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Also appearing in the 1820 census records for Beaver, Union, Pennsylvania are
the two eldest children of Johannes Adam Hieter (John Heiter Sr.). The eldest
daughter, Anna Magdalena (born 7 June 1797) had married John Folk (c. 1817),
and they already had one daughter under 10 years of age. The eldest son, John
Heiter Sr., had married Salome Fries on 15 October 1814, and they already had
three boys and one girl under 10 years old: George, William, Maria, and Jacob
(see below). Also listed is Adam Heiter, whose parentage is uncertain; he had
a wife and six children under ten years old (five boys and one girl).
According to the “Genealogical Chart of Heter Family in America, 1735-1957”
prepared by Thomas Marion Heter, Adam was the eldest son of Johannes Adam
and Maria Hieter. Only one son was listed with them in the 1800 census.
But it was not uncommon for children to be omitted in the census records.
There are listings on the Mormon website for Adam Hüter or Heater, who married
Catherine Frees (sister of Salome Frees), born 7 August 1792. They had seven
children – John, Peter, William, Jacob, Catherine, Adam, and Hellena (Ellen) –
all of Union County, Pennsylvania. The youngest was born 26 June 1825.
There are War of 1812 Service Records listing both Adam Heter and John Heter
as having served as riflemen in the Pennsylvania Militia, First Regiment
(Irwin’s), Adam as a Corporal, John as a Private. (National Archives and
Record Administration, Roll Box 98, Roll Exct. 602)
Norma Celia Heter, my paternal grandmother, was descended from Johannes (John)
Heater IV, the eldest child of Johannes Adam Hüter or Hieter and Maria Eva
Roth. Of eight children, only Adam and John moved away from central
Pennsylvania. John Heater married Salome Fries on 15 October 1814 and arrived
in Seneca County, Ohio no later than 1 March 1828, when his name first appears
in the land records of Scipio Township. John Heter purchased 1040 acres of
land altogether, in Scipio, Reed and Thompson townships, all in northeastern
Seneca County. The records show that Adam Heter purchased 160 adjoining acres.
Salome Frees was born on 26 November 1794 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and
died 8 February 1865 at Bellevue, Sandusky, Ohio. She and Catherine (who
married Adam Heter) were the daughters of Peter Frees and Magdalena Stumb.
John Heter and Salome Frees had twelve children. From these birth records we
know that the family moved first to Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, between 1823
and 1825, and then to Thompson Township, Seneca County, Ohio, between 1829 and
1831. According to family records they moved in August 1825 to Wayne County,
and in March 1829 to Seneca County where, “at that time, there were more wolves
than sheep and more Indians than white people. As John Heter’s name first
appears in the land records of Seneca County on 1 March 1828, one would think
that he built a new house before moving his family there.
The Heter Farm at 8531 N. County Road 29, southwest of Bellevue, in Thompson
Township, Seneca County, Ohio, is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Its “periods of significance” are listed as 1825-1849 and 1850-1874.
John and Salome are buried at Saint Paul’s Reformed Church Cemetery in Sandusky
County, Ohio. Her gravestone inscription reads: “Salome Fries, Wife of John
Heater, Died Feb. 8. 1865. Aged 70 y’s. 2 m. 12 d.” His gravestone inscription
reads: “John Heater, Died Oct. 28. 1881. 87 Y. 4 M. 23 D.” This would indicate
a birth date of 5 June 1794, which is inconsistent with the birth record at
Pike Township Hill Church in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
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