Marie Warenrbeuer

Madame Marie de la Warembur

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis IV, (which had previously provided sanctions to non-Catholics, including French Hugenots-who followed John Calvins' teachings), in 1685, the Ferree adn LeFevre families fled to Strasburg, France. After her husband, Daniel, died in 1708, Marie assumed her maiden name (French) as an additional means of safety. During the 13th century, the Ferrees enjoyed the titles and privileges of the French Nobility. Centuries later, Daniel Ferree and his wife Marie owed a large silk mill compoany in Alsace-Lorraine and obtained a degree of wealth. When Madam Marie Ferree came to America she brought with her a sense of dignity and charm which was in sharp contrast to the simple lifestyle often found in the wilderness area of the Pequea Valley where she and her family established their final place of settlement.

Some time before this, (1707), Queen Anne of England issued a proclamation inviting the suffering Huguenots to come to England. However, the Ferrees had heard of Pa. in America, and began making plans to cross the Atlantic. They had to get consent to emigrate, given by the "Court Clerk, J.P. Dietrich, Dated Bittingheim, March 10, 1708, in the absence of the Councillor of the Palatinate".

"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. It is recorded in the Pa. archives that Penn secured 2,000 acres of land for Madame Ferree. **Incidentally, this land was purchased FROM Martin Kendig, Hans Herr's uncle, (his mother's brother), after whom Kendig Square in Willow Street is named!

After their arrival in New York, the Ferree-LeFevre party proceeded to Esopus (now Kingston, N.Y.), about 90 miles up the Hudson River, where they remained two years with Huguenot friends who had come to America 40 years before. Two of these were Andrew and Simon LeFevre, uncles of Isaac, her son-in-law.

Madame Ferree and her children remained here until 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 2,000 acres was located along Pequea creek, about 55 miles west of Philadelphia. It was a part of the 10,000 acres granted by William Penn to a Martin Kendig, and other agents of the Mennonite colony. This land had been surveyed on 10/1710, and was subdivided in 4/1711.

On Sept. 10, 1712, William Penn's commissioners granted and confirmed to Daniel Ferree, Jr., and Isaac LeFevre (who had married Daniel's sister, Catherine), 2,000 acres of land for 150 pounds, in what was then Chester County, PA. (Lancaster County was not organized until 1729).

The land was deeded to Daniel Ferree and Isaac LeFevre, not to Madame Ferree. While in Philadelphia, they purchased wagons and horses to transport the equipment and supplies provided by Queen Anne in London, and other essentials purchased with their own money.

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. The family stayed in wigwams with the Indians camped along the Pequea creek near the Paradise Memorial Park. Belmont Road represents the eastern boundary of the original Martin Kendig tract, by 1712, the Marie Ferree tract.

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 two thousand acres were divided among the Ferree children. Catherine and Isaac LeFevre's share was 300 acres, later more accurately surveyed to contain 350 acres. It is bounded on the south by the present borough of Strasburg, Pa, and the land of Christian Herr.

Headstone: In Memory of Marie Warenbuer Fierre, Founder of Huguenot Colony, Pequea Valley.

Plaque: In Memory of Marie Ferree, Who Overcame Many Challenges to Advance the Huguenot Faith (Placed by the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, October 6, 2012--300th Anniversary).

Also a memorial Marker that names Marie, Daniel and others (See Media Section).

links

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7072484

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Marie Warenbuer was born about 1653, in Picardie, France. She had three sons and three daughters with Daniel Ferree Sr. She died on January 1, 1716, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, at the age of 63, and was buried in Paradise, Pennsylvania.

Timeline 1483-1546 Martin Luther 1598 Edict of Nantes - Protestants have some civil rights restored. Protestants have been under persecution of their religious beliefs since Martin Luther gained a following 1618 the 30 years war begins - this tears up middle Europe and affects many areas of life all across Europe. Crop production is interrupted, commerce suffers, Protestants are being murdered everywhere 1626 Possible birth date of Jean LaVerre - father to Daniel Ferree (Marie's husband to be) 1648 Peace of Westphala signed - respecting soverign boundaries and not interfering in domestic affairs - this affects the 30 years war participants, they are more or less agreeing to leave each other alone and submit to arbitration for disputes 1646 Daniel Ferree born 1653 Marie Warenbuer born in Picardy, France 1685 Edict of Nantes revoked - ministers are given 2 weeks to leave France - all other Protestants are forbidden to leave. 400,000 flee illegally to:Great Britain, Prussia, Dutch Republic, Switzerland, South Africa, French colonies in North America

Daniel Ferree was a successful textile merchant. He had business connections in Steinweiler, Germany. The family fled to Bavaria after the Edict was revoked. Daniel died in Steinweiler in 1707. When he passed away he left Marie and the family well off financially. Marie went back to her maiden name of Warenbuer for safety. Even in Germany they were still under a threat of persecution. Fear of future invasions and further persecutions pushed Marie to re-locate her family to the new world.

Queen Anne invited immigrants to take on English citizenship and immigrate to populate the new colonies in North America.

1685 LeFevre's Martyred: Abraham LeFevre, Judith; Philip; Jacob; Mary, Susanna; Charles - Isaac alone survived. At 16 he fled to Germany, and was taken in by Daniel and Marie Ferree. In 1704 he married Catherine, Daniel and Marie's daughter and later immigrated to N. America with Marie and her children.

1712 Marie and her family move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They form a new community called Paradise. 1716 Marie died in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Notes from Ancestry.com, Danielle's family tree The Ferree Family

Marie Warenbuer Ferree, my great (x8) grandmother, was a remarkable woman. She rose above her personal hardships of losing her home, religious persecution, and the death of her husband, to lead her children from religious persecution in her French homeland, to Germany, to Holland, to England, and ultimately to America. Her story is one of courage and determination. Historians, referring to Marie Ferree as Madame Ferree, tell us that her name is still remembered and venerated in the neighborhood of Paradise, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

When Marie Warenbuer was born in 1653, France was in a religious turmoil. The country was unofficially ruled by the Catholic Church; however the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther about 1517 had spread rapidly in France. The followers of this new “reformed religion”, later to be called French Huguenots, included many of the French nobility and wealthy merchants including the Ferree family. This frightened the Catholic Church hierarchy and the French government and soon they were accusing the new Protestants of heresy. In 1536 a General Edict was issued urging the extermination of the Huguenots. This ignited what is called the War of Religions in France and serious persecution of the Huguenots followed. It is estimated that over 8,000 Huguenots were murdered during this period. Sadly, the attempt to exterminate the Huguenots had the full blessing of the Pope in Rome. Finally Henry IV, King of France, signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598 which brought an end to The Wars of Religion. Unfortunately, King Henry IV was murdered in 1610 and the persecution resumed in even greater earnest. In 1685, King Louis XIV, Henry’s successor, made it official by revoking the Edict of Nantes which had granted a degree of religious tolerance of the Huguenots.

Our Marie Warenbuer was born in Picardy, France in 1653. At the age of 22 in the year 1675 she married Daniel Ferree and together they moved into his home along the Rhine River in Lindau in Bavaria, now part of West Germany, but then part of France. Daniel Ferree was descended from a Huguenot (Protestant) family of French nobility. The founder of the Ferree family was one Robert Ferre des Ferris who in 1265 was confirmed to a huge estate in Lower Normandy, therein gaining him nobility status. Daniel, born in 1647, like his fathers before him, was to become a prosperous silk manufacturer. Their first child, Daniel Jr., was born in 1676. Five additional children were born to the family over the next ten years. During most of this period which followed the original Edict of Nantes, this French Protestant family lived in relative peace with their Catholic neighbors, despite being in a minority position in a predominately Catholic country. As previously stated, in 1685 Louis XIV, King of France, revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had previously granted religious freedom. The Ferree family now faced a major change in their lives.

Louis XIV immediately ordered soldiers to all French towns and villages to kill the Protestants and confiscate their property. Fearing for their lives Daniel and Marie Ferree and their children escaped to Strasbourg, Germany and later to Steinweiler in the German Palatine. Unfortunately, Daniel died a few years later (maybe as late as 1707), leaving Marie and her six children though reasonable well-off, alone to fend for themselves. Although they were allowed to live in the Palatinate, there was always the danger of invasion by the armies of France and the possibility of being put to death for their religious beliefs.

In 1707, Queen Anne of England issued a proclamation inviting the suffering Huguenots to come to England for colonization in America. In early 1708, Madame Ferree with her now married son, Daniel, and her other single children, immigrated to England via Holland. Upon their arrival in London, Madame Ferree, now somewhat well known for her outspoken beliefs, visited William Penn, to whom she made known her situation. William Penn was well-known at the time as being a member of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, and for his efforts to found a new colony in America. He had chartered the colony with new liberties such as the guaranteed right to a free and fair trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment, and free elections. These were rather novel ideas at the time, however they were ideas that later greatly influenced our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution. William Penn became deeply interested in the sad story of Marie Warenbuer’s misfortunes, and the next day he introduced her to Queen Anne, Sovereign of England. Queen Anne, herself a strong independent woman, was intrigued by Madame Ferree’s strong willed determination and granted her, her family and fellow Huguenots, English citizenship, permission to colonize in America, and a promise of substantial aid. Subsequently, William Penn granted her 2,300 acres of land which she was to obtain upon her settlement in Pennsylvania. Madam Ferree with her family, set sail to America on October 15, 1708 on the ship “The Globe” and arrived in New York on December 31, 1708. [Some sources have her following her family on a later ship]. Madame Ferree and her family initially waited in a Huguenot colony at Esopus (now Kingston), up the Hudson River from New York while her property in Pennsylvania was being surveyed. Then in 1710, word came that the survey had been completed and the family traveled to Philadelphia. In mid-summer of 1712 they traveled west out of Philadelphia to the Pequea Valley in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When they arrived in the valley, they were no other white people in the area. Fortunately, the Paquaw Indians, who lived in the area and had sold their land to William Penn, proved to be friendly. There the Ferree family settled, divided the land among the family, and lived in general prosperity as farmers on fertile land for many generations.

Marie Warenbuer Ferree and her family were among the first 5000 of 150,000 Huguenots to immigrate to America and she is credited with being the founder of the Pequea Valley, Pennsylvania Huguenot colony in 1712. She died only a few years later at the age of sixty-three in 1716, and she is buried in a cemetery on property that she had donated in what was later to be known as Ferree Graveyard and is now referred to as Carpenter’s Graveyard. This cemetery is located about one half mile south of the Village of Paradise in Lancaster County. It is believed that all Ferree descendants in America are descended from Marie Ferree. Clearly, had not been for Madame Ferree’s determination and the attention that she drew to her family’s plight, she would not have met with William Penn, she would not have had an audience with the Queen of England, she would not have been granted thousands of acres of fertile farm land in Pennsylvania, immigrated to America, and she would not have become the matriarch of the Ferree family in this country. She was a special person in our family’s history.

Daniel Ferree, the son of Marie and Daniel Ferree, was born in 1677 in France and in 1701 he married Anna Maria Leininger in Germany. Their son Andrew, our great (x6) grandfather, was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1701 and immigrated to America with his grandmother and parents in 1708. His son David was born in 1725 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and married Mary LeFevre, who herself was a great granddaughter of Marie and Daniel Ferree. Their child, David, our great (x4) grandfather was born in 1772 in Lancaster County and married Mary Baker (no known relationship to other Baker family tree). Their son, Dillen Baker Ferree, was born in 1796 and married Elizabeth Dewees in 1819. Their son, David Dewees Ferree (in photograph), our great (x2) grandfather, was born in 1826, also in Lancaster County. He married Mary Rebecca Hutchinson (in photograph) and on March 17, 1866 she gave birth to her second son, my great grandfather, Eugene Hutchinson Ferree, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

David Dewees Ferree died sometime before 1880, for in the 1880 U.S. Census, his 14 year old son Eugene was listed as living with his older brother and his mother, Mary Rebecca Hutchinson, in the Village of Cayuga, New York located on the east shore at the north end of Cayuga Lake in Central New York State. David Dewees Ferree was not listed as living with his family in the 1880 Census nor is he buried with his family in the family plot in this small village. I assume that he must have died young, perhaps in his mid-40s, and his wife and children following his death moved to the Village of Cayuga so that she and her children could be close to her parents. Mary Rebecca was the daughter of Mosely Hutchinson (1795-1861), a prominent area public figure and large landowner in Cayuga, and Elizabeth Boardman Hall (1801-1877). Both of her parents trace their ancestry back to the early 1600s in this country. The Ferrees per the 1880 Census were living in the Hutchinson home which even today is referred to as the “Hutchinson Homestead” and noted with an historic landmark.

My great grandfather, Eugene Hutchinson Ferree (in photograph), attended Cornell University from 1886-1887. Cornell is located in Ithaca, New York at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake about 30 miles south of his Village of Cayuga home. In 1890, Eugene married Marian Coapman in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church located only a few blocks from his mother’s home. Unfortunately, we know very little about Marian Coapman, where she lived, her parents, and so forth. There are a number of Coapmans buried in Cayuga although know of them appear to be Marian’s parents. Most likely her parents lived in a village not far from Cayuga and it is possible that Eugene met Marian while he attended Cornell University. Eugene and Marian had three children while living in Cayuga. Their youngest child was born in December 1895. Marian died in 1896 possible due to complications from the childbirth. She is buried in Cayuga, New York alongside her husband who outlived her by 56 years. He never remarried. My mother, Marian Coapman Patterson, was named after her grandmother.

Sometime later, probably after his mother’s death in 1901, Eugene moved his family to Lockport, New York. In the 1930 U.S. Census, great grandfather Ferree is listed as living with his youngest daughter, Marian Ferree, in Lockport.  His two other daughters had married before 1930.  Eugene became a prominent business man in Lockport, owning and operating a leather goods factory that bore his name, E.H. Ferree Co.  He died in 1952 at the age of 86.  His daughter, Florence Ferree, married my grandfather, Douglas Patterson.  Eugene Ferree, Florence Ferree, and Douglas Patterson are covered in other family history chapters, specifically the chapter titled “Mother” and the chapter titled “The Patterson Family’.     

Excerpt from A Brief History of Lancaster County

...Germans and French subsequently settled. Among the latter were the Ferrees, the Lefevres and some others, of whom we shall give some account. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., in 1685, the Huguenots were the victims of a S3'stematic and terrible persecution. Some were brutally massacred by troops of dragoons. Many were sent to the galleys. Everything that bigotry could devise was employed to torture and to destroy these defenceless people. Half a million fled to England, Holland and Germany, carrying their arts and industry with them. Daniel Ferree and his wife Mary, with their sons Daniel, Philip and John, and their daughters Catharine, Mary and Jane, escaped from their home at Lindau, near the Rhine, across the river into Germany, where they remained two years. Accompanying them in their flight was a young man named Isaac Lefevre, whose family had been killed by the soldiers. Daniel Ferree died, and his widow resolved to go to Ivondon to see William Penn with a view of making her home in Pennsylvania. Upon arriving in London she asked to be be directed to Penn's residence. The orentleman who was about to direct her, at that moment observed Penn's carriage approaching. The carriage was stopped. Penn invited her to a seat in it, and drove her to his home. He treated her with the greatest kindness, gave her a recommendation to his agent in Pennsylvania, and introduced her to Queen Anne, who received her very graciously. The Ferree family remained in London six months, and then embarked for America. After arriving at New York City they moved up the Hudson river to Esopus, where they remained two years, then went to Philadelphia, thence to the Mennonite settlement in the Pequea valley. Queen Anne granted them letters-patent, giving them the rights and privileges of English subjects, with the right to buy and hold land in their new settlement. Before they left London the queen presented them with a variety of farming implements. These they used in clearing the land upon which they settled. Isaac Lefevre remained as one of the family until they arrived in America, when he married one of the daughters, Catharine Ferree. From this union have descended all the Lefevres in Lancaster county, in other parts of Pennsylvania, and in all parts of the United States. Phillip Ferree, one of the sons, lived for one year with Abraham Dubois, a French farmer at Esopus, and mairied his daughter Leah at the end of that time, after which he brought her to the Mennonite settlement in the Pequea valley. The Ferrees and Lefevres settled in what is now Paradise township, on a tract of 2,000 acres, which was part of the 10,000 acres Martin Kendig had purchased from Penn's Commissioners. Philip Ferree located on a tract of land on the north side of the Pequea creek, in the present Leacok township.

Daniel died in 1708. In March, 1708 the family received permission to leave Steinweiler from the local authorities. The family was granted passage to emigrate from Steinweiler via Holland and England to the "island of Pennsylvania." They also received a certificate from the French Reformed Church at Pelican that was a "testimonial of their life and religion." While still in Europe, Mary and others, bought 4,000 acres from William Penn in the Pequea Valley in what would become Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The two married couples went on to America before Mary and the single children. Daniel and Isaac's families appeared on June 28, 1708 list of the fifty-three people who sailed with Joshua Kocherthal's party. Daniel and Isaac were both called famers. Mary did not arrive in England until 1709 when she appeared on "A list of all the poor Germans lately come over from the Palatinate into this Kingdom, taken in St. Katharine's, the Sixth May 1709." They went to the Hueguenot settlement at Esopus, New York where they had relatives. They lived in New Paltz. The surveyor's book from Chester County, Pennsylvania (page 33) shows that Mary's 2,000 acres from the 4,000 acres purchase was surveyed in 1710 in 333 acre plots for the Ferree family: Daniel Ffiere, John Ffiere, Richard Davis, Isaac Lfiere, Thomas Faulker and Philip Firree. Thomas Faulkner had an addional 250 acres surveyed in October, 1714. Richard Davis. The land was surveyed for Richard Davis in anticipation of his marriage to Jane. It was not deeded to him until 1718. The land was surveyed for Thomas Faulker in anticipation of his marriage to Marie. It was deeded to him in 1715/16. They stayed in New York until spring, 1712 while their Pennsylvania land was being surveyed. The Ferree-Lefever land was near Strasburg. Philadelphia November 7, 1712 - Received of Maria Warenbuer 20 shillings sterling for 1 year quit rent of land liad out to her at Strasburg in this Province. James Logan, Recvr. Mary was a party to this transaction, and that the two parties named in the instrument merely held the tract on behalf of themselves and others, their kindred and relations, who had advanced part of the purchase money for the same. The old Ferree family graveyard was laid out and walled at a very early date in the northwest corner of the tract. Mary was probably the first to be buried in that graveyard. She died about January, 1716.

Timeline 1483-1546 Martin Luther 1598 Edict of Nantes - Protestants have some civil rights restored. Protestants have been under persecution of their religious beliefs since Martin Luther gained a following 1618 the 30 years war begins - this tears up middle Europe and affects many areas of life all across Europe. Crop production is interrupted, commerce suffers, Protestants are being murdered everywhere 1626 Possible birth date of Jean LaVerre - father to Daniel Ferree (Marie's husband to be) 1648 Peace of Westphala signed - respecting soverign boundaries and not interfering in domestic affairs - this affects the 30 years war participants, they are more or less agreeing to leave each other alone and submit to arbitration for disputes 1646 Daniel Ferree born

1653 Marie Warenbuer born in Picardy, France

1685 Edict of Nantes revoked - ministers are given 2 weeks to leave France - all other Protestants are forbidden to leave. 400,000 flee illegally to: Great Britain Prussia Dutch Republic Switzerland South Africa French colonies in North America Daniel Ferree was a successful textile merchant. He had business connections in Steinweiler, Germany. The family fled to Bavaria after the Edict was revoked. Daniel died in Steinweiler in 1707. When he passed away he left Marie and the family well off financially. Marie went back to her maiden name of Warenbuer for safety. Even in Germany they were still under a threat of persecution. Fear of future invasions and further persecutions pushed Marie to re-locate her family to the new world.

Queen Anne invited immigrants to take on English citizenship and immigrate to populate the new colonies in North America.

1685 LeFevre's Martyred: Abraham LeFevre, Judith; Philip; Jacob; Mary, Susanna; Charles - Isaac alone survived. At 16 he fled to Germany, and was taken in by Daniel and Marie Ferree. In 1704 he married Catherine, Daniel and Marie's daughter and later immigrated to N. America with Marie and her children.

1712 Marie and her family move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They form a new community called Paradise. 1716 Marie died in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Notes from Ancestry.com, Danielle's family tree The Ferree Family

Marie Warenbuer Ferree, my great (x8) grandmother, was a remarkable woman. She rose above her personal hardships of losing her home, religious persecution, and the death of her husband, to lead her children from religious persecution in her French homeland, to Germany, to Holland, to England, and ultimately to America. Her story is one of courage and determination. Historians, referring to Marie Ferree as Madame Ferree, tell us that her name is still remembered and venerated in the neighborhood of Paradise, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

When Marie Warenbuer was born in 1653, France was in a religious turmoil. The country was unofficially ruled by the Catholic Church; however the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther about 1517 had spread rapidly in France. The followers of this new “reformed religion”, later to be called French Huguenots, included many of the French nobility and wealthy merchants including the Ferree family. This frightened the Catholic Church hierarchy and the French government and soon they were accusing the new Protestants of heresy. In 1536 a General Edict was issued urging the extermination of the Huguenots. This ignited what is called the War of Religions in France and serious persecution of the Huguenots followed. It is estimated that over 8,000 Huguenots were murdered during this period. Sadly, the attempt to exterminate the Huguenots had the full blessing of the Pope in Rome. Finally Henry IV, King of France, signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598 which brought an end to The Wars of Religion. Unfortunately, King Henry IV was murdered in 1610 and the persecution resumed in even greater earnest. In 1685, King Louis XIV, Henry’s successor, made it official by revoking the Edict of Nantes which had granted a degree of religious tolerance of the Huguenots.

Our Marie Warenbuer was born in Picardy, France in 1653. At the age of 22 in the year 1675 she married Daniel Ferree and together they moved into his home along the Rhine River in Lindau in Bavaria, now part of West Germany, but then part of France. Daniel Ferree was descended from a Huguenot (Protestant) family of French nobility. The founder of the Ferree family was one Robert Ferre des Ferris who in 1265 was confirmed to a huge estate in Lower Normandy, therein gaining him nobility status. Daniel, born in 1647, like his fathers before him, was to become a prosperous silk manufacturer. Their first child, Daniel Jr., was born in 1676. Five additional children were born to the family over the next ten years. During most of this period which followed the original Edict of Nantes, this French Protestant family lived in relative peace with their Catholic neighbors, despite being in a minority position in a predominately Catholic country. As previously stated, in 1685 Louis XIV, King of France, revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had previously granted religious freedom. The Ferree family now faced a major change in their lives.

Louis XIV immediately ordered soldiers to all French towns and villages to kill the Protestants and confiscate their property. Fearing for their lives Daniel and Marie Ferree and their children escaped to Strasbourg, Germany and later to Steinweiler in the German Palatine. Unfortunately, Daniel died a few years later (maybe as late as 1707), leaving Marie and her six children though reasonable well-off, alone to fend for themselves. Although they were allowed to live in the Palatinate, there was always the danger of invasion by the armies of France and the possibility of being put to death for their religious beliefs.

In 1707, Queen Anne of England issued a proclamation inviting the suffering Huguenots to come to England for colonization in America. In early 1708, Madame Ferree with her now married son, Daniel, and her other single children, immigrated to England via Holland. Upon their arrival in London, Madame Ferree, now somewhat well known for her outspoken beliefs, visited William Penn, to whom she made known her situation. William Penn was well-known at the time as being a member of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, and for his efforts to found a new colony in America. He had chartered the colony with new liberties such as the guaranteed right to a free and fair trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment, and free elections. These were rather novel ideas at the time, however they were ideas that later greatly influenced our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution. William Penn became deeply interested in the sad story of Marie Warenbuer’s misfortunes, and the next day he introduced her to Queen Anne, Sovereign of England. Queen Anne, herself a strong independent woman, was intrigued by Madame Ferree’s strong willed determination and granted her, her family and fellow Huguenots, English citizenship, permission to colonize in America, and a promise of substantial aid. Subsequently, William Penn granted her 2,300 acres of land which she was to obtain upon her settlement in Pennsylvania. Madam Ferree with her family, set sail to America on October 15, 1708 on the ship “The Globe” and arrived in New York on December 31, 1708. [Some sources have her following her family on a later ship]. Madame Ferree and her family initially waited in a Huguenot colony at Esopus (now Kingston), up the Hudson River from New York while her property in Pennsylvania was being surveyed. Then in 1710, word came that the survey had been completed and the family traveled to Philadelphia. In mid-summer of 1712 they traveled west out of Philadelphia to the Pequea Valley in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When they arrived in the valley, they were no other white people in the area. Fortunately, the Paquaw Indians, who lived in the area and had sold their land to William Penn, proved to be friendly. There the Ferree family settled, divided the land among the family, and lived in general prosperity as farmers on fertile land for many generations.

Marie Warenbuer Ferree and her family were among the first 5000 of 150,000 Huguenots to immigrate to America and she is credited with being the founder of the Pequea Valley, Pennsylvania Huguenot colony in 1712. She died only a few years later at the age of sixty-three in 1716, and she is buried in a cemetery on property that she had donated in what was later to be known as Ferree Graveyard and is now referred to as Carpenter’s Graveyard. This cemetery is located about one half mile south of the Village of Paradise in Lancaster County. It is believed that all Ferree descendants in America are descended from Marie Ferree. Clearly, had not been for Madame Ferree’s determination and the attention that she drew to her family’s plight, she would not have met with William Penn, she would not have had an audience with the Queen of England, she would not have been granted thousands of acres of fertile farm land in Pennsylvania, immigrated to America, and she would not have become the matriarch of the Ferree family in this country. She was a special person in our family’s history.

Daniel Ferree, the son of Marie and Daniel Ferree, was born in 1677 in France and in 1701 he married Anna Maria Leininger in Germany. Their son Andrew, our great (x6) grandfather, was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1701 and immigrated to America with his grandmother and parents in 1708. His son David was born in 1725 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and married Mary LeFevre, who herself was a great granddaughter of Marie and Daniel Ferree. Their child, David, our great (x4) grandfather was born in 1772 in Lancaster County and married Mary Baker (no known relationship to other Baker family tree). Their son, Dillen Baker Ferree, was born in 1796 and married Elizabeth Dewees in 1819. Their son, David Dewees Ferree (in photograph), our great (x2) grandfather, was born in 1826, also in Lancaster County. He married Mary Rebecca Hutchinson (in photograph) and on March 17, 1866 she gave birth to her second son, my great grandfather, Eugene Hutchinson Ferree, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

David Dewees Ferree died sometime before 1880, for in the 1880 U.S. Census, his 14 year old son Eugene was listed as living with his older brother and his mother, Mary Rebecca Hutchinson, in the Village of Cayuga, New York located on the east shore at the north end of Cayuga Lake in Central New York State. David Dewees Ferree was not listed as living with his family in the 1880 Census nor is he buried with his family in the family plot in this small village. I assume that he must have died young, perhaps in his mid-40s, and his wife and children following his death moved to the Village of Cayuga so that she and her children could be close to her parents. Mary Rebecca was the daughter of Mosely Hutchinson (1795-1861), a prominent area public figure and large landowner in Cayuga, and Elizabeth Boardman Hall (1801-1877). Both of her parents trace their ancestry back to the early 1600s in this country. The Ferrees per the 1880 Census were living in the Hutchinson home which even today is referred to as the “Hutchinson Homestead” and noted with an historic landmark.

My great grandfather, Eugene Hutchinson Ferree (in photograph), attended Cornell University from 1886-1887. Cornell is located in Ithaca, New York at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake about 30 miles south of his Village of Cayuga home. In 1890, Eugene married Marian Coapman in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church located only a few blocks from his mother’s home. Unfortunately, we know very little about Marian Coapman, where she lived, her parents, and so forth. There are a number of Coapmans buried in Cayuga although know of them appear to be Marian’s parents. Most likely her parents lived in a village not far from Cayuga and it is possible that Eugene met Marian while he attended Cornell University. Eugene and Marian had three children while living in Cayuga. Their youngest child was born in December 1895. Marian died in 1896 possible due to complications from the childbirth. She is buried in Cayuga, New York alongside her husband who outlived her by 56 years. He never remarried. My mother, Marian Coapman Patterson, was named after her grandmother.

Sometime later, probably after his mother’s death in 1901, Eugene moved his family to Lockport, New York. In the 1930 U.S. Census, great grandfather Ferree is listed as living with his youngest daughter, Marian Ferree, in Lockport.  His two other daughters had married before 1930.  Eugene became a prominent business man in Lockport, owning and operating a leather goods factory that bore his name, E.H. Ferree Co.  He died in 1952 at the age of 86.  His daughter, Florence Ferree, married my grandfather, Douglas Patterson.  Eugene Ferree, Florence Ferree, and Douglas Patterson are covered in other family history chapters, specifically the chapter titled “Mother” and the chapter titled “The Patterson Family’.     

Excerpt from A Brief History of Lancaster County

Germans and French subsequently settled. Among the latter were the Ferrees, the Lefevres and some others, of whom we shall give some account. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., in 1685, the Huguenots were the victims of a S3'stematic and terrible persecution. Some were brutally massacred by troops of dragoons. Many were sent to the galleys. Everything that bigotry could devise was employed to torture and to destroy these defenceless people. Half a million fled to England, Holland and Germany, carrying their arts and industry with them. Daniel Ferree and his wife Mary, with their sons Daniel, Philip and John, and their daughters Catharine, Mary and Jane, escaped from their home at Lindau, near the Rhine, across the river into Germany, where they remained two years. Accompanying them in their flight was a young man named Isaac Lefevre, whose family had been killed by the soldiers. Daniel Ferree died, and his widow resolved to go to Ivondon to see William Penn with a view of making her home in Pennsylvania. Upon arriving in London she asked to be be directed to Penn's residence. The orentleman who was about to direct her, at that moment observed Penn's carriage approaching. The carriage was stopped. Penn invited her to a seat in it, and drove her to his home. He treated her with the greatest kindness, gave her a recommendation to his agent in Pennsylvania, and introduced her to Queen Anne, who received her very graciously. The Ferree family remained in London six months, and then embarked for America. After arriving at New York City they moved up the Hudson river to Esopus, where they remained two years, then went to Philadelphia, thence to the Mennonite settlement in the Pequea valley. Queen Anne granted them letters-patent, giving them the rights and privileges of English subjects, with the right to buy and hold land in their new settlement. Before they left London the queen presented them with a variety of farming implements. These they used in clearing the land upon which they settled. Isaac Lefevre remained as one of the family until they arrived in America, when he married one of the daughters, Catharine Ferree. From this union have descended all the Lefevres in Lancaster county, in other parts of Pennsylvania, and in all parts of the United States. Phillip Ferree, one of the sons, lived for one year with Abraham Dubois, a French farmer at Esopus, and mairied his daughter Leah at the end of that time, after which he brought her to the Mennonite settlement in the Pequea valley. The Ferrees and Lefevres settled in what is now Paradise township, on a tract of 2,000 acres, which was part of the 10,000 acres Martin Kendig had purchased from Penn's Commissioners. Philip Ferree located on a tract of land on the north side of the Pequea creek, in the present Leacok township. Source

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{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1265\cocoasubrtf200\cocoascreenfonts1{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;}{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}\pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\pardirnatural\f0\fs24 \cf0 MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712. \par MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712. \par MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712. \par MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712. \par MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712. \par MARIA FEREE IS BURIED IN CARPENTER'S GRAVEYARD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. \par \par Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1653 probably in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some of his six children were born. They were living in Steinwiel, Bittingheim by 1681 when their son Philip was born. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria traveled to London in 1709 and in April 1710 sailed to New York. Mme. Ferree's group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County on which they settled in 1712.}

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2 _OTHN Mary Warrenbaer: 3 RIN MH:SC11644: 2 RIN MH:SC11646: 2 RIN MH:SC11648