| Rhon Mountain Area Haupt Clan |
| There appears to have been a Haupt clan living in the Rhon (Rhoen) Mountain area of Germany in the mid-1200's. At that time, this area was located in Frankland. Today, it is the area immediately surrounding Bischofsheim, Bavaria (on the Main River) and located in the Spessart Nature Park. More specifically, it is located just ENE of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. See below for a map showing location. Erik Haupt of Budapest, Hungary provided some early European history that dates back to 1241. During April of 1241, there was a terrible Mongolian raid in Eastern Europe. The Mongol calvary under the direction of the Great Khan Ogeday had just defeated the Russians in the Ukraine and had turned their sights on Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Half of the population of Hungary and Moravia disappeared in the massacres. It wasn't until the death of Ogeday in December of 1241 that the Mongols retreated torward Austria. The Austrians held firm and the advance into Eastern Europe was halted. As a result of these raids, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) was left uninhabited. The bishop of nearby Brno and the owner of the land called upon German peasants to settle in the region. The new inhabitants would be free of taxes. Most of the German settlers came from the Frank mountain area "der Rhon". At least one of these families had the name Haupt and perhaps a few families did. The Haupt family settled in the village of Rothmuhl which today is called Radimer, Czech Republic. Radimer is located directly north of Vienna, Austria. The Haupts became a prominant family in Rothmuhl for 600 years until the mid 1800's. At one point, there were over four dozen families in Rothmuhl with the name of Haupt. Many of the Haupts there operated mills. See: Haupts of the Czech Republic. According to Erik Haupt, some of the early descendants of the early Rothmuhl Haupts gave rise to the Bohemia and Guben, Saxony Haupt clans; the Berlin, Brandenburg Haupt clan; Silesia (in Poland) Haupt clan; and the Pappenheim Bavaria Haupt clan. If one looks at the Haupt Coats-of-Arms, you will see a remarkable resemblance between the Haupt Coats-of-Arms of Zwittau, Czech Republic; Brandenburg; and Bavaria. See: Haupt Coats-of-Arms. See: Pappenheim Haupts Why mention this at all? When I visited Koblenz, Rheinland-Pfalz in 1998. I did some research in the Staat Archives. I found a old book that traces the origins of German surnames in the Rheinland. It indicated that the Haupt name likely "travelled" from Bavaria to the Rheinland. There is a coat-of-arms for a Nicholas Haupt who resided in Augsburg, Bavaria in 1540. In the earliest records of Windesheim, Rheinland-Pfalz the name of Nicholas Haupt is found in repeating generations from the 1650's to the 1750's there and the name Nicholas continues on here in the United States. Even if there is not this connection between the Rheinland-Pfalz Haupt lines to Rothmuhl lines in the mid-1200's (or Bavaria lines), there were still Haupts present in the Rhon Mountain area near Frankfurt, Germany in the 1200's. The Rhon Mountain area may be the location of where the Haupt surname originated and likely the origin of the Hessen Haupt lines; the Rheinland-Pfalz Haupt lines; and the Haupt lines of Basel, Switzerland. This would not be unreasonable to assume as the rivers Main and Donau (Danube) bisect Germany. The Main flows west to the Rhein. The Donau (Danube) flows east through Vienna, Austria and through Budapest, Hungary clear to the Black Sea. The Rhein flows north from the Bodensee (Lake Constance) past Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands. The rivers then were the "autobahns". The migratory paths can be found in the currents of these great rivers. |
 |
| Geographic Origin of the Haupt Surname? |
|
| This Page was initiated July 10, 2003. Ray Haupt |
| Sometimes Germanic surnames are a result of a geographic feature. One meaning for the Haupt name refers to "one who lives on a hill or mountain peak". |