It is said that the Haas surname is found throughout Central Europe, even with one branch being minor nobility in the middle age's. I Don't know how much of that is true nor if there is any connection with that branch and mine.
The absolute best site for this branch is the website of Paul S. Haas, he has done a fantastic job.
Cleebourg CoA He trace's the family to Lutheran immigrants from the village of Cleebourg (in french, or Kleeburg in German) in Alsace.
Cleebourg was largely a Calvinist town, although there were also Catholic, Lutheran, and Anababtist residents. The Lutheran residents attended church in Rott/Roth, about 2 km. to the northeast.
This little village has a complex history dating back to the 8th Century when it was part of the 'mundat' or the vast fields and vineyards controlled by the Abbaye of Wissembourg. At the time of the first record of my Haas line there were no less than 3 world powers claiming it. Cleebourg was an enclave within Alsace (Which itself has a complex history) which was a partition & exclave of a German palatine partition county of the Holy Roman Empire, but the ruler of this particular partiton became the King of Sweden in 1654. The French claimed that a branch of the Wittelsbach family, which were effectively french subjects, inherited Kleebourg when Charles I Gustav became King Carl X, and were the rightfull heirs as first Comte's de Pfalz-Landsberg, and then as the Marquis of Deux-Ponts (Lordship of two Bridge's) and that it was a part of the Kingdom of France. When the throne of Sweden passed to a Queen (Ulrika) in 1718, the French and German's insisted that the Salic law, though not the law in Sweden, was the law in the region, and thus a woman could not inherit. The French used that to reinforce their claim and The German's claimed that it reverted to the parent entity that it was a partition of, the (by now) Duchy of Zweibr�cken which later passed to Bavaria. By 1787, it is widely recognized as part of the Kingdom of France, just in time for the French Revolution.
The northern part of Alsace around Cleebourg and Wissembourg saw much wars and marching armies dating back from the time of Julius Ceasar, through the devastation of the Thirty Years Wars, the continental wars of the first part of the 18th Century, to the 1790's invasion through the area of the Austrian & Prussian armies, and the Napoleonic wars. The conflicts over the area actually continued through WWII but my Haas ancestor's emmigrated in 1830.
See also this Haas line.
My 6th Great Grandfather, Johann Michel Haas
Born Nov 2nd 1713 in Cleebourg. Died Jan 3rd, 1790. Married 2nd Catharina Elizabetha ?? about 1742. Married 3rd Anna Gertraud Weber on Sep 6th 1769.
He was a farmer and a Wachtermeister (Sgt. Major of Cavalry), though unknown with which military.
Eleven Children:
My 5th Great Grandfather, Johann Michel Haas
Born about 1745 in Kleeburg/Cleebourg, Alsace. Married 1st Anna Catharina Becker Jul 18th, 1769 and Married 2nd Eve Haas on Feb 28th, 1775.
Previous version of Paul Haas's site listed him as a Gendarme (Police) officer. I do not know why he took that down.
Eight Children:
My 4th Great Grandfather, Michel Haas
Born Sept. 27th, 1780 in Cleebourg, Alsace. Died after 1859 in Eden, Erie Co., NY, USA. Married Eve Elizabeth Billman/Billmann/Biehlmann in 1802 in Ingolsheim, Bas Rhin, Alsace, France
He was a tavern-keeper in Alsace before emmigrating to New York via Le Havre in 1830.
Eight children:
My 3rd Great Grandfather, Jean Michel/Michael Haas
Born Nov 30th, 1805 in Cleebourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. Died Aft. 1880 in Erie County, New York, USA. Married Catherine "Madelaine/Sally/Barbara" Madelaine Schweickart July 5th, 1827 in Cleebourg.
Farmer & Blacksmith. One record list's his occupation as 'Marichol Ferrant' though I am unsure what that means. A previous version of his record on Paul Haas's site mentioned him also being a postmaster, though he has now taken that down and I do not know why.
Paul Haas list's him as being associated with St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Eden.
Emmigrated from Le Havre, France April 26th, 1830.
Nine Children:
My Great-Great Grandfather, Micheal John Haas
Born Oct 18th, 1835 in East Eden, Erie Co., New York. died Jul 6th, 1923 in Titusville, Crawford Co., Pennsylvania. Married Amelia Pauline Christopher Feb 18th, 1869 in St. Clair Presbyterian Church, Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Pvt. Illinois 1st Volunteer Cavalry
Farmer, Carpenter, Grocer.
The story in the family originally was that Micheal & Amelia met when his civil war unit moved through the Titusville area, however this story has now come into question given that the unit he served in was never in Pennsylvania (so either the story is wrong or he served in an additional unit after his time with the 1st.). It now appears that he settled in Titusville in 1867 after living briefly in Springfield, IL, Buffalo, NY, & Pleasantville, PA after the war.
During the civil war he enrolled at Springfield, Illinois, on 19 April 1861, as a private and on July 17, 1861 was mustered into Company 'F' (Capt. John Burnap's Company). The 1st Illinois Cavalry was attached to the Department of Missouri for the duration of it's existance and was led by Colonel Thomas A. Marshall. The unit, after recieving addition training at St. Charles, Mo., at Colonel Ulysses S. Grant's training camp, then undertook a patrol along the Missouri river, then back to the Illinois line, and then across the state of Missouri to join Mulligan's Irish Brigade (23rd Illinois Infantry) and the 13th Missouri Infantry at the Siege of Lexington, aka the Battle of the Hemp Bales. See this link for a good description of the action at Lexington though I will here relay a summary.
The union force's under Col. Mulligan were outnumbered about 4-1, depending on which statistics you believe. As the confederate Missouri State Guards, under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, approached the town of Lexington, the 1st Ill. Cav and the 13th Missouri Infantry were ordered out to meet them and they ingaged advance force's of Price's. Both side's then pulled back to prepare for the siege. The Confederate's set up camp in the town and gradually gathered additional volunteer's from this pro-southern region. The Union force's worked to fortify the Masonic College on the north end of town and await reinforcments from Kansas (unknowing that the Kansas force's were hesitant to cross state line's). The siege began on the 18th and over the three day's both side's accused the other of violating the rule's of war involving in a field hospital. On the third day of the siege, the Confederate force's used Hemp bale's, soaked in the river, as a moveable breastwork and inched up to the Union fortifications. The Union cannon and shot had no effect on the damp bales and after the line's were close enough that the first hand to hand combat began, Col. Mulligan surrendered on Sept. 20th after 3 day's of siege, 2 of them without water.
The privates, after taking an oath not to again take up arms until they were exchanged, were sent back home to Illinois. This official exchange took place in December and in June, 1862 the unit was reorganized in Southern Illinois and sent into South-Eastern Missouri where it guarded railroads, supply trains, and supply depots. Dispute's arose over filling vacancies from the reorganization and because of this the unit was ordred back to Illinois and mustered out on July 14th, 1862
8 Children:
My Great grandmother My Great-grandparents (seated), my grandfather (center), and my grand-uncles My Great Grandmother, M.H.
Information withheld to protect privacy of living descendants
3 children, 9 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, & 1 great-great Grandchild
Webmaster: Greg Weatherup
Last Update: Apr. 12th, 2006. Pictures added July 22nd, 2011. Link added Jan. 12th, 2012.