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Joel 'Jack' L. Lightner
b.19 Jun 1779 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
d.13 Jan 1850 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 14 Feb 1777
Facts and Events
Smoke Ferree CD - November 2004 An account of the ancestors of the Ferree Family, and, of course, of Rebecca Ferree, the daughter of Abraham Ferree, furnished by Joel Lightner, son of Leah Lightner, as given to him by John Ferree, aged 84 years; Joseph Lefevre, and Leah Lightner, aged about 63 years at the time, about the 16th of September, 1823, and from some of the original title papers of land purchased by them of William Penn, proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, just granted by Henry IV., and confirmed by Louis XIII., deprived Protestants of the exercise of their religion. About this time, John Ferree or Verree, resided in the town of Landau, not far from the Rhine, in the kingdom of France. His family consisted of himself, wife and six children-three sons, and three daughters. The names of the sons were Daniel, Phillip and John, and the daughters Catharine, Mary and Jane. John Ferree, the father, was a silk weaver by trade, and his religion Calvinistic; consequently he became one of the sufferers by the revoking decree. They had no other resource than to change their residence. They went to Germany, not far from Strasburg, [16] where they resided two years. On their leaving France, they were accompanied by a young man named Lefevre. He continued as one of the family until he arrived in America, and then married Catharine Ferree, from whom, as far as is known, all of the Lefevres in this country have sprung. During their residence in Germany, John Ferree, the father, died, and it is singular that Mary Ferree, his widow, after she came to America, was not pleased to be called by any other name than Mary Varrenburse,* that being her maiden name. [*Record preserved by a descendant gives the name Maria Warenbuer. -- S.S.S.] While residing at Strasburg, hearing of a fair province called Pennsylvania, in North America, and that the proprietor, William Penn, resided in London, she determined to set out for that place, and if she received sufficient encouragement from Penn, would try to get to America. She accordingly set out for London with her family, and when she arrived employed a person to conduct her to Penn's residence. While on their way their guide pointed out to her Penn's carriage which was approaching them. She being of a determined and persevering disposition, called to Penn, who immediately stopped his carriage, he being well acquainted with the French language, which was very pleasing to her, as she could not speak nor understand the English language. Penn, understanding her business, invited her into his carriage, as he was then on his way home, where he would be more particularly attentive to anything she had to say. Penn told her he had an agent in Pennsylvania, to whom he would give her a recommendation, so that her business, he hoped, would be done to her satisfaction. Penn treated her very kindly while she was at his house. They remained in London about six months, when a vessel was about to sail for North River, New York, in which they took passage. On their arrival at that place, they moved up the river to a place called Esopus, where they remained two years, then removed to Philadelphia, and, thence, to Pequea settlement, previous to which they had taken up three thousand acres of land. Before they left London, a variety of implements of husbandry were presented to them by Queen Anne, which they found of great use to them in cultivating their lands. Phillip, the eldest son, was now about twenty-one years old, and had a desire to earn something for himself. Having formed acquaintance with several families at Esopus, he pushed for that place, where he lived one year with a respectable farmer called Abram Dubois, and while in his family formed an attachment for Dubois' daughter Leah, whom he married at the expiration of a year, and brought to his family in Pequea settlement. He commenced improving lands on the north side of Pequea Creek, that had been previously taken up by his mother and family. Some of their first labors were to cut grass in the woods for the purpose of making hay, no land having been cleared on the part allotted them. They placed timbers in the ground forked at the top, laid poles across them, and built their hay upon the top of that, and under this they lived. During their stay in this shelter their first son was born. They lived to have eight children, five boys and three girls. The names of the sons were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Philip and Joel. The daughters were Lena, who intermarried with William Buffington, Leah with Peter Baker, and Elizabeth with Isaac Ferree. Abraham was married eighty or eighty-five years since to a woman of the name of Eltenge, or Eltinge. She was of Esopus, and her parents Low-Dutch. He lived on a part of the land taken up by his grandmother and her children. They had several children. He was buried in a place called Carpenter's Graveyard, about a mile from where he was born, it being a burial ground pointed out by his grandmother Mary. His widow married a man by the name of Sergus. They moved up the Susquehanna river and it is not known what became of them. Among the papers of Joel Ferree, grandfather of Joel Lightner, is found a copy of a will of Abraham Dubois, from which it appears that a person of the name of Elting, as it is spelled in that instrument, is recognized as a son-in-law by marriage to his daughter Leah, and the name of Philip Ferree is spelled Feire, and by a release given to Philip Ferree and Leah, his wife, by Abraham Dubois, Roeloff Eltinge, and Sarah his wife, the name is spelled Eltinge by Roeloff himself, as appears in the release. Joel Lightner References
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