Day 89

I began my morning with an hour of grant writing and ended the afternoon on a conference call with a client standing in the middle of the sidewalk in downtown Philadelphia. In between I conquered the train system and spent six hours at the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Did you know it was constitution day? The society has one of six drafts of the US Constitution and it was on display. An unexpected bonus.

During the first hour I found the information I was looking for on Edward DeHaven (a 5 g grandfather on the Bowmer side). Jacob DeHaven came to the US between 1750 and 1755 with his 3 brothers - Edward, Samuel and Peter. (Gregor - this is for you) They came from the France-Germany border (probably Hugenots) and were wealthy vintners. According to one source, the DeHavens always had specie (paper money) in bags around the house. They owned large pieces of property as well as sailing vessels that operated between the American colonies and the West Indies. They established tanneries at various locations for making leather goods, bringing expert tanners from France to work for them.

Jacob, during the Revolutionary War, heeded the plea by General Washington for funds to provision the Continental Army. He lent the government $450,000 - about $4 million in current dollars. His brother Peter became a manufacturer of gun powder and provisioned the army as well as donating supplies and equipment. Both these brothers stayed in the Montgomery County area of Pennsylvania. Jacob had sons, one of which died in infancy and one who died in the Battle of Germantown. Peter was prolific and had 8 or more children.

Samuel moved to Virginia to raise his family. Edward moved to Kentucky but not before having the Edward DeHaven - the last name we had on our family chart. I still have to verify all the connections most of which I can't do until I get to Kentucky. I will head to Montgomery County Monday to see if they have any tidbits.