Hans Jost Hite
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Hans Jost Hite | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | 1685 | ||
| Died | 1760 | ||
| Nationality | German | ||
| Citizenship | Germany | ||
| Occupation | Immigrant | ||
Hans Jost Heydt (1685-1760), also known as Jost Hite, was a Germany Immigration who became one of the first Europe settlers in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and led a migration to settle new families in the region.[1]
Early Life
Jost Hite was born in December 1685 as Hans Jost Heydt in an area that is now Baden-Württemberg, Germany to Johannes Von Der Heydt and Anna Magdalena. He immigrated with his wife, Anna Maria Merckle, and sixteen other families to the Thirteen Colonies in the early 1700s, having first settled in New York (state) only to then relocate to Pennsylvania. The couple had eleven children, with eight surviving to adulthood. One of these children was wealthy businessman, Jacob Hite.
Hite was a land speculator and took the opportunity to settle in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, bringing families along with him. He became one of the first European settlers in the region.
Land Acquisition
Hite garnered himself 600 acres along the Perkiomen River in Pennsylvania by 1718. In 1731, he purchased 40,000 acres from John and Isaac Van Meter in the present day Frederick County, Virginia[2] and partnered with Robert McKay to purchase 100,000 acres from the Virginian government.[3] In 1732, Hite received a grant to bring twenty families to the Shenandoah Valley to settle and populate the region.[1] Through this grant, Hite acquired 94,000 acres for the families to buy and settle on.[2]
Jost Hite has his name on a sign in Winchester, Virginia, marking the spot where the region's first European families settled.[4]
Legal Dispute
In 1748, sixteen year old George Washington was sent "to measure out plantations for Thomas, Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the reputed owner of the northern neck"[1] of Virginia. Washington mentioned his meeting and boarding with the Hite's in his journal, "We sent our Baggage to Capt. Hites (near Frederick Town) went ourselves down the River about 16 Miles to Capt. Isaac Penningtons (the Land exceeding Rich & Fertile all the way produces abundance of Grain Hemp Tobacco &c.) in order to Lay of some Lands on Cates Marsh & Long Marsh."[2]
Lord Fairfax settled on land that was within Hite's property, but not yet owned. In 1736, Fairfax and Hite found themselves in a dispute over the true ownership of the land.[1] The dispute was taken to court and lasted for fifty years, ending in 1786 - twenty-six years after Hite's death - in Hite's favor.[2]
Death
Jost Hite died in May 1760 at the age of 75.
His legacy lives on through countless descendants throughout the United States. A Hite Family Descendant Reunion is held in Middletown, Virginia on the property of Hite's grandson, Isaac Hite Jr., for the Hite's descendants to meet one another and learn about the history of their ancestor.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Cartmell, T. K. (1909). Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books. p. 1. ISBN 978-1556132438.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 “A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains began Fryday the 11th. of March 1747/8,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-01-02-0001-0002. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 1, 11 March 1748 – 13 November 1765, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976, pp. 6–16.]
- ↑ Bellenger, Gail. "Colonial America – Jost Hite – Shenandoah Pioneer | World History". Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "The Jost Hite Story". midsouthrescue.tripod.com. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ McFarland, Laura. "New exhibit opens at Belle Grove". The Winchester Star. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
External links
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