Johan Justus (Heyd) Hite (1685 - bef. 1761)

Born 5 Dec 1685 in Bonfeld, Ritterkanton Kraichgau des Schwäbischen Ritterkreises, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Maria (Merckle) Hite — married 11 Nov 1704 in Bonfeld, Imperial Free City of Heilbronn, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Husband of Anna Magdalena (Stephan) Hite — married Nov 1741 in Frederick County, Virginia

Descendants

Died before 7 May 1761 before age 75 in Kernstown, Frederick, Virginia [uncertain]

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Jost (Heyd) Hite was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration

Biography

Jost Hite (baptized Hans Justus Heyd) was born in Bonfeld in the Kraichgau region of the Palatine Electorate (Kurpfalz), the son of Johannes Heyd, a butcher of Bonfeld, and his wife Anna Magdalena.^[1] He apprenticed as a linenweaver and at age nineteen, Jost Heyd married Anna Maria Merckle, 11 November 1704 in Bonfeld: "Johan Justus Heyd, linen weaver and son of Johannis Heyd, butcher and civic councilor here, married Anna Maria, daughter of Abraham Merckle, citizen here."^[2] Their first child, Anna Maria, born February 22, 1706, died two days later. Their second child, Maria Barbara, born January 28, 1707, died after a month. [These children were born in Bonfeld]. Their third child, Maria Elisabetha, was baptized January 2, 1708 at Treschklingen, a few kilometers from Bonfeld, but the record list the parents as residents of Bonfeld.^[3] The European winter of 1708-1709 was one the most severe in modern times. The temperature dropped way below zero for almost two months, the rivers and streams froze solid, the winter wheat crop was wiped out and livestock died from starvation and cold. Thousands fled their devastated land as soon as it was possible to travel down the Rhine in March, 1709, to Rotterdam in Holland, where the British had agreed to take as many as 8000 refugees to the American colonies.^[4] Jost Heydt with Anna Maria and infant, and Johannes Heydt with his second wife, Anna Maria, and four children were among 1,600 refugees taken across the English Channel and housed in tents in a refugee camp south of London. In the second week of July 1709 the families of Jost and Johannes Heydt were transferred to ships that took then to the Hudson Valley of New York, where a small German settlement of Palatines, called New Pfalz, had already been established.^[5] Only four of the nine family members reached America: Jost Hayd, wife, Anna Maria, baby daughter and stepmother, Maria Hayd. They were settled with about a thousand other refugees near the town of Kingston on the Hudson about fifteen miles from New Pfalz.^[6]

Things did not turn out as expected in New York. The refugees were suppose to receive assistance while they worked producing naval stores, primarily tar for the British navy, and in exchange they would eventually receive 40 acres of land but the local pine trees were not the kind that produced the necessary quantity or quality of turpentine for making tar and the British colonial government did not follow through on the promise of land.^[7] After four years many of the refugees began drifting off on their own, many to Pennsylvania, where there was already a substantial German population and good farmland. The daughter of Jost and Anna Maria that survived the journey apparently died before November 1711, when another daughter was born and given the same name. The subsistence list of September 1712 lists Jost and his wife with only one child, but in September 1713 another daughter, Magdalena, was born and like the child born in 1711, was baptized in the Lutheran Church at Kingston.^[8] By this time Jost Heyd had probably made up his mind to leave New York and seek a better life in Pennsylvania.

Jost Heyd and his family moved about 150 miles southeast of Kingston to the Skippack Creek area of what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, but at that time was still part of Philadelphia County, in the spring of 1714. "Yoest Hyde" purchased 150 acres on the Skippack Creek from Johannes Kolb in May of that year.^[9] Two years late he purchased four and a half acres adjoining his tract from Peter Wentz. In December 1718 "Hans Yoest Heijt" purchased six hundred acres on the Perkiomen Creek a few miles west of his property on the Skippack, and definitely moved there because he sold his land on the Skippack in May 1719.^[10] The Skippack is a tributary of the Perkiomen, a larger stream, and Heyd may have made the move because he had plans to build a grist mill and the Perkiomen provided a stronger water flow. Here he built a stone house and a grist mill and remained until 1731-32.^[11] Other than his land purchases, however, there are very few records of Hite and his family in Pennsylvania. There are no baptismal records for children, no sponsoring of baptisms for friends and neighbors, no witness to deeds or wills, not even tax records. The only two references found in civil records are two petitions: one a request for a grant of 50 acres of unclaimed land adjoin his property, dated 1725, and another petition by residents of Coalbrookdale Township, Philadelphia County, requesting that the governor do more to protect the people of the area from Indian attacks. This petition was dated May 10, 1728 and signed by "Jost Hyte," his brother-in-law, Jacob Markley and Christian Neuschwanger among others.^[12] Nevertheless, in spite of a dearth of records, the years in Pennsylvania were good ones for Hite and his family. He obviously prospered and in the Pennsylvania countryside, away from a crowded and unhealthy refugee camp, his family thrived. One more daughter and five sons were added to the two daughters born in New York and Heyd cultivated associations and friendships that would prove to be very valuable.

From this point his name will be " Jost Hite," the version that appears in most Virginia records.

Among the people Jost Hite befriended in Pennsylvania were John and Isaac Van Meter, Dutch fur trades who had traveled into the wilderness of western Virginia to trade with the Indians. The Van Meters realized that there were English land speculators already showing interest in the land beyond the Blue Ridge and in June 1730 obtained a grant for 40,000 acres in the Shenandoah Valley, at that time virtually empty of European settlers. The Van Meters deeded this tract to Jost Hite in August 1731.^[13] It is possible that Jost Hite had accompanied them on at least one trip into the Virginia wilderness and arranged to buy their tract by the end of 1730. He sold his entire tract of 600 acres of land in Pennsylvania in January 1731 and it is highly unlikely that he would have sold his well established farm and mill in Pennsylvania before buying the entire 40,000 acres unseen.^[14] In the meantime, Hite made arrangements with a Quaker named Robert McKay to acquire additional land and in October 1731 they were granted patent for 100,000 additional acres in the Shenandoah, with the provision that they obtain 140 settlers (one for each 1,000 acres) to occupy the land within two years. By the spring of 1732 he and his family, at this point including three sons-in-law, left for Virginia. Paul Froman, had married Elizabeth about 1730, Jacob Christman and Magdalena and Hans Georg Baumann (Bowman), and Anna Maria probably married as they prepared to leave for Virginia. Bowman was a member of the Skippack Reformed Church and two other members of the church, Christian Neuschwanger, already acquainted with Hite and Neuschwanger's brother-in-law, Peter Stephan (Stephens), both with wives and children, decided to join the Hite group and leave for Virginia. Their decision may have been affected in part because of serious internal strife in the Skippack congregation.^[15]

The Hite party, which tradition claims to be sixteen families, settled on Opequon Creek and Cedar Creek, in what is present-day Frederick County, Virginia. Hite chose a site on the old Indian trail, where it crossed Opequon Creek about five miles south of present-day Winchester. Peter Stephens, Christian Neuschwanger and Jacob Christman took land just south of Hite where the present-day town of Stephens City is located, but Froman and Bowman settled on Cedar Creek several miles further west and south.^[16] Enough additional settlers arrived by 1735 to make it worthwhile for Rev. Johann Casper Stoever to make the first of several trips to the area to perform marriages, baptize children and preach to the people in May 1735. On that occasion Jost Heydt (Stoever's spelling) sponsored several baptisms and on subsequent trips from 1736 to 1739, Stoever baptized 15 grandchildren of Jost and Anna Maria Hite. "Jost Heydt and wife" sponsored the baptism of Anna Maria, first born child of their son, John Hite, April 29, 1739.^[17] This is the last known reference to Jost's wife, Anna Maria. She is thought to have died later that year. Jost Hite made a marriage contract on November 10, 1741 with Magdalena, widow of his old friend, Christian Neuschwanger, in which he promised her "Christian love and faithfulness" and a home for as long as he lived. She promised him "Love and Obedience" and brought with her four head of cattle, three horses and other personal property. The contract was witnessed by Magdalena's son, Jacob Neuschwanger, her brother, Peter Stephens, and by four of Hite's sons.^[18] Magdalena was about eight years older than Jost Hite, but this marriage was obviously made to provide for the security of the widow of his friend Christian Neuschwanger and to provide Hite with a companion and housekeeper befitting his status.

Jost Hite spent much of his time in the 1730s parceling out land to new settlers and building more permanent homes and farm structures for himself and his children. He obtained an Ordinary license in 1738 and also built a grist mill on Opequon Creek, near his home before 1740.^[19] By the 1740s Hite began to take on a more baronial role. His children were grown and were given farms of their own, he was remarried and his home on the old Indian trail, by this time called the "Great Wagon Road," became an inn where weary travelers could find rest, newcomers could find out about available land or find friends and family who lived in the area. All who came by could share the latest news and gossip. Hite's stature had reached the point where locals depended on him to settle disputes and provide them with business advice and counsel. He had become lord of the manor and the inn was his court. Leonard Schnell, a Moravian missionary on his way to Carolina, traveled down the "Great Wagon Road" in November 1743 and wrote in his diary November 21: At sunset we came to a German innkeeper Jost Hayd, a rich man well-known in the region. He was the first settler here. He was very courteous when he heard that I was a minister.^[20] It was probably about this time that the legends of "old baron Hite" began to take shape. It was also the time that an English lord, who was actually a baron, arrived in Virginia and claimed that he was the proprietor and overlord of all northern Virginia.

Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, baron of Cameron, arrived in Virginia in 1735 as heir of Lord Culpeper, who had received a large grant of land, including much of northern Virginia, from King Charles II years earlier. Fairfax wanted to see what he had inherited and also had orders from the Privy Council in London for the colonial government to stop making land grants in northern Virginia. Grants made before 1735, however, were to be considered legal. Hite continued to sell land after 1735 and since he had not made sufficient surveys, Fairfax also questioned many of the sales he had made before 1735. Thus began a long conflict between the two which intensified after 1749, when Fairfax settled in the Shenandoah Valley, and set up his headquarters no more than ten miles from Hite's home. He called his new home "Greenway Court," settled in and immediately started making surveys and issuing land grants to settlers, many who had been there for years. He hired a young man named George Washington as an assistant and surveyor.^[21] A lot of settlers who had purchased land from Hite, and thought they had a clear title, had to get a new survey and patent from Fairfax. The same year he began granting patents, Fairfax also filed suit against Hite and his old partners, McKay, Green and Duff, among others. The suit dragged on for years and had little impact on the fortunes of the extended Hite family, but was an irritant to many of the settlers who had to appear in court, make depositions and worry if they had a clear title. The suit was not settled until 1786, after American Independence and long after the deaths of Hite and Fairfax, but nevertheless, settled in favor of Hite.^[22]

There are very few records of Jost Hite in his old age. Some say he went to live with his son, Isaac, at "Long Meadows" near Cedar Creek and died there. Others say he remained at his home on the Opequon and died there. His second wife, Magdalena, and his son, Joseph, were both deceased by the time he wrote a will, April 25, 1758, naming his four surviving sons as executors. He probably died in the spring of 1761 as his will was probated in Frederick County Court, May 7, 1761.^[23] Perhaps the lack of records is one reason so many legends and stories about Jost Hite found there way into the narrative of Shenandoah Valley history, but as romantic and grand as the legends are, the real story of Jost Hite is even more amazing. Born in a small German village, son of a butcher, a refugee who endured terrible hardships and an immigrant in a strange land, Jost Hite became a leader and a pioneer who had a major role in settling the Shenandoah Valley. For settlers who were hurt or inconvenienced in the conflict between Hite and Fairfax the title of "old baron" may not have been complimentary, but others saw it as an honor. Fairfax may have been born a baron but to the Hite family, and many others, "Hans Jost Heyd" deserved to be considered his equal. So historians and genealogists will continue to differ with one another and debate Hite's role and the impact he had, and there may yet be new information discovered that will answer old questions and raise new ones, but at this time the myths and legends have been replaced by a more realistic portrait of the man.

It is very unlikely that Jost Hite is buried in the old Opequon Cemetery, which is several miles from where lived and even further from where he is thought to have died. The Opequon cemetery was the burial ground of the early Scots-Irish Presbyterians in Frederick County. Hite, like all other German pioneers in the Shenandoah was in all likelihood buried in a family plot near his residence.

Ancestor of noted country singer Tim McGraw^[24]

Family

Children:

1. Anna Maria Heyd (born 1706) - died young
2. Maria Barbara Heyd (born 1707) - died young
3. Maria Elizabetha Heyd (born 1708) - died young
4. Elizabeth Hite (born 1711) married Paul Froman
5. Maria Magdalena Hite (born 1713) married Jacob Chrisman
6. Anna Maria Heydt (born 1714) married Hans Jerg Baumann
7. Johannes Hite (born 1715) married Zara Elten
8. Jacob Hite (born 1719) married Catherine O'Bannon then Frances Madison
9. Isaac Hite Sr. (born 1721) married Eleanor Elting
10. Abraham Hite (born 1729) married Rebecca Van Meter
11. Joseph Hite (born 1731) married Elizabeth Van Meter then Elizabeth McKay

Note

Notice to all interested parties: This profile has been consolidated, cleaned up and properly documented after several merges. Please do not add any new information or offspring unless the information is backed up with solid primary evidence. Family trees imported from Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org DO NOT constitute primary sources. Family genealogies cited must include the specific relevant information, such as baptismal record, will or estate settlement, diary entry, etc. "Family tradition" cited must include origin or person who relayed the information and reason for believing it. These are all WikiTree rules. Also there is no need to adjust the German dates for pre-1752 records. That is only necessary for British records (including colonies) for which there were several here. All the German states adopted the Gregorian calendar by 1589.

Sources

1. ↑ Church book Bonfeld, Württemberg: Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart > Dekanat Heilbronn > Bonfeld > Mischbuch 1607-1737 Band 1 Archion image 49
2. ↑ Birth and marriage records are from the Bonfeld Church records in the Evangelische Landesarchiv, Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart, Germany, LDS microfilm #186059. Cited in Hank Z. Jones, Ralph Connor and Klaus Wust, The German Origins of Jost Hite, Shenandoah History, Edinburg, VA , p. 12.
3. ↑ The birth of their first two children are in the Bonfeld Church records cited above. Maria Elisabetha's birth is from the Treschklingen Church Records, located in the Evangelische Landeskirche Archiv, Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany. LDS microfilm #1189301. Cited in Hank Z. Jones, The Palatine Families of New York, Volume II, p. 1178.
4. ↑ Walter Allen Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration, Philadelphia (1937), pp. 3-5, 47-60.
5. ↑ Knittle, p. 266.
6. ↑ Jones, Palatine Families, p. 353.
7. ↑ Knittle, pp. 60-70.
8. ↑ Subsistence Lists for 1710 and 1712, in Knittle, p. 285. and R. E. Hoes, Baptismal and Marriage Register of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston, New York (1891) pp. 96 and 103.
9. ↑ Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Deed Book "F," Vol. 2, p. 48.
10. ↑ These transaction are described in Nancy K. Gaugler and Ralph Connor, "Jost Hite: From the Neckar to the Shenandoah," Pennsylvania Folklife, Volume 37, #1 (Fall 1987), pp. 20-21.
11. ↑ The house (still standing) and the mill are described in Gaugler and Connor, p. 21.
12. ↑ Pennsylvania Archives, Series I, Volume 1, p. 214.
13. ↑ Executive Journal of the Council of Virginia, pp. 236, 253, 363-4. Cited in Jones, Connor and Wust, p. 21.
14. ↑ Deed dated January 9, 1730 [Old Style]: "Hans Yoest Height, weaver, and Anna Maria, his wife," convey 500 acres with house and grist mill to John Pawling. The deed was witnessed by Paul Froman, who was probably already Hite's son-in-law. A facsimile of the original deed, in possession of the Pennybacker family, owners of the former Hite property, is in Gaugler and Connor, p. 31.
15. ↑ William J. Hinke, The Life and Letters of Rev. John Philip Boehm, Philadelphia (1916), pp. 207-10. Boehm was pastor of the Skippack Church.
16. ↑ Cecil O'Dell, Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia, Marcelline, MO (1995). This work contains references to all the land transactions of the Opequon pioneers. There is a plat of all their land holdings on p. 232.
17. ↑ F. J. F. Schantz, Records of Rev. Johann Casper Stoever, Baptismal and Marriage, 1730-1779, Harrisburg, PA (1896), pp. 8-13 contain the baptism for his four trips to Virginia.
18. ↑ Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book "1," p. 16. Frederick County Court House, Winchester, Virginia.
19. ↑ O'Dell, p. 25.
20. ↑ W. J. Hinke and C. E. Kemper, eds. "Moravian Diaries of Travel through Virginia," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume XI (1903-4), #4, p. 373.
21. ↑ Samuel Kercheval, A History of the Valley of Virginia, (Fourth Edition), Strasburg, VA, (1925), pp. 155-7.
22. ↑ Records of the Fairfax-Hite suit can be found in a number of major archives. Since the suit was filed in the colonial Virginia court in Williamsburg, the bulk of the papers are in the British Museum in London. Most of Fairfax's papers and correspondence are in the "Thomas Lord Fairfax Collection," #57-THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, Virginia. There are also files in the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, and the Filson Society Library in Cincinnati, Ohio.
23. ↑ Frederick County, Virginia Will Book "2," p. 487. Frederick County Court House, Winchester, Virginia.
24. ↑ "Tim McGraw." Who Do You Think You Are (US). Season 2, Episode 2. NBC. 11 Feb 2011.

• Samuel Kercheval, A History of the Valley of Virginia, 4th Edition, Strasburg, VA (1925), First edition published 1833.
• John W. Wayland, The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley, reprint, Bridgewater, VA (1964) (Originally published, 1907).
• Klaus Wust, The Virginia Germans, Charlottesville, VA (1969).
• Thomas Kemp Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia (illustrated) from Its Formation in 1738 to 1908 (Chapter XLVII, "Joist Hite, the Pioneer," pp. 252-269. Eddy Press Corporation, (1909).
• Hank Z. Jones, Ralph Connor, Klaus Wust, The German Origins of Jost Hite, Virginia Pioneer, 1685-1761, Shenandoah History, Edinburg, VA (1979).
• Hank Z. Jones, The Palatine Families of New York, A Study of the Palatine Immigrants to Colonial New York, 1710. 2 volumes, Camden, ME (1985).
• Walter Allen Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration, Philadelphia, (1937).
• Nancy K. Gaugler, and Ralph Connor, "Jost Hite: From the Neckar to the Shenandoah," Pennsylvania Folklife, Volume 37, #1, Fall, 1987.
• Cecil O'Dell, Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia. Marceline, MO (1995). This work has many of the early Hite deeds and maps showing the locations of tracts.
• Philip Otterness, Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York. Ch. 7, pp. 137-138. Cornell University Press, 2006. pp. 137-8.