Month: April 2010

Huber/Hoover Map of Lancaster County, PA

Kris Hocker on 21 Apr 2010

Lancaster County Huber/Hoover land warrant tracts

I’m in the middle project on the Huber/Hoover family, specifically looking at Lancaster County and Fayette County, Pennsylvania and Washington County, Maryland—with the likelihood of branching out to additional areas like Somerset County, Bedford County, Franklin County, Dauphin County… A big undertaking!

I’ve started by looking at deeds and land warrants for Lancaster County. Being a visual person, I wanted some way of seeing spatial relationship between the locations from these records. I tried combining data from the warrantee township maps, but decided to try a simpler approach.

I put together a map of the original townships of Lancaster County that were within its current boundaries. Lancaster originally included much more land, including parts of Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Cumberland, York, Adams and Franklin counties. For my purposes I wanted to focus on a smaller area. On this map I plotted the approximate locations of Huber/Hoover tracts from the land warrants prior to 1800.

Lancaster County Huber/Hoover land warrant tracts

I can’t guarantee that I’ve got everyone correct. John Jacob and Jacob Huber in Conestoga (now Pequea) could have been the same man. The two tracts adjoin. Since the patents were for John Jacob Huber (from Martin Kendig, 1736) and Jacob Huber (from John Smith, 1759), I indicated them separately.

Also, I haven’t determined if all the tracts in Warwick and Manheim Townships were to the same Jacob Huber. Jacob Huber (ca 1708-1767), the founder and ironmaster of Elizabeth Furnace, did own substantial amounts of property. So, it is likely the same man.

I must caution that proximity does NOT necessarily always indicate a relationship. According to Harry Hoover’s book on the descendants of Hans Hoober of Earl Township, Hans’ son Jacob owned property in Martic Township—he was likely the John Jacob Huber—quite a ways away from his father’s land. Hans and Martin of Earl Township are, however, grandfather and grandson.

Update: 3 Revised Hoover Family Pages

Kris Hocker on 4 Apr 2010

I’ve finally added the revised family pages for George Hoover (ca 1766-1847) of Fayette County, son of Andrew and Catharine (___) Hoover and George Hoover (ca 1735/40-1813) of Armstrong county, son of Michael Hoover. These pages—especially George Hoover of Armstrong County—include some substantial changes from their prior versions, so descendants of  Christian Hoover, William Matthias Kern Jr., Johan Adam Waltenbaugh, Peter Kern, Peter Dedrow/Tedrow, Martin Kerbaugh, and Philip Weitzel/Whitesel please take note. I’ve also updated the Andrew Hoover Jr. of Fayette County page to include the new information regarding his wife.

I am currently expanding my research to include Hoovers in Frederick/Washington County, Maryland and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There are at least three Hoover families in the same area in Maryland at approximately the same time of interest to me—Johannes Huber of Necessity (the Hoover vacuum family line), Andreas Huber (later of Fayette County), and Michael Huber (later of Bedford County) and several of his sons. Although it is unknown if there was actually a familial relationship between these groups, I find the possibility intriguing. After all, Andreas Huber named his first land purchase in Maryland “Cousins Obligation.” It makes me wonder who was the cousin and what was the obligation?

Do you have ties to the Hoover families of Frederick and Washington counties? If so, please drop me a line.