Alice Huyett Bowers Ancestry from "Huyett Family in America"
A Crouch Family Heritage Association Family
Tree page
Huyett Family in America by Harvey Huyett Family Researcher
c1909 Berks Co
[NOTE BY JOHN CROUCH - Published in 1909; I have a paper copy of it reprinted,
possibly in an improved version, in "The Huyett Family Bulletin, Huyett
Family Association of America, 1926". The passages excerpted below
look identical to that print version. That bulletin has a directory of "The
Huyett Clan", listing our ancestors R.W. Crouch and A.C. Bowers.]
These are just excerpts from the online version, showing direct ancestors
of Alice Huyett Bowers, wife of John Luther Bowers and
mother of Nettie Bruce Bowers Crouch. Nettie and Ralph
Crouch were my great-grandparents. I've tried to put all ancestors'
names in bold type.]
Ancestry-only charts, which include some Huyett ancestors not shown on
this page, are at http://patriot.net/~crouch/charts/crouchcharts.htm
Posted by: jc (ID *****5058) Date: October 13, 2003 at 12:38:57
of 11
Found 2/21/11 at http://genforum.genealogy.com/huyett/messages/1.html
Biography from Morton Montgomery's 1909 History of Berks County
http://www.rootsweb.com/~paberks/montgomery/h29.html
There is also a researcher who has a large file of some family members at:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=:555729&id=I26671119
(This sketch of the Huyett family is written by Harvey T. Huyett, of Shillington,
Berks Co., Pa., a son of the late Daniel Huyett, of the same place. Harvey
T. Huyett has become quite a student, and has taken some interest in the
study of and careful research into the family history. After considerable
thought he feels that nearly all--if not quite--of what is contained in
this sketch is as near correct as it can be made at present.)
Huyett Family in America. To begin with those who "came over,"
and to explain away the traditional theory that the Huyetts came from France--which
all admit that none of them have been able to prove--it may be said in proof
of the fact that the name came from Germany and that their very French branch
proves to be the most German of the entire stock. Let us be honest and call
it Romano-Germanized-American. There is satisfactory evidence that the quartette
of ancestors of whom we find record came directly from the German Palatinate
to this country. It does not seem natural to think that the French Huguenots
brought the name over and established it in southeastern Pennsylvania, for
the simple reason that when 500,000 Huguenots left the borders of France
in one year they came over from fifty to one hundred years previous to the
Protestant persecution in Germany. Furthermore, they nearly all tended south
to the Carolinas and settled North and South Carolina. The constant warfare
between Germany and France made so much feeling, that the French would naturally
flee from the Germans as soon as the Germans had root. This is a fact of
history which is almost self-evident. In what follows we record the Huyetts
as they emigrated hither, the lines being given of three who came directly.
Several of the others cannot be certainly connected.
(I) Peter Huyett, born in 1702, emigrated in the ship "Samuel,"
Capt. Hugh Percy, sailing from Rotterdam. He was thirty-five years old,
and married. The ship's log plainly says that he was a native of the German
Palatinate, and does not mention Huguenots, which it does every time it
brought Huguenots over. This seems to be proof enough for all French doubters.
This ship "Samuel," last from Cowes, England, arrived here Aug.
30, 1737; 318 passengers. This Peter Huyett is the earliest of the name
mentioned in America. His children were: Jacob is mentioned below; Anna
Catherine, born Dec. 6, 1742, died Jan. 11, 1818, m. John Heiferichin, born
March 10, 1743, died Dec. 25, 1813; Christopher, born in 1744, was unmarried
in 1765 (this is the only record there is of him, and he may have been killed
in the Revolution); George, born Oct. 6, 1747, was killed in the battle
of Germantown, where he was serving as colonel in the Continental army;
Catherine died young; Philip, born in 1754, died in 1822, settled in Robeson
township in 1794 (his wife's name was Margaret, and among the children of
his son Jacob was Vane, who had a son William). The records show that Peter
Huyett (1702) had 200 acres of land in Exeter April 5, 1733 (?).
(I) Frantz Carl Huyett, born in 1708 in the Palatinate, emigrated in the
ship "Glasgow," Capt. Walter Sterling, from Rotterdam, which arrived
Sept. 7, 1738, he drifted across the Susquehanna river into Washington county,
Md., near Hagerstown. He had a son Ludwig and some daughters.
(I) Michael Huyett, born in 1719, started for England at the age of twenty.
At thirty he left England in the ship "Leslie," Capt. J. Balledium,
450 passengers, arrived Oct. 7, 1749, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, England;
he was also a native of the Palatinate, from Manheim, Zweibrucken. he marched
with Generals Braddock and Washington to Pittsburg, to be defeated and killed
in 1755, whereupon the Indians became so brave as to drive Frantz and Peter
Huyett across the Susquehanna river into Maryland, where Frantz found rich
soil and settled; but Peter came back on horseback to Exeter township, which
he had helped to organize in 1741 (or 1749), afterward visiting his Maryland
brother.
(I) Ambrose Huett must be of this stock, lost in the Revolutionary war.
(I) There was another emigrant, who may or nay not belong to this stock,
and who is here mentioned simply for the sake of the doubt. Jacob Huwitt,
emigrated in the "Phoenise," Capt. Reuben Honor, 500 passengers,
from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, arriving Nov. 22, 1752. We have no further
record of him here.
The compiler has further names of others probably connected with the family,
and hopes to add to the list by continued research. But it is a very difficult
task. So far he has gathered several thousand names, dates, etc., out of
more than one dozen States, into which the Huyetts have spread; and in half
a dozen counties here in Pennsylvania are found numerous representatives
of this good stock.
These Huyetts came from the city of Worms, Germany, and vicinity, out of
a district twenty miles west and ten miles east of and along the river Rhine,
mostly southwest. They were all thrifty Christians, and for this reason
were persecuted there, and even followed here by the same spirit which prevailed
at the time.
Some years ago a German who passed through Virginia tracing his name, said
that he had traced the name through Germany back to Rome. Therefore we can
say that it is a very old name, and has proved to be one of the best wherever
found. Many of the best settlers in Pennsylvania came over at the time they
emigrated, and the Huyetts have intermarried with the Boones, Hartmans,
Bechtels, Beidlers, and Pennepackers. Governor Pennypacker of Pennsylvania
is a second cousin to James Pennepacker, of Shillington, Pa., who married
Catherine Huyett (second cousin of Daniel Huyett, father of Harvey T.),
daughter of Isaac, great-grandson of Peter Huyett (who came over in the
ship "Samuel"). This Catherine Huyett's brother, Joseph Huyett,
married James Pennepacker's sister. A great-great-great-grandson of the
Boone who settled in Exeter, Pa., near Peter Huyett, married a daughter
of Cyrus Huyett, first cousin of Harvey T. Huyett.
The emigrant Peter Huyett at one time purchased a large farm from Abraham
Lincoln's grandfather, when Lincoln went to Kentucky. Some years afterward
the Lincolns rebought the farm, which is still in Lincoln hands. This presumably
happened when Peter Huyett became lost. Tradition has it that he was in
the habit of visiting his Maryland brother, going by horseback from below
Reading, Pa., to Cavetown, near Hagerstown, Md., and while on one of his
return trips to Pennsylvania his horse tripped and fell, Peter dashing head
first on a rock, breaking his neck. Consequently he was never heard from.
The compiler has no wish to set tradition aside, but if there is any guess-work
about this circumstance he would like to record his own theory. It is known
from the records that Peter Huyett was very actively interested in the political
and civic welfare of his district and the Commonwealth. In 1741 he was the
first tax collector of his township, and in 1752 he helped to organize the
county, and records also show that he was actively connected along these
lines up to 1755, when he suddenly dropped out of sight, disappearing completely.
Therefore I would suggest that the Indians scalped him, as they did Henry
Hartman, H. T. Huyett's grandmother's grandfather. For the French helped
the Indians to become very bold in 1755, when they defeated the careless
General Braddock at Pittsburg, and Mr. Huyett is convinced that Peter Huyett
was one of their victims, thus ending a brave and honorable career.
Mr. Huyett's grandfather, John Huyett, great-grandson of this Peter, married
Elizabeth Hartman. Her grandfather, Henry Hartman, came from Germany,
not many miles from the town of Worms, in the Palatinate by the river Rhine,
and a John Hartman may have been his brother or his oldest son. Henry Hartman's
widow said that on Oct. 16, 1755 (other witnesses say Oct. 30th is the correct
date), her husband, who was out on the hill working, and his oldest son
were murdered by the Indians, but that the daughter was spared her life,
but was missing. The two men were scalped by a number of Indians, who were
pursued by twenty-six whites. Adam Reed (a white man) found the Hartman
bodies with the skin cut off their heads, and buried both of them in one
grave on the spot where they were killed, to avoid their being carried away
by men or attacked by birds of the air. They were buried Oct. 31, 1755,
without removing their clothes or looking at their possessions, according
to a letter from Reed to William Parsons on Nov. 1, 1755. These Hartmans
lived in Bethel township, the Indians being numerous on the western slope
of the Blue mountains, and every fall they would creep over to the eastern
valley and carry away the grain crops the white men had raised during an
entire season. The Hartmans and Fishers and other whites gradually drew
southeasterly, to Muhlenberg and Oley townships.
If we could realize the endurance of our ancestors, and the ordeals through
which they had to pass, our hearts' gratitude would surely be theirs. Breaking
away from all friends and home ties, with their penny knotted in a handkerchief
tied around a limb, they sold themselves to the captain of a ship like so
many sheep or oxen. Then the captain gave them free steerage; but at this
end of the passage they found another knot had been put in their string,
as the captain made auction sale of them, releasing them to the farmers
who offered the highest bid, whom they had to serve until the price was
earned off; the women had to serve many years. This must have been worse
than any hardship the descendants of these courageous people would endure,
even for their kith and kin. However, there were means of softening these
severe conditions. A particular or close friend already settled here would
be requested to meet the newcomer from the Old World when his ship came
in, and be sure to bid the highest price for him or her. Otherwise they
might be lost to each other forever, by being sold to someone in a distant
section.
The Huyetts have had all these trying experiences, but they have prospered
and multiplied, the name being well represented in the present generation.
We shall now trace the direct line of Harry T. and M. Luther Huyett.
(II) Jacob Huyett, son of Peter, born April 23, 1732, died April
2, 1802. He and his wife, Maria Gegin, born Jan. 4, 1735, died Nov.
22, 1803, had a married life of forty years. They are buried at the Schwartzwald
Church. They had nine children, of whom Henry, born April 28, 1759,
died Nov. 17, 1816; he married Christiana Beiberer (daughter of Henry),
born March 9, 1759, died March 8, 1841. Christian was mentioned in 1767
(no dates, but was unmarried). John, born Oct. 30, 1763, died Nov. 27, 1825;
his wife, Sophia, born Feb. 6, 1763, died Oct. 7, 1813 (their children were:
William, Christian, Philip and Catherine, born Oct. 1, 1789, died Aug. 9,
1794; of these, Philip, born 1784, married Mary Lash, and their son John
had a son Vane Calvin, born Feb. 7, 1859, whose son William lives at Shillington,
Berks county). Jacob, born March 8, 1766, married Rosina Bechtel in 1790,
and died Jan. 19, 1831; his father sold him a farm of 180 acres in Cumru
(adjoining his brother Ludwig's), near the Five Mile House, now owned by
one of the Huyett daughters. Catherine, born Nov. 17, 1772, died May 26,
1840, unmarried. Ludwig and Philip are mentioned below.
(III) Ludwig Huyett, son of Jacob, born in 1761, died Sept. 30, 1799, aged
thirty-eight. His grave has not yet been located. John Huyett, his brother,
signed off, also John Beaver and Christian Gernant. On June 5, 1787, his
father sold him a farm of 273 acres in Cumru township, Berks county. He
and his brother Jacob had some slaves, and from five to ten cows and sheep.
He and his wife Magdalena had children: Catherine m. John Shoup, born Nov.
17, 1790, died May 25, 1840, son of Peter Shoup, the emigrant; Leah; George,
born Aug. 18, 1793, died Aug. 25, 1857; John. Of these, George m. Sarah
Gicker July 16, 1814, had children as follows: John had a daughter Amanda
(m. Henry Matz and had Eve Ann, John, Rose, Daur and Sallie); George went
to the war and did not return (he m. Mary Reifsneider and had John, whose
son John had Sallie, Cora, Irwin and others; Obediah, who had a son Harry;
Mrs. Dr. Ammon, of Reading, and Wellington, who m. a Smith); Jacob, born
Jan 17, 1820, died June 26, 1866, unmarried; Polly (or Margaret) married
(first) a Mr. Umpenhaur and (second) Isaac Idyl, by whom she had a son Isaac.
(IV) John Huyett, youngest son of Ludwig, born Jan 11, 1798, baptized Sept.
8, 1798, died Jan. 22, 1887. He was a very successful farmer, being able
to give a farm to each of his numerous children. He married Elizabeth Hartman,
daughter of John Hartman, whose father Henry was the "Bravado."
These are the Hartmans previously mentioned as having suffered at the hands
of the Indians. [JC note - at least at one time, we thought that Elizabeth
Hartman actually married the John Huyett that we're descended from.]
(III) Philip Huyett, youngest son of Jacob Huyett (1732),
(IV) Sarah Huyett, daughter of Henry (son of Jacob, son of Peter), born
April 28, 1782, died Dec. 9, 1866.
(IV) Jacob Huyett, son of Henry, born March 25, 1784, died Feb. 2,
1842. He lived along the Schuylkill river, in Exeter, Pa., and bought and
farmed the best farm in the county at the Beaver Creek lands, Hagerstown,
Md. On Jan. 10, 1809, he m. Maria Steiner. Their children were as
follows: (1) Jeremiah went West fifty years ago, to Montgomery county, Kans.,
where he homesteaded 160 acres. He had three sons, George, Jacob and Daniel,
all of whom own farms, and four daughters, not named. (2) John had children:
Jacob (who died at the age of forty-five), Claggett (who died at the age
of twenty-eight) and a daughter, also deceased. Jacob is survived by two
children, Charles, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mrs. William Arts, of Hagerstown,
Md. Shortly after Claggett's death his wife moved to Illinois; they had
several children. (3) Susan, born in 1833, died Feb. 3, 1852. (4) Jacob
had a family of seven: Millard, who opened a store four miles west of Hagerstown,
Md., where the Green Castle turnpike crosses the old National turnpike,
about thirty years ago, and the town has ever since been known as Huyett
(he had no children); Franklin, a tradesman of Hagerstown, Md.; Isaac, in
Oregon; Daniel, a trucker near Hagerstown Md.; and Mollie, Alice and Susan,
all married. (5) Leah was born on Dec. 2, 1826, on the Huyett homestead,
on the same day and year as Leah (now living at Shillington, aged eighty-three),
daughter of John Huyett, of Cumru township, near Shillington; the coincidence
is somewhat remarkable, as the parents were not acquainted at the time.
Isaac Huyett, of Exeter, Pa., also had a daughter Leah born the same year,
1826, who died young. Leah Huyett m. J. A. R. Brewer, and lived to be forty-five
years old. (6) Elizabeth m. Henry Stough, and lived to be seventy-seven
years old. (7) Daniel, born in 1823, died May 31, 1905, was engaged as a
farmer, merchant, miller and fertilizer manufacturer. His children were:
John B., who had four sons and four daughters, Eugene, Brinham, Jacob, Earl,
Zelene, Betty, Bertha and Clara; Huron A., whose children were Daniel G.
(manager of the Colorado Telephone Company at Longmont, Colo.), Margaretta
S., Virginia, Eva, Maizie, and Dorothy; Luther A., whose children are William
(he has 600 acres of the finest land near Winchester, Va.) and Edna; Margaretta
O.; and Nettie R. (who had six children, all of whom died in childhood).
(8) Mary m. Walter B. McCoy, of Illinois, and lived to be sixty-two years
old. (9) Sarah m. her first cousin, Henry Huyett, son of (IV) John.
(IV) John Huyett, son of Henry, of Berryville, Va., born Nov. 2, 1785,
died in 1859. His children were: (1) Henry married his first cousin,
Sarah, daughter of his uncle Jacob, and they had three sons
and two daughters, the sons being Luther R., John (prosperous farmers in
Virginia) and Calvin (in San Francisco, Cal., where his Turkish bath-house,
valued at $18,000, was destroyed in the recent earthquake). The daughters
had some children. (2) Mrs. Myers had children. (3) Mrs. Mary Shawl
(or Shall) had Sallie and other children. (4) Samuel, of Shepherdstown,
W. Va., died aged fifty-three years, five months, one day. (5) Sarah. (6)
John, born June 4, 1804, died Nov. 11, (year not given on tombstone).
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