strasburg about one-quarter mile east of the Hartman Bridge Road. The one nearest Strasburg was for Abraham and is represented by the deed on the opposite page. The buildings and cemetery referred to on page 14 are on this tract.
More About Daniel Ferree:
Occupation: Silk Merchant.
Religion: Huguenot.
More About Daniel Ferree and Maria de La Warrembere:
Marriage: 1675, Picardie, France.
Children of Daniel Ferree and Maria de La Warrembere are:
- +Marie Catherine Ferree, b. 1687, Rhineland-Palatinate, d. Bet. 1742 - 1744, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
- Daniel Ferree, b. 1677, Landau, France, d. August 1762, Paradise Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Catarina Ferree, b. March 26, 1679, Landau, France, d. 1749, Strasburg Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Jane Ferree, b. Bet. 1682 - 1687, Lyon, France, d. 1754, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
- Jean Ferree, b. Bet. 1685 - 1686, Lyon, France, d. September 1769.
- Philip Ferree, b. Bet. 1686 - 1687, Steinweiler, Bittingheim, Germany, d. May 19, 1753, Paradise Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Abraham Ferree, b. 1687, France, d. date unknown, France.