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Whether because of dissatisfaction with the Colonial government of Pennsylvania or the urge to pioneer, Jost Hite planned to take his extended family and migrate south from Philadelphia Co PA across Maryland to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Having liquidated his properties in Pennsylvania, Jost Hite used his wealth to purchase large tracts of land in Virginia. On 8/5/1731 Jost purchased 40,000 acres from John Van Meter, the noted Indian trader, with a requirement from the Colony of Virginia to settle one family per 1,000 acres within two years. And on 10/31/1731, Jost and Robert McKay acquired an additional grant of 100,00 acres with the same requirements.

In the fall of 1731, Jost Hite and fifteen other families migrated en mass from Pennsylvania to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The trip was slow and arduous; as they literally cut the road over which they drove their wagons. Other ethnic German families had pioneered west of the Susquehanna River. But, the Hite group was the first to continue down what would come to be called the Great Wagon Road. These Palatines were not the first Europeans to venture into the Shenandoah Valley. Explorers, Indian traders, and missionaries reported venturing into the valley as early as 1632. However, Jost Hite and his group are credited in American History as the first white settlers west of the Blue Ridge. [Hite Migration Map]

Migration Route: Colebrookdale PA to the Valley of Virginia
a. Down Perkiomen Creek to the Schuylkill River b. Down the Conestoga Road (est. 1723) to the Susquehanna River vic. Middletown PA c. Down the Susquehanna River to Wright's Ferry vic. York Haven PA d. Up Conewago Creek to vicinity of Plainview PA e. 1 mile portage to Rock Creek f. Down Rock Creek to vic. Mair's Mill MD g. Down the Monocacy River to Monocacy Settlement vic. Creagerstown MD h. West through South Mountain vic. Gapland MD i. Down Israel Creek to the Potomac at Harper's Ferry (W) VA j. Across the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, entering the Shenandoah River Valley
List of the Sixteen Families: Jost Hite Party, Fall 1731
Major Grants: 1. William Hogue, Opequon Creek 2. John White, Hogue Creek 3. Nathaniel Thomas, Head of Opequon 4. Benjamin Borden, Shepherdstown 5. David Vaunce, Opequon 6. Stephen Hansbella (Hotsenbeller) 7. Christian Nisewanger (Neuschwanger), Kernstown	Minor Grants: 8. Thomas Chester 9. Louis Stuffey 10. Christian Blank 11. Hendrey Hunt 12. John VanMeter
Hite Family: 13. Jost Hite, Head of Opequon Creek 14. George Bowman, North Branch of the Shenandoah River 15. Jacob Chrisman, Chrisman Springs 16. Paul Froman, Froman's Run on Cedar Creek

Arriving at Opequon Creek in what would become Frederick Co VA, the pioneer families chose individual tracts, establishing the first permanent settlements. Jost Hite and his extended family settled from the head of the Opequon south to the North Fork of the Shenandoah.

Initially, the Hites settled at the head of Opequon, building a stone house and an inn whose foundation can still be seen just off the Old Wagon Road. In 1737 when son John married Sarah Eltenge, Jost gave the property including the house and inn to John and his new bride. Jost and Anna Marie then settled about a mile east of Bowman's Fort at Long Meadow, Frederick Co VA.

From the Potomac, the Shenandoah Valley, the "Valley of Virginia" as it came to be known, stretched nearly 200 miles south, forming about half of the length of a natural passageway to the great Smokey Mountains in the southwest. It served as more of a thoroughfare than as a place of residence for the Indians. The Shawnees had a small cluster of villages around the springs at present day Winchester, from which a well-beaten path led up the length of the valley. It was close beside this trail, five miles south of the Shawnee Springs, that Hite chose to settle. The Valley Turnpike follows much of the old Indian Trail, called by many the "Great Indian Highway." Sections of stone walls thought to be of the house and tavern built by Jost Hite still stand some 30 yards east of the Turnpike, beside the house built by his son, Colonel John Hite. . .

Site locations for the several families, surveying, corner staking and cabin building all had to be done at once.
The Hite sons-in-law were permitted to make their own selection of 750 acres each.

[1] From the Hite location
***Built 1st home at Opequon (now Kernstown VA)
***1737 Built Long Meadow on North Fork of Shenandoah vic. Strasburg VA. Long Meadow Cemetery is now in Warren Co VA.

[2] the Chrismans settled two miles south,
***Built Chrisman Springs vic Vaucluse VA.

[3] the Bowmans about seven,
***Built Bowman's Fort aka Harmony Hall located north of Strasburg VA on Cedar Creek. Includes Bowman Cemetery.

[4] and the Fromans some five miles southwest.
***Settled Froman's Run at Cedar Creek.

[5] Robert McKay, Jr. chose a site at the forks of the river where he set up a saw mill.
***Built the mill vic Riverton VA.

[6] His father settled about five miles up the south fork of the river.
***Settled south of Front Royal VA.

By agreement, a line running from the Shawnee springs [vic Winchester VA] to the forks of the river [vic Riverton VA] divided the land.
McKay was to settle the land east of the line, while Hites' land lay to the west.
Hite, as might be expected, set up a grist mill on Opequon Creek a short distance from his house.

The Indians were peaceful at first, but trouble began almost at once with officials at Williamsburg. The Colonial Government, knowing nothing of the territory started making grants to others involving the Hite-McKay land. Jost made at least one trip to Williamsburg in the summer of 1732 to take care of the matter.

. . .Lord Fairfax. . .arrived at Williamsburg in May 1735 to investigate his inheritance, only to find that the Colonial Government had issued settlement grants on his property [No] to Hite and McKay. Finding that settlers had moved onto the land in sufficient numbers to satisfy the conditional grants, and an extension of one year to December of 1735 had been allowed on the larger one, he paid two visits to the home of Jost Hite on the Opequon in 1736 and 1737. . .

From the beginning the difficulty of travel made the size of Spotsylvania County much too large for convenience. In 1734, Jost and his fellow settlers petitioned for formation of a new county, to be called Orange. The county was formed, with Jost as one of the magistrates. In the same meeting, James Wood (from Winchester, England) was made surveyor, and he soon set about laying out a town site at the Shawnee Springs. So Frederick Town, later to be called Winchester, was founded. It became the county seat when Frederick County was formed in 1738.

When son John Hite and Sara Eltinge were married in 1737, Jost and Anna Maria turned the house and tavern over to them and moved to a site about a mile east of the Bowmans on land that had been set aside for Isaac, a location later known as "Long Meadows.". . .

Anna Maria died in 1739 and in the fall of 1741, Jost married Maria Magdalena, widow of Christian Neuschwanger. As was often the case, a remarriage of by both parties involved use of a specific agreement drawn up to list not only the material possessions brought into the marriage by each, but their distribution back to the heirs of the two original families after death. When she died is not known. Jost died in 1761 at the age of 75. Family tradition holds that he and Anna Maria (Merkle) were buried at the Opequon church. Grave stones were convenient building blocks during the Revolution as well as the Civil War, both of which raged up and down the valley, so no marker remains.

Hite <http://leecase.tripod.com/hite.htm> 27 January 2019

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This site is provided for reference only. Except where specifically cited, information contained is conjecture and should not be considered as fact.
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