Hittle

= Introduction =

As a surname in America, Hittle is an anglicization of the Germanic Huettel, Hüttel, or Hÿttel. The earliest known occurence of the family arriving in America happened in 1738 when Georg Michael Hÿttel arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Winter Galley. However Georg Michael was not the only Huettel to have arrived in America before the American Revolution.

= Germanic variants =

In American records the basic name was rendered several different ways in both civil and religious records. Some of the reasons for that:


 * "German" language had not been unified
 * Writing (rendition) standards in German had not yet been standardized
 * German naming practices included suffixes which indicated one's place in the family
 * Family place suffixes became permanent additions in some instances
 * Phonetic renditions were utilized often instead of "correct" spelling

So, even in German church records the name was rendered in many different ways: Huttel, Hittel, Hittler, Hitler, Huettler, Huteler, Hickel, Hickeler, Hüttel, Hütteler. And, this list is probably not exhaustive by any means

= Anglicized and American variants =

Given the variations of Germanic renditions it is not hard to see that phonetic anglicizations came into play in colonial records. In the Pennsylvania Archives series it's not uncommon to find the name rendered as Hittle, Hittel, Hettle, Hettel, Hittler, Hitler, Hettler, Hetler, Hidler, Hidle, Hiddle. However, it must also be noted that Hidler and Hettler are in many case unique names for which no ties to Hittle have been established documentally, so extreme caution should be used before assuming that either of those 2 surnames necessarily belong to the Hittle family.

While Georg Michael Hittel was the first documented arrival, it should be noted that even he was buried with his surname being rendered as "Hittel." The morphing of the name to Hittle was not a consistent evolution in the family lines of any of his 6 sons and even still today, Hittel is used by some. So also, in a few cases, is Hittler.

= "If you're Hittle, you're related" =

Maybe not! While it's not hard to find this adage at a Hittle family reunion, reality is that it's not necessarily easy to establish that. In fact, there are many Hittles and Hittels in America (both USA and Canada) for whom definite ties to Georg Michael Hittel are not documentable at all.

There are at least 5 other lines from colonial days for which no documentation has come to light establishing direct relationship:


 * 1) Johannes Peter Hittel: JHP was a contemporary to Georg Michael Hittel in old Northampton County (now Lehigh County) Pennsylvania.  Peter was naturalized at the time of the French and Indian Wars in 1755, probably signifying that during this time of conflict there were no colonial records pertaining to his allegiance to either the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or to the English Crown.  Non-allegiants were ostracized, and so at about age 35, Peter pledged his Oaths of Allegiance.  There are elements of family legend which hold that Peter was Georg Michael Hittel's younger brother, but no documentation has surfaced at this point to confirm that.
 * 2) Antonius Heuteler/Hueteler: Children of Antonius Heuteler of old Berks County (now Dauphin) were baptized by John Casper Stoever as early as 1738. This family is not easy to follow, and although it pre-dates Georg Michael Hittel, probably utilized a completely different surname rendition.
 * 3) George Hittler:
 * 4) Johannes Nicholas Hittel: Nicklass Hittel arrived on the ship Boston in 1764. He spent a short time in Philadelphia, then moved to the Pine Grove area of Berks County (now under Schuylkill County jurisdiction) and later moved to Centre County and died in Huntingdon County in 1813.
 * 5) Sigmund Hittle: Sigmund was evidently a German mercinary who fought on the English side during the Revolution.  He was awarded land in Nova Scotia, but evidently moved to New England afterwards.