IMMIGRANT. Heivert was a Mennonite. One source says he came from Muhlheim in the Palatinate in 1685. Another refers to a town in Germany of Papenberg and implies he was from there.

Heivert wrote his will 30 Jan 1707/08 and it proved 19 Feb 1707/08. He mentioned wife Elizabeth and five daughters: Styntia (eldest), Mary, Gertrude, Margaret and Elizabeth (youngest). He says in one place “after my youngest daughter Elizabeth shall become of age”. Clearly she was a minor at the time of Heivert’s death. He chose Claus Ruttinghuysen as one of his executors, I assume his wife’s brother who we would know as Nicholas Rittenhouse.

He was important in the founding of Germantown, being one of the signers of the petition to organize it into a borough and one of the town’s initial Committeemen.

All three major works I found on the esteemed Rittenhouse family -- Barton’s, Rubicam’s and Cassel’s -- agree that Elizabeth was the daughter of William and Elizabeth.

Daniel K Cassel gave this biography of Elizabeth. “She came to America with her father Willem and settled with him at Germantown in 1698. She married Heivert (Howard) Papen about 1690, who came to America in 1685 at the age of about 30 years and settled in Germantown. He died in 1708 and Elizabeth died between 1720-1728. They had five children all daughters.”