John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1809

First, I need to correct the previous note.  Peter Heide, with wife and child, was a 1709 (not 1710) emigrant from Germany.  If I had written "immigrant" instead of "emigrant," I would have been correct.  (Immigrate from ; Emigrate to ; Migrate within .)

He appears in the sixth embarkation party from Rotterdam in 1709 under the name Peeter Heydee, wife, and child.  The letter y is understood as a letter i and the final e is probably a flourish.  I felt confident that he is the person usually named in Virginia as Peter Hitt because of the great number of Siegen names which surround him.  I quoted only names from Trupbach because I had only the Trupbach history to consult.

Many things could have happened to the family after he reached England.  Of all of the possibilities, he was one of those chosen to go to New York along the Hudson River.  There are three pieces of evidence and I will quote the last one first.

  1. Ulrich Simmendinger was one of the immigrants himself and he returned to Germany in 1717.  In Germany he published a list of the names of the Germans still living in New York.  One of the names is Peter Heyd, wife Maria Elisabeth, and child.

The man who is usually identified as Peter Hitt in Virginia is said to have married a Maria Elisabeth (Freudenberg) in 1707.  The name Heyd cannot be said to be significantly different from Heydee or from Heide or Heite (though there are some differences).  Since his footsteps seem to be clear in 1709 and 1717, consider the other two pieces of evidence.

  1. A subsistence list in 1710 shows him as Peter Hayd with two adults and two children.
  2. Another subsistence list in 1712 shows him with another adult and only one child.
All of the information that I am presenting this time is shown in Knittle's book " Early Palatine Emigration ".

Since the First Germanna Colony left Fort Germanna at the beginning of 1719, it is doubtful that Peter Heide ever lived at Fort Germanna; however, he arrived early enough in Virginia to receive one of the shares of land at Germantown.  Whether he arrived in Virginia with his wife is unknown, and whether this was the Maria Elisabeth of the marriage and the 1717 Simmendinger list is unknown.

Hitt researchers have two questions to pursue.  First, what happened to the Peter Heyd who lived along the Hudson River for at least seven years?  Secondly, is the man called Peter Hitt in Virginia really the Peter Heide who married Maria Elisabeth Freudenberg in Germany?  The answer to the first question might answer the second question.

It is time for some DNA testing.

P.S.  Was the land divided into 20 parts at Germantown because the first purchasers were expecting some other Germans to come and settle there also?  Did some other Germans from Siegen immigrate in 1709 and come to New York, and was it hoped they would move south?
(16 Nov 03)

We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.