References:
(1) Colonial Families of the United States, page 474.
(2) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 344.
(3) Index Card to Logan Temple Records, No. 5819, Book T 2, page 193.
Historical Notes:
(1) Jacob Hite was an impulsive, energetic man, much interested in county and
church affairs. He was justice of the peace and a member of the first Church
of England Vestry, (1764), which was fromed in the Valley. His father found
him an active and intelligent coadjutor in securing settlers for the lands he
had taken up, on condition it could be settled in such a length of time. He
sent Jacob Hite in the Brigantine "Swift" to Ireland (some say more than once), for the purpose of inducing thrifty families to emigrate.A descendant of one of of these Irish emigrants, names John Carson, was in Major Hite's employment for many years and after the Major's death, lived with Mr. J.S.B. Davidson, a son-in-law of Major Hite. He often told of his
grandfather's emigration with Jacob Hite and seemed to think his own dignity
much enhanced by the fact. John Carson never married and died about 1850. A
more honest, industrious and faithful employee never lived. Mr. Davidson was a lawyer, and represented his county in the Legislature a number of years,
consequently was much from home. When absent everything was entrusted to
John's care. He supervised overseer as well as servants. Mr. Davidson placed implicit confidence in him and he never failed him.Jacob Hite owned an interest in the "Swift" and speaks of it in his will
which was probated in Berkeley County. In one of his expeditions to Ireland he met and married, in Dublin, Catherine O'Bannon, who died leaving him with five children. He married a second time, Fanny Madison, widow of Colonel Tavener Beale, and daughter of Ambrose Madison and Frances Taylor of Montpelier.Jacob Hite built for himself a home at Lee Town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, and soon became a successful farmer and business man. Family
traditions agrees for the most part with history as to the later occurrences of his life. In his "History of the Valley," Kercheval says, "An animated contest now took place between General Adam Stephen and Jacob Hite, Esq., in relation to the fixing of the seat of justice in this county. Hite contended for the location thereof on his own land, at what is called Leetown, Stephen advocated Martinsburg. Stephen prevailed, and Hite was so disgusted and dissatisfied, he got rid of his handsome estates in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, and removed to the frontier of South Carolina." The estates spoken of by Kercheval were given to his children of his first wife, Catherine O'Bannon. The deeds to his son, Thomas, who married Fanny Madison Beale, and to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Tavener Beale, Jr., are still on record. His only son by his last wife, George, he entered at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, and Jacob O'Bannon, his youngest son by his first wife, with the two little girls, Eleanor and Susan accompanied him and his wife to their new home in the Carolinas.An Englishman by the name of Pearis had preceded him and obtained a grant from the colonial government for ten thousand acres of land, which included the present site of Greenville, South Carolina. Mr. Hite bought part of this land and built a dwelling house, etc., and established a trading station, about 1774 or 75, and dealt largely with the Cherokee and Seminole Indians. He soon became very popular and for two or three years all went well; then mischief was made between him and the red men. Some say this was done by an unsatisfactory clerk, whom Mr. Hite had discharged; others think Pearis, who was an English Tory, incited the Indians against him, because he espoused the cause of the colonists. Be that as it may, the result was the brutal massacre of Mr. Hite, his wife, and children, excepting the nest to the youngest child, and those in Virginia. Again I quote from Kercheval, "The evening before the massacre an Indian squaw, who was much attached to Mrs. Hite, warned her of the impending danger, and she immediately communicated the intelligence to her husband, but he would not believe it. The next morning, when too late for an excape, a party of Indians came armed and painted in their war dress, etc." The house was burned and all murdered excepting the little Eleanor, who was saved by a squaw, supposed to be the one who had warned Mrs. Hite. The band of Indians were said to belong to the Seminole Indians, and they left at once for Pensacola, Florida, taking with them the little girl and some of the colored servants.
Kercheval says two little girls were carried away, but it is a mistake.
Aunt Hanna, a colored woman who witnessed the massacre, said one: and the
daughter of the gentleman, whom Mr. Kercheval gives as his authority, said one, and added, her name was Eleanor. Tradition also says, the charred bones of all the family were found in the ruins of the house, excepting those of the little Eleanor.George Hite, the son at college, and Tavener Beale, Jr., the son of Mrs.
Hite by her first marriage, went at once to the scene of the tragedy, but
failed to identify the perpetrators of the murders or to find any clue to the
fate of Eleanor; so they returned to Virginia, bringing with them some colored servants who still lingered about their home. George, however, could not rest contented without making further efforts to find his sister, and years after everyone had despaired of hearing of her again, he continued his researches, and finally was rewarded. He traced her to Pensacola, where she had been carried by the squaw and sold to the wife of an English officer, who, having no children of her own, adopted her. When her brother found her, he wished her to return with him to Virginia; but she and her adopted parents were so much attached to each other they refused to be separated; so she remained with them, until her death, which occurred some years later, of consumption, some said in Pensacola, others in England. Report said she possessed in a large degree the traditional blonde beauty of the Hites.The colored servants whom Captain George Hite and Tavener Beale, Jr.,
brought back when they returned from their first fruitless investigation, were to them painful reminders of the terrible past; so other members of the family took them. Major Isaac Hite bought a woman and her baby boy, who was half Indian. Aunt Hannah lived till 1826. Her boy grew up a very eccentric
character and figured on the plantation as "Indian Harry." He could never be
civilized, but kept to himself; was always taciturn and refused to do anything except help in the kitchen, where his mother was assistant cook. From the time the boy was twelve or thirteen years old he would disappear the first warm weather in spring and be seen no more till snow came. Then he would suddenly and silently appear in the kitchen and take up his position in the corner of the large fireplace, on a seat the other servants dared not take when he was about. He condescended sometimes to bring wood and water, peel potatoes, or pick fowls. When about forty years old, he disappeared in the spring and returned no more. He was very passionate and some of the servants were not a little afraid of him. Some said, "He was conjured himself and might conjure others," His master thought him irresponsible, but harmless, so permitted him to come and go and do as he pleased.In 1836 Dr. J. Hite Baldwin, surgeon in the U.S. Army, was stationed at
Pensacola, Florida. He found a number of the descendants of the colored
servants who were carried to Florida from North Carolina at the time of the
Hite tragedy and were then still called "Hite's negroes." They had a large
admixture of Indian blood, and were considered a "bad lot," being more
dishonest, thriftless, and brutal than the full blooded Indians.
References:(1) Colonial Families of the United States, page 474.
(2) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 344.
(3) Index Card to Logan Temple Records, No. 5819, Book T 2, page 193.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 348.
Historical Notes:
(1) Jacob O'Bannon Hite was killed by the Indians, with his father and mother.
Why would there be two sons of such close names, usually applies when a first child dies as infant, then naming of second child the same, but not if both are living? And only about 9 months or less apart, don't think so, one of these has to be duplicated, with wrong application of middle name. Would guess the first, but no way to know, so this is left here until corrected.
References:
(1) Information supplied by Paul C. Simpson, 4168 Allenhurst Drive,
Norcross, Georgia 30092.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, pages 336, 337.
Historical Notes:
(1) Mary Hite, the eldest child of Yost Hite, was born in Germany, and died in Virginia. She married in Pennsylvania, about 1731, George Bowman and
accompanied her father when he entered the Shenandoah Valley. They were given a homestead not far from her father, in what is now Shenandoah County, on Cedar Creek. Here, some years later, they built a substantial brick house, which is still standing. Their eldest child was the first white child born in the Valley. Several of the ir sons were soldiers of rank and importance, one was with General S.R. Clarke in the Illinois campaign, and another was Colonel in the 8th Virginia German Regiment in the Revolution. Some of his other sons became prominent in civil life in Virginia and Kentucky, where most of them removed.References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, pages 336, 337.
References:
(1) Information supplied by Paul C. Simpson, 4168 Allenhurst Drive,
Norcross, Georgia 30092.
References:
(1) Information supplied by Paul C. Simpson, 4168 Allenhurst Drive,
Norcross, Georgia 30092.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 337.,
Historical Notes:
(1) Elizabeth Hite, second daughter of Yost Hite, married Paul Froman, a
Quaker, who belonged to the well known Froman family of New Jersey. For some
years they remained in the Shenandoah Valley, but finally removed to Kentucky,
where they died, leaving a large family.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 337.
Historical Notes:
(1) Magdelene Hite, third daughter of Yost Hite, like her two older sisters,
married before she came to Virginia. Her husband, Jacob Chrismann, was a
German and came to America from Swabia. They also settled near Yost Hite, and their home became known as Chrismann Spring, where they died, leaving a large family of children.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 344.
(2) Index Card to Logan Temple Records, No. 5821, Book R 2, page 193.
(3) Colonial Families of the United States, page 201.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 360.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 360.
Historical Notes:
(1) Robert G. Hite was First Lieutenant of the 12th Regiment of the United
States Infantryin 1812. The next year he was made Major. In 1816 he resigned, and shortly after he succeded his father as second clerk of Jefferson County, West Virginia.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 360.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 360.
References:
(1) Some Prominent Virginia Families, page 356.