Hittle - Hittel - Huettel - Hüttel - Huettl

While that was an adage that I grew up with, I no longer believe it to be totally accurate. Many different Hittel, Huettel, Huettl, and Huettler family can trace their roots back to people we don't know for sure how they are related.

While the Georg Michael Hüttel family may well be the largest contingency in the US, the Johannes Peter and Nicholas of Berks/Schuylkill groups are also extremely sizable, and no one that I know of has been able to establish a documentable link between even those 3 men.

It is suspicioned (and even held as gospel by some) that Georg Michael and Johannes Peter were brothers. While I personally believe that this is extremely possible, my belief is not confirmation that such was indeed the case.

Nicholas of Berks/Schuylkill is frequently confused with another Nicholas of Northampton/Lehigh in gedcom renditions. They are NOT the same man, even though they were very close in age. Nicholas of Northampton/Lehigh was the son of Johannes Peter. Nicholas of Berks/Schuylkill was a documented imigrant arriving on the ship Boston in 1764, later in the year after Johannes Peter is recorded to have died in old Northampton County early in 1764.

No one seems to know what became of the George Hittler who married Mary Huberin at St. Michael's in Philadelphia in 1751, but he very easily could be the Hans Georg Hitler who arrived on the ship Nancy on 31 August 1750.

The Rev. Johannes Casper Stoever recorded as early as 1738 his ministry to the Antonius Heuteler family in baptizing at least 2 of his children: John Mattheis in 1738; Antonius in 1741.

Compounding the search is the addition of Hattel, Hottel, Hattler, Hettler, and other more diverse similar names which may well be earlier European variants of the Huettel old German spelling.

In other words, there is LOTS of work to be done, and I haven't even begun to touch the immigrations of the 1800's.

So, if we are all related, I, for one would love to figure out how. Many of the possibilities would have to go back to European roots, so I am definitely hoping to make progress in that direction as well, and have found Hittle, Hittel, Whittle, Whittel, Huttel, Hutteler and Huettl families widely scattered from England to the Ukraine.

So, if you're interested in putting a jigsaw puzzle together, this may well be the place for you!

And, even if you already have your line completely documented, your input is more than welcome!

Welcome aboard!