296 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



a.ooo Acres 

 Tract 



Peaceful 



Death 



1716 



Numerous 

 Descendants 



Soldiers and 

 Patriots 



General 

 Reynolds 



New York, the party continued on up the Hudson to 

 Esopus, where their relatives, Michail Ferree and Andreas 

 Lefe^Te, had ah'eady settled. Here they remained for four 

 years, until, in 1712, it became feasible for them to re- 

 move to Pennsylvania and settle upon the lauds which 

 had been granted to them in the valley of the Pequea. 

 The tract which came into their possession contained two 

 thousand acres, in consideration for which they paid over 

 to Penn's commissioners the sum of one hundred and fifty 

 pounds. 



In 1716, four years after her arrival in Pennsylvania, 

 Madame Ferree found a peaceful grave near the home 

 which she had established for her children. It is pleas- 

 ant to know that the last years of this brave woman were 

 in marked contrast to the stormy years of her flight from 

 France and her struggles in Germany, and that she died 

 happy in the knowledge that her children were on the 

 high-road to prosperity in a land where freedom of con- 

 science was the birthright of all her sons. Her descend- 

 ants prospered and multiplied until to-day they are to be 

 numbered by the thousand. In every walk of life they 

 have earned distinction and have proved an honour to 

 their Huguenot ancestry. It will be jjossible to mention 

 but a few of them in this book, for a full list would oc- 

 cupy pages. 



In the Revolutionary struggle the family took an im- 

 portant part. Besides a great number of privates and 

 non-commissioned officers, the Ferrees gave to the cause 

 such brave soldiers as Colonel John Ferree, of the Tenth 

 Pennsylvania Rifles, Colonel Joel Ferree, Major Michael 

 Ferree and Major George Lefever. Prominent among the 

 members of the family who took part in the war of 1812 

 were Colonel Joel Ferree (a cousin of the Revolutionary 

 colonel of that name) and Colonel Daniel Lefevre. In 

 the Civil War the most distiuguished representative of 

 the family was Major-General John F. Reynolds. His 

 grandmother on the paternal side was Catherine Ferree Le 



