Notizen zu dieser Person
Er wurde auf dem Vestal Cemetery in Yadkinville im Yadkin County im State North Carolina beigesetzt. Georg Heinrich Happes was born on his grandfather Heinrich Kerns farm, the Linnebach, just south of the town of Schoenau, Odenwald, Palatinate on October 23, 1747 and was baptized by a Reformed Church pastor two days later (Ref. #1). His parents were Georg Happes, oldest son of the farmer and citizen of Neudorf Michael Happes, and Katherina (Kern) Lang, daughter of Heinrich Kern and widow of Schoenaus master locksmith Heinrich Lang. Georg Heinrich had three older stepsiblings: Georg, Friedrich, and Barbara Lang. In late summer/early fall 1751, Georg Heinrichs parents joined a number of other local area families including those of his uncle Michael Happes and aunt Elizabeth Reichert in immigrating to colonial Pennsylvania. Because his father could not pay for their passage, his family was divided among Pennsylvanians who could, in return for 12 years of servitude from each. By the end of the French and Indian War (1763), his family had served their time and in 1766, led by his older stepbrother Georg Lang, Georg Heinrich Happes family moved to central NC (Ref. #2). There in Surry County, NC about 1778 he married 17-year-old Elizabeth Miller; their first child Anne was born March 22, 1779. Eventually, Georg Heinrich and Elizabeth had 12 children, the eleventh being Henry born in December 1799 in NC and the youngest being Jacob born in January 1804 after moving to Gallia County, OH. Georg Heinrich Happes died in 1812 in Gallia County, leaving a will that mentioned all 12 children (Ref. #3). His wife Elizabeth died shortly thereafter. MILITARY SUMMARY (Pay vouchers # 5638 and #4291) The turmoil that existed during Revolutionary War times in western NC is described in detail in Swiss Roots (Ref. #4). Many of the German settlers there supported the British loyalists. Even after the British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781, lawlessness was rampant in the frontier areas of western NC. There is a tradition among the descendants of Georg Heinrich Happes first published in a history of Jay County, IN in 1887 that: He was by occupation a blacksmith, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, under General Washington (Ref. #5). The National Archives in Washington, DC has a record of a George Hopes in the Quarter Master Generals Department on a pay roll dated April 17, 1780 at Wilmington Borough (NC). It indicates that Geo. Hopes Q. Mr. Appears as below on a Pay Roll for a Brigade of Waggons employed in the Continental Service & Conducted by David Boggs, W.C. under the direction of Francis Wade, Esqr. D. Q. M. Genl. (Ref. #6). Whether our George Happes was in the Quarter Master (QM) Department of the Continental Army is far from certain. The only other evidence that the author knows concerning George Happes service is a pair of Revolutionary War pay vouchers #5638 dated October 1, 1783 to George Hopper for 13 pounds, 10 shillings and #4291 dated August 1784 to George Hoppes for 54 pounds (Ref. #7). These two vouchers demonstrate that he supported the Revolutionary cause through service rendered, although not necessarily for time spent in a military unit. They are considered ample credentials for admission to the patriotic organizations Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), but ironically the DAR gives the credit for these two pay vouchers to George Hoppes father Georg Happes born in 1715. By 1783 the elder Georg Happes would have been 68 years old, probably too old to have performed substantial service compared to Georg Heinrich Happes, who was 36 years old at this time. Moreover, from the diaries kept by Moravian preachers we know that the elder Georg Happes was ill and weak about the time the 1784 pay voucher was written. The diary of Brother Benzien, for example, contains the following entry for July 28,1787: This morning about six o'clock I set off with Br. and Sr. Waerly for Deep Creek. Soon after ten o'clock we reached the Yadkin. . . . Toward four o'clock we came to the home of old Habbes. He rejoiced to see me, for he had heard of me but because of weakness had never been able to attend a service.
