Jost Hite - Shenandoah Pioneer
Both Hite and all of his immediate descendants became important figures in local and national affairs. Hite's eldest daughter, Mary Hite, married George Bowman and their family accompanied Hite to the Shenandoah Valley. Elizabeth Hite married Paul Froman, a Quaker from New Jersey and lived in the Shenandoah Valley for several years before moving on to Kentucky. Magdelene Hite accompanied her husband, German-born Jacob Chrismann Spring to the Shenandoah. John Hite, as noted earlier, settled at Opequon Creek and built "Springdale" in 1753. He is credited with building the first brick house in the Valley in 1787. John Hite became a decorated veteran of the French and Indian Wars and has been highly regarded in histories of the Valley. Abraham Hite was only two years old when he traveled to the Shenandoah Valley with his family. He married the daughter of Isaac Van Meter and was a member of the Hampshire County House of Burgesses from 1746 until 1774. Jacob Hite made several trips for his father to Ireland to recruit immigrants to settle in the Valley. On one of these trips he met his wife in Dublin, Catherine O'Bannon and the couple settled with their family in Jefferson County, West Virginia. The family later moved to South Carolina where all but their son (who was attending William and Mary College) and one daughter were killed by Indians around 1777 or 1778. Isaac Hite, commonly referred to as "colonel" settled to the north branch of the Shenandoah River and built the home "Long Meadows". His son, Isaac Hite Jr., married Nelly Conway Madison of Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia, the sister of President James Madison.
Jost Hite died in 1760 and the Hite family became influential figures throughout the northern and lower Valley. Their descendants can be found throughout the United States and gather often at Belle Grove, the home built by Isaac Hite Jr. south of Winchester, Virginia which became famous for the Battle of Cedar Creek during the Civil War.
UPDATED! Descendants of Jost Hite (Four Generations)
For further reading:
Du Bellet, Louise Pecquet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore. 1976
Mackenzie, George Norbury, Colonial Families of the United States, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore. 1966
The Virginia Historical Society, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XIII, 1906; Kraus Reprint Corporation, New York. 1968
Wayland, John Walter, The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of
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