A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Henry Faus
From the biography of Frank Faus in "Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania" (J. H. Beers & Co., 1915; obtained from Google Books), Volume II p. 849:
Henry Faus was born in Lehigh county, Pa., where he lived and died, having been a farmer all his life. He married Elizabeth Hepler, who after his death came with her children to Columbia county, and still later moved to Michigan, where she died. For her second husband she married a Mr. Krisher, and after his death she took as her third husband Joseph Snyder. Henry Faus and his wife had the following children: Thomas; Henry; Polly, who married Peter Whitney; and Eliza, who married Abraham Krauss.
The probate papers for Henry Faus in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, include one with a date of 18 Apr 1812. Therefore, he died before 18 Apr 1812 in Northumberland County (not Lehigh County). It is stated in the probate papers that he was a resident of Bloom Township in Northumberland County; this township was in Columbia County after it was formed from part of Northumberland County. The last name is spelled Faas in the index of the county records, but there are several spellings in the records themselves, including Foas, Foass, Foase, Fahs, and Faus. The spelling of Faus is in the final accounting report, dated in 1814.It seems that various spellings were going around, and Henry’s descendants decided on Faus at some point. The administrator of the estate was George Hepler, father of Henry's widow. (It is explicitly stated in one document that Henry's widow was Elizabeth, daughter of George Hepler; her signature is shown as Elisabeth Fahs.) The probate papers can be seen in a separate document; see Probate papers for Henry Faus in the Documents section of this web site.) Marilyn Riehl says that Henry is mentioned in a deed of George Hepler dated 12 Jan 1812, so Henry died sometime after that; chances are he died in April 1812, not long before the probate was opened. Note also that Lehigh County was not formed until 1812, so he was probably born in the part of Northampton County that became Lehigh County.
A number of sources give his wife's name as Elizabeth Kepler or Keppler. His first name was probably originally Heinrich. He is listed as Heinrich Faas in a birth record for son Thomas ("Christ Lutheran and Reformed Church, Shoenersville, Pa.: Evangelical Lutheran Congregation", transcribed by Laura Shoener, 1937, p. 22; obtained from Ancestry.com, “Pennsylvania and New Jersey U.S. Church and Town Records 1669-2013”).
A posting by Peggy Campbell on the Faust Family Genealogy Forum of Genealogy.com, dated 28 Apr 2000, says that Henry Faus came to America about 1770-1780 from Germany. This doesn't agree with the above biography and doesn't agree with Garry Heagy's estimate of his birth at about 1775, but it is similar to the information from Sister Mary Euphrasia Faus, below, and could derive from her.
The candal Family Tree on Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/5000789/person/-1501207693/facts) has Henry Faus (wife Elizabeth Kepler) born 1760 in Germany and imigrating to Pennsylvania in 1780-1790. It also has Henry's parents as Johannes Casparus Fahs (phautz) and Anna Eva Dorothea Knauss. An additional Knauss connection would be very interesting, but I don't trust it.
Some excerpts from "Faus Genealogical Data Summarized: 1780 - 1961" by Sister Mary Euphrasia Faus (1961) [some typos have been corrected; let me also note here that this document is very confusingly organized]:
The major portion of the material of historical nature has been loaned to use from Laura Faus, a grandaughter of Thomas Faus and Rachel Robbins.
. . .
TRACING OUR FAMILY LINEAGE--begins with the first known Faus family to settle in Pennsylvania sometime after 1780. The second generation came into existence in 1803 and 1809 in the persons of Thomas Faus and his brother Henry Faus Jr. or as we will know him in our lineages, as Henry Faus II....
. . .
... We have knowledge of three sisters of these two brothers and whom they married, but there all information about them ends.
The period of time just when Henry Faus settled in America may have been around 1770 or later. Their first son was born in 1803, so whether they had any children before this time we have no record....
. . .
... The chief occupations of the Faus brothers who were not ministers of the gospel, were those of carpentering, wagon-making, mechanics, workers in wood, stone and concrete. Some were contractors and building constructors. From his two marriages, Thomas Faus was the father of twenty children, sixteen of whom reached adulthood and were married. His brother Henry Faus II was the father of nine children who reached maturity and were married. In both families the number of sons predominated, thus making for the continuation of the Faus name, which still prevails to this day.
From their offspring, thus the Faus name has been widely spread over the United States and elsewhere, all descendants of the Henry Faus and Elizabeth Keppler Faus Lineage. Even those of the 3rd and 4th generations followed in the footsteps of their fathers by opening up new frontiers of the country in the Louisiana Purchase to the West, North and South.
. . .
ORIGIN OF THE FAUS NAME----From an excerpt in a letter received by Laura Faus from Edwin Emerson of New York City, dated Oct. 3, 1932, we we were informed that the name Faus is a contraction of the German name PFAUTZ, and with other German names such as PFALTZ - PALZ - PÄLZER, names found in the German settlements along the Hudson River in the Catskill region, the name is evidently the French contraction for one of the above names. These names are of Pallatine origin, referring to Pallatinus, which were called Pallatines, or referring to an ancient Roman rank of nobility or high office.--Therefore the family name of Faus is known to exist in Alsace-Lorraine and is of German origin.--If I have it correct, there were at some time in ancient times when Roman Guards were on the Rhine, and this may be the origin of the Pallatines in Germany.
The preceding historical information should be taken with a grain of salt. I don't know if it's true, but it is at least plausible. The prevalence of spellings of Faas and Fahs in the earliest records makes me think that the pronunciation was with an "ah" sound rather than an "ow" sound, though, which doesn't fit well with the "Pfautz" theory. On the next page in the document there is a chart showing:
HUSBAND:- Henry Faus I-- from Europe-- after 1780 or 90...
WIFE:-Elizabeth Kepler-- No other data available [in other places, as above, her last name is spelled Keppler]
CHILDREN
M/Thomas Faus, born 14/Nov/1803 in Whitehall Twp., Northampton Co., Pa., died 5/Jul/1875, married Rachel Robbins
F/Pauline (Polly) Faus, married Peter Whitney
F/Julia Faus, married Jacob Fought
M/Henry Faus II, born 1809, died 1884, married Mary DeLong
F/Elizabeth Faus, married Abraham Kraus
(THERE MAY HAVE BEEN OTHER CHILDREN, BUT WE HAVE NO RECORD OF ANY)
Under son Henry II is the statement:
We have been informed that Henry Faus was a cobbler like his father Henry Faus I.--Once more we find a family trait going down the line, as we find even in the 5th generation there is also another Shoemaker and repairman in Spearman, Texas, in the person of a great-great grandson, namely Rueben Roland Paul Faus, who has made this his life-trade.
Note that the inventory of Henry's possessions in his probate papers listed "taylor tools". So, was Henry also a tailor, or were those really shoemaking tools?
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
Page generated on 31 October 2023; see http://wilsonfamilytree.org/ for further updates