Family Newsletter
Welcome back to the Hitch Family Newsletter (HFN)! This is Issue Number 11 of this publication. This is the first issue following a complete volume of the first ten issues I published as a keepsake for future generations. The volume called Hitch Family Newsletter, Issues 1 through 10, Autumn 1994 through Spring 1997 has been a great success and has received good reviews from people who have gotten a copy. If you are interested in receiving a copy there are still some available so just fill out and return the order form on the back page or send me a postcard.
In Issue 11 herein, I offer two stories: one covering an elusive branch of the family that settled in Sussex County, Delaware and Caroline County, Maryland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The line stems from Garey Hitch who no doubt descended from the patriarch of many of us, Adam Hitch (1658/59-1731). Here I include a copy of an old photograph representing a new age record of any taken of any Hitch family member. The photograph, taken c. 1855, is of Ann Emily Hitch Saulsbury, daughter of Garey Hitch. This surpasses the earlier record of a picture taken in 1860 of Robert Hamilton Hitch presented in an earlier issue of HFN. I urge the readership out there to search your old photographs for pictures of our Hitch ancestors. I would love to include them in a future issue.
The second feature is just a short transcription of a local history story done by Mrs. Roscoe Taylor of Onslow County, North Carolina. The story is of Thomas Henry Hitch (1869-1957) who happens to be the big brother of my great grandfather Samuel Clarence Hitch (1880-1956). Thomas moved for a time to North Carolina and opened a sawmill and electric plant. This story tells of his North Carolina connection in the 1906-1921 timeframe.
I hope you enjoy both stories. Please continue to write to me with your thoughts, suggestions or comments about the HFN and, continue to send me information and stories about your branches of the family. Thank you and happy reading,
Mike Hitch
(NOTE - the reader is advised to look at new information on this line under the Adam Hitch descendants - some information has been revised and updated.)
Garey Hitch is a little bit of a mystery in the annals of the Hitch family in early Maryland and Delaware. According to my research, Garey Hitch was born in Williston, Caroline County, Maryland in November of 1785. He is surely a descendant of Adam Hitch (1658/59-1731) of Maryland but his lineage is rather unclear. We know that Garey and Spencer Hitch were together in Sussex County, Delaware and then Caroline County, Maryland in the early to mid 19th centuries. [This is the Spencer Hitch (1796-1873) was the bank President for Greensboro, Maryland and signed the three-dollar bill illustrated in HFN Issue 8]. For this reason and others, most research to date has suggested that Garey and Spencer Hitch were brothers. The brother kinship of Spencer and Garey may indeed be true, however, my research has raised some interesting questions about their relationship and about the parents of Garey - and perhaps Spencer for that matter.
Garey Hitch probably received his given name in honor of a member of the Garey family that is prominent in the Caroline/Sussex County area. Perhaps, Garey was his mother's maiden name since it was quite common to name a son for the maternal surname to honor that set of grandparents.
Tradition has it that the aforementioned Spencer Hitch, and purported brother of Garey, was son of Spencer (1750/55-1796/97) and Sophia ??? Hitch. This elder Spencer was son of William (1730-1771) who was son of Solomon (1694-1748) of Adam Hitch. All dates and locations fit nicely into a neat little package of circumstantial proof. However, this is where us genealogists can run into trouble when there are little facts and much circumstance to "prove" an issue. That being said, many times circumstantial "deduction" is all we have to base family connections on since factual evidence is lost to time.
Personally, I believe that the Adam-Solomon-William-Spencer-Spencer lineage is correct. I also believe that Garey Hitch was closely related to the younger Spencer but perhaps not his brother. For this, I rely on two (2) weak but rather intriguing bits of evidence for deduction.
The first is that the elder Spencer Hitch was careful to name his wife and seemingly all his children in his will probated in 1797. (1) In it he names wife Sophia; sons Sovereign, William, Clemment (sic), Elget (sic), and Spencer Hitch; and daughters Sarah Snellen, Anna, Lilly, Nelly, and Polly Hitch. Nowhere is a Garey Hitch mentioned. {One note should be made here regarding the younger Spencer Hitch. According to his tombstone inscription in Greensboro, Maryland, he was born on February 24, 1796. This was 19 days AFTER the elder Spencer's will was written into record on February 5, 1796. Obviously, Sophia would have been quite pregnant at the time of the writing of the will but unlike today's modern sonograms, it would have been impossible for them to know that the impending child would be a boy named Spencer. The only explanations for this could be either that the tombstone inscription is incorrect which is not at all uncommon or, that the Spencer who was heir in the will is a different one from our Spencer who lived near Garey Hitch.}
The second bit of evidence was sent to me by Ned Boyajione from his research at the New York Public Library in New York City. There, he reviewed some old letters written by Mrs. Vashti Saulsbury Garey in 1909 and 1910 as she was corresponding to a professional genealogist. Mrs. Garey was daughter of Ann Emily Hitch Saulsbury who was in turn daughter of Garey Hitch. The letters state that Mrs. Garey was "daughter of Emily Hitch Saulsbury, granddaughter of Garey Hitch and great-granddaughter of William Hitch." She quite clearly states that Garey Hitch is son of a William Hitch and not Spencer.
Continuing to assume a close relationship between Garey and Spencer Hitch, I began to review my data to see if there was a William Hitch who would be a candidate for the father of Garey. As it turns out, the elder Spencer had a brother William who was born 1755/64 and died in 1796 (2) in Delaware. If Garey Hitch were son of this William, he would then also be first cousin to the younger Spencer Hitch.
Based upon all this information, I now subscribe to the tentative lineage of Garey Hitch as Adam-Solomon-William-William-Garey. If true, Garey's father had a wife named Sarah whose maiden name is unknown but may indeed be Garey as mentioned earlier. Now, we can look into the life of Garey Hitch and his descendants.
As mentioned, Garey Hitch was born in November of 1785. He lived all his life in the bordering counties of Sussex in Delaware and Caroline in Maryland. Some of his land actually straddled the state line. Garey first shows up in historical records in the 1810 Census for Sussex County. He is listed there as "Gerry" Hitch in the Northwest Fork Hundred with a household of one male age 16 to 25, two females under age 10, one female age 16 to 25 and one slave.
From this, we can deduce that Garey probably married in the 1801 to 1809 timeframe and had two daughters by 1810. This first wife is not identified in any records yet found, but the ages of the children and of Garey Hitch suggest he married a woman roughly his same age. This wife must have died by 1819 because Garey Hitch is listed in the Delaware records as marrying Sarah Ross on September 19th of that year.
The 1820 Census finds Garey Hitch now in Caroline County, Maryland with the following household:
- 2 males under age 10
- 1 male age 26 to 45
- 2 females under age 10
- 2 females age 10 to 16
- 2 females age 16 to 26
As we can see, Garey has added quite a lot to his family. We see Garey Hitch as the eldest male and his new wife Sally Ross Hitch as one of the elder females. We can also assume that the other of the elder females and one of the 10-to-16 year olds were the same from the 1810 census (we must be careful with this however as one or both may have passed away during those ten years). His leaves two new boys and three new girls added to the family, probably all from the first wife.
The 1830 Census depicts Garey Hitch's family, again in Caroline County, as follows:
- 1 male under age 5
- 1 male age 20-30
- 1 male age 40-50
- 1 female age 10-15
- 3 females age 20-30
- 1 female age 30-40
- no slaves
The 1840 Census for Caroline County is not available but 1850 shows the following:
- Garey Hitch, age 64, farmer, $3300 in real estate,
born in MD
- Ann Hitch, age 48, born in DE
- Isra E. Hitch, age 23, laborer, born in MD
- Emily Hitch, age 17, born in MD
- Nehemiah Hitch, age 6 months, born in MD
- Susan Cade, age 27, born in DE
- Catherine Gray, age 9, born in DE
Sally (Ross) Hitch had died sometime after 1833 when her daughter Ann Emily Hitch was born and August 20, 1844 when Garey Hitch married for a third time, this time to a widow named Ann R. Gray. From all this mess, we can make out Garey Hitches family as follows:
Garey Hitch married (?) (?) in 1801/09 (she was born 1784/94 and died before 1819). They had the following children:
(1) Sarah Hitch (1801/04-1830/32)
(2) Mary Jane Hitch (1804/09-1832/37)
(3) Milly Hitch (1804/15-??)
(4) son Hitch (c. 1810-??)
(5) son Hitch (1811/19-??)
(6) daughter Hitch (1811/19-before 1830)
(7) daughter Hitch (1815/19-??)
Garey Hitch married Sally Ross on September 19, 1819. She was born 1794/1800 and died 1833/44. Garey and Sally Hitch had the following children:
(8) Ezra Marcus Finley Hitch (January 1827-February 13, 1901)
(9) Ann Emily Hitch (1833-1857)
Garey Hitch then married the widow Ann R. Gray on August 20, 1844. Ann was born in 1802 and died in 1857. They had the following children:
(10) Samuel S. Hitch (November 25, 1845 - April 23, 1869)
(11) Miriam Hitch (November 6, 1849 - July 29, 1879)
(12) Nehemiah Hitch (1850-before 1855)
From the first marriage, the girls Sarah, Mary Jane and Milly are not certain daughters of Garey Hitch. However, they are listed in Caroline County records as marrying in the years 1830, 1832 and 1834 respectively and would most likely be too old to be daughters of Spencer Hitch, the only other Hitch family in the area. Sarah Hitch married Tilghman Hubbard on July 21, 1830. She had died by 1832 as her sister Mary Jane Hitch then married Tilghman Hubbard on May 15, 1832. Milly Hitch married Thomas Nichols on October 14, 1834.
Garey Hitch acquired a substantial bit of land in his day. He was listed in 1816 in a list of land owners with more than 200 acres in the state of Delaware. (3) Also, in 1816, Garey Hitch bought land in Caroline County, Maryland from James Houston. In the records of Caroline County for August 29, 1816, it lists Garey Hitch "of Sussex County" who brought a deed of mortgage with two endowments to have enrolled in the Caroline County records. The deed referenced a mortgage bond executed on January 11, 1816 binding William Meares of Caroline County to Mr. Hitch for $311.00. Mr. Meares used 129 acres of land in the county as collateral. Also that same year, on September 3, 1816, Garey Hitch "of Sussex County" bought 69½ acres of land from James Wright of Caroline County for $261.00. The land was called "Peter's Ephilable Lott" and "Walker Addition" that stood on the Maryland-Delaware state line. (4) Garey Hitch also bought land from Philemon Bozman in 1818 in Caroline County.
The next series of land transactions began in 1820 when Garey Hitch bought land from Hugh Valliant. This transaction was recorded in May 12, 1820 with Garey Hitch now being "of Caroline County" when he sold 160 acres to Mr. Valliant for $1500.00 [Note that this indicates that Garey Hitch moved from Sussex to Caroline County sometime between late 1816 and early 1820.]. The land was called "Lockermans" and part of "Milly Hope." (5) Garey and Sarah Hitch sold 160 acres more of land on October 14, 1822 for $2532.00 to William Potter. The land is described as "where Richard Andrews lives as a tenant and is encumbered by a mortgage with Isaac and Jacob Cannon of Sussex County." (6) Garey sold more land to William Potter on December 21, 1829, this time 167½ acres for $670 including the tracts "Back Hare", "Addition to Rauley", "Addition to Lisks Prospect", Addition to Miles Swamp", and "Blackwell." This record also refers to a deed of Abraham Ross and wife to Clement Ross on April 30, 1820 who were probably relatives to Garey Hitch's second wife Sally. Ten days later, Garey Hitch and William Potter, "Gentlemen of Caroline County," sold land to Joseph Vickers and Charles Davis of Sussex County for $2215.00 This land included 443½ acres of tracts named "Richards Farm", "Rosses Cross", and "Out Range." (7)
As you can see, Garey Hitch was a land tycoon of sorts and made at least another ten transactions in the years 1835, 1843, 1846, 1849, and 1850 in Caroline County, Maryland. Garey Hitch died in January 1855 sometime between the time when he wrote his will on January 3rd and when it was probated on January 23rd. (8) He was in his 70th year. The will is transcribed as follows:
Will of Garey Hitch, being "sick and weak in body, (but) sound and disposing mind"
- Give wife Ann R. Hitch, farm and premises I now reside.
- Give son Ezra M. Hitch farm he resides containing 120 acres.
- Give eldest daughter Ann Emily Hitch land called "Ennals Entrance" and "Addition to Venture" containing 153¾ acres and 18 acres purchased of Thomas Numbers.
- Give son Samuel S. Hitch and daughter Miriam Hitch $3,675.00 at $80.00 per year to their guardian until they are of age.
- Give step daughter William Catherine Gray my large mahogany frame clock.
- Give grandson Peter Everngan $62.50 when he is of age.
- Give, after death of wife Ann R. Hitch, sell farm to highest bidder and give $600.00 to son Ezra M. Hitch with residue to go to other three children Ann Emily, Samuel S. and Miriam Hitch.
Son Ezra M. Hitch, executor. Witnesses: A.P. Saden, James R. Manship, A.A. Griffith.
The will of Ann R. (Gray) Hitch was written June 15, 1857 and probated on August 11, 1857 in Caroline County as follows (9):
Will of Ann R. Hitch, being "weak of body"
- Give son Samuel S. Hitch, $50.00 at $10.00 when he reaches age 16 and $10.00 annually afterwards.
- Give daughter Miriam Hitch the same when she reaches age 14.
- Give stepson Ezra M. Hitch my mantel clock.
- Give stepdaughter Ann Emily Hitch my white bed spread and two table cloths.
- Give daughter William Catherine Gray residue of estate when she reaches age 21.
Friend and cousin Alexander P. Soulen, executor. Witnesses: James R. Manship, Aaron A. Griffith.
Garey Hitch's descendants lived as follows:
Sarah Hitch married Tilghman Hubbard in 1830 but died shortly thereafter as Mr. Hubbard married her sister Mary Hitch in 1832. Mary Hitch Hubbard had died by 1837 since Tilghman Hubbard had married yet another time, this time to Lovey Collison. Tilghman Hubbard died in the summer of 1891 with his fourth wife Kesiah F. Riley.
The other two sons and one of the unidentified daughters of Garey Hitch must have died young as no further record of them exists. The other unidentified daughter may have married a Mr. Everngan as Garey bequeaths his grandson, Peter Everngan $62.50 in his will. Both of Garey Hitch's known children of his second married (to Sally Ross) survived to marry and have children.
Ezra Marcus Finley Hitch married twice. The first wife is unknown and she died before he married secondly to Mary E. Wheeler on March 16, 1863. Mary Wheeler was the daughter of Captain Thomas and Ann (Clark) Wheeler, and born August 12, 1832 and died August 11, 1893, one day shy of her 61st birthday. From his first marriage, Ezra Hitch had the following children:
(1) Charles W. Hitch (10/1858 - 3/24/1902) who married Helen Walsh (10/1862 - ??) in about 1880
(2) Alice (Annie) G. Hitch (5/26/1860 - 9/6/1913) who married Emmett Faulkner (Lecture?) (?? - 1878/79) on 1/26/1876.
Ezra and Mary (Wheeler) Hitch had the following children all born in Caroline County:
(3) Nora Hitch (12/8/1863 - 12/1/1921) who married Herbert R. Trego about 1882.
(4) Walter Todd Hitch (10/26/1865 - 3/15/1900) who married Marietta Ackley Yrigoyen (3/15/1865 - abt 1932) on 2/2/1887 in Philadelphia.
(5) William Hitch (7/13/1869 - 5/1945 in Detroit) who married Laura Hansbury (8/25/1876 in PA - 8/1968 in MI) in about 1903.
(6) Thomas E. Hitch (1871 - aft 1931 in Erie, PA) who married Emma Flick (1878 in PA - ??).
Ezra M. Hitch and his wife moved to Pennsylvania by 1880 as he shows up in Philadelphia in the 1880 Census. He is still in Philadelphia when the 1900 Census was taken, this time in the household of his son-in-law Herbert R. Trego.
Ann Emily Hitch lived a short but sweet life. She married James Wesley Saulsbury, the son of Eli and Rachel (Smith) Saulsbury, on August 6, 1855. The couple had two children before Emily's tragic death in 1857:
(1) Vashti A. Saulsbury (5/2/1856 - 6/21/1921) who married Captain Robert James Wright Garey (10/4/1844 - 4/12/1895) on 5/16/1877.
(2) Infant Saulsbury (1857 - 1857) who died with mother Ann Emily Hitch Saulsbury in childbirth.
Ann Emily Hitch Saulsbury's picture is presented in Figure 1. Garey Hitch's children by his third marriage led short lives as well. Samuel S. Hitch was born on November 25, 1845 and died single on April 23, 1869. He is buried in the old Methodist Church yard in Denton, Maryland. His will was written in Caroline County on April 20, 1867 and probated April 27, 1869 as follows (10):
Will of Samuel S. Hitch, being "sick and weak"
- Give L.E. Hooper, son of Mrs. Mathew Chilton, $400.00 when he reaches age 21.
- Give half-brother Ezra M. Hitch $500.00.
- Give sister Miriam Hitch the rest
James W. Saulsbury, executor. Witnesses: Spencer Hitch, Mathew Chilton, William T. Willis.
Miriam Hitch married M. Hooper Gray (5/2/1842 - 11/20/1904) on January 23, 1870 (or 72?). They had two children before Miriam died at age 29 in 1879 with both dying in infancy:
(1) Sallie Hitch Gray (4/16/1871 - 7/16/1871)
(2) Annie Spencer Gray (6/6/1877 - 8/3/1877) SPECIAL THANKS: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Zelda Dubel whose first husband, Wilson Saulsbury, was a direct descendant of Garey Hitch through his daughter Ann Emily Hitch. Mrs. Dubel provided "boatloads" of information on the Hitch-Saulsbury-Garey lines including a copy of the lovely picture of Emily Hitch Saulsbury.
A Bit of (Hitch) History from NC
The following is an original write-up done by a Mrs. Roscoe Taylor regarding the local history around Jacksonville, North Carolina. It was sent to me by Mrs. Louie Hitch of that location and transcribed below exactly as written:
A Bit of History
-by-
Mrs. Roscoe Taylor
In the early 1900s, Thomas H. Hitch and his wife Eleanor McGrath, with their four sons, Durand, Goldsboro, Dorsey and Harold Hitch, left their home in Fruitland, Maryland, and came to live in Onslow County (Note by Mrs. Louis Hitch: "the first day of May 1906").
Mr. Hitch and his family first lived in the little village of Verona (NC), located on the Wilmington and New Bern railroad which had merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of Virginia in May of 1900, thereby making it the third largest railroad system in North Carolina.
This was the ideal place for Mr. Hitch to set up his saw mill and logging operations. Timber was plentiful and the railroad convenient for the shipping of lumber. A few years later Mr. Hitch moved his mill a little nearer to Jacksonville (NC) at a place known as Jarman's Crossing. Here he continued his business of lumbering. During his stay at Jarman's Crossing, two additions were added to his family. His only daughter, Pearl Hitch, and his fifth and last son, LeRoy Hitch, were born at this place.
About 1918 Mr. Hitch made another move - bringing his entire operations into Jacksonville. He set up his mill on the left side of the old railroad trestle bridge on the New River.
The Palm-Lee Lumber Company which was located there a few years earlier, had an explosion in 1906, and the fly wheel of the mill propelled by the explosion, sailed through the air with such force it crashed into the roof of the Giles' two-story home, located just across the street from the Onslow Courthouse. The fly wheel penetrated, not only the roof but on down to the first floor, scattering bits of metal as it went. This mill was never rebuilt.
After Mr. Hitch set up his mill in the new location he built a fine home for his family between the old Baptist Church and the beautiful New River, where the Hitch family were to live for the next decade.
There was no electric service in the town of Jacksonville, so Mr. Hitch decided to put an electric plant into operation. His plant, operated by gasoline engine, was located in the vicinity of the present day Jacksonville water plant, and it furnished electricity for about 100 families. This was the first electric lights in Onslow County. Prior to this time kerosene lamps and lanterns were the only means of illumination for the people of the town.
It's true, the electricity for the lights came on after sundown and went off at 10 o'clock at night, but it was a most welcomed commodity for all those who could afford the new luxury. This writer has been told by some of the people who lived out in the country it was such a pleasure to come into town and visit a home that had electric lights.
Mr. Hitch's eldest son, Durand Hitch, married Beulah Hemby of the Southwest community and they lived in a house located on the bank of the New River. This was very convenient for Durand Hitch, for his love was the water and fishing. In fact he became a commercial fisherman, which was a disappointment to his father, who had expected him to join him in the family business of lumbering.
Mr. Hitch was an aggressive man and always busy, but he found time to assist those who needed his expert. When Mr. Albert Venters was ready to set up a saw mill and logging operations on the Gum Branch in the year of 1919, Mr. Hitch was his advisor and counselor all the way. Shortly after this, about 1921, the Hitch family left Onslow and went back to Maryland to live but (Thomas H.) Hitch left his mark and earned a place in Onslow History.
Researched & Written
-by-
Mrs. Roscoe Taylor
Onslow County Historian
June 1978
The Thomas Henry Hitch family was from Wicomico County, Maryland. I plan to cover this family in more detail in a later issue; however, the family group follows:
Thomas Henry Hitch (2/24/1869 - 4/23/1957) married Elnora McGrath (10/29/1875 - 1955) on 4/12/1892. Elnora was the d/o James Hooper McGrath and Lydia Pusey. Thomas and Elnora Hitch had the following children:
- William Durand Hitch (4/2/1891-11/19/1940)
- Golsborough (Goolie) Hitch (9/1894-1917)
- Samuel Dorsey Hitch (2/19/1899-12/1979)
- James Harold Hitch (8/10/1905-11/23/1988)
- Anna Pearl Hitch (4/11/1909-living) lives in Wilmington, DE
- Lee Roy Hitch (4/28/1914-9/1966)
Do You Like This Newsletter?
Please send me your comments or suggestions to the following address:
Mike Hitch
12310 Backus Drive
Bowie, MD 20720
Telephone: (301) 805-9855
- Inscription on the walls of the National Archives