"If the enemy persist in their plan of subjugating these States to the yoke of Great Britain, they must, in proportion to their knowledge of the country, be more and more convinced of the necessity of their becoming masters of the Hudson River, which will give them the entire command of the water communications with the Indian nations, effectually prevent all intercourse between the eastern and southern confederates, divide our strength, and enfeeble every effort for our common preservation and security."
—Report submitted by the Provincial Congress of New York to the Continental Congress in 1775.

   WILLIAM HAUSE (2/24/1750—5/20/1818) served in the Second Regiment in the New York Militia in Orange County, under Colonel Ann Hawkes Hay and Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Cooper (NYITR, page 159). Other Haus/Hause/House family members in the regiment were John, Richard, and Rinard Sr. and Jr.¹
   Uncle John Secor of Haverstraw, husband of William's aunt Catherine Hause, was in the regiment, as were cousins Andrew, Benjamin, Daniel and Isaac Secor. So was cousin John Conklin, related to William through his Aunt Sally Hause.
   Their mission was to keep the British from controlling the Hudson River during the early years of the American Revolution. If they had failed, we would probably all be British citizens today.
   The militia were around long before the American Revolution, starting around 1691. It was a kind of standing home army, separate from the regular army, that met on training days to practice military maneuvers and gun handling. All able-bodied men between 16 and 60 were required to serve, keeping a musket, bullets and powder at the ready to repel an attack by the French or the Indians. They were mostly farmers and tradesmen who were unable to commit to service in the regular army because of family and/or financial reasons, but instead volunteered to serve their home colony, pledging to be ready to fight at a moment's notice.
   About 164,087, or 41 percent, of the 395,864 troops employed in the formal campaigns were militia. They won key battles at places such as Bennington and King's Mountain, and when Washington marched to Yorktown, the militia alone defended New Jersey. When the war shifted to the south and the Continental Line was routed, the militia carried the Revolution. The New York Militia, and possibly William, made a key contribution at Saratoga.

The landing of the British forces in the Jerseys on Nov. 20,1776, under the command of Rt. Hon. Lt. Gen. Earl Cornwallis. Watercolor by Thomas Davies, a British officer, 1776. (Click to enlarge).

Wood

   William probably had trouble taking any side at the beginning of the conflict: Many in the family of William's wife, MARTHA WOOD (4 May 1753 - 8 Sep 1822), whom he married in 1770, had been Puritans, who were pacifists and refused to serve in the Continental Army or in the state militias. The family of his mother, Sarah Wheeler, was divided between Loyalists and Rebels, so William would've had uncles fighting in both armies, on both sides of his family.
   Originally, William may have been impartial in the conflict, or even a Loyalist. The first mention we find of him during the time of the revolution was on a petition signed on July 17, 1775 in Haverstraw precinct, calling for action on the "General Association adopted by freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of the city and county of New York on April 29, 1775, and transmitted for signing to all the counties of the province." The petition took King George III to task for the conduct of his soldiers in Massachusetts, where the first shots of the Revolution had been fired at Lexington and Concord In April, but carefully avoids a call to arms against him: "Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depends, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of the government, we, the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of Haverstraw, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scenes now acting in the Massachusetts Bay, do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves ; and do associate under all the ties of religion, honor, and love to our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles (which we most ardently desire), can be obtained ; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our general committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and private property." (Reynard House Sr. refused to sign, while Reynard Jr. signed a revised version, still standing for the King.)
   So what caused William to join the Rebels? One possible reason could have occurred at the battle of White Plains in 1776:

"John Hause and his brother Simon Hause, served as volunteers in the American Army, during the Revolution until the Battle of White Plains, in which he and his brother Simon, standing side by side, were shot by the enemy. They received a Soldier's Burial, the place of which is unknown. John Hause, who was killed at White Plains, had two children, John and Polly. John Hause's Widow, married a Benjamin Butler, and had six children. That part of Orange Co. where he died is now Rockland County, NY."
—Based on records copied from the Family Bible of Joseph Hause of Ovid, New York, during the 1800's (Bible now lost).

   If this family legend is true, then William's brothers, John and Simon, were among the first to join the independence movement. They would've learned to fight the larger British forces with guerilla-style tactics learned from Native Americans, using their own rifles and attaching homemade bayonets. It was bloody, brutal combat that they signed up for—and they were killed on October 28, 1776, at the Battle of White Plains, where they faced General William Howe's British army, which was completing its capture of New York.²
   General Washington and his army had been overmatched by British artillery, and had withdrawn to the high ground near the village of White Plains, taking many lives as they fell back through the forest, until the British caught up, with 14,000 troops, including Hessians who might even have been related. Cooper brought the militia there. Meanwhile, William's cousin, Andrew Secor, was fighting under General Green when he was shot in the thigh, and another bullet passed through his hat. But John and Simon weren't so lucky. They were shot dead, side-by-side. (The Fifth Regiment, which included Orange County recruits, fought in the battle of White Plains. It's muster rolls features the name of "Simon Hauss.")
   Believe it or not, we finally have a Hause legend that the facts seem to substantiate! It was recorded that John III's son, named Jonathan, substituted for him in the war out of Warwick (a legal practice at that time). And John III's Will in 1796 states that William was the only son still living, and even mentions a grandson through the late Simon Haus.
   However, another less patriotic scenario also presents itself in the muster roll of the 5th New York Regiment, which fought at White Plains. It lists a Simon Hauss (also spelled as "Hause" and "House") as a deserter in 1778! Furthermore, the book "The Loyalists at the Battle of Fort Ninety Six, " by Bobby Gilmer Moss, details Tory musters including "Simon Hawes" (whose name was also spelled variously "Hanse" and "House," depending on whose muster you read). He fought as a private, and then a corporal in the first Battalion of Brigadier General Oliver Delancy's Loyalist New York Brigade, from 20 Nov 1779 until 1 Jan 1783, when he died. Although this scenario is less glorious now, it definitely fits in the timeline of John Hause's will, and truly proves how this war was "brother against brother."

"The enemy are now extending their ravages into this state, and on Monday the 29th ulto. made their appearance at Tappan with a large body commanded by Cornwallis in person, and after butchering in a most inhuman manner a number of Light Horse, they turned their cruelties to women and old men, whom they treated with every kind of brutality their perfidiousness could invent... Knowing the small number of our whole force, we have every reason to expect we must, unless immediately relieved, fall a sacrifice to the enemy."
—Letter from local residents of Tappan to New York Governor George Clinton, pleading for state assistance.

Col. Anne Hawkes Hay, Orange County Militia

   Whether it was family deaths, patriotic fervor, or religious convictions that caused William to join the rebellion is only speculation, but we know that he joined the Orange County Militia.
   General Washington's headquarters were in Orange County for a time, and he relied greatly on the help and friendship of William's colonel, Ann Hawkes Hay, whom Washington eventually appointed as his Quartermaster. (Hay was named "Ann" for an aunt who left him her inheritance.)
   As a member of the Orange County Militia, it was William's duty to take arms at a moment's notice whenever the British threatened the area of the western shore of the Hudson River from Stony Point to Fort Lee during the first year of the Revolution.
   The Hudson River was of vital importance to both sides during the conflict. The British hoped to control the river and divide the Colonies, as well as speed the communication between their armies in Canada and lower New York. So the rebel militia set up obstructions in the water, including "fire-ships," booms, and cheveaux-de-frise (made by sinking cribs of timber across the channel), to impede British ships. Large iron chains, almost two thousand feet across, were stretched underwater at several points that the rebels could pull tight. But the British eventually smashed their way through all of the obstructions, and it was up to the militia to halt their progress.
   The Orange County militia did other things to even their odds against a well-trained British army: They used the countryside to conduct guerilla warfare, with techniques that they learned from the Indians. They hid behind trees and rocks, picking off the British soldiers who marched in formation down country lanes. They chopped down trees to impede the progress of the British army, and turned the roadways into swamps. They also destroyed crops and drove off cattle to deny food to the redcoats—which probably left farmers wondering who the real enemy was. (But when Butler's Rangers burned the village, or British troops started cutting off the limbs and heads of those who didn't swear allegiance to the King, the difference became pretty clear.) Hay's Regiment fought in the Battle of Stony Point, then acted as guards to the British prisoners. They also guarded the lines at Tappan and Nyack.
   For this duty, William received an initial bounty of twenty-five dollars on his passing muster, and then 10 shillings per week in lieu of rations. Eventually each militia man received a salary of 53 shillings, 4d. per month, along with one blanket, one Regimental coat (militiamen did not have standardized uniforms), and ten shillings for the use of his arms (including a flintlock or rifle, sword, tomahawk, priming brush and pick, pouch or cartridge box, gun flints, knapsack, canteen or wooden bottle, and a jack knife)... not that he actually got paid all of that, but it's what he was promised at the outset.
   William probably used a hunting musket in battle (Hay complained to his superiors that only half of his men were adequately armed, so he probably used his own weapon). The most common in the militia was the smoothbore flintlock, of a large caliber, .62 to .75 inch bore (equal to 16 to 11 gauge shotguns). It was accurate enough when sneaking up close on deer or wild turkey, but it had no rifling in the barrel, so the ball might come out spinning like a screw ball, to any side. After 50 yards it was very hard for a soldier to deliberately hit a man sized target, so the rebels formed into units, two or three ranks (lines) deep, shoulder to shoulder. Then they fired volleys in unison, sending a mass of balls toward the approaching enemy, at least some of which they figured would hit their targets. Muskets could be fired as fast as every 15 seconds, which is a long time when you have a line of British soldiers charging at you with bayonets.

The British invade the Hudson: This illustration shows the left bank of the Hudson River 3 miles above Still Water, upon which the army under the command of Lieutenant General Burgoyne took post on Sept. 20, 1777. Engraving by Barlow; published by William Lane, London, 1789. (Click to enlarge).

"DEAR SIR: Yesterday three of the enemy's ships-of-war, and some other vessels, passed our forts at King's Bridge, and are now anchored off Nyack. My regiment consists only of three hundred men, and very near one half of them are without arms. I should be very glad to know what I am to do, and where I must apply for a reinforcement in case they should attempt a landing on the west side of Hudson's river. We are destitute of provisions for the guards I now have out, and I must therefore request that the Convention will be so kind as to send me per the bearer a sum of money to purchase the provisions. I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant, A. HAWKES HAY."
—Col. Ann Hawkes Hay to Col. Peter R. Livingston, President of the Convention of the State of New-York, at Fishkill. (Haverstraw, October 10, 1776).

Muster Roll Image Name: William Hause Military Organization: Cooper's Regiment National Number: M246 Date Range: (Blank) State: New York Folder: 91 Page: 7 Service Record (M881): Page 1 Page 2 Document SOURCE INFORMATION: National Archives. Personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units in the Revolutionary War, '75-'85.

   Hay's Regiment of Orange County Militia was in service on different alarms from April 4, 1778 to August 9, 1780 in lower New York State and New Jersey. One muster roll with William from this period is at right, under Cooper's Regiment of Levies. These "levies" were men selected from the ranks of the general militia for additional training, then used to fill in the ranks of regular troops or as independent units, serving for a period of eight months or less, and were posted at outlying blockhouses and forts. On the frontier the chief task of the levies was to stop raids carried out by the Indian forces & Loyalists, often led by a British officer.
   The levies in Orange County were undermanned, under-fed, and worst of all, under-armed, and Hay's plea for a better gameplan, reprinted above, was finally answered: Washington devised a battle plan where the men couldn't fire guns, anyway! He sent them into the battle of of Stony Point against cannon and vastly superior firepower, armed with only bayonets.
   The truth is that the mission of the Patriots who stormed Stony Point on July 15, 1779 was supposed to be a suicide mission. George Washington sent General "Mad" Anthony Wayne (yes, that was his actual nickname) and about 1,350 carefully selected soldiers, including much of the 2nd Regiment, to perform a night assault against the British stronghold at Stony Point, situated on the west bank of the Hudson River about 10 miles south of West Point and 35 miles north of New York City. The garrison was held by about 700 well-armed, well-trained British soldiers equipped with heavy cannon. They were also well protected behind solid ramparts and two rows of attack-delaying, abatis at the base of the fort. The Americans attacked with no artillery support and no loaded weapons— just fixed-bayonets. They wore pieces of white paper pinned to their hats so they could tell each other apart in the darkness. Despite strength in numbers, the only real advantage the Americans had, was the element of surprise. Although Wayne did not tell his soldiers, he regarded the mission as suicidal. In a letter written before the battle, he left instructions for the care of his family and for his reputation after his death. The lightly armed Americans forced the surprised British garrison to surrender in less than an hour. But not only did the Patriots triumph, they took over 500 prisoners, along with much needed supplies and armaments, and they also destroyed the fort on their way out. General Wayne was awarded a medal by congress, one of the few issued during the Revolution.
   William never recorded his experiences in the war, but his cousins, Andrew and Benjamin Secor, described their exploits with the 2nd Regiment in their pension applications about 50 years later:

Personal Information War Record Image Name: Andrew Secor Township: Haverstraw County: Orange State: New York Year: 09/04/1832 Number: S 15232 View image (PDF) Personal Information War Record Image Name: Benjamin Secor Township: Haverstraw County: Orange State: New York Year: 1/02/1834 Number: S 22975 View image (PDF) SOURCE INFORMATION: Index created from United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States in the Year 1790.

   Things worked out well for General Wayne, but not for Colonel Hay. The Hay family was even more ripped apart from the war than the Haus'. The uncle of Col. Hay's wife, Martha Smith, was a Loyalist who became the chief justice of Canada, while another uncle was intimately acquainted with General Benedict Arnold, who had fallen for the 18 year-old daughter of a Loyalist and was switching sides and Major John André, adjutant-general of the British Army. André was negotiating with Arnold, who was offering up West Point to the British for $20,000, by weakening the chain obstruction in the Hudson. But André was caught while stranded onshore along the Hudson when his ship, the HMS Vulture, had to retreat due to attacks by the Colonists. He was hanged while Arnold escaped and officially became a brigadier general for the British, until fleeing the country for England in 1781 (he and his young wife then lived there in poverty until he died in 1801).
   With friends like those two, Hay's uncle in-law was suspected of treachery as well, and was forced to remove to Britain.
   Ironically, while Hay's in-laws were being extradited and having their homes burned in Haverstraw as British Loyalists, their sympathizers confiscated all of Hay's property in Jamaica and burned his home in Orange County, as well, leaving him destitute. He also lost a lot of money as the quartermaster, paying a lot of soldiers out of his own pocket when the American economy couldn't afford it. Although he was a wealthy landowner in Jamaica and America before the war, Hay died in poverty in 1785.
   According to the book New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, William was also recruited to fight in Pawling's Levies¹ (page 84, listed under both "Haws" and "House"), and it probably wasn't coincidental that he was in "Wood's Company," the surname of his in-laws. The regiment's leader, Colonel Albert Pawling, was a fiery, independent character for the Patriot side. According to the History of Rensselaer Co., New York by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, published in 1880, Pawling resigned from Washington's army as a major, despite a letter from Washington himself asking him to remain, then "served as colonel of a regiment of Swiss raised to protect the New York frontier."
   Colonel Pawling's Levies manned forts from 1779 to 1781 along the frontiers of great Shandeken and Leghweck in Ulster and Orange Counties. These forts were block houses, enclosed by a breastwork capable of holding a hundred defenders, and could protect up to 200 people altogether. They also erected beacons along the coast, and when a huge red-and-white striped flag was hung by day, or a bonfire lit at night by a sentry, that meant the British were coming up the river. William would then have to grab his musket and rendezvous with the rest of his regiment. Occasionally he would have been annexed to Continental battalions at Poenpeck, to scout or fight.
   Unlike Colonel Hay, William got through the war fairly unscathed. He survived the war and its confused aftermath to witness the birth of a new nation, as well as FOURTEEN KIDS:

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM E. HAUSE AND MARTHA WOOD

JOHN HAUSE was born on 15 September 1773 in Rockland County, New York. He died on 17 January 1844 in Canoga, Seneca County, New York. John married Esther Ketchum (b. September 5, 1779) and had 13 children. Resided at Hause Point on the western shore of Cayuga Lake, Seneca County, New York. (Children listed in next chapter).

JOHNATHAN HAUSE was born on 8 April 1775 in Orange County, New York. He died in 1802 in Jamaica, Long Island, New York.

JOHANNA HAUSE was born on 17 February 1776. Probably died as a child.

SARAH HAUSE was born on 7 September 1777 in Orange County, New York. She died in 1847. Sarah married Samuel Johnson before 1800, then William Harris (1758 - 1836, who also has a DAR plaque in the Hause Hill cemetery) and is buried with him, as well as her parents, on Hause Hill.

SIMON HAUSE was born on 27 November 1779 in Orange County, New York. He died in Clover, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Simon married Mathia Demand, Zilpha Decker and Elizabeth (last name unknown). They lived next to William Sr. & Jr. in the 1810 census. Indenture dated 1818 names Simon and his wife Zilpha, as heirs to William Hause who died at Wayne Twp., Steuben County, NY. 1818—Wayne Twp., New York; 1840—Big Flats Twp., Chemung Couny—NY; 1850—Clover Twp., Jefferson County, PA. In Simon's will of 1851 he names his wife and two of his children.

WILLIAM HAUSE, JR., was born on 22 November 1781 in Warwick, Orange County, New York. He died on 2 January 1825 in Tyrone Township, Steuben County, New York and was buried in Hause Hill, Barrett Cemetery, Steuben County, New York. William married Esther Sanford on 7 Apr 1804. Esther was born on 22 September 1785 in Warwick, Orange County, New York, to Ezra Sanford and Ann Hopper. She died on 16 August 1850 in Reading Township, Hillsdale County, Michigan. For another family history of his descendants, click here; For another, click here.

JONAS HAUSE was born on 26 September 1783 in Orange County, New York. He died in November of 1869. Jonas married Rebecca Demand. Wills of Schuyler county: HAUSE Jonas ae 80 3 Apr 1862 - 2 Jan 1866 Hector Schuyler co. - s Aaron, s Dellaber, s Mahlon, my widow Rebecca (sounded like more children but none named) exec friend Henry D Barto, sons Mathias D Hause & Dellaber Hause - wit Sam Burlew & C C Pearce, Ulyses. Rebecca died several months before him, on 27 Mar 1869, and they are buried in Hector, at the Valois Cemetery, in Schuyler Co., New York. His descendants spell their name "Hawes." (Sketch of Halsey Hawes (grandson) in "Portrait and Biographical Record of Seneca and Schuyler Counties, New York." Chapman Publishing Company, 1895.)

ALLEN HAUSE was born on 6 August 1785 in Orange County, New York. He died as a teenager in 1804 in Seneca County, New York.

JOSEPH HAUSE was born on 8 August 1787 in Orange County, New York. "Joseph Hause ... was one of the pioneers of Seneca Country, and helped to clear up the virgin forests around Farmer. He and an Irishman (ex-Senator Francis Kernan's father) went across Seneca Lake and settled in Tyrone, to which point they presently removed their families." (Excerpt from "Portrait and Biographical Record of Seneca and Schuyler Counties, New York." Chapman Publishing Company, 1895.) Joseph married Eunice Rogers on September 5, 1811. He held the first election for town officers of Tyrone at his house, with brothers William Jr. and Morris taking positions in the early government. He died on 3 December 1838 in Tyrone, Schuyler County.

MARY HAUSE was born on 6 July 1790 in Orange County, New York. Mary married Daniel Burr. In 1850 and 1860 census', she was a widow living in Italy, Yates Co., New York, with her son, Nelson (b. 1824), a blacksmith.

MATTHEW HAUSE (or HAWES, according to his will) was born on 23 April 1792 in Warwick, Orange County, New York. He died in Wisconsin, probably moving there with his younger brother, Morris. Matthew married Anna Marie (last name unknown, date unknown) and Johanna Wood on November 2, 1831 in Verona, Dane County, Wisconsin.

SAMUEL HAUSE was born on 12 May 1794 in Warwick, Orange County, New York, but traveled to Michigan. His line is traced here. (PDF file). He died on 31 July 1833. Samuel married Catherine Howard.

HANNA HAUSE was born on 23 November 1796 in Warwick, Orange County, New York. Hannah married Lemuel Knowlen or Nolen (depending on which document you read) of Massachusetts. In the 1840 census they lived in Tyrone with three children. In 1850, they lived in Hornby, Steuben Co., New York, with their daughter, Martha (b. 1827).

MORRIS FANT HAWES, "son of William HAWES and Martha WOOD, was born at Warwick, New York, November 12, 1797; moved to Steuben county, was a boy-soldier of the war of 1812; married May 17, 1818, Sarah, daughter of Capt. Nathan LOUNSBURY, and moved to Chautauqua county, and thence in 1830 to Hillsdale county, Michigan. In 1837 he came to section 34, Richmond. With a few neighbors he built the first schoolhouse on a corner of his land. He was elected member of the first constitutional convention, but did not attend its session. He died at Whitewater January 13, 1868. His wife had died July 28, 1859. They had nine children." (Source: History of Walworth County Wisconsin, by Albert Clayton Beckwith. 1912. Page 526)

   It is generally said that it takes five generations to raise a family out of poverty. But our line, starting with Johann Christian Hauss, the poor indentured servant from Hessen, would accomplish this goal in just four generations thanks to his great grandson, William Hause, using the American Revolution as the catalyst.
   After the war, an era of expansion began, both for the Hause family and the new country. A wild population explosion, beyond even that of the baby-boom generation in the Twentieth Century, occurred. Twelve kids measured as a moderately-sized family in rural America. And new property for those kids was plentiful and cheap, because the Iroquois, having sided with the British and Tories in the war, had been forced off the land.
   It was a different New York, too. Sure, the Hause family could still be exploited by cruel overseers and tyrants like Governor Hunter and Louis XIV, but they would now have the chance to overcome it, and rise above their station. The caste system in Europe, where you were born into serfdom and stayed there, was gone.

A map of the New York/New Jersey border in 1802, by Simeon Dewitt. The town of Warwick is in the center of the map, and Haverstraw is to the right. From the collection of the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick (click to enlarge).

   After the war, William lived a few miles away from his father in Warwick (as it would later be named, by an act of the State Legislature on March 7, 1788). William lived on the Orange Turnpike in an area now called "Tuxedo Park," near the border of New York and New Jersey in the Ramapo Mountains. The earliest occupants of the area were the Lenni-Lenape Indians, who named the largest lake in the town "Tucseto," meaning either "place of the bear" or "clear flowing water." Eighteenth Century settlers were mainly employed at the nearby Sterling Iron Mine Works in neighboring Ringwood, New Jersey. Several served in the Revolutionary War, which brought the 1779 construction of Continental Road from Eagle Valley through the present-day Village of Tuxedo Park to what is now Route 17 near Warwick Brook Road. This route was used for stagecoaches between New York City and Albany.
   According to the research of Charles Hause in 1969 (a descendant of William's through his son, William Jr.), William was a "roadmaster" in Orange County, as the pass between New York and New Jersey in Orange County went right through this property. During the revolution it would have been his responsibility to keep the route clear for the army. The story goes that the pass in that area was treacherous, with just room for one horse to pass between the rocks. Outlaws would stand on top and jump down and rob people as they went through.³

Hanging in the Tuxedo Park library is a picture of a cabin in front of the Man O' War rock, from the early 1800's. Is this cabin William's residence? We can only assume.

   According to the 1790 United States Census, JOHN HAUSE, now in his late sixties or early seventies, was still living in Warwick (his last name spelled "Haws"), with his wife, Sarah. He had seen many of his family members die during the bitter, bloody revolution, including (possibly) two sons in the same battle. WILLIAM HAUSE (spelled "Hawes") was listed in the very next column of the census, on the same page, with his family.

Personal Information Census Image Name:   John Haws Township:   Warwick County:   Orange State:   New York Year:   1790 Roll:   M637_6 Page:   147 Image:   0348 View image View blank 1790 census form  (PDF 13K) Personal Information Census Image Name:   William Hawse Township:   Warwick County:   Orange State:   New York Year:   1790 Roll:   M637_6 Page:   147 Image:   0349 View image View blank 1790 census form  (PDF 13K) SOURCE INFORMATION: Index created from United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States in the Year 1790.

Personal Information Court Image Name: John Haus Township: Warwick County: Orange State: New York Date: 8/21/1795 Probated: 9/ 1/1796 Book: Liber A Pages: 379-381 Executor: James Burt Transcription SOURCE INFORMATION: Orange County Surrogate's Office, Goshen, N.Y.

   Sadly, John wouldn't make an appearance in the next census, because he died in 1796. His last will and testament is transcribed at right. In it, he wills his "beloved ownly son William" a bay mare and a black cow with a white face, and all of his clothes. The rest was to go to the support of his wife, Sarah. In the event of her death or remarriage, a quarter of that property was to go to John's grandson, John (son of Simon Haus), and the rest would go to William.
   If John was buried according to the customs of the time in the Reformist church, then his body was laid in state on a stretcher-like "bier" at the family home for three days, partly so that if he was pronounced dead in error he wouldn't be under six feet of dirt when he woke up. There was a lavish funeral meal, with abundant drink, as was the custom in German families. Then John would have been carried to the church in procession by four to six bearers—usually the village poor. They carried the casket while the appointed pall bearers, family and friends, had the easier task of simply holding the pall. John would then have been laid with his feet facing east in the church, as a sermon and prayers were recited. Then after the service ended, he was carried out and buried at a spot now lost to time.
   But the Reformist tradition was changing in the Hause family, as were many others (like the spelling of the name). First, it was just about at this time that William and Martha changed religious denominations. During the war, religion had taken a back seat to politics in America, but now with the advent of this new social and political concept called "freedom," a United States citizen could follow whatever faith he pleased... Unless he displeased his neighbor, that is, as the various denominations soon were battling almost as much as the Patriots and Redcoats had: The Reformists hated the Catholics, who hated the Puritans, who hated the Quakers, and they all hated the Baptists, which was the newest religion in the block. So, being "contrary," as my mother today calls all Hause men, William Hause left the Dutch Reformist Church that had been the denomination of his family for over a century, and joined the Baptist faith—a denomination of Protestant Christians who maintained that baptism should only be administered to believers (Baptists were persecuted in New England for opposing infant baptism) and that immersion was the only mode of administering baptism indicated in the New Testament.
   The Baptists had been among the first of the religious bodies to recognize the authority of the Continental Congress during Colonial times, hoping to receive some protection from religious persecution by the British. When the Continental Congress declared independence from England, Baptists swelled the ranks of the revolutionary army. In their mind, the fight for independence and the struggle for religious liberty were one and the same. That is why, after the war, Baptists refused to approve the Constitution until the first amendment was added to separate church and state and guarantee religious liberty for all persons.

Book Information Book Image Name: Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors & Descendants, Volume II Author: Janet Wethy Foley Publisher: Genealogical Pub. Co. Year: 1993- (bound issues of 1934 Magazine) Page: 759 Early Records: Old School Baptist Church View image

   The Old School Baptist Church was formed in 1776 by James Benedict, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, who was the pastor there until his death. The church began with only three members, but had increased to 57 "brothers" and "sisters" by 1769. In the year 1789, the church increased to 192 members. The "William House" family begins to appear in the record at this time, so we can assume that around this time William was "immersed" in the Wawayanda (Warwick) Creek, and baptized into the faith. Early church records of the church show members William House, Martha House and Simon House (cited as early members before dates were recorded in the church notes), John (1802), Jonathan (1802), William (1802), Martha (1789 and May 1, 1802), Polly (1803), and James (1821). Polly was probably the daughter of William's brother, John, who died in the Revolutionary war. As the eldest living son, William would've been responsible for her.
   The minister of the congregation was always addressed as "Elder," never "Reverend." They were licensed by the congregation. If a man felt a sermon inside of him, he stood before the congregation and preached. No speech was ever written and read, because it had to be an oral expression of inner guidance. Because of this, the sermon may have rambled occasionally, but it was always sincere. The congregation believed in the adage that "charity begins at home," so they never supported outside missionary work. They didn't coax any one to join—it had to be a free and voluntary offering of one’s self to unite with this Baptist congregation. Another custom was the singing of hymns with no musical accompaniment. They never had Sunday School, believing that children brought up in the church will learn from parents and the regular service.

THE UNITED STATES IN THE EARLY 1800'S:

The average life expectancy was about 35-40 years. 25 percent of women died from complications of childbirth. Nearly fifty percent of children born in the US died before they were 16. The US population reached 5,309,000—about a million were slaves. The global population finally reached one billion people. (We now add a billion people every twelve years.) The population density of New York State was twenty people per square mile. The average value of land across the country was $10 an acre. The average wage in New England was sixty-five to seventy cents a day. Universal manhood suffrage did not exist, and very few laborers could vote. There was no legal restriction on the employment of children. Employers were allowed to whip women and children to "urge them to work." Many schools had "whipping posts," to which a bad pupil could be bound while he was being flogged. Whiskey and rum were so prevalent that they were even served to prisoners in jail. A newly established stagecoach line was offering "speedy" six-day service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The punishment for adultery in Virginia was a twenty dollar fine. However, if an adulterer was killed by the wronged party, it was generally never prosecuted by the law, because the general public approved. Mercury was considered a cure-all by doctors, as was opium. The blistering and bleeding of patients was an accepted practice, too. Bloodletting was thought to lessen fever and purge disease. It was performed by a barber instead of a surgeon. On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery. On March 26, 1804, Congress ordered the removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana, as the Territory of Orleans was organized in the Louisiana Purchase. On May 14, 1804, Lewis & Clark set out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast.

Personal Information Census Image Name: Hawes, William Township: Warwick County: Orange State: NY Year: 1800 Roll: M32_21 Page: 375 Image: 378 Slaves: 0 View image blank census form SOURCE INFORMATION: 1800 United States Federal Census. M32, 52 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC

   More changes were in store for the family. 50-year-old William is still living in Warwick in the 1800 Census, with ten people in his household. But in the next couple of years, they would move to new land, and find prosperity.
   In 1802, William was finally able to purchase the land he had developed near the "Man O' War," Rock for twenty-five cents per acre from the state of New York (the Highway Department has since destroyed most of the rock). We know this from an act passed by the New York Legislature on March 28, 1800, dealing with a petition presented by William and members of the Drew, Conklin, Sanford and Ketchum families, stating they had settled and improved the unpatented land.
   Then an indenture in Orange County, dated Feburary 11th, 1802, shows where William's land was located, on the Orange Turnpike and Ramapough Creek, just south of the Man O' War Rock. But then something strange happened just two weeks later: Another indenture, made on Feburary 28, 1802, has William selling the same property, at a loss, to Hannah Weymer, for tewenty cents per acre.³ Why? Because William had closed shop on the turnpike and was headed west, up through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, to start fresh once more.

Personal Information Indenture Name: Hause, William Township: Warwick County: Orange State: New York Date: 2/11/1802 View file

Personal Information Indenture Name: Hause, William Township: Warwick County: Orange State: New York Date: 2/28/1802 View file

   The descendants of Johann Christian Hauss could now buy a hundred acres of farmland in America for what would be a year's rent for a small property in their ancestral homeland of Hessen. So the Hause family moved west, into newly-opened areas of New York, and even Michigan and Wisconsin. New York instituted the policy of granting bounty lands on 20 Mar 1781, followed by subsequent acts. The tract chosen for bounty land was in the choice Finger Lakes region in central New York (so named because the Iroquois believed the Creator left two hand print signatures there after finishing the world). It was called the Military Tract and included the present counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga and Seneca and parts of Oswego, Schuyler, Tompkins and Wayne. There were twenty-eight townships altogether. The whole tract contained over one and a half million acres. Each township contained 60,000 acres and bore the name of a classic literary hero, and each was subdivided into farm lots of 600 acres.
   The state of New York purchased the land from the Onondaga Indian Nation and the Cayuga Nation in 1788 and 1789 respectively. Further purchases from the Oneida and Tuscaroras were also made. (The Indians had supported the British during the Revolutionary War, so the terms weren't exactly to their benefit.) Within three days after the final purchases from the Indians, New York held the balloting for distributing the land. The name of each veteran was written on a slip of paper and put into a box. The name of each lot was written on another slip of paper and placed in a separate box. As a slip was drawn from each box, they were matched as the veteran's land. The veterans then received patents to their land on the condition that the land be settled within seven years. They also had to pay surveying costs.
   The formula for issuing New York bounty land grants was: private 500 acres; noncommissioned officer 500 acres; surgeon's mate 1000 acres; subaltern 1000 acres; regimental surgeon 1500 acres; captain 1500 acres; chaplain 2000 acres; major 2000 acres; lieutenant colonel 2250 acres; colonel 2500 acres; brigadier general 4250 acres; and major general 5500 acres. The New York entries have been taken from The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands, in the State of New York (Albany, NY; Packard & VanBenthuysen, 1825).
   In 1801 or 1802, William and a few of his children moved northwest through modern-day Pennsylvania, up into the "Finger Lake" region of New York:

Personal Information Deed Image Name: Hause, William Township: Ovid County: Seneca State: New York Years: 1804-09 Source: County Clerk, 1 Di Pronio Dr, Waterloo, NY 13165. Phone: (315) 539-9294 View file

Personal Information Deed Image Name: Hause, William Township: Wayne County: Steuben State: New York Years: