Our German Ancestors From the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia: Hite, Chrisman, Stephens
As a preface: It should be noted that these families are not directly related to the German ancestors on our Bratton side who settled in what is known as the Germanna Colonies.
In the 1730's a group of Germans led by Jost Hite (my 7th great-grandfather) left the Philadelphia area and migrated southward to settle in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Accompanying Jost Hite were Jacob Chrisman (Hite's son-in-law by way of marriage to daughter Magdalena), friend Peter Stephens (whose son Peter Jr would marry Jacob and Magdalena's daughter Anna Maria "Mary"), and several other German families. Many Stephens generations later my great-grandmother Jael Stephens (1855-1943) would marry John Lot Howard in Missouri.
A very abbreviated pedigree chart for Jael Jefferson Stephens is presented here.
As a preface: It should be noted that these families are not directly related to the German ancestors on our Bratton side who settled in what is known as the Germanna Colonies.
In the 1730's a group of Germans led by Jost Hite (my 7th great-grandfather) left the Philadelphia area and migrated southward to settle in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Accompanying Jost Hite were Jacob Chrisman (Hite's son-in-law by way of marriage to daughter Magdalena), friend Peter Stephens (whose son Peter Jr would marry Jacob and Magdalena's daughter Anna Maria "Mary"), and several other German families. Many Stephens generations later my great-grandmother Jael Stephens (1855-1943) would marry John Lot Howard in Missouri.
A very abbreviated pedigree chart for Jael Jefferson Stephens is presented here.
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One very good source of information relating to these families is the book From the Rhine to the Shenandoah, Vol. 3 by Daniel W Bly. Another is the Hite Family Association website at: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~doug/hitea/.