Becoming a Father Posthumously – A Hine Story

Two hundred years ago a young man named Peter Hine decided to write his will.  He was only twenty-four years old and less than a year married.  And though I’m sure he must have had plenty of dreams for a future, he also must have realized that those dreams were not to be.

Peter Hine was born October 10, 1794, to German-born immigrant Johannes Hein and first generation American Juliana Catherina Schneider.  He was the first American-born Hine in my line of the Hine family, though he was not the first one born in his immediate family.  Actually he was the tenth of eleven children.  He was not the first child of John and Catherine to die, either.  He had an older brother named Phillip that died in 1815 and another older brother named John that died earlier in 1819.  There also had been a first-born daughter that died at birth.

So Peter came from a large family and may have thought that he would follow suit with that tradition.  At the time it was also traditional to get married first, and that’s what he did.  On August 4, 1818, he married his 18-year-old sweetheart Margaret Miller.  His brother Henry signed as a witness.  Henry was almost exactly two years older than Peter.  His birthday was on October 9th, so they may have celebrated together and were close.  He actually was the only surviving brother that Peter had in July 1819.

I wonder if Peter knew he was ill at the time of his marriage?  Or if he knew he was ill when he found out that his newlywed wife would soon be expecting a child?  All I know is that he had consumption and that was not a good thing back in the 1800s.  Margaret gave birth in September of 1819, and you can tell from the title that Peter did not survive to meet his bouncing baby boy.  In July of 1819 Peter must have begun to have some serious problems with his disease, because on July 17th of that year he wrote down his final requests.

It is a very bittersweet thing to read.  He writes, “My beloved wife Margaret being pregnant, I give and bequeath unto the child of her body that tract or parcel of land…Twenty one acres…and interest in a certain undivided tract of land lying in Stokes County.  In case my beloved wife should be delivered of more than one child, the children are to possess equal rights to the above mentioned tracts of land.”  He leaves his other belongings to his beloved wife.

He tried to cover all circumstances as best he could.  One child?  Two?  They didn’t have ultrasound back then.  He also could not take it for granted that the child would even survive to adulthood.  That is never a given and there were lots of things that could happen to prevent that from happening.  But the main point was this:  his wife was going to live on and give birth to their child without him being around.  He would not be there to hold his child.  He didn’t even know what the sex of the child would be.

And he wasn’t exaggerating.  As the 1819 diary from Bethebara, North Carolina states, “July 22.  This morning the married Br. Peter Hein died of consumption.”  So less than a week after he wrote his will, he died at the age of 24.  Two weeks later would have been his first year wedding anniversary.  So we can be assured that he is one man who never forgot his wedding anniversary!  It must have been a sad reminder to Margaret. 

I found myself referring to Margaret as “his wife” when I contemplated these events this week.  That’s like referring to my mom as “my dad’s wife.”  Margaret is just as much my ancestor as Peter was.  Part of that is because I think of it as following my Hine line of the family.  But Margaret was my great great great great grandmother and I very much sympathize with her.  What a tragedy she had to endure.

But endure she did.  A month after that first wedding anniversary, she gave birth to her only Hine child and she named him after his father and grandfather.  John Peter Hine was born on September 3, 1819.  He endured as well and lived to collect on his inheritance.  His mother remarried and he grew up in a family.  Not a Hine family, though.  But he lived with his mom, step-father, and six Wageman siblings and made it to adulthood.

I’ve talked about John Peter before.  He married Mary Malina Cox and they had seven children together, including my great great grandfather George Henry Hine.  I wrote about the 100 year anniversary of George’s death earlier this year.  Since that post about his death, I came across this old photo that was shared with me by my cousin Carla.  (Thanks again!) 

I am pretty sure this was taken at the funeral of George Hine in May of 1919.  I see some of his grandchildren, but I also see other Hine family members.  I don’t know for sure who they are, but I’ve seen them in another photo identified as Hine family.  I’m thinking they are the family of George Henry’s brother Allen Larkin Hine. 

Whoever they are, they represent the numerous descendants of Peter Hine.  He never got to meet his son or know if he would make it to adulthood.  He could never have imagined all of the descendants that he had in 1919, much less all of the ones who are alive today.  So let’s give a bit of thanks to the short, yet productive life of Peter Hine.