Maria Barbara Happolt

by Keith Riggle
Maria Barbara's surname was something like "Hammelsbach," not Himmelman. Maria Barbara Himmelman, daughter of Johann Philip and Maria Barbara Bell, was a completely different woman. We know for certain that her name was closer to Hammelsbach because there is a marriage record for a Maria Barbara Hammelsbach who married Gotlieb Happold in 1753:

1-Surname, 2-Given Name, 3-Event, 4-Date, 5-Baptism, 6-Source, 7-Parents, Spouse, Relative, 8-Witnesses, Sponsors, Etc, 9-Age "HAMMELSBACH","Mary Barbara","M","1753-01-25",,"SPAH","Happold, Gotlieb",, Source: Shankle, Don, compiler, Lunenburg County and Queens County Birth, Marriage and Death Records From Primary Sources (Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project, online database), Lunenburg County Births, Marriages and Deaths, letter "H," entry for Mary Barbara Hammelsbach and Gotlieb Happold, accessed 9 Oct 2019. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~downeast/genealogy/1H.htm.

She is on a passenger list arriving as a primary passenger in 1752. Dr. Winthrop P. Bell, who compiled the earliest passenger lists, clearly lists "Hamelsbach/Hammelsbag[in]" separately from "Himmelman/Hemelman/Heimelman/Himelman" in Index to foreign Protestants and families, 1749-1775, FHL microfilm 2113582, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C39J-L95S-L?i=17&c.... Smith & Smith's Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, derived from the original manuscripts, also lists Maria Barbara Hamilsbach separately from Barbara Himmelman, although they did arrive on the "Gale" at the same time. Bell also lists her as being present on two victualing lists (image 52 for "Gale" 1752 No Matchings, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C39J-L95Q-P?i=51&c...). He further states, "Note that these are all females. Also many end in "-in", which would be an old German way of designating, e.g., a widow, or lone woman. E.g. "Wurtzin" would be perhaps a widow whose husband's name had been "Wurtz"....Some of these women are perhaps mothers-in-law or sisters-in-law who came out as second or third (not specially listed) adult females with families of other surname."

To further explain the name "Hammelsbach" and its spelling variations, remember that names were often spelled the way they sounded. "Hammelsbach" and "Hammelsbag" are both pronounced similarly in German. The ending "-in" was feminine and was sometimes added to the surnames of women, thus "Hammelsbagin."

It is possible that Maria was the widowed sister of a Johann Philip Himmelman, who travelled with her on the "Gale," but until we find a definitive source for that, I do not think we should connect them.

Johann Ludwig Christoph Gottlieb Happold and Maria Barbara Hammelsbach had six documented children: Apollonia Elizabeth, Ann Barbara, Elizabeth Margaret, Johann Leonard, Johann Gottlieb, and Johann Heinrich. See Hawboldt, John E., The Hawboldt Saga, 1565-1993: The Ancestry of the Hawboldt/Hawbolt Family, 3rd ed (J and E Publishing, Burlington, Ontario, 1998), and Shankle, Don, compiler, Lunenburg County and Queens County Birth, Marriage and Death Records from Primary Sources (Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project, online database), Lunenburg County Births, Marriages and Deaths, letter "Hatt," http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~downeast/genealogy/1HATT.htm.

RESEARCH NOTES

Searched Ship Passenger Lists to Nova Scotia, Canada: Miscellaneous Ships for Hammelbagin but found nothing.

Possible source: Register of Lunenburg Settlers Compiled by Winthrop Pickard Bell, Halifax, Nova Scotia : Public Archives of Nova Scotia, circa 1973 Family History Library Film #1421430; Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management Film #12675 Volume 1, page 199 3 volumes of detailed notes concerning the first settlers of Lunenburg County, their origins and early years in the community https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/155321?availability=Fam...