Family:Kaspar Hauschildt and Unknown (1)

We are presenting Kasper Hauschildt as the father of this line in America. Click on Kasper's name to look at his personal profile on WeRelate. This should explain why we believe this.

There is however, another view. This view firmly places Kasper as the BROTHER of Johannes, Jacob and Mathias. There is as much support for this view as there is for the view that Kasper is the father. It is only because Kasper has been viewed as the father by multiple generations of MY family, that I tend to maintain this view. Unfortunately I do not have access to anyone in my family who clearly recalls the Housel family history prior to the books published by Henry Z Jones. So if there was any perspective to be offered prior to that time, it has been lost.

Through my own research, there are THREE outliers which to me (and not to my cousin who has helped and provided so much research), point to individuals who may be immediate cousins, rather than distant cousins or aunts and uncles.

The position of Johannes, Jacob and Mathias as BROTHERS, is clear. The WILL of Johannes claims BOTH Jacob and Mathias as brothers. The WILL of Jacob also claims Mathias as his brother (and though Johannes and Jacob died at nearly the same time, it appears that Jacob knew that Johannes would be the first to pass, thus naming only Mathias).

The presence of "Antje Hanselt" as a witness WITH Peter Lleffler at the baptism of Peter, son of Jacob and Catherina "Hanselt" (9 September 1739), is to me curious. This is about two months before Jacob Race acknowledges his debt to the trustees of the estate of "Kasper Houshell" (26 November 1739). Could Antje be the wife of Kasper? Note that in 1761, Peter Lleffler is also listed by Jacob Houshal with his brother Mathias, as administrator of his estate. It is very evident that Peter Lleffler is quite important to Jacob. Did Peter eventually marry Antje? Unfortunately discovering records for Peter is perhaps more difficult than discovering records for the Housel family. Antje is the only one of these 'outliers' who I could consider to possibly be a sibling to at least Johannes, Jacob, and Mathias, simply because of her appearance with Peter Lleffler on the baptism record. Of course, more research could reveal a completely different hypothesis.

The 'Reverend' William Housel, principally of Stanton, New Jersey, is another conundrum. He is certainly an older contemporary to the children of the brothers Johannes, Jacob and Mathias. A discussion full of his information is on another page. It should be pointed out that there is quite a lot of misleading information that links this William Housel with Johannes as his father. We are QUITE CERTAIN that the William claimed by Johannes in his WILL is the William Housel of Chillisquaque, Northumberland, Pennsylvania. We are also quite certain that these are two different men.

Finally, there is the case of Katherine Howsell, wife of Simeon Pownall. She has been linked as a daughter of Jacob Houshal for quite a while, but it turns out that this is untrue. How many daughters did Jacob Houshal have? His WILL quite clearly lists Marey, who he is quite concerned about, calling upon all of his sons and his son-in-law, to give money to her (I suppose for her support). We also know that he lists his son-in-law Jacob Case. For many years, those who researched the Housel family could find NO Jacob Case of the proper age to be the son-in-law in question. So speculation that perhaps Jacob Case was also known by another name arose. The name Catherine was often included in a list of names of the children of Jacob Houshal, but no one had ever linked her as Mrs. Case. ONE researcher listed Johann Phillip Case with a wife named Rachel Housel. Most researchers of that line however, have listed the wife of Johann Phillip Case as Rachel Houser. I have been unable to find any resources to tell how anyone has speculated with any authority about a maiden name for her. But what seems true, is that now instead of Marey plus Mrs Case, now there was Marey (aka Mary), Katherine and Rachel listed as daughters of Jacob Houshal (this despite his WILL only specifically calling Marey as his daughter, and pointing to Jacob Case as son-in-law). THE DISCOVERY of estate papers for a Jacob CASE where a wife named Catherine renounces her claim to the estate and appoints both Matthias and Peter Houshal (presumably her brothers) to manage the closure of the estate, has shone a huge light on these relationships. - RACHEL, wife of Johann Phillip Case is now no longer in the picture (and thus has closed an old story about a daughter being given up in her youth in a marriage to a much older man in order to acquire a foothold in the new world). - CATHERINE, the wife of Jacob Case at his demise, is now considered to be the Catherine originally listed as a child of the family. - KATHERINE, whose maiden name is listed as HOWSELL (another common phonetic spelling of the Housel, Hauschildt, Houshel, Houshal etc, name) in the "Biographical annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania", is left without a clear link to any of the Housels of Hunterdon, New Jersey. In fact, her placement in Bucks County, Pennsylvania at the time of her marriage, adds a level of complexity to the possibility of easily connecting to her from any branch of this family.

(NOTE, the information above is a preliminary writing, and needs to be reviewed and revised).