Surname:Hittle

NAME ORIGIN

The name is Germanic, and seems to have been variantly rendered as Hittel, Hittle, Huettler, Huettel, Huettl, Huttel, Huttle, Hittler and even occasionally as Hitler (LONG before the events of the early 20th century, and no connection should be implied). Possibly either "builder of huts" or "dwellers in huts" the name somewhat aligns itself with its similar English equivalent: carpenter. The Germanic rendering of ue was commonly u umlaut (ü or ÿ depending on the scribe) and phonetically similar to a short i sound (eg Mueller=Miller).

The variant spellings of the name are not only an English rendering, but the same family's name can be found as variantly as Huteler and even Hickel in some Pennsylvania church records written in German script or scrawl.

EUROPEAN HISTORY

The different variant spellings of the name can be found across Europe from the earliest times of surnames being in vogue. It is uncertain if a central origin is implied, followed by the dispersion of families which occured following the conflicts in central Europe from the time of the Reformation forward. The name, in its variant spellings, can be found in church records of both Catholic and Protestant congregations across Europe.

It is NOT known what links exist between the Hittles in America to connect back to these European roots in most cases. The Huettl family of southern Minnesota may be one exception to that observation.

AMERICAN HISTORY

There are several different lines of Hittle families in the United States, but 3 of the earliest are:

Georg Michael Hittel, arrived 5 September 1738 on the ship Winter Galley to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Johannes Peter Hittel, arrival date uncertain, but was a contempory of Georg Michael in old Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Nicholas Hittel, arrival date 10 November 1764 on the ship Boston to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

All three of these men have large descendancy lists which spread into nearly every state in the Union by 1850.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Since Johannes Peter died in 1764, he was not a participant in the American Revolution. However, all of his known sons, Philip, Adam and Nicholas (NOT the Nicholas who arrived in 1764) did participate, with Adam dying at some point between 1776 and 1780. It is unknown at this point whether or not he was a casualty of the war, and to date, no known descendants of him have been located.

Georg Michael and all 6 of his sons, George Michael (jr), Johan Adam, Johan George, Bartholomew, Jacob and George Frederick did participate in the American Revolution, serving in various units from old Northampton and Montgomery Counties of Pennsylvania. It also appears that Georg Michael (sr) was a participant for the Pennsylvania Militia during the French and Indian conflicts of the late 1750's.

Various different family legend accounts of Nicholas of 1764 arrival exist in regard to his participation. While reluctant in the beginning, it appears that Nicholas (NOT the Nicholas of old Northampton/Lehigh County) did participate against the British.

Serving with the British as Hessian mercenaries were Antonius and Augustus Hittel. It is unclear if this is 2 separate men, or if the same man with variant spellings referring to him. Land was granted to him/them in Canada, but it appears that a relocation to Massachusetts/Rhode Island eventually occured.

CURRENT RESEARCH

While there have been many researchers into the Hittle story across the years since Georg Michael Hittel first arrived in 1738, one online project, www.hittle.info is being carried on by Joseph A. Hittle, a 5G-Grandson of Georg Michael Hittel (sr) via his son GMH (jr). Others who have worked on this over the years owe a great debt of gratitude to Leroy Michael Hittle of Washington State and Prudence Groff Michael of LaPaz, Indiana. Leroy and Prudence are both deceased and their efforts are being continued by researchers such as Karla (Hittle) McMillan, Gary Morris, Louise Maghee, Patsy (Hittle) Gore, Patrick McGarry and many others whose renderings have been assisted or even motivated by Leroy and Prudence. Also to be mentioned here was Leroy's sister, Anna Mae (Hittle) Johnson, who prodded Leroy into her hobby, at which later he proved himself very adept.