Heite Family Genealogy
First Generation

1. Balthasar Heite. Balthasar was born about 1580 in Germany. He lived on the Rehbach estate which was located near Kaan.
Rehbach was first found in the records in 1555 and last in 1707 when Peter Heite married Maria Liessbeth Freudenberg (some believe to be Peter and Elizabeth Hitt the 1714 immigrants to Germanna in the Virginia Colony. According to Germanna Record No. 5, the early occupants of the Rehbach estate were:2
  1. The widow Spiess (1555); possibly the mother or mother-in-law of Johann of Rehbach.
  2. Johann of Rehbach (1568 and 1575).
  3. Hans Rehbach of Marienborn; a village near Kaan (1600-1602); possibly the son of Johann of Rehbach.
  4. Balthasar Heite (1631); possibly a son or son-in-law of Hans Rehbach.
  5. Peter Bell (1640-1652); possibly the son-in-law of Balthasar Heite and godfather of Jacob Heite's son Peter in 1665 (Siegen Baptismal record). Peter Bell moved from the estate to Fickenhuetten (an iron-works settlement).
  6. Jacob Heite of Rehbach; possibly the youngest son of Balthasar Heite.
The above occupants, probably lessees of the estate, were probably all related as noted ("Kaan-Marienborn" by Dr. Lothar Irle, p. 252).
Balthasar Heite had the following children:
2 i.
Johannes Heite died about 1656 in Germany.
3 ii.
Jacob Heite. (See Second Generation)
4 iii.
Cathrin Heite. The baptismal register at the church in Siegen shows that Cathrin had a son christened on the 1st Sunday following Epiphany, 1631. Johannes, Cathrin's brother, was given as the godfather.

Second Generation
3. Jacob Heite.1,2 Jacob was born about 1625 in Rehbach, Siegen, Germany. Jacob was the sixth known occupant of the Rehbach estate in the eastern part of Siegen Parish. They were a protestant family living in a Catholic Parish. Jacob is thought to be the youngest son of Balthasar Heite. Jacob married Cathrin Bosch and they had eight children born between 1652 and 1665 which they brought to the Siegen to be christened.3
In his article, Dr. Hinkle confused Peter Heite, born 1665, with Peter Heite, the son of Johann Jacob Heite, born about 1683. Prof. William I. Utterback, author of the Utterback Genealogy, wrote to B. C. Holtzclaw indicating that he had found, and copied, a large amount of information on the Hitt family at the Nicholas Church in Siegen (It is assumed that he really meant the Heite family). However, Utterback's notes have not been found, nor has anyone found those records from the Nicholas Church.
Jacob Heite and Cathrin Bosch had the following children:2
5 i.
Johann Heite. Johann was born about 1652. He was christened in Siegen, Germany on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, 1652; godfather was Johann Bosch of Caan (schoolmaster). Johann Bosch may have been Cathrin's father since he was the godfather of her first child. Johann Bosch of Caan (school master there) was the godfather of Johann Heite.
6 ii.
Anna Cathrin Heite. Anna Cathrin was born about 1653. She was christened in Siegen, Germany on the 9th Sunday after Trinity, 1653; godmother was Anna Cathrina, the daughter of Mannes Zoller of Marienborn.
7 iii.
Chuen (Conrad) Heite. Chuen was born about 1655. He was christened in Siegen, Germany on Exaudi Sunday, 1655; godfather was Chuen Jost.
8 iv.
Antonius Heite. Antonius was born about 1656. He was christened in Siegen, Germany on the 21st Sunday after Trinity, 1656; godfather was Tonjes Dietrich.
9 v.
Elisabeth Heite. Elisabeth was born about 1658. She was christened in Siegen, Germany on Estomihi Sunday, 1658; godmother was Elisabeth, daughter of Johann Heite (probably the brother of Jacob).
10 vi.
Johann Jacob Heite. (See Third Generation).
11 vii.
Cathrina Heite. Cathrina was born about 1663. She was christened in Siegen, Germany on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1663; godmother was Cathrina wife of Daniel Kohl, shepherd on Coeller Street, Siegen.
12 viii.
Peter Heite Peter was born about 1665. He was christened in Siegen, Germany on the 14th Sunday after Trinity, 1665; godfather was Peter Bell of Fickenhuetten.

Third Generation
10. Johann Jacob Heite. Johann was born about 1660. He was christened about 1663 in Siegen, Germany on Trinity Sunday, 1660; godfather Johann Haas of Obernau.
Johann Jacob Heite had the following children:
13 i.
Peter Heite. (See Fourth Generation).

Fourth Generation
13. Peter Heite.2 It is believed by some that Peter was born between 1680 and 1683 in Rehbach, Siegen, Germany. He married Maria Liessbeth (Else) Freudenberg, daughter of Johann Henrick Freudenberg and Maria Muenker of Ferndorf, on 6 Jan 1707 in Rehbach, Siegen, Germany. Maria Liessbeth (Else) Freudenberg was born about 1674 in Ferndorf, Germany and was christened there the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, 1674; godmother was Maria Else, daughter of Jost Hadamar of Krombach. The Ferndorf church books show that Maria Else was the daughter of Johann Henrich Freudenberg and his wife Maria.
The extant records for Peter Heite and Maria Liesbeth Freudenberg show that the bride was 33 years old when she married and there are no records of any children of this marriage either at Siegen or at Ferndorf. Maria would have been 40 - 41 years old in 1714 when Peter Hitt immigrated to Germanna in Virginia. Although Holtzclaw concluded that Peter Heite and Peter Hitt were the same person, he found it implausible, and rejected the idea, that Maria was the mother of Peter Hitt's six children, born between 1715 and 1726.2 Holtzclaw, therefore, searched for an "Elizabeth" that was a member of the 1714 group that could possibly be a second wife for Peter Hitt and he concluded that Elizabeth, daughter of Hermann Otterbach, could be that person.
There is much controversy and no proof that Peter Heite is the Peter Hitt who immigrated to the Virginia Colony in 1714.

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References:
  1. Dr. Benjamin C. Holtzclaw and Charles Herbert Huffman, Editor. The Germanna Record, No. 1; Peter Hitt, John Joseph Martin, and Tillman Weaver of the 1714 Colony and their descendants. Publication of: The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies, Inc., Culpeper, VA, July 1961; Second printing February 1982.
  2. B. C. Holtzclaw. Germanna Record No. 5; Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia, 1714-1750. Publication of: The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies, Inc., P.O. Box 693, Culpeper, Virginia, 22701; 1964.
  3. The 1714 Colony of Germanna, Virginia, by Dr. William J. Hinkle; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 41, pp. 41-59.
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Last Updated on December 16, 1997