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.
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.
21 Jan 2011 at 2:00 pm | Permalink |
There is a comment that one researcher found 52 Huber progenitors. I found the following site, which perhaps you are aware of. Type in your search area ThePalatineProject. The home page will come up; go the right and at the bottom of the list you will see the statement “search the palatine project”. This is a search of ship records in an attempt to catalog immigrants from the Palatine area 1600′s and through the 1700′s. If you type in “Huber” you will have numerous records of this line. Many Huber names. I believe we have my line pretty firmly established as the line of Hans Huber and his son Jacob Huber line…….I think. My Conrad Barnhart and his many name spellings in connection with the Huber/Gefeller line of the late 1700′s period is probably going to send me to the genealogy nuthouse. Again thanks for your website. No need to reply, I know you are busy but I wanted you to know of The Palatine Project site.
14 Jan 2011 at 1:21 am | Permalink |
Kris I hope it is o.k. if I use the names of the Hubers and the townships you have listed.
My 5th great grandfather was Hans Huber and I did a report from findings on the net in an attempt to get information in one place under Hans Huber in my Ancestry.com site. There is much confusion and I am certainly not unconfused, but less than I was……I think. I work on many lines but the Huber/Barnhart/Gefeller line is one of them.
Thank you for your hard work, it is very much appreciated.
14 Jan 2011 at 1:05 pm | Permalink |
Let me know if I can be of any assistance, Vickey. There a quite a number of Hubers in Martic Township—many with the same given names (Jacob in particular). Their land adjoined one another. They also intermarried. I don’t know that there’s any proof of a relationship, but I’m sure you’ll find lots of tree on the net that show one.
The names one the map are the ones I found from warrant records—meaning they received original patents from the Penns or their representatives to hold the land. Many more Huber/Hoovers probably settled in Lancaster (I can think of a few off the top of my head, including my presumed ancestor Michael Huber) and either settled for a short time and moved on without leaving a record or purchased land from another original warrantee. So, this list of Huber/Hoovers is not complete. I think another researcher was able to find something like 52 Hoover progenitors… That’s quite a few families. My map shows only a handful!