Researching the Houtzes
“Houtzville” on 1875 Map
I really enjoy researching our Houtz family in and around Mt. Zion, PA—the ancestors of Pauline Elizabeth (Houtz) Boyer. There are a lot of Houtzes in Pennsylvania and therefore lots of people researching Houtzes. Someone in the 1960s even printed a “Houtz Hall of Fame” newsletter. I have also heard of a published Houtz family history (though I haven’t been able to find It yet). There were so many Houtz families a mile outside Mt. Zion, that the census-takers labeled that section “Houtzville” on the 1880 census.
Because of all the Houtz families, there are also a lot of Houtz documents out there, which sounds great (and often is!) but can also be difficult – for example how to differentiate one Henry Houtz from another. More personally though, we have quite a few documents and recordings from our Houtz family, which makes the research more personal and somehow more real.
Some of the documents we have include:
Houtz Family Bible
This well-worn bible belonged to William and Anna (Hunsicker) Houtz (Pauline’s great great grandparents), and includes their information on the family register page. The leather-bound bible had metal clasps and is Martin Luther’s German translation, printed in Philadelphia in 1828 (a couple years after William and Anna married).
Book belonging to Elias Houtz
(1843-1939, Pauline’s great grandfather) German text published in 1820, with an inscription from his father, and with a few sketches, some clippings of writing in German, and some needle packages tucked inside.
Houtz Photo Album
This album probably belonged to William Henry Houtz (Elias’s only child, and Pauline’s grandfather) and his wife.
Summary of Anna (Hunsicker) Houtz’s Life
This document was written in September 1884, days after Anna’s death, by one of her children—possibly in preparation for her funeral.
Sallie (Houtz) Paine Audio Interview
Recorded on May 13, 2001, when Sallie (Pauline’s aunt) had just turned 94. She talks of her memories of her parents and grandparents.
Hautz/Houtz
Another thing I find interesting in researching the Houtz family is how the surname is spelled—sometimes with an “o” and sometimes with an “a”. In the bible, Houtz is spelled with an “a” instead of an “o”—both spellings used previously in documents. By 1870, all our Houtz documents seem to use “Houtz” instead of “Hautz”. According to ancestry.com, Hautz is slang in Bavaria and Austria for a peasant farmer, and Houtz would be a variation of Hautz starting in the . It is likely that William and Anna did not particularly care how their names were spelled – whether or not they could read and write. Until the late 1800s, name spelling was not all that important. In fact the first American dictionary was only published in 1828, making the spelling of any English words consistent. Spelling rules in England began in 1755. It took time for these standard spellings to become expected, and until then people spelled as they saw fit in English, including for names.
German or English?
The Houzes also seem to go back and forth with the spelling of their first names as well sometimes. Heinrich or Henry. Wilhelm or William. In the Houtz Family Bible (pictured) Pauline’s third great grandfather writes his name as Wilhelm instead of the anglicized William. William is used in most other documents, but it is interesting that he chose to use Wilhelm in his personal papers. There is also the possibility that he did not write this himself and didn’t care how it was spelled because he could not read and write, as indicated in the 1870 census. (Note that censuses are not always correct, and I have no other indication of whether he could read or write, but it would not be uncommon for a farmer in that year to be illiterate.)
Citations
Donna Przecha. “Spelling Doesn’t Count.” Genealogy.com. Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/62_donna.html.
Mentioned Houtz Family Documents in the possession of Bruce Boyer, excepting the Audio recording of Sally Houtz which is with Quincy Dermody.