Hake

The surname Hake (and its variants Haack, Hack, Hackke, Hach, etc…) is derived from the German word Hoken, meaning to “carry things on one’s back.” There were a lot of Hake’s in America in the 1800’s originating from Scotland and England (coming from Germany after the Norman Conquest of 1066), but most Hake’s came directly from the various German states.

The initial Germans to arrive in the British colonies in America were part of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. The first real significant numbers of German immigrants (mostly farmers) arrived between 1680 and 1760, seeking land ownership opportunities and freedom from religious persecution and military conscription.

Most of the German migrants departed on smaller sailing vessels from the ports of Hamburg and Bremen for the long journey (often up to three months long), via a brief stop in England or Ireland for transfer to larger seagoing vessels, to the entry ports of New York and especially Philadelphia. This group of immigrants primarily settled in eastern Pennsylvania and in upstate New York.

Many of these Pennsylvania-based German immigrants, from various religious backgrounds including Lutherans, Anabaptists, Amish, and Mennonites, formed traditional, tight-knit religious sects and came to be referred to as the Pennsylvania Germans or more popularly as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Many soldiers from and near the west-central German state of Hesse (who came to be known as Hessians) came to fight as quasi-mercenaries for the British Empire during the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783. A colonist propaganda plan enticed many of the Hessians to desert the British command and take up arms with many of their fellow German-born colonists.

The largest period of German immigration occurred during 1848-1914. Numerous revolutions in Europe in 1848 spurred a massive flood of central European immigration to America. The vanguard of this migration included many people known as the “Forty-Eighters,” those you had supported political reform (including unification of the various German states) but were compelled to flee when the 1848 revolution failed.

From 1848 until the outbreak of the Great War (World War I) in 1914, an astonishing six million or more Germans immigrated to the United States. This wave of immigrants flocked to the Midwest by wagon train or inland canals and later by railroads. They settled primarily in Ohio and Wisconsin where the farming lands were similar to central Germany.

I believe our Hake ancestors emigrated from Hesse to Philadelphia in the mid-1700’s. A group of Hake families from Germany settled in Lehigh Co., Pennsylvania, and some of them soon spread to nearby York Co. In the early 1800’s, many of the Hake’s from York Co. – including ours - began traveling by wagon train to farm the rural lands of Trumbull Co. in eastern Ohio. From there many of the Hake families – but not ours - moved on and concentrated in Jefferson Co., Wisconsin.

My earliest definitive record of our Hake ancestors in the United States is George Hake - born near Philadelphia (possibly in Lehigh Co.) about 1798. George Hake moved his family to Trumbull Co., Ohio, in the mid-1830’s. (See George & Catherine Hake page)

Bond

The Bond surname (and its variants Bonde, Bonda, Bunda, etc…) is of disputed origin, but those bearing the surname generally hail from Germany or England. The Danish word Bonde and the Old English word Bond both basically refer to a “peasant farmer or villager.”

Where our Bond ancestors originated from - either Germany or England most likely - is not established at this time.

My earliest definitive record of our Bond ancestors in the United States is Elizabeth “Gussie” Bond - born in Scottdale, Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania, in about 1857. Info is conflicting but her father was born in either Virginia (now West Virginia) or North Carolina and her mother was born in Virginia (now West Virginia). (See David Henry Hake & Elizabeth Bond page)

Doutt

The origin of the modern Doutt surname is uncertain, but it is probably an Americanized form of the Dutch and German surname Daut. Daut is most likely derived from the Dutch surname Diederik and German surname Dietrich – both of which are derived from the Germanic given name Tederich, basically meaning a “powerful people or race.”

Our Doutt ancestors were from Germany and came to America (possibly after spending some time in England) sometime in the late 1700’s. They probably sailed from the Hamburg or Bremen, with a stop in England, before reaching the entry port of Philadelphia after a long and difficult journey. Our Doutt’s were Lutherans or Mennonites and most likely fled Germany seeking religious freedom and land ownership opportunities. They were one of several traditional tight-knit German religious sects that settled in Pennsylvania and came to be referred to collectively as the Pennsylvania Germans, or more popularly as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

I believe our Doutt’s came through the port of Philadelphia, initially moving about in several nearby counties, and eventually making their way west by wagon train to Butler Co., Pennsylvania, sometime around 1818. In Butler Co. they settled in or near Harmony, the former self-sufficient communal village and home of the German religious sect known as the Harmony Society. Harmonist leader Johann George Rapp founded the village in 1804, but sold it to a group of Mennonites in 1814.

My earliest definitive record of our Doutt ancestors in the United States is John Doutt (or Johannes Daut) - born in either in west-central Germany or eastern Pennsylvania, on Feb 18, 1778, and married and living in Lehigh Co., Pennsylvania, in 1801. (See John Doutt & Catherine Good page)

Upperman

The surname Upperman (and variants Uperman and Opperman) is of German origin and is an Americanized version of the surname Obermann. Upperman/Obermann refer to a “person living in the upper part of a village” or a “supervisor that is over other people.”

Our Upperman ancestors most likely came from Germany and arrived sometime before 1818. They probably arrived at the port of Philadelphia, initially settled in the nearby area, and soon made their way to western Pennsylvania. Not much else is known about the early history of our Upperman’s.

My earliest definitive record of our Upperman ancestors in the United States is George Upperman – born in Pennsylvania in 1818 and living in the East Birmingham (now the southside of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, in 1850. (See the George & Elizabeth Upperman page)