LeFevre is also spelled Ferber, LaFevre, LaFever, Lefebre, LeFever,and LeFevere. It is from the original Northern French surname Lefebvre or Lefèvre. It means smith.
Yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease. It is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes. The symptoms are fever, chills, anorexia, nausea, muscle pain and headaches.
George Washington ( 1731/32 – 1799) was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and first president of the United States (1789–1797).
Mary LeFevre Deshler was born on August 24, 1715 in Paradise, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Isaac LeFevre and Catherine Ferree.
Mary married David Deshler on March 20, 1739. They were married in a civil ceremony by His Majesty's Justice of the Peace. They became Quakers. They were members of the Friends Meeting House on Race Street in Philadelphia.
He came to America about 1730 to join his uncle, John Wister, a successful Philadelphia merchant. David also became a successful businessman. He sold hardware, imported goods from East India and functioned as a private banker. According to Hotchkin people said "as honest as David Deshler." He was also known as a dandy who wore
olive-coloured silk velvet, with knee buckles and silk stockings, bright silver shoe buckles and the usual threelooped hat
David and Mary Deshler's children included:
Ester Deshler
Morton (1732, married John Morton),
Isaac Deshler (1747, died as an infant)
Mary Deshler Lewis (1735, married Elias Lewis),
Sarah Deshler (died 1750-1751),
Catherine Deshler Roberts (1752, married Robert Roberts), and
Samuel Deshler (died 1751).
In 1765 David Deshler was one of a Committee appointed by Philadelphia merchants to draw up an agreement not to buy British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed.
Mary on died February 25, 1774, aged 59 years, of scarlet fever.
David bought a 2-acre lot from George and Anna Bringhurst in 1751-52 in Germantown and constructed a four-room summer cottage on it. Twenty years later he built a 3-story, 9-room addition to the front. The house is at 4782 Main Street, Germantown, Philadelphia. Sir William Howe, commander-in-chief of the British Army occupied the house during the battle of Germantown in 1777. George Washington lived there in autumn, 1793 and summer, 1794 during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia.
David died on March 20, 1792.
Scarlet fever is a rash that is caused by strep infections.
The Society of Friends (Quakers) began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
Germantown Township, Pennsylvania was originally settled by German Quakers and Mennonites in 1681. It was divided into settlements, called Germantown, Cresheim, Sommerhausen and Crevelt. The township became part of the city of Philadelphia in 1854.
