[This is my great-grandmother, Ethel Gertrude Redding/Redden’s side of the family from Nova Scotia.]

One of the most elusive ancestors of mine is Catherine Anna Barbara Ruppert who was born in 1775 who ended up in Nova Scotia and marrying John Jacob Hiltz in February 24, 1794 or prior to 1807. She is listed as Susanna Barkhouse, or Susanna Ruppert. This ancestor is the mother of Anna [Catherine] Barbara Hiltz (b. July 1801) who married John Redden (b. November 9, 1799). John Redden is my great-grandmother’s great-grandfather.

Susanna is also listed as Anna, Catherine, or Barbara for a given name. She is even listed as Anna Barbara ROBAR in a Lunenburg marriage record to John Jacob Hiltz. Almost everywhere I look there is conflicting information.

A Nova Scotia HILTZ researcher has her as Catherine Anna Barbara Ruppert and that she was a united empire loyalist. Her grandfather died fighting on the British side and her father died on board a ship they were being evacuated to Nova Scotia on. She was raised by an aunt in Nova Scotia. I don’t know the aunts name but that may be where the Barkhouse name came from. He has more information, but he seems to be unable to hand over the information.

It is important to note that there were no RUPPERT family members in Nova Scotia.This is why I am thinking that she may have been sent away to Nova Scotia to live with an aunt and other relatives when she was really young.

I have had difficulties coming up with a birth record for her with a 1775 birthdate under any of her names in Nova Scotia. There doesn’t seem to be any marriage records prior to her marrying John Jacob Hiltz.

From Blair G Whynacht:
I’m a direct descendant of John Jacob Hiltz and I have information stating that he married Anna Barbara Ruppert on April 12, 1801 either in Chester or Lunenburg. Anna was born in 1778 and died on October 31, 1818. I believe she’s buried in the St. Stephen’s Anglican Cemetery in Chester. Jacob is buried there as well. After Anna died, Jacob married Anna Corney Floyd on June 19, 1819.

I have some information that states when Anna’s father Frederick died on the passage to Halifax, he had recomended that his children be taken cared for by his brother Christopher, also on board the same ship. He resided in Magowaggonish. Anna’s sister appeared when Christopher filed claim for Frederick’s land in Feb of 1787 and she appeared as being 12 years old and Anna did not appear. She was about 9 years old and lived with Daniel Mickler, who married her aunt and they resided in Shelbrune.

When I visited the Family History Center in the Ross Farm Museum in New Ross where some of my Hiltz ancestors once lived, I was told by a Ronald Barkhouse who works at the center that Jacob Hiltz did not marry a Barkhouse woman and all the church records seem to point to Ruppert. Jacob and Anna had 9 children 3 daughters first, followed by 6 sons. The 2 youngest sons were twins born on March 15, 1813 and they both drowned on April 30, 1815. I’m a descendant of Jacob and Anna’s son Jacob Jr. who married Elizabeth Corkum and they lived in the New Ross area. Well I hope this information is of some help to you.

What I know about Catherine Ruppert’s family is they were Germans brought over by Britain to settle in South Carolina. According to “Loyalists in the Southern Campaign, Volume I”, there are muster records of both Frederick and Henry Rupert being South Carolina Royalists in Captain Faight Risinger’s Company in Savannah, Georgia. Henry dies on October 2, 1779 (1776). Frederick fights in Colonel Thomas Pearson’s Regiment, Little River Militia, 96th Brigade from March 1782 to December 1782. Catherine Rupert, a widow is becomes a refugee with a Mary and Margaret and get donations for being Distressed Refugees. Refugees would escape to Nova Scotia.

Henry and Fredrick Rupert were mustered in the same Company, which could suggest that they may be related. One of them died in 1776. This would be consistant with the theory that the grandfather Rupert died in the war with the son surviving only to die in the evacuation. There are 3 widows, 1 mother with one child with the surname Rupert
in the 96th District. It may be possible that the mother of my ancestor was Margaret Rupert, since she is not widowed in 1782. One of the widows could be a grandmother of my ancestor.