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Hass

HASS, WYCKOFF, HASSELMAN, GUTH, PETERS

Posted By: Ken Haas (Hass) (email)
Date: 10/11/2003 at 11:30:57

My HASS ancestors came to Clinton from 1873 through 1890. Parents were Johannes and Anna Hass. A daughter, Matilda, married Wyckoff. Matilda and Anna ran a boarding house on Camanche Ave. around 1900. Sons of Johannes and Anna were Henry (my grandfather). Frank, Frederick, Ernst, Peter, Emil. All moved to Western Iowa after 1900 except Anna and the Wyckoffs. A Marc (Marx) Hass came to Clinton in 1867 from Lubeck, Germany (Holstein) and ran a boat-building business before moving to Western Iowa. He used almost identical names for children as did Johannes and Anna, so I think they may be related. How ???
My grandfather came over alone at age fifteen in 1873 and his first job was in a space too small for a grown man. An uncle of mine suspected boat-building !!! There were other Hass families in Clinton ca 1900. One named Joachim whose descendants are at DeWitt today.
When my grandfather, Henry HASS, came to Clinton, he was the first of his family. Arrived in New York with a tag around his neck, fifteen years old and speaking no English. He worked and soon brought a brother here. I think they timed their departure from Germany to avoid military service at age sixteen. (Germany (Prussia) fought Denmark, Austria and France in the decade of the 1860-70.) They got more siblings here and eventually the father, leaving the mother Anna in Germany with the three youngest children.
About 1890, after three years separation, it was her turn to reunite with her children, some she had not seen for 15-17 years. The very day they sailed from Bremerhaven, Johannes died. Anna did not know she was a widow until she arrived in his country.! (56 years later, I sailed from Bremerhaven returning from World War II.!!) My grandfather married in Scott County, moved to O'Brien County in 1902, farmed for thirteen years at Paullina and retired in Rock Rapids for thirty years and lived comfortably and left his eight children each a small inheritance !! How ?? Must have been the inflating of land prices.
My big problem : Johannes died ca 1890. Where ?? Where buried? He died while Anna was aboard ship coming to America with three children to re-unite her family.
An uncle told me that when his parents were first married, the husband's father (Johannes) would visit them. They would see him coming down the road with all his worldly possessions tied up in a knapsack like the comics used to portray bums and that is what my uncle said, "He was a bum". If so, hard telling where he died. His sons moved to Dickinson County, Iowa and that is where Anna died in1921 (she was visiting from Clinton). My parents attended her funeral.. Johannes came here when he was about sixty years old, spoke no English so was probably not very employable.
Any stories remain of any boat-building businesses in Clinton ca 1870-80?? I'm also trying to figure out where in Holstein the Hass family lived. They had, however, moved to Altona, Germany (near Hamburg) in ca 1866 from where they left for America.
During the search, Ken has also found the following bits of info, but is not sure exactly how they fit in the puzzle:
From: The History of Clinton County, Iowa containing A History of the County, it Cities, Towns, Western Historical Company, 1879, page 786.

Christian Hass, hotel keeper, Bryant; owns two town lots; he was born in Holstein, Germany, Jan. 8, 1839; in 1858, he emigrated to the United States and located in Scott County, Iowa, where he lived for two years; then removed to Clinton County, where he has since lived. He had the honor of building the first house in Bryant, as Constable and Road Supervisor for several years; has always been a stanch Democrat. He married Louise Guth, in De Witt, Jan 8, 1862, and had eleven children, ten now living- Rosa, Edward, John, Christian, William, Charles, Louisa, Louis, Henrietta and Alfred. He was raised in the belief of the German Lutheran Church. When he first started in Clinton, County he was very poor, and worked as a farm laborer, and now he has a delightful home and a fortune estimated at from $15,000 to $20,000.

Christian Hass was born at Ostermoor, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on January 8, 1839, the son of Claus Jacob and Margarethe Hasselman Hass. He emigrated to America at the age of seventeen leaving behind his parents and siblings, Johann and Maria. He resided in Scott County for two years before moving to Clinton County where he continued working as a farm laborer. On January 8, 1863. Christian married Louisa Guth, daughter of Dr. Edward and Dorothy Peters Guth at DeWitt, Iowa.
AND:
MARC (really Marx) born 1836, CHRISTIAN b. 1839, JOHANNES , his wife, Anna, born 1837.
[PREMISE: All could be brothers, all from Schleswig-Holstein, March from Lubeck. In boat-building business. All came to Clinton, Iowa.]
Children of Marx : (capitals for ones that seem significant) EDWARD, HENRY ALFRED, ROSA, CLAUS JOHANNES, ANNA , EMMA, FRANK, PETER, HANNES (Johannes ?),MARGARET , ALBERT (all his children have some repetition in others children or grandchildren).
Now for CHRISTIAN (wife Louise Guth). JOHN ("American" for Johannes), EDWARD, ROSA, ALFRED plus William, Charles, Louisa, Louis (both for mother), Henrietta.
And now for JOHANNES (called "John" in U.S.): MARGARETHA, HENRY, PETER, EMMA, FRANK plus Ernst (Ernest), Matilda, Frederick and Emil. The parents of Marx were CLAUS and MARGARETHA. This is most startling as I do not think Margaretha is a real common name in Germany (I may be wrong).
Anyhow, we have Marx naming a son Claus JOHANNES, his possible brother is Johannes, he has a daughter called Margaret (maybe originally Margaretha??) and Johannes had a daughter MARGARETHA !!! When Henry got around to naming children, he had a Rosa and an Albert. His wife was Emma (which probably has no bearing here). There was also a JOACHIM HASS in Clinton County of about the same age. The only unusual thing is that he had a son named VERTUES (a most unusual name to me). Johannes had a grandson of the SAME NAME. Also one named CHRIS.
It seems to me that it is too much to have these three men of about the same age, all from Schleswig-Holstein (actually Holstein, I believe), all coming to Clinton County, Iowa and using so many of the same names for children to be a coincidence. So far I have not figured out any good way to research for Schleswig-Holstein but I am sure such exists. Run these things past your older relatives and see if they have ANY hints, however small. I would welcome any thoughts you people might have on this.
 

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