From the Houser-Chitwood Get Together is the following:
"Ten years after the close of the 30 years war, the 'bloodiestwar i n history', Karl Hans Hauser was born in the Canton of Zurich,Switzerl and. It is believed that his ancestors lived along the RhineRiver and h ad fled south to avoid the ravages of the war. His familyhad lived in S witzerland for at least two generations, and werefollowers of Huldrych Z wingley, the Swiss Protestant reformer."
Residences & events:
Zurich, SW where he was born and grew to adulthood, making his livinga s a weaver and tailor.
Abt 1680 Onansbruck, Germany.
Again from the above:
"Karl went 'down river' and settled in the small principality ofOnansb ruck, a part of the Palatinate. At that time in history,Germany was m ade up of over 50 principalities, dukedoms, andearldoms, each governed b y a different ruler. Onansbruck is likely asmall principality of some 1 50 square miles lying northwest of whatis now Wiesbaden, Germany."
There, known as Hans, he became a prominent citizen, successfulmerchan t, deacon of the Church, and active support of the localgovernment.
1686 Castle of Heidelberg, Ger. He was honored by Prince Henry VII,P rince Palatine, for his prominence and was granted the title of"von", e quivalent to the British title of "sir," a non-hereditarytitle. Thus h is children did not use "Von Hauser" in America as theirlast name but s imply Hauser, though it also began to be spelledHouser at some point.
1689. King Louis X IV with the financial aid and blessings of PopeInn ocent XI, invaded and secured the Protestant strongholds inGermany to d rive out this new anti-catholic sect. Leaders were eitherimprisoned or d riven out, peoples properties were confiscated, churchbuildings were d estroyed, and those who resisted were killed.Protestants Were forbidde n to assemble. As Louis was finally forcedto withdraw because of the l ack of funds and pressure fromneighboring countries, his armies invoke d a "scorched earth" policydevastating 8,000 square miles of the Palat inate.
Karl Hans von Hauser sailed 160 miles from Rotterdam, at the mouth oft he Rhine River, to London - a courtesy of the "Queen Ann Act" whichgav e refugees (persecuted Protestants) transportation from thecontinent t o England.
He remained in London for about three years and with one or two sonssa iled from Cowes, on the Isle of Wright, to America.
1707 Hans Hauser appears on a tax list at Germantown, Pennsylvania,so me fifteen miles up the Shuikill River from Philadelphia.
1708 He returned to London to retrieve the rest of his family.
6/15/1709, Hans Hauser, his wife Huldricha and three children sailedfr om the port of London for America.
1711 Conestoga, Chester Co, PA. He appears on the 1711 tax list ofthe C onestoga community in the southern part of what is nowLancaster Count y, Pennsylvania and was associated with the Webberfamily in the weavin g business and land development.
From The Greer-Holmberg-Baker family:
It appears that the von Hausers found a true home in Lancaster County,f or they raised their family in Conestoga Community and remainedthere a s a couple. Conestoga is very close to the banks of theSusquehanna Riv er and roughly five miles directly south ofLancaster’s current city ce nter.
Conestoga Community, Its Famous Conveyance, and “The Great WagonRoad”
Conestoga Community was founded by the von Hausers and first wavefamil ies. The community grew somewhat in 1719 by the infusion ofGerman Dunk erds (Baptists) who established a spiritual outpost atwhat was then th e far extension of the “wilds” of Pennsylvania.First person accounts o f Conestoga sent back to Germany in 1723describe the area as at the en d of a vast, dark wilderness underlaidby thin soil. The entire communi ty was very poor and struggled forits very existence. Winters were esp ecially perilous for every familyliving there.
The famous “Great Wagon Road” that eventually took settlers fromPennsy lvania through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and down toTennessee c ame through Conestoga Community. By 1732, the rough-hewntrack had bee n cut through York County, Pennsylvania through forestswhere it eventu ally crossed the Potomac River into Virginia nearHarpers Ferry (then n amed “Cohongoronton”). Winchester, Virginiawas a hub for Germans desc ending the Wagon Road as the second andthird generations from Lancaste r County pushed out for neweropportunities.
A very early mention of the “Great Wagon Road” appears in a 1734survey a s “…the Wagon Road that goes from Conestogo to theOpeckin.” It brought t he first settlers to Frederick County, VA.In Virginia, U. S. Highway 1 1 is based on the old road. Anotherhistorical source labels the Wagon R oad through the Shenandoah Valleyas “The Indian Road by the Treaty of L ancaster.” ThomasJefferson’s father Peter was one of the two land surv eyors thatmapped the early road.
Enabling the families to move their entire worldly goods was the superv ehicle of its day, the Conestoga wagon. In 1720, the largeland-schoone r was designed and developed in Conestoga by the Germanimmigrants. It b ecame the prototype for settler’s wagons for over ahundred years. It w as continually manufactured and used until it wasoutdated by trains.
1722 York Co, PA where he died.
Most say he died in Lancaster Co, but until 1729, it was Chester Co.
He left wife "Hulda" and at least 7 children," although some may havea ctually been grandchildren.
