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The Schmitts (Schmidts/Smiths) of Hatten, Alsace
Welcome to the Schmitts-of-Hatten site
​Family history is so much more than a collection of names. It helps us better understand ourselves as we forge a personal connection to past events. And family history can make a big world smaller by connecting those who share a common heritage. While genealogy is fascinating, it truly comes alive when used as a tool to serve these larger goals.
This site's mission is to promote these goals by sharing our research on the Schmitts of Hatten. Though the story will never be complete, you'll hopefully find something new here that will help you write your own family saga.
The American pioneers
In the summer of 1829, 61-year old Johann Georg Schmitt, a blacksmith from Hatten, Alsace, set off for the New World with his wife and 18 members of his extended family. Sons Georg, Friederich, and Christian, and daughters Marie, Magdalena, and Barbara, along with their spouses and children, accompanied the elder Schmitts on the Ship Sully. They arrived in New York harbor on July 15, 1829 and settled in the region of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where some of the family members worked in the coal mines. They were soon joined by Johann Georg's remaining children, Philip and Margaretha.
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As soon as they were able, the entire family migrated westward to Ohio, where most of them remained. A few forged on to Wisconsin and later to Minnesota. In the places they settled, they were associated with German Evangelical or German Lutheran churches, as well as other German-speaking organizations.
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Our earliest known ancestors
For many years, "Georg of Ship Sully" (our nickname for him - see our ABOUT page) was the earliest Schmitt about whom we knew even a little. But in 2010 the government of Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France, where Hatten is located, made digital images of their early church and civil records available online. This has opened up a world of information for those patient enough to decipher often hastily scrawled records in German and French.
We can now identify four earlier generations of Schmitts, dating back to Johann "Hans" Michael Schmidt, a Meister Schneider (master tailor) who lived a long life from 1666 to 1750. We also know that his descendants lived in Hatten and were Nagelschmidts - blacksmiths specializing in handcrafted nails - for over 100 years!
The mark shown here is the signature of one of these early nailsmiths.
Future research
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While this site is written from a North American viewpoint , with emphasis on the descendants of Georg of Ship Sully (1767-c.1835), there are surely other members of this family who emigrated to the United States or elsewhere, and surely descendants of Hans the Master Tailor, who live today in Alsace and other parts of France. We hope that through this website we can expand our knowledge and understanding, not only of our common heritage, but also of our unique family stories.