"The wild unbroken forest was spread out all around them with here and there only a settler. The timid gentle deer fed with their herds on their fields of grain till he had reached his early youth."
—The early trials of the John Hause family, as recounted by his son, Charles, to a newspaper reporter in 1885.

Ketcham

CHILDREN OF JOHN HAUSE AND ESTHER KETCHAM

DELABAR HAUSE was born on 7 Sep 1797 in Orange Co., New York. He married Sarah Burroughs, but little else is known. He died on 18 Feb 1868.

CHARLES HAUSE was born on 3 March 1799 in Orange Co., New York. He married Elizabeth Young and they had: Caroline, Ethial, Marilda, Alonzo, and Cordelia—making him by far the best child-namer in his generation. He died on 10 Sept. 1885. Before he died his was profiled in the local newspaper, giving Hause family genealogists excellent information about the Hauses in Fayette (below). See Charles' son Alonzo and his descendants in 1919 at Canoga Pond here.

ELECTA ANN HAUSE was born on 2 Jan. 1801 in Orange co., New York. She married John D. Williams, Jr., 0n August 25, 1818. According to an article from the "History of Seneca Co., NY," John D. Jr, the son of John D. Williams, was the first white person to be born on the Indian Reservation. The reservation was divided up for Rev. War veterans. They had the following children: Caroline, Mary, Roxanna, James, Maria and Frances Josephine Williams. Electa and John Jr. are buried at Canoga Cemetery, Canoga, Seneca Co., NY. There is a joint tombstone for the two, with the following: "Orange County was her birthplace, And Fayette was her station, Heaven is her dwelling place, And Christ is her salvation." The date of birth on her tombstone is 3 Jan 1801. She died on 25 Aug 1869 in Canoga, Seneca Co., N Y. The information on Birth, Marriage, and Death are taken from loose sheets inside Samuel Deal's Bible.

AUGUSTUS HAUSE was born 14 Jan 1804 and married JANE JONES. They moved to Royalton, New York, near the Erie Canal and prospered on a large farm, thanks to the expanded exporting opportunities available because of the new canal. The tintype image at right is the only known photographic portrait of Augustus. Children named below. Click on the photo at right to access the Augustus Hause Genealogy Page.

AZUBAH HAUSE was born on 28 March 1806. He died three days after his fifteenth birthday.

BELINDA HAUSE was born on 28 April 1808. She married James Updike. Jan. 21, 1829: "Married—On Thursday last by Rev. Lane—Mr. James Updyke to Miss Belinda Hause both of Fayette."—From the Waterloo Gazette, published by George Lewis. They had the following children: Belinda, Chester, Almira, Catherine, Martin, Alanson, Esther, Charity, Phoebe, Carolyn and James Updike, Jr.

ALANSON HAUSE was born on 12 March 1810 in Canoga, Seneca Co., New York. He married Margaret Van Fleet (who was about 15 years younger than him) and they had: Esther, Abram, Melissa, Albert, Theron, Emma, and Elda. He remained in Fayette and farmed the family lands, still working there during the 1880 census, and died on 12 Dec 1880.

JOHN HAUSE, JR. was born 12 March 1812 in Canoga, Seneca Co., New York. That's right, ANOTHER John! He married Belinda Burtless on 31 Dec 1835 in Waterloo, Seneca Co., and had the following children: James, John, Sarah and Esther. The family moved to Lenawee Co., Michigan in about 1835 with John's cousin, Stanford Hause. In the census' in 1870 and 1880, they lived on a farm in Leoni, Jackson, Michigan. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Clinton, Lenawee Co., MI.

CAROLINE LOUISE HAUSE was born on 18 Feb 1814 in , Seneca Co., New York. She married John Storm Gage in 1844 and had four kids: Annis, Cyrus, Ira, and Ina Gage. The last of John's kids to be alive, Caroline chronicled the Hause genealogy for the family then died on 24 Aug 1916 in Dowiginac, Michigan.

LOISA HAUSE was born on 11 Feb 1816, but died before her first birthday.

FANNIE JANE HAUSE was born on 21 Nov 1817 in , Seneca Co., New York. She married Nathan C. Roberts and had a daughter, Ameretta Roberts. Fannie died at age 21. Nathan was a butcher. He remarried and was living with his son-in-law, Austin Emens, in the Fayette 1880 census.

LOUISA M. HAUSE was born on 10 Feb 1819 in Seneca Co., New York. She married Gideon S. Wilbur of Washington, Dutchess, New York, on 15 Feb. 1843. He was superintendent of the poor for about fifteen years and was deputy sheriff for two years. "The death of Gideon Wilber occurred when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-five years. In his family were five children, one daughter and four sons, all of whom are living with one exception." (Source: The History of Cass County, by Glover.) Among the children were: Francis Wilbur, Theodore and Lloyd. In the 1870 census, they lived on a two hundred and sixty acre farm next to Theodore and his wife, Fannie, in La Grange, Cass County, Michigan. Louisa died on 11 July 1902. (Source: The Wildbores in America. A Family Tree, 5 volumes, by John R. Wilbor, Benjamin F. Wilbour. 1938, reprinted 1998.

Book Information Book Image Name: The TOWN OF FAYETTE, Seneca County, New York Author: Diedrich Willer Publisher: W. P. Humphrey Year: 1900 Page: 140 View image (.PDF)

   Eventually John and Esther moved onto 203 acres on the western shore of Lake Cayuga in New York, next to a family named Dysinger, who would ally with the Hauses for the next hundred years. The area was organized in 1800, after being purchased from the Cayuga and Seneca Indians of the Iroquois Confederation of Nations in 1789. (In other words, the US slaughtered the native people, burned their villages, and took their land in retaliation for helping the British Army attack white squatters on their land during the Revolutionary War.)
   The town was called Washington until 1808 (John is registered on an 1804 jury list), when it was changed to honor French General Gilbert Motier de LaFayette. Fayette was situated between two beautiful lakes, with the northern boundary formed by a river. This made the soil rich and ideal for planting, and the winter climate and temperature was favorably softened by the proximity of the lakes. The water in those lakes was filled with salmon, the woods were full of bear and deer, and the brush was abundant with strawberries, gooseberries and mulberries. Outside of the occasional Indian attack, it was truly a paradise. John officially purchased land there in 1812, even though his son Alanson was born there in 1810. It was a "military farm lot," but whether it was acquired through the Revolutionary War service of John's father, William, or Esther's father, or through his own military service is unknown.
   John's property, a Military Lot located nearby on the edge of the Cayuga Reservation, was ceded to him on December 28, 1812. It was renamed Hause's (or Hauze's) Point, and a creek running onto the property was named after him as well.

John Hause's lakefront land on Hauze's Point and Hauze's Creek (sic), near Fayette in Seneca County. (Click here to see the entire map of Seneca County.)

   Given his family's war-torn history, John probably served as a volunteer in that area during the War of 1812. It would've been hard not to, since major battles were fought right up the street. But since most of the local muster roles of Seneca County have been lost, we can't be sure. (His neighbor, Mr. Dysinger, hired out a man to serve for him in the conflict—which was legal at the time—so you never know.)
   The War of 1812 reopened old wounds in the Haus/House family, both literally and figuratively, with the families or the Loyalists and Patriots fighting once again. The now-Canadian side of the family and Butler's Rangers rode again, and the New York side fought back. The Battle of Stoney Creek, near the Canadian home of Harmanus House, turned the tide of the American invasion into Canada, assuring the defense of the Niagara Peninsula and its retention by the British. The war climaxed at the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the bloodiest ever fought on Canadian soil, near Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1814. In a vicious six hour fight in the heat and darkness, a British force amounting to nearly five thousand men fought an American force of about two-thirds that number. The losses were severe: Eight hundred and seventy-eight men on the British and eight hundred and fifty-one on the American side.
   The United States forces retreated the next day to Fort Erie, and the War of 1812 finally, mercifully ended. The young nation to the south and the loyal British colony to the north remained separate, to develop into the societies known today as the United States and Canada, and create a House family divided (bad pun intended).
   How many in my family actually fought during this war is impossible to say. Muster roll calls are hard to find, but here's a list of claim awards from the Veterans of New York:

NUMBER	NAME	RESIDENCE	AMOUNT
5,437	Hause, George	Cameron, Steuben Co., NY	$53.00
1,198	Hauser, William	Manlius, Onondaga Co., NY	$68.00
4,161	House, Chester (by admin.)	Rome, NY	$29.50
14, 293	House, Chester (by Widow)	Kendall Co., IL	$13.00
10,571	House, Conrad	Ann Arbor, Washtenaw Co., MI	$38.00
8,886	House, Conrad P.	Avoca, NY	$58.00
5,397	House, David	Pamelia, Jefferson Co., NY	$78.00
9,264	House, Harmanus (by admin.)	Ithaca, Tompkins Co., NY	$58.00
319	House, Isaac	Onondaga Co., NY	$22.50
13,646	House, Jacob (by Widow)	Columbia Co., NY	$73.00
7,821	House, John	Rockland Co., NY	$58.50
2,193	House, Joseph	Lewis Co., NY	$17.00
16,528	House, Joseph P.	Wheeler, NY	$57.00
13,478	House, Lewis	Canada	$73.00
14,522	House, Reynard	Orange Co., NY	$55.00
9,356	House, Thomas	Le Ray, Jefferson Co., NY	$60.00

Black Sheep: Lewis House.

    The most famous story of the two warring sides of the Haus family facing off again is recorded in The Annals of The Forty: LEWIS HOUSE, listed above, was the grandson of Nicholas House. He invaded Canada with the American Troops, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Lundy's Lane. He was sent to a prison camp in Canada, that happened to be near John House's farm at Cave Springs in Clinton Township. John was the son of Harmanus Haus—the brother of Lewis' grandfather.
    The prisoners were allowed to go to the farm for water, and one day Lewis House, prisoner, met CATHERINE HOUSE, granddaughter of Loyalist Harmanus House... and they fell in love. Fortunately Harmanus wasn't around to see his granddaughter romanced by a United States House, or Lewis might've suffered the same hayfield treatment as John Bellinger!!!
    On June 16, 1818, the Reverend William Sampson of St. Andrew's Church, Grimsby, united the young couple in marriage. Lewis remained in Canada, and eventually secured a piece of the (other) House family farm. How can it be incest if you're from different countries, right? (In The House Family of the Mohawk, Shaver just assumed that Lewis was the son of John, Catherine's Dad, and they were brother and sister. Nooooooot quite, but close...) Anyway, Lewis gets my BLACK SHEEP OF THE 1800's award for flocking with a relative.
    Honorable Mention for this award must go to ALONZO HOUSE, who married his niece MARIAH HOUSE (daughter of his brother, ANDREW) in the mid-1800's. They had two children, Xystus and Clyne, and many grandchildren... or is that GREAT-grandchildren? And did Alonzo call Andrew "brother" or "dad?"
    Father's Day could be very confusing on the frontier.

   After the war, the Haus/House/Hause family reverted back to there simple lives as farmers, carpenters, yeomen and bad spellers.
   Farming hadn't changed much in New York since the time of Johann Christian Hauss. Four generations later, Johann's Americanized namesake (John) and other farmers moved west to open land, where they built homesteads near a stream or river. Although many of their farming methods were passed down from Germany, they had also adopted the ways of the Indians: they planted corn, beans and squash together in mounds about three feet tall and five feet across. When the corn was planted, a dead fish was buried next to it to fertilize the plant. The corn grew tall by late July, and the bean plants wrapped themselves around the corn stalks, and the squash and gourds covered the ground, preventing weeds from sprouting.
   John Hause was an industrious man. He started out on such a substinence-level farm, raising the crops he needed, then selling the extra produce at weekly markets. He sold flaxseed, corn and cattle to coastal cities, where they were exported to the West Indies and Europe. But it was very hard work: Harsh winters, short growing seasons, and unpredictable weather necessitated constant vigilance. One man could only cultivate three or four acres using the farming methods of the time. So some farmers bought slaves, while others hired help.

An overview of Seneca County in 2005, showing Cayuga Lake and Canoga Marsh (foreground). The cemetery holding John and Esther Hause is in the lower right.

   The average farm was less than a hundred acres in size, but John's had grown to two and a half times that large. (It isn't known if John used slaves, but 43 of those poor unfortunates were recorded in Fayette during the 1813 census. Still, the practice was almost extinct in New York.) But only about sixty acres were probably used for farming. The rest of the property would have been covered in large trees, which John needed to build tools, furniture, his barn and his cabin, made from bark-covered logs. His fields were planted with oats, flax, potatoes, hay, corn and wheat. Apple, peach, pear and plum trees were planted in clearings on the hillsides. In spring, he and his sons used teams of oxen to pull a wooden plow across the rocky New York soil. The blade of the plow was coated with sheet iron or old saw blades, and tipped with brittle iron. If it broke (which was often), then the plowing was concluded for the day. Grain was sowed by "broadcasting"—throwing the seeds over a wide area by hand. Weeds were pulled by hand or chopped with a hoe, and the finished product was cut with a scythe. Their diet was augmented with his musket, hunting squirrels, rabbits, wild turkeys, ducks and other game. In fact, the people on the farms of America were the best-fed people in the world at that time. (Sadly it would add up to a lot of extinct or endangered animal species. At the time the supply seemed unlimited.)
   In New York, the five or six weeks of the haying season, between late July and early August, were the hardest. Merchants, lawyers, police and craftsmen all closed up shop and headed into their fields for the harvest. One New Yorker, John Burroughs, wrote that haying had "the urge, the hurry, the excitement of a battle." The men assembled in the field before daybreak, "to cut the grass while the dew is still on," when it was the easiest to mow, swinging their long-handled scythes through the long grass. They stopped only periodically to gulp rum or brandy and resharpen their scythe blades on grindstones. To lead "a gang of hands in hay" was an honor given to the fastest mower, and made him the dominant male in the neighborhood. Not only were the slow mowers made fun of by the others, their ankles were often nicked and slashed from the blades swung by the men coming up behind them in the darkness. The mowing was over by noon, and the men then waited until after dinner to rake, gather and and haul away the harvested hay.
   There is an old saying that the bones of Yankees were made of Indian corn. This was because corn was the staple product of the farm. It was eaten green in summers, but usually it was left to ripen in order to make cornmeal and hominy. It also fed the animals, and was processed into meal by the local miller. The cobs were used to plug jugs and fuel fires.
   At harvest time, John and his sons would cut the corn with long knives and "shock up" the stalks to dry for a few weeks before hauling them into the barn, where the ears waited to be husked in colder weather. Threshers wouldn't be invented for years yet, so their neighbors would turn out and help with the husking, as was the tradition in Early American farms. In fact, it was handled more as a party. A girl at a husking bee got kissed each time her beaux found a red-kerneled ear. Neighborhood huskings occurred until every farm in the neighborhood had cleared its barns, around Christmas. Then Esther and the women would set out a large meal for everyone.
   The fruit in the orchard was dried, or cooked with sugar to make preserves and jelly, for use in the winter. It was also used for cider, which John distilled into Applejack (apple brandy). He also made peach brandy, plum brandy, and rye whisky. A gallon jug was available to the men at every husking. It was also bartered as money.
   The flax stalks were beaten to pull the long linen fibers out of them, which Esther would spin into yarn to make clothes. In the spring, John and his sons would fleece the sheep for wool. Esther then made clothing for the family, as well as their bedding, on a large loom.
   Other clues to John's and Esther's lives on the farm are revealed in this profile of his son Charles in 1885:

By chance last week we passed a night with the aged pioneer Mr Charles Hause on Hause's Point on the west shore of Cayuga Lake. In the morning we learned it was Mr Hause's birthday (86th) and that he had spent eighty of these years on the same point of land.    He was born of Dutch parents in the town of Warwick, Orange Co. N.Y. March 3, 1799, a babe in his mothers arms when the "Father of his Country Died". In 1802 his parents removed to the "lake country" and purchased a small place called Ovid Center, the same farm lately owned by Geo Helfuean, son-in-law of your townsman A. Flickinger, Esq. In 1805 or 1809 his father sold this purchase to his brother ... and bought out the improvements of a squatter on a two hundred and fifty acre lot which from him has ever since been called Hause's Point.    Here Charles first distinct memory of practical life begins, although he now recalls several incidents of their carving into the wilderness; two weeks on the way in a covered wagon, as was then usual drawn by a yoke of oxen.    Very few advantages were offered his youth, but few schools, no churches and their nearest mill was at Waterloo.    The wild unbroken forest was spread out all around them with here and there only a settler. The timid gentle deer fed with their herds on their fields of grain till he had reached his early youth. When he had reached his majority he bought thirty acres of the rear part of his father's purchase and began life for himself. In 1826 he married Miss Elizabeth Young, and together they toiled adding to his little lot which with a portion set off to him from his father's estate now makes his farm one hundred and four acres of excellent grain land.    Five children blessed their union, two sons and three daughters. One of these sons he gave to his country and he fell in the war for the Union at Cold Harbor, Va., and now lies in an unknown and unnamed grave. His wife, the faithful sharer of his struggles and triumphs, died in 1865 and two of the three daughters since then. He married a second time but was a second time bereaved and now, like a lone forest tree, almost branchless and leafless, blasted by many storms and winds of adversity, he waits his own removal.

Personal Information Census Image Name: John Hause Township: Fayette County: Seneca State: New York Year: 1820 Roll: M33_75 Page: 384 Image Number: 100 No. of persons engaged in agriculture: 4 View image View blank 1820 census form SOURCE: 1820 United States Federal Census. M33, 142 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.

   The official enumeration day of the 1820 census was August 7th, 1820. There was now a total of twenty-three states in the Union to be canvassed. The six new states were Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Maine.
   Enumerators of the 1820 census were asked to include the following categories in the census: name of head of household, number of free white males and females in varying age categories; number of other free persons except Indians not taxed; number of slaves; and town or district and county of residence. Additionally, the 1820 census for the first time asked the number engaged in agriculture.
   By the time of this census, William Sr. was dead (he passed away in 1818), but John Hause—name finally spelled H-a-u-s-e—and his family (twelve strong) are now thriving in Fayette. In `1824, John bought back about a hundred acres he had sold from the north part of Lot 57 for one thousand and forty-two dollars, cash, so we know he was doing pretty well financially (page 1, 2).
   The holy men in Fayette were prospering as much as the farmers, as the area was becoming the hotbed of religious controversy in the United States.
   At this time, religion was making a comeback in America. A new religious idea called "deism" spread throughout the country. It followed the teachings of Jesus but denied his divinity. (The Unitarian Church is an outgrowth of this movement.) Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington were all deists. But Seneca County was a very religious area, and the farmers there spent all of their hours either planting, parenting or praying. Churches were numerous in the community, and most of them still spoke German. Esther Hause, came from an extremely Christian family and helped form the Second Baptist Church on March 20, 1819—but even that event would be superseded by a new, controversial faith: The Mormon Church was created just down the road from the Hause farm, at the house of Peter Whitmer on Lot 13.
    In June, 1829, Oliver Cowdery, the schoolmaster in the Yost district of Fayette, and church founder Joseph Smith called upon David Whitmer (son of Peter), and requested that Whitmer to go with them into the woods nearby. Upon reaching a secluded spot they all engaged in prayer, when according to all three men, a very brilliant light enveloped them. An angel appeared with a table, on which were several golden plates that they were told to examine. They were commanded to bear witness of their experience to the world. Smith and the Whitmers transcribed the plates in Fayette, and from that created the Book of Mormon. It describes the history, wars, and religious beliefs of a group of people (c. 600 BC - AD 421) who migrated from Jerusalem to America. Smith then baptized the very first Mormons in Seneca Lake.

From "History of Seneca Co., 1786-1876" [Ensign, Everts, Ensign, Philadelphia, 1876; reprinted by W.E. Morrison & Co., 1976]

"About the year 1820, Seneca Falls and Fayette were visited by an odd-looking boy, clad in tow frock and trowsers, and barefooted. He hailed from Palmyra, Wayne County, and made a living by seeking hidden springs. This boy was Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. On September 23, 1823, an angel appeared to Smith at Manchester, Ontario County, and told him that in the hill 'Cumorah' lay buried golden plates on which was engraved the history of the mound-builders, full and complete. The plates were duly unearthed and the translation commenced. Three men believed the new doctrine, Martin Harris, a well-to-do farmer, David Whitmore, and Oliver Cowdry, whose pen gave the prophet great assistance. Harris mortgaged his farm for money to print the 'Book of Mormon', went to Ohio, lost all, and came back a poorer and wiser man. Mrs. Harris consigned a hundred or more pages of manuscript to the fire, delayed the work; and finding her husband infatuated, left him." (Page 34)

    The reception by the rest of the town wasn't too different from Harris' wife, so in January of 1831, Smith announced that "revelations were received" instructing the Latter-day Saints to move to Ohio to "a more friendly environment." Whitmer left with Smith and the others, but eventually broke away from the church for moral reasons—mainly having to do with polygamy.
   So as you can see, with all of the church meetings, baptisms, and angry mobs chasing the Mormons out of town, Fayette was a busy place on Sundays.

Personal Info Census Image Name: Hause, John Township: Fayette County: Seneca State: New York Year: 1830 Roll: 109 Page: 59 View image View blank 1830 census form Personal Information Census Image Name: J House Township: Fayette County: Seneca State: New York Roll: 339 Page: 345 Year: 1840 Pages: 2 View image (2) View blank 1840 census form SOURCE INFORMATION: United States Federal Census. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC.

   The official enumeration day of the 1830 census was June 1st. There were a total of twenty-four states in the Union, Missouri being the latest addition. The new territory of Florida also had its first census in 1830.
   Enumerators of the 1830 census were asked to include the following categories in the census: name of head of household; number of free white males and females in varying age categories up to over 100; the name of a slave owner and the number of slaves owned by that person; the number of male and female slaves and free "colored" persons by age categories; the number of foreigners (not naturalized) in a household; and the number of deaf, dumb, and blind persons within a household.
   John's sons are now working the land on Hause's Point in Fayette. Some, like Charles and 25-year-old Augustus, are working their own part of the property, in their own homes, and starting families of their own. By the time of the 1840 Census, Augustus is gone, but sons Charles and Alanson are still working the land nearby.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Carleton Hause Jr., Madeline Hause, Eric Hause, Jeff Hause and Michele Hause at the graves of John and Esther Hause (and some of their children) in the Canoga Cemetery, making this one of the few nine-generation photographs you'll ever see.

Personal Information Court Image Name: Hause, Esther Ketcham Township: Fayette County: Seneca State: New York Year: October 13, 1853 View file SOURCE INFORMATION: Seneca County Wills, 1853, p 186 - 193.

   Upon John's death in 1844, his farm was divided into eleven parcels, each of them given to one of his eleven living children. Esther moved into the house of her son, Alanson, and then each of her children paid her about fifteen bucks a year in rent.
   The area was still a hotbed of social change. A few miles up the lake, in Seneca Falls, the women's rights movement was born in 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized a convention at the Wesleyan Chapel (now part of the Women's Rights National Historical Park). The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, based on the Declaration of Independence, was read to the assembly. It stated that men and women should be treated equally, and that women should have the right to vote.
   Another important document (at least to our family), Esther's Will and Codicil is a very illuminating document. She had palsy later in life, among other problems, but that didn't stop her from being an EXTREMELY opinionated matriarch. The writer of the will recalled in a deposition some amazing exchanges with Esther during the writing of her will: He recounted that Esther's favorite children were Charles and Carolyn, and she wanted to will her daughter, Electa, a particularly small amount: "She brought the Will to me and wanted me to copy it—I told her there was a clause in that will that would not look well—I told her she ought to strike out that clause. It would be advisable to strike it out—the clause read as follows: 'I will and bequeath to my daughter Electa one dollar and request that she may purchase a Bible therewith, and the constant perusal thereof will be of more benefit than any earthly bequest I can give her.' I told her I did not wish to write her Will with such a clause, but she had probable (sic) better give her enough to buy a good bible with."
   The Hause Point Cemetery—now named the Canoga or Red Jacket Cemetery (after the Indian chief and statesman who was born near that spot) still contains the graves of John and Esther. And just to be clear, despite the Mormon presence, Esther was John's only wife.

An map of Fayette in 1850. John Hause's property has been divided amongst his 11 living children. (Click here to enlarge.)

Augustus Hause

  The family entered the photographic age with AUGUSTUS HAUSE (1/14/1804 - 2/19/1875). He was born at the dawn of the 19th Century in Rockland (to become Orange) County, New York.
   Around 1810, he moved with his parents to Fayette, where he attended one of seven new schools in the town—or possibly a German school in nearby Bearytown in a log church.
   Bearytown also featured the infamous inn of Henry Beary, which opened in 1819. This tavern hosted political conventions and was considered the best entertainment spot in the area. Beary's was known for its roast pig, poultry and game, and draughts of cider royal, metheglin and peach brandy. For large political gatherings they would even barbecue of roast ox. Augustus probably went there with his father, where John and the locals traded war stories and discussed politics, or the number of wives the Mormon guy had in lot #13.
   Augustus then fell in love and married JANE JONES of New Jersey (1802 - 1850). Jane is another one of the mystery women in our family history. Her name was so common, and so little was recorded of her, that we can't trace her genealogy. Anyway, she and Augustus looked for a place to raise a family.
   After John's death, Augustus received a parcel of Hause's Point land, along with the other remaining children. But whether it was because he had greater ambitions than ten acres of land, or just because he wanted to get away from Esther, Augustus had already left Hause Point far behind, and moved to Royalton, near Lockport, in Niagara County, New York, in 1831—thirteen years before John's death. He sold the Hause Point property he inherited from John in August of 1847 to brother-in-law Gideon Wilbur. (Apparently he stayed away from Esther in Fayette, because Augustus' son, Laban, said later in life that he barely knew his grandparents.)

Personal Information Deed Image Name: Hawes, Augustus Township: Royalton County: Niagara State: NY Date: 10/15/1838 Acres: 56.25 Price: $270 Image Personal Information Deed Image Name: House, Augustus Township: Royalton County: Niagara State: NY Date: 6/20/1837 Acres: 100 Price: $450 Page 1, 2 SOURCE INFORMATION: Niagara County Clerk's Office, Lockport, NY

   Niagara County had been until the nineteenth century a vast wilderness, except for Indians living in the woods and some British forts and loyalist settlements along the Niagara River. The British retained Fort Niagara even after the Revolutionary War to ensure that Tories could be properly compensated for confiscated lands. In 1791, Robert Morris bought half a million acres of land that was then Massachusetts, including Niagara County. Over the next two years sold it all to agents of the Holland Land Company. Then in 1797 the Indians' claim to the land was extinguished for a fee of... well, next to nothing, and they were forced to leave. In 1808 the county of Niagara was created out of Genesee County, and the Indian trails were improved to handle the ox carts and eventually Connestoga Wagons drawn by four to six horses could traverse the woods. The first settlers made their livings creating potash salts, made from the ashes of burned trees, or they created barrel staves for whiskey containers from smaller trees. But in 1817 the construction of the Erie Canal began, and suddenly new residents poured in.

   The Erie Canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east, and opened the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers, and offered a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market. New York Governor Dewitt Clinton proposed the construction of a canal in 1808. However, it was not until July 4, 1817 that workers finally broke ground for the construction of the canal at a site near Rome, NY. In those early days, it was often referred to as "Clinton's Big Ditch." It would be over 363 miles long and its builders would have to overcome rivers, swamps, and hills—digging by hand.
   When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it was the engineering marvel of its day. It included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers, and 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. Numerous bridges had to be built across the canal to accommodate roads and farms which were severed by the waterway. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for horses, mules, and oxen led by a boy boat driver or "hoggee." Horses and mules drew barges through the canal in end-to-end fifteen-mile shifts. And the ferryman sang his familiar song: "I've got an old mule, her name is Sal, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal. She's a good old worker and a good old pal, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal..."
   The effect of the Erie Canal on the economy and industry in the United States was staggering. Cargo that had taken two weeks to carry by road could now be moved in three and a half days. Farmers now could sell flour back east for a living, as freight rates for their products that had cost $100 a ton by land could be shipped by Canal for eight to ten dollars per ton.
   Unlike the hilly "Finger Lakes" region of New York that Augustus was raised in, which was known more for wines than wheat, Niagara County was flatter and greener, and ideal for raising animals and grains. And with scores of new customers flowing through the region by way of the Erie Canal to open new markets for his crops in the north, Augustus found an ideal place to start a farm. So on June 20th, 1837, Augustus "House" purchased 100 acres of property in Royalton from Benjamin Knower (Royalton Deeds, Book 19, page 356, Lot #59) for $450. Then a year later, on October 15th, Augustus "Hawes" bought just over 56 acres in an adjoining lot from Charles E. Dudley of Albany (Royalton Deeds, Book 22, page 153, lot #57) for $270.

A map of Royalton with Augustus' land, marked "A. Hawes," highlighted. (Click to enlarge.)

   Augustus may not have been able to spell his name consistently, if at all, but he was still a shrewd investor. These purchases gave him almost 160 acres of fertile soil. Augustus gambled that the Erie Canal would make this property much more valuable in time—and he was right by more than tenfold. The Erie Canal changed the economy of the country, and of northern New York especially. Freight from New York to Ohio traveled a third faster than by wagon, and at half the cost. New York was a more profitable market for farm products than New Orleans, so traffic on the Mississippi evaporated while New York boomed. In fact, the canal was so cost effective that a customer in Savannah, Georgia, could buy Augustus' wheat in New York cheaper than wheat grown in the central part of his own state! Furthermore, improvements in farm equipment, like horse-drawn reapers and threshing machines, made farming much easier and more lucrative. Augustus could use much more of his acreage than his father could, even with a hundred fewer acres of property.

Personal Information Census Image Name:   Hause, Augustus Township:   Fayette County:   Seneca State:   New York Year:   1830 Roll:   109 Page:   59 View image View blank 1830 census form Personal Information Census Image Name: Augustus "Hams" Township: Royalton County: Niagara State: New York Roll: 311 Page: 191 Year: 1840 View image View blank 1840 census form SOURCE: United States Federal Census. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC

   The official enumeration day of the 1840 census was the first of June. There were a total of twenty-six states in the Union, with Arkansas and Michigan being the latest additions. The two new territories of Wisconsin and Iowa were also enumerated.
   Enumerators were asked to include, for the first time, the ages of revolutionary war pensioners and the number of individuals engaged in mining, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing and trade, navigation of the ocean, navigation of canals, lakes and rivers, learned professions and engineers; number in school, number in family over age twenty-one who could not read and write, and the number of insane.
   Augustus, fortunately sane, had moved to Royalton in Niagara County. He and Jane prospered on their 156-acre spread, along with the following children:

CHILDREN OF AUGUSTUS HAUSE AND JANE JONES

JOHN J. HAUSE was born on 18 Oct 1829. He married Catherine Eave Deissinger (b. 23 Aug 1830) around the year 1854. They had a son, William Hause, who died in infancy, a daughter who also died in infancy, and one more daughter, Alta May (Aug 1870 - 1954, buried in Royalton Cemetery), who married Edward A. Vodra. John and Catherine remained in New York for their entire lives, where John worked as a farmer. They were still alive for the 1910 census, and still living in Royalton. It isn't known when John died. Catherine died in 1926, and is buried in Mt. Royal Cemetery, in Gasport, Niagara Co., NY.

LABAN AUGUSTUS HAUSE was born on 10 March 1831. He moved to St. Clair Co., Michigan in the mid-1850's after marrying Sarah Deissinger on 20 Sep 1854. What a party these Hauses and Dysingers were having! Sarah died on 16 Mar 1859 after complications from giving birth to their daughter, Elma, and Laban then remarried, to a woman named MELISSA SANDERSON. Children listed later. Laban died on 14 Mar 1906 in Memphis, MI. Click on the photo at right to access the Laban Hause Genealogy page.

AUGUSTUS HAUSE, JR. was born on 13 May 1835. He served in Company E 8 of the New York Cavalry during the Civil War. After the war, he married neighbor Hannah Grove (apparently the Deissinger women were all taken). They had a daughter, Maude (b. 1865), and a son, H. Grove Hause (1867 - 1905). In later years he became a butcher (1900 Niagara Co New York Census), and he may have eventually moved to Michigan.² He probably died in 1912, and was buried in the Ward Cemetery in in Wheatfield Twp, Niagara Co New York. Click here to access the Hause Civil War page.

BASHEBA J. HAUSE was born on 23 Nov 1838. She married Charles Henry Oakes on May 13, 1857, in St. Clair Co., Michigan, having followed her brother Laban to new land. In the 1870 census Charles was listed as a mill proprietor. They had the following children: Ella F, Ester, George Agustus, Bimey and William Oakes. In 1900, Charles and "Bashabe Oakes" were living with their children in Marlette, Sanilac, Michigan. In 1910, Charles was gone.

Personal Information Census Image Name: Esther Hause Age: 69 Birthplace: New York Home in 1850: Fayette, Seneca,  New York Estimated Birth Year: 1781 Attended School within year No Page: 146 Roll: M432_597 Year: 1850 View image View blank 1850 census form SOURCE INFORMATION: 1850 United States Federal Census. M432, 1009 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC.

   The official enumeration day of the 1850 census was June 1st, 1850. There were a total of thirty-one states in the Union, with Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California being the latest additions. The four new territories of Oregon, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Utah were also enumerated.
   For the first time in the history of the United States census, enumerators were instructed to record the names of every person in the household, and were asked to include the following categories: name; age as of the census day; sex; color; birthplace; occupation of males over age fifteen; value of real estate; whether married within the previous year; whether deaf-mute, blind, insane, or "idiotic"; whether able to read or write for individuals over age twenty; and whether the person attended school within the previous year. No relationships were shown between members of a household. The categories allowed Congress to determine persons residing in the United States for collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives.
   In the Hause family, Esther Hause was now staying with her son Alanson back in Fayette. Augustus "Hawyes," one of the worst "Hause" spellings yet, is listed as a farmer, and the value of his land is priced at $4240. His wife, Jane, is recorded as 47 years old, but she would die within months. Their son, 19-year-old Laban (spelled "Laben Haws" by the enumerator), is listed on the next page:

Personal Information Census Image Name: Augustus Hawyes Age: 46 Birthplace: New York Home in 1850: Royalton,  Niagara,  New York Estimated Birth Year: 1804 Attended School within year No Page: 183 Roll: M432_560 Year: 1850 View image View blank 1850 census form Personal Information Census Image Name: Laben Haws Age: 19