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SECOND GENERATION.
Children of (1)
Rosier1 and Elizabeth (Van de Walle) Levering.
2. I. JOHN WIGARD2: born in 1648 or '49, in the town of Gemen,
in Germany. In April, 1674, he married "the chaste virgin,"
Magdalena Bokers, of Essen. She was a native of
Leyden, in Holland. They lived in Gemen until some
time after the birth and decease of their first child, and
then removed to Mulheim, where they remained until
they emigrated to America, after the 20th of March, 1685,
bringing their surviving four children. (9)
He settled first in Germantown, Philadelphia, and removed from
there a short distance west, into Roxborough Township, in 1691, where he
bought a tract of five hundred acres of land, lying between and bordering
upon both the River Schuylkill and Wissahickon Creek. Upon this estate he
lived his remaining years with his family, and died there.
His wife Magdalena died in the summer of 1717, aged about
67 years. He died February 2, 1745, at the probable age of 97 years, and was
buried upon his farm in a spot overlooking the romantic Wissahickon, which
has become a part of the famous Fairmount Park of Philadelphia. This spot
subsequently became the churchyard and burial ground of the Baptist Church,
organized in 1789, which was greatly enlarged, and is now known as
Leverington Cemetery, under a special charter from the State of Pennsylvania.
This ground doubtless contains the remains of Magdalena. A gravestone marking
the interment, in June, 1744, of their grandchild, Clement Levering, still
stands, and points the place where repose the old pioneers, though no
sculptured tablet was ever erected there to their memory.
I have copied Wigard's family register in another part of this volume, as taken from his
bible, hereinbefore described, but which has lost its charm and specific
value in some measure since the discovery of the original records in Germany,
which relate to the same subjects, and expose its erroneous dates. His bible
was in the possession of Mrs. Sarah Kirk, of Germantown, a great-great-great
granddaughter of the old pioneer, until her
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