Heatwole family

More recent research has indicated that earlier assumptions about the origin of North American Mennonite Heatwoles are not correct (see original article below).

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Heatwoles originated from Germany near the cities of Worms, Hessheim, Monsheim and Kriegsheim, rather than further north Bacharach and Steeg as previously assumed. The previously accepted lineage started with Johann Mathias Hutwohl (b. 1711) of Steeg, Germany, who came to North America on the ship, "Two Brothers" in 1748.

The records of the First Reformed Church, Philadelphia, include "Stitwohl [sic], Matthew, wid'r from Steeg near Bacharach, Mary Magdalene Schaeffer, Luth., -- Apr 1747. This proves Mathias had come from Steeg and that his first wife had died between leaving Germany in 1748 and Philadelphia in 1749. For the first time the name Mary Magdalene Schaeffer appeared as part of the Heatwole lineage. Their daughter, Anna Maria, who was born 21 June 1750, was baptized 6 July 1750 in the Reformed Church. This clearly suggests they were not Mennonites. In earlier Heatwole genealogies it had been thought that Mathias had married a "Miss Haas."

Letters of Administration show that Mathias died sometime in 1752. He could not have been the father of Lancaster County Heatwoles, namely John, Anna, Mary, David and Jacob. The oldest of these siblings was born about 1763.

The correct ancestry of the Heatwoles begins in the small German villege of Kriegsheim, about 13 km (eight miles) west of Worms. The Kriegsheim Mennonite congregation originated in the early period of the Anabaptist movement.

The Huetwohl family, located at Kriegsheim and neighboring villages, played a greater part in the Mennonite migrations from Switzerland to North America than has previously been assumed. Kriegsheim was the home of Valentin Huthwohl, probably a preacher, who wrote to the Dutch Mennonites in Amsterdam. He asked for financial aid which was liberally granted. The Mennonite archives at the University of Amsterdam house a number of documents relating to the Swiss Täufer who were banished. In January 1672 George Liechten and Valenti Hutwol, while traveling in the mountainous area west of Strasbourg visited four communities of Anabaptists in Greisheim, Fessenheim, Wolfsheim and Osthoven. Liechten and Hutwohl prepared a listing of the people and their meager possessions.

In the 18th century most members of the Huthwohl family emigrated to the United States where they were called Heatwole. Valentine Huthwohl (born ca. 1642) was the father of David Huthwohl (born ca. 1668), a Mennonite minister at Kriegsheim. David had a son, also named David (born ca. 1704), who had a son Jacob (born ca. 1728 in Kriegsheim). This Jacob Heatwole died in 1771 in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was the father of John, Anna, Mary, David and Jacob Heatwole of Lancaster County.

Bibliography

Brunk, Harry. David Heatwole and his Descendants. Harrisonburg, Va., 1987.

Heatwole, Cornelius J. History of the Heatwole Family from the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century to the Present Time.. New York, 1907.

Heatwole, D. A. A History of the Heatwole Family. Dale Enterprise, Virginia, 1882.

Heatwole, Franklin David. The Heatwole Story. Janesville, Wisconsin, 2014.

Heatwole, Franklin David. The Heatwole Story, Revisited. Janesville, Wisconsin, 2014.

Humphrey, John T. Pennsylvania Births: Philadelphia County, 1644-1765. Washington, D.C.: Humphrey Publications, 1994: 231.

Irish, Donna. Pennsylvania German Marriages. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Service, 1982: 330.

Newman, George Frederick and Clyde Lester Groff. Letters from our Palatinate Ancestors 1644-1689. Hershey, Pa., 1984: 176.

Wright, F. Edward. Early Records of the First Reformed Church of Philadelphia. Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1994: vol 1., 7, 121.

Original Article from Mennonite Encyclopedia

By Harry A. Brunk. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Kitchener, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 683. All rights reserved.

Heatwole (Hütwohl, Hetwol, Hetwold, Heetweel, Hutwell, Hiedwohl, and Heatwol), a Mennonite (Mennonite Church) family name. It appeared in the 17th-century records with Johann Georg Hutwohl at Steeg near Bacharach on the Rhine, the father and grandfather of Mathias Heatwole, the progenitor of nearly all the Heatwoles in America today, who came to Pennsylvania in 1748. His son David Heatwole, a shoemaker by trade, moved south to Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and then to Virginia, and became the ancestor of the Heatwoles of Virginia. The Heatwole family has produced more than its quota of leaders and distinguished men — educators, physicians, and churchmen. Two bishops (L. J. Heatwole, 1852-1932, A. P. Heatwole) and at least eight ministers and two deacons with this family name have served or are serving the Mennonite churches in Virginia. Bishop J. A. Heatwole (1871-1940) served churches in and around La Junta, Colorado; R. J. Heatwole (1847-1921) was a prominent pioneer in Kansas.

In the 17th and 18th centuries there were members of this family living in the Palatinate (see Huthwohl).

Author(s)	Franklin David Heatwole
Date Published	March 2016

Cite This Article

MLA style

Heatwole, Franklin David. "Heatwole family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2016. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Heatwole_family&oldid=134360.

APA style

Heatwole, Franklin David. (March 2016). Heatwole family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Heatwole_family&oldid=134360.

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