Hite Family Reunion 2009

For those of you that missed the HITE Family Reunion at Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, VA, boy, you missed a lot of fun and genealogy information. Here's a few things I learned:

They recently identified Jost HITE's wife's maiden name. Jost HITE was presumably first white man in Shenandoah valley (that might not be true, looks like VanMETER was really first, but Jost is commonly called the first). His wife was Anna Maria MERKLE (MERKEL). Jost was born 5-Dec-1685 in Bonfield, Kraichgou, Germany. His parents were Johannes HITE and Anna Magdalena BISHOPBAUER (she was born in Zimmerhoff). His grandparents (parents of Johannes) were George HEYD and Katharine (unknown maiden name).

George BOWMAN married his oldest daughter Mary HITE, probably in Berks County, PA, before moving, with Jost, to the Shenandoah Valley. They just found his birth record; his birth name was Hans Georg BAUMANN, born 1700 in Eppingen, Germany, not too far from Zimmerhoff, and he emigrated to the Colonies in 1727.

I went on a Page County (VA) tour of HITE sites (that rhymes!). I took down GPS coordinates for those who are interested of these neat sites to tour. Locations that I have GPS coordinates for include: Belle Grove Plantation (Middleton, VA), Battlefield of Cedar Creek (Middleton, VA), all the rest are in Luray, Page County VA: Dunkard Church that Daniel HITE attended, Daniel & Rebecca HITE's home (Civil War timeframe), HITE Cemetery in Page County, Mill Creek Church (replaces the above mentioned Dunkard Church), Mauk Meeting House, adjoining Country Store and across the street the Calendine House where HITES lived. Let me know if anyone is interested in these GPS coordinates. I took lots of pictures too, though I haven't processed them yet. I even have the signatures of two different HITES from the walls of the home or church.

I picked up a number of books too: "Cedar Creek BOWMANS", "A Guide to The HITE Family 18th & 19th Century Homesteads including BOWMAN, CHRISMAN, FROMAN", "German Ancestors and Relatives of Jost HITE", and "German Origins of Jost HITE Virginia Pioneer". I could do lookups in these books, if you need anything.