User:Hotrum

First, I'll introduce myself -- My name is Dave Naylor and I live in Canada. I am retired from designing computer systems for the telecommunications industry. Currently I'm spending lots of time doing those things for which I previously never had time (and still don't). My interests are computers, square dancing, cactus & other succulent plants, photography, astronomy, metaphysics and, of course, genealogy. I've been tracing my family's roots in my spare time since 1980 and this has helped to keep me out of trouble. Now I realize that doesn't tell you much about me, but what were you expecting -- a full biography!?

While researching my wife's HOTRUM roots I realized that all HOTRUM and HARTRUM families were probably related. I found this very interesting and therefore decided to research them all. Except for a few unexplainable occurrences of these surnames in London, England in the 1600s, they seem unique to North America.

In New Jersey and Ontario of the late 1700s the same individuals appear with different spelling of their surname -- HADERIM, HARDRAM, HARTRAM, HARTRUM, HATRAM, HATRUM, HATTERIM, HOTHERHAM, HOTRUM, HOTRAM, etc. Since many people of that day could not spell or write, their names were written as the writer heard them. And as these were Germanic-speaking folks with harsh pronunciation their names ended up every-which-way. Because these names have not been located in Europe some researchers believe that they may have been derived from some other more-common surname -- suggestions for this have been HARTRANFT, HARTRUMPH, and HARTMANN. However, the earliest spellings and also family stories indicate that the name was pronounced with 3 syllables and those suggested names are all only 2 syllables.

Searches of ships' passenger lists for these names have not been very fruitful. The most interesting candidates, so far, are:

- The ship "Loyal Judith" from Rotterdam on 25-Sep-1732 -- passenger "Johann Jurgh HOTREMAN", age 32. Note that this name has 3 syllables.

- The ship "Richard and Mary" from Rotterdam on 17-Sep-1753 -- passenger "Christian Frederich HOTTEMAN".

- The ship "Ketty" from Rotterdam on 16-Oct-1752 -- passenger "Johann Georg HARTRANFT".

The families were later known as "Pennsylvania Dutch", but I'm sure you know that can mean anyone from Germany, Prussia, The Palatinate, Switzerland, and even the Netherlands! We believe that they were Palatines, originally from the Westerwald Neuwied area of the Palatinate.

Research emphasis is currently in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, USA where the earliest-known individual, "Joh: HARDRAM" was buried at Zion Lutheran Church in what was New Germantown (now Oldwick) on 30 August 1784 at the age of 62. Much more data is needed from this area to prove the linkages of the early family members and to trace their roots back to Europe.

From New Jersey one family, Conrad, wife Catharina and children, moved to Upper Canada (now Ontario,Canada) as "Late Loyalists" in 1793. The spelling of this family's surname became fixed as HOTRUM. There are hundreds of their descendants living today in Canada and the USA. Some descendants of this family moved to Michigan, USA around 1860. They were the ancestors of all of the HOTRUMs now living in south-west Michigan and Washington state.

Another move out of New Jersey was that of at least four (related?) males who went to Ohio in the early 1830s. Their names were Benjamin, Edward, Frederick and George. Their descendants are still mainly in Ohio, with one branch in Chicago, Illinois. These families and the ones remaining in New Jersey use the HARTRUM surname.