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The Haas Family Biographical Essay

References
  • [01] Pronunciation Note:
  • The Haas family name appears in several variations, including Haase, Hayse, Hayce, Hass, and so on. In the Bavarian dialect of the mid-nineteenth century, the name would most likely been pronounced like "Hayce," the double "aa" being pronounced like a long "a" and with the final consonant strongly devoiced, while in northern German dialects, the pronunciation would have been more like "Hass" (eg., "gas") ... which probably accounts for the spelling variations found on documents related to this family. On the island, the name became Americanized to the extent of being pronounced more like "Haze" (without the strong devoicing of the final consonant.) People who knew the Haases would have never pronounced their name like the currently popularized English version, "Hahs."
  • [02] New York Weather and The Weather At Buffalo, The New York Times, December 17, 1853
  • [03] Passenger Arrival List, Bremen Ship Hudson, December 5, 1853
  • Note: From the records of the Bremer Wasserschout (an official seamen's registry) - the barque Hudson departed Hamburg, headed for New York, on October 26, 1853, with a crew of fourteen under the command of Christof Nordenholz, Captain, and mate Franz Töpfer. The Hamburg Passenger Lists (Hamburg State Archive) gives the departure date as November 1, 1853. That list gives the origin of the family as a place in Bayern called "Kuska." In the 1900 U.S. Census, John Haas gives his arrival date as 1854; Mary Haas (in Milwaukee) gives her arrival date as "1851" but stating that she had been in the U.S. for 48-years, which would mean the year should have been 1852.
  • [04] Note: "Maria Barbara" is very common given name in Germany, per FamilySearch.Org, Ancestry.Com, etc.
  • [05] Note: The Haases are presumed to have been Catholic on the basis of the given names "Maria," "Barbara," "Johann," and "Joachim;" all names of Catholic saints or revered persons (Joachim is, in legend, the father of the Virgin Mary.)
  • [06] Riots In Cincinnati - New York Times Articles, December 1853
  • [07] Marriage Record - August Beck & Lizzie Haas, June 28, 1875
  • The birth date for Elizabeth Haas is estimated on the basis of the reported birth dates given on the marriage record and various census forms.
  • [08] 19th Century Germanic Immigrants to USA database in no longer available online.
  • [09] 9th U.S. Census, 1870, South Manitou Island, Michigan, pg 2
  • [10] Note: Those not listed in the 1860 U.S. Census for South Manitou Island include the George Haases, the Johann Hutzlers and the Christoph Becks, all of whom lived on adjacent 160-acre farms in the interior of the island. Moreover, the companion non-population census for that year includes no listings for South Manitou Island. Philo Beers, then 61-years old, was prominent in the area, having been a Deputy U.S. Marshall, builder and first keeper of the “Cat Head Light” (a.k.a. the Grand Travers Light at the tip of the Leelanau peninsula,) a Probate Court Judge, and in 1960 was Supervisor of Leelanau Township, then a part of Grand Traverse County.
  • (Apparently from the Charlevoix Sentinel) April 7, 1872 – Death of Hon. Philo Beers; At twenty minutes past twelve o'clock on the morning of Wednesday last, Hon. Philo Beers of this village, departed this life, aged 73 years. For several years past Mr. Beers has suffered much rheumatism, which by its attack on the heart, has now caused his death. In his decease Charlevoix County has lost an efficient officer and a good citizen and the community will miss him as an officer and citizen. This aged veteran has gone to rest and may his rest be sweet. He was buried on Friday with honors, by the Masonic Fraternity, of which he has been a zealous member for over fifty years.
  • [11] Forest Haven Soldiers: The Civil War Veterans of Sleeping Bear & Surrounding Leelanau, Leonard G. Overmyer, Overmyer Historicals, 1999 (ISBN 0-9679259-0-8)
  • [12] 1870 U.S. Census Non-Populaton Schedules, Manitou & Fox Islands, Michigan
  • [13] 1880 U.S. Census Non-Population Schedules, South Manitou Island, Michigan
  • [14] Grand Traverse Herald, October 15, 1885, Manitou County news column
  • [15] 1886-1889 Grand Traverse Herald Social Notes re South Manitou Island
  • [16] Notes on John & Bill Haas, Exploring North Manitou, South Manitou, High and Garden island of the Lake Michigan Archipelago, Robert H. Ruchhoft, The Pucelle Press, Cincinnati – 1991, pgs 126 & 127
  • [17] Death Certificate – George Haas
  • [18] Death Certificate – Maria Haas
  • [19] Ibid. 12 & 1880 U.S. Census data for Muskegon, Michigan, pg 28
  • Note: Later enumerations indicate that as adults, these persons may have developed some reading and writing skills.
  • [20] 1900 U.S. Census – Glen Arbor Twp, MI, pg 6A
  • [21] Death Record – John Haas, February 15, 1925
  • [22] Headstone and Burial Data – John Haas, South Manitou Island
  • [23] Marriage Record – John K Haas & Melissa Kitchen, 1879
  • [24] 1880 U.S. Census – Muskegon, MI, pg 28
  • [25] Birth & Death Records – Infant Haas, December 1, 1880
  • [26] Death Record – Melissa Kitchen Haas, April 15, 1883; from the records of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Muskegon, Michigan
  • Note: In his book, Isle of View, Charles M. Anderson reports, apparently incorrectly, “John Haas had been married and they had a baby girl. Mother and daughter died and were buried near the dock at the center of the harbor. John had put a picket-fence around the two graves then painted it white.” This would not have come from first-hand knowledge, since the Anderson family arrived on South Manitou Island in 1913, some thirty years after the death of Mrs. Haas and her child.
  • [27] Birth Record - John Haas Jr., April 15, 1883; from the records of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Muskegon, Michigan
  • [28] Grand Traverse Herald, February 1886 – John Haas returns to South Manitou Island from Muskegon
  • Note: Frequently-quoted oral traditions include a story about John Haas returning to the island alone to prepare the Haas home to receive his wife and newborn child, furnishing the home rather handsomely, but closing up that part of the house upon the death of his wife and infant daughter, who had never lived long enough to see it. On the basis of the facts reported herein, the accuracy of these oral traditions can probably be totally discounted.
  • [29] Ibid. 20 & 21
  • [30] Death Certificate – Joseph Haas, July 11, 1912
  • [31] Florence Haas – A Remembrance, Don Roy, South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 3, November 1, 1992.
  • Note: Florence Haas’ death certificate gives her date of birth as September 21, 1860, which is probably in error, since all other citations (census records and headstone) indicate that she was actually born in 1862. Her correct birth date is therefore presumed to be September 21, 1862. Since census records indicate that she was married at age sixteen, the marriage would have occurred on or after September 21, 1878; a timeline analysis suggests that was probably sometime during the first four months of 1879.
  • Note: The Reimo family name appears in several different versions, including Raimau, Raymo, Raimo and Raimaw. “Raymo” is probably an Americanized version of whatever it originally was.
  • [32] Ibid. 30; also Vent, Myron. South Manitou Island: From Pioneer Community to National Park, 1973. New York: Center for Cultural Resources, 1988. 35p. Print.
  • [33] 1880 U.S. Census – South Manitou Island, pg 1
  • [34] Homestead Certificate No. 6666, Joseph Haas, South Manitou Island
  • [35] Ibid. 32
  • [36] Marriage Record - Jesse Belle Haas & Lewis Hutzler, May 1, 1899
  • [37] Birth Record, Lawrence O. Haas, December 31, 1885
  • [38] Ibid. 30
  • [39] The Johnson/Thompson Family of South Manitou Island, a biographical essay on www.manitouislandsarchives.org
  • [40] Transcript from CD audio, Interview with the Johnsons (George and Goldie Johnson), August 1972 on South Manitou Island, at www.manitouislandsarchives.org
  • [41] Ibid. 30
  • [42] Ibid. 33
  • [43] Michigan Women: Firsts and Founders, Rachael B. Harley, Michigan Women’s Studies Assn (June 1992), pg 100.
  • [44] Muskegon Daily Chronicle, August 1, 1907. "Woman Captain Is Pride Of Officers"
  • [45] Evening Post, Grand Rapids MI, October 15, 1904. “She Is A Captain”
  • [46] 1920 U.S.Census – Frankfort, Michigan, pg12A – Florence Haas employed as “Cook” on “steamboat.”
  • [47] “I Remember ...” excerpts from South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletters of April and November 1995, Theron Haas (Grandson), Florence Haas as steward aboard Ann Arbor No. 4 carferry.
  • [48] The Great Lakes Car Ferries, George Woodman Hilton, Ch.3 - pgs 80-827 – re: the wreck of the “No.4” on Valentine’s Day of 1923.
  • [49] Death Certificate & Headstone - Joseph Haas
  • [50] From "Interview with the Johnsons (George and Goldie Johnson) August 1972 – on South Manitou Island" regarding the death of Joseph Haas (ref: www.manitouislandsarchives.org):
  • "I don’t know just what was the matter with her. But she died. So we come to that funeral. And when I come on the boat, the day after the funeral … the day before the funeral, there was a boat at the station down here, and Sig was working on somebody. And when I looked who it was, gol’, it was Joe Haas. He went out there …he was carrying the mail, with his wife … and he went out there to get a case of beer off the boat, and when he … it was in a small boat he had that case of beer … he lost his balance, and him … the case of beer and him fell down, and the boat slid over, and he drownded. And when I come in, there was Sigval working on him, and trying to bring him back to life again, and picked him up. Somebody must have seen it, and they picked him up on the bottom, and brought him in to the Coast Guard, and he worked on him. So we was staying July the twelfth, to the fifth. That was when Tom’s … er, Theodore’s wife’s funeral was. Then we stayed a day or two longer, and that was … ah, Hasses … Mr. Haases funeral. And then it was right after that when Dad bought this property. Well, I’d say two years after that."
  • [51] From “Florence Haas – A Remembrance” by Don Roy in the South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletter of November 1992 (ref: www.manitouislandsarchives.org):
  • “My great grandfather, Joseph Haas, drowned in Lake Michigan in 1912. He was alone and he apparently fell while loading a box from his boat hitting his head on the side of the boat thus rendering himself unconscious. He was spotted from the lookout and a boat was launched in minutes. Although there was still air bubbles in the water, he could not be revived.”
  • [52] From “Flashback to the Past” by Sandra M. Black in the South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletter of November 1992 (ref: www.manitouislandsarchives.org):
  • “FEBRUARY 3, 1881, two men came from the South Manitou Island, to Glen Haven, on skates. If you think that was exciting, on March 22, 1883, JOSEPH HAAS, crossed Lake Michigan on foot from South Manitou Island to Leland. It was the first time the feat had been performed that particular winter. Joseph Haas had scarcely arrived in Leland before a seam opened behind him exposing quite a broad strip of water. Mr. Haas must have been a daring man as he lost his life from accidental drowning on July 10, 1912, at the age of 59. If there any truth to the story, I heard that Joseph Haas was transferring a case of beer from a large boat to his rowboat anchored off South Manitou Island when he slipped overboard and drowned as the case of beer fell on top of him?”
  • [53] Lease Agreement – Florence Haas & Ray Kent
  • [54] 1910 U.S. Census – Green Bay, Wisconsin, pg 5A
  • [55] Death Notice for Lawrence O. Haas; The Benzie County Patriot, Thursday, December 17, 1942
  • [56] 1920 U.S. Census – Frankfort, Michigan, pg 12A
  • [57] Ibid. 54
  • [58] 1930 U.S. Census – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, pg 9B
  • [59] 1940 U.S. Census – Frankfort, Michigan, pg5B
  • [60] 1930 U.S. Census – Galena Park, Texas, pg 7A
  • [61] Death Notice, Certificate, Burial Record & Headstone - Florence Haas
  • [62] Marriage Record – August Beck and Elizabeth Haas
  • [63] Flashback to the Past, South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletter, November 1993. Transcriptions of articles from the Grand Rapids Herald and Traverse City Record-Eagle, submitted by Sandra M. Black.
  • Note: There are several other unmarked graves on this same row in the cemetery; possibly other members of the August & Elizabeth Beck family whose wooden headboards deteriorated and disappeared over time.
  • [64] August and Elizabeth Beck headstone, South Manitou Island Cemetery
  • [65] Note: Date and location of birth for William Haas is uncertain. The date reported, April 1859, is extrapolated from data from the 1870 thru 1930 U.S. Census’, his death record, and his headstone. All records give his birthplace as “Michigan,” which presumably refers to South Manitou Island.
  • [66] Coming Through With Rye, Brenda Wheeler Williams, National Park Service – Omaha, 1996 - John and William Haas tenure of George Haas farm, pgs 140-141; as blacksmith and cobbler, school newspaper ad for Bill Haas services, p157. Isle of View, Charles M. Anderson, 1979 - John and William Haas tenure of George Haas farm, pg 99; Bill Haas as veterinarian, pg 50 and pg 73; as bootlegger and blacksmith, pgs 53-54.
  • [67] I Remember When ..., Island Recollections by Theron Haas, South Manitou Memorial Society Newsletter, April 1995.
  • [68] William Haas Death Record and Headstone.
  • [69] Note: Date and location of birth for Henry Haas is reported as March 1861 in the U.S. Census for 1900, which complies with the ages given in data from the 1870 thru 1930 U.S. Census’, his death record, and his headstone. All records give his birthplace as “Michigan,” which presumably refers to South Manitou Island.
  • [70] 1930 U.S. Census – Glen Arbor Twp, Michigan, pg 5A; Grand Traverse Herald, January 1886.
  • [71] Ibid. 20. Birth Record for “boy” (Harison) Haas, March 11, 1889.
  • [72] Coming Through With Rye, Brenda Wheeler Williams, National Park Service – Omaha, 1996, pg 132. Isle of View, Charles M. Anderson, 1979, pgs 89- 92.
  • [73] Personal History Summary & Headstones - Maggie& Henry Haas.
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