HANS JUSTUS HEYDT
(1685-1760)
    Heydt was baptized in Bonfeld (Baden-Wurttemberg) Germany and was later a linen weaver in Strasbourg, Alsace.  In 1704, he married Anna Maria Merckle, but they left Alsace in the midst of wars in 1708, traveling down the Rhine River with their first surviving child (and perhaps other relatives).  In 1709, they sailed from Rotterdam to London and thence to New York, living in the Kingston area until 1714 when they purchased land near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  They stayed in Pennsylvania until 1731, having added 7 additional children born in America.  In 1730, Hans purchased 40,000 acres in Frederick County, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley at prices much below those in Pennsylvania and the family moved in 1731.  He received an additional grant of 100,000 acres and was obligated to settle the land, eventually sending a schooner to Ireland to bring in new families.  He ran a mill and tavern and his children and later descendants built homes in this area of Virginia, the best known probably being Belle Grove, a home built by his grandson Isaac Hite, Jr. from 1794-1797, now a National Historic Trust Site.  Isaac's first son James Madison Hite built or remodeled another home 1812-1820 named Guilford, a 2-story brick Roman Revival style house.

   Descent:   Hans Justus Heydt m Anna Maria Merckle (1686/87-1738)
                       Isaac Hite, Sr.  (1723-1795) m. Eleanor Eltinge (1724-1792)
                          Isaac Hite, Jr. (1758-1836) m. Eleanor Conway Madison (1760-1802)
                             James Madison Hite (1793-1860) m. Caroline Matilda Irvine (1798-1877)
                                Ann Eliza Hite (1830-1912) m. Thomas Julian Skinker (1819-1900)

References:

Heidgerd, William. 1969. The American Descendants of Chretien Du Bois of Wicres, France.  Part Two.  DuBois Family Association, New Paltz, New York.  pp. 101-200.

Hite Association

Jones, Henry Z., Jr., Ralph Connor, and Klaus Wust. 1979. German Origins of Jost Hite Virginia Pioneer 1685-1761. Shenandoah Genealogical Source Book No. 3, Edinburg, Virginia.  46 pp.

Umstattd, Elizabeth Madison (Coles). 1996. Hans Jost Heydt (1685-1760).  Hite Family Association.  14 p.

Umstattd, Elizabeth Madison (Coles). 1997.  Hite Family Homesteads.  Neckar to Shenandoah.  Hite Family Association, Middletown,Virginia.  127 pp.