Jacob Hauri

For many years, researchers assumed that he was a son of Hans Hauri the Woolweaver, a Mennonite refugee, and therefore a brother of Hans and Ulrich Hauri, who settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania about 1718. The fact that Jakob was a Lutheran, while Hans and Ulrich were Mennonites, is a problem. Jakob was probably a more distant relative, probably a member of the Hauris at Reinach rather than those at Schöftland (suggested by William Woys Weaver).

He cannot have been a son of Ulrich and Barbara. Ulrich's will (1723) left his estate to his wife and "bretheren" indicating that Ulrich had brothers but no children. On the other hand, if Jakob was a brother of Ulrich and Hans, he either did not leave Switzerland with his parents in 1711 or he was born after that date. If born after 1711, he cannot have owned land in Pennsylvania about 1725, which Sorenson says that he did. Finally, the Jakob who was son of Hans the Woolweaver is known to have been ancestor of the a Bavarian Mennonite family.

At the time of the Reformation the common people of a given area were required to conform to the faith of their ruler. The Swiss were expected to conform to the religion established in their Canton. Some of the cantons remained Catholic, while others were Calvinist (Presbyterian). Bern, which ruled the Aargau during this time, was Calvinist. Therefore, it is impossible that Jakob was originally a Lutheran.

Jakob Hauri probably settled first in the Palatinate (Pfalz), which was a semi-independent country on the western border of the Holy Roman Empire. Geographically, the Palatinate was divided between two small territorial clusters: the Rhenish or Lower Palatinate and the Upper Palatinate. The Lower Palatinate included lands on both sides of the middle Rhine River between its Main and Neckar tributaries. Its capital was Heidelberg. What was then the Lower Palatinate is now split between France and Germany, divided by the Rhine. The Upper Palatinate was located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as it flows south toward the Danube, and extended east to the Bohemian Forest. The Upper Palatinate is now part of Germany.

Schelbert says that the Hauris moved to the Palatinate after 1648 and that there was a Jakob there in 1745 whose descendants removed to Bavaria and then to America (this is probably the Mennonite family).

The people of the Palatinate suffered greatly during the War of the Grand Alliance (1689-97) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13). During this war, France ravaged the Lower Palatinate in an attempt to expand its eastern boundary into that area. It was stopped by the Grand Alliance, composed of England, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire. Within the Palatinate, French aggression, high taxes, and religious dissension were compounded by the winter of 1708-09, the harshest winter in 100 years. Many of the early German settlers of America were refugees from the Palatinate.

In 1707, the British government under Queen Anne had begun advertising for Germans from the Rhine Valley and Switzerland to settle their North American colonies. In the spring of 1709, thousands of Palatines left Germany in response to the English advertisements. They sailed down the Rhine River to Rotterdam then to London. By early June, a thousand Palatines a week were entering Rotterdam and there were more Palatines in London than the government could handle. The British government issued a proclamation that all who arrived after October would be sent back to Germany. In all, some 30,000 people came to England expecting to emigrate to Pennsylvania. The Catholics among them were returned to Germany. The Protestants spent the winter of 1709-10 in England. Early in 1710 three large groups were sent to the English colonies in Ireland, Carolina, and New York.

In 1709 the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had represented that land and occupation for a large number of the Palatines could be found in his government. The plan, approved by the Commissioners and the Queen, was laid before Parliament, which voted £24,000 for the transportation of the company sent thither and their immediate subsistence upon arrival. Five hundred families, comprising thirty-eight hundred souls were at once sent over. Luttrell wrote on 9 August 1709, "An abundance of them are gone hence in waggons for Chester, to embark for Ireland." They were provided with land in Munster, where they became "a sturdy stock, useful and influential in the country."

I believe that Jakob might have been among the group that went to Ireland. Although I have found no direct evidence of this, the descendants of Rev. Michael Howery have a tradition that their ancestor came from Ireland. [Juniper.] However, no Hauris or Howrys appear in the lists of Germans who went from the Palatinate to England in 1709. [Tepper.]

There is no known record of Jakob's immigration to America. I believe that Jakob probably immigrated rather later than the other Hauris in Pennsylvania, say about 1737, before the birth in 1739 of Jakob's daughter. Further, Jakob might have come to Pennsylvania via Ireland and not directly from Switzerland or the Palatinate. Note that the Strassburger index to Vol. 3 appears to be incomplete, at least for 1733-1734. Closer research might reveal another immigration record for Jakob Hauri. However, there are some immigrants with similar names, one of whom might have been Jakob Hauri or another relative of Jakob:

Jakob Houer arrived at Philadelphia aboard the Molly from Rotterdam on 30 September 1727. However, a comparison of the two extant lists indicates that this Jakob was Jakob Hüber.

Hall lists a Jakob Hauri who came to America in 1762 and a Melch(ior] who came in 1731. [Hall.]

A Henry Howry appears on a 1717 tax list of Conestoga, Pennsylvania, where this Jakob settled, but most authorities accept that this is a misprint for Hans.

Hans and Durst Hawly, arrived 30 August 1749 on the Crown from Rotterdam via Cowes. On the same ship were Jakob Schweitzer and Martin Dättwyler, both surnames common in the region of Switzerland from which the Hauris came. [Rupp, Strassburger]

Joseph Houry received a warrant for 76 acres in Buck County, Pennsylvania on 28 September 1747.

Jakob Hourg, age 35, appears on a list dated 12 October 1735 of men imported on the Snow Fox, Capt. Charles Ware, from Rotterdam, but last from Plymouth. [Strassburger.] His name appears on the passenger list, but not on the list of men from the same ship who took the oath of allegiance. At 35, he was much younger than this Jakob, but the date fits well with his first appearance in America known to me, 1739 in what is now York County, Pennsylvania. On the minus side, there are other records that indicate that there was a family in the Philadelphia area named Hourg.

Hans Jakob Sardingh came to New Netherland on the Spotted Cow on 16 April 1663. Riker believes this is a misreading for Hardingh because there is an Orange County family by the name of Harding, descendants of Hans Jakobszen Harty from Baren (Berne), Switzerland who was married in 1667 in New York City.

George and Burrell Howry, who served in the American Revolution from North Carolina were probably descendants of the Horry family of South Carolina.

According to Sorenson, Jakob was living in 1725 when he was mentioned in York County, Pennsylvania. I have not been able to verify this information. He is said to have moved across the Susquehanna River into what is now York County (formed from Lancaster County in 1749, which in turn was formed from Chester County in 1729). He is said to appear in York County Lutheran records beginning in 1725. [Pennsylvania Archives]

Sources

• Justin Swanström