316 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



First United 



States 



Treasurer 



John Richards 

 M. C. 



Settlers in 

 Germantown 



Leverings 



De la Plaines 



integrity and financial ability made him a "tower of 

 strength " during the dreariest and most hopeless days of 

 the Revolution, Among the many descendants of the 

 Hillegas family may be named the Honourable John 

 Richards, who was a member of Congress in 1796, and for 

 many years prominent in legal and political circles in 

 Pennsylvania. 



VI 



Huguenots were among the earliest settlers of German- 

 town, in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Within three years 

 of the date of settlement we find Jean Le Brun, Jean 

 Dedier, Wigard and Gerhart Levering mentioned as heads 

 of families. The peculiarly German names Gerhart and 

 Wigard were due to the fact that the father of the emi- 

 grants, Doctor Rosier Levering, a refugee to Germany, 

 married a German lady named Elizabeth Van der Walle, 

 both SODS being born on German soil. The Leverings 

 have been prominent in Pennsylvania for many years. 

 Wigard, a man of strong character, was the founder of 

 Roxborough. Among Gerhart' s descendants may be 

 mentioned the Honourable Joshua Levering and the 

 Right Reverend J. Mortimer Levering. 



The descendants of James De la Plaine, son of Nicholas 

 De la Plaine, who came to New Amsterdam via Holland 

 prior to 1663, are numerous in Pennsylvania and Mary- 

 land. James settled in Germantown in 1691, became a 

 leader in the Society of Friends, and died in 1750. Be- 

 sides James, four daughters of Nicholas De la Plaine 

 came to Philadelphia at about the same period ; Eliza- 

 beth, wife of Casper Hoodt ; Judith, wife of Thomas 

 Grifath ; Susanna, wife of Arnold Cassel ; and Crejanne, 

 wife of Ives Belangee, — the last three being married in 

 Philadelphia. John and Joseph De la Plaine, grandsons 

 of James, and the latter an ofl&cer in the Revolution, 

 removed to Maryland and established a numerous 

 progeny. 



