Origin, Name Occurrence and Tradition

The oldest definitely known ancestor of the Swedish family Hahr, with its branches in the Baltic countries, Germany, [Canada],and the United States, is the farmer Thomas Haar in the village of Gehmkendorf, in Jördenstorf parish, ten miles north-northeast of the town of Teterow in the eastern part of Mecklenburg, Germany, near the border to the part of Pomerania then under Swedish rule. Thomas Haar’s year of birth is unknown. However, it is known that on November 27, 1656 he was married, and that he was buried in Jördenstorf on August 2, 1676. The name of his wife was Maria Suhr, years of birth and death unknown.¹

This Thomas may have been the son in the first marriage of a Hans Haar, married for the second (?) time on December 2, 1652 in Jördenstorf to Haddewicht (Hedvig) Mellien, and buried there on February 24, 1653. Thomas had nine children, four sons and five daughters. The oldest son, Hinrich, baptized on May 7, 1662, year of death unknown, was married on October 19, 1688 in Jördenstorf to Margaretha Dose, formerly married to Hinrich Westphal. who had died in 1687. Hinrich Haar was a man of high standing in his village and became "Kirchenjurat"² in the parish.

Hinrich’s younger brother Jürgen, baptized on March 11, 1665 and buried in Belitz on September 12, 1732, had been married since October 23, l69l to Eva Westphal, daughter of his sister-in-law in her first marriage, and baptized in Jördenstorf on July 2, 1672, died after 1740. This Jürgen, two years after his marriage, became the tenant of the feudal estate Klein Markow, in Schorrentin parish near the town of Neukahlen, and belonging, like Gehmkendorf, to the family von Levetzow^2A. At the time of his death, and ever since 1727, he was the tenant of the feudal estate Große Wüstenfelde in Belitz parish near Teterow, belonging to the family von der Kettenburg.³

How the farmer’s son, Jürgen Haar, could rise to be the tenant of a feudal estate is a question of particular interest, but must, at least for the time being, be left unanswered. The farmers in Mecklenburg, as is well known, were, at the time, serfs ("glebæ adscripti", comes from the Danish "stavnsbaandet"). If a farmer’s son or daughter wished to change domicile or choose a profession in which freedom of movement would be required, they had to buy their freedom. Even more money was needed to take over a lease. The tenant usually had to pay for all living and dead inventory on the estate and, most of the time, in addition, had to pay a substantial advance on the rent. All honor is due Jürgen and his wife Eva that they did overcome these difficulties, an achievement which should be noted with gratitude by their descendants.

Jürgen Haar’s oldest son, who in baptism received the name Hinrich, presumably after his maternal grandfather, was born on August 18, 1693, in Klein Markow, and was baptized in Schorrentin on August 20.

On August 12,1708, he started his apprenticeship with the merchant Christian Thurman in Rostock, where he remained until the month of June, 1715, when he moved to Sweden and was employed by Mr. Casper Habermann in Gothenburg. However, he left this mercantile establishment in September, 1717 and arrived in Stockholm, where he obtained "condition" (employment) with Mr. Simon Fredrik Küsel. Two years later he started with Mr. David Hildebrand , member of the [Swedish] Board of Trade.⁴

After the death of the latter in 1720, Hinrich Hahr⁵ set up for himself and on April 30, 1723, married Anna Kristina Küsel, born on November 4, 1704 in Stockholm, and the daughter of his former employer, the merchant Simon Fredrik Küsel and Christina Margarethe Albrec(h)t, both of German origin, Küsel from Lübeck. Hinrich Hahr died as a wholesale merchant and also "Kirchenvorsteher"⁶ i n the German parish in Stockholm on June 12, 1747, His widow survived him for thirty one years and died on December 28, 1778 at Hollola in Finland, where she was living with her daughter Eva Hyllén, wife of the local minister.

From this Hinrich Hahr and his wife Anna Kristina, née Küsel, the Swedish family Hahr with its foreign [non-Swedish] branches has its nearest origin.

The family name Haar with its variations Hahr, Haer, Hare, Harre, Harn, as well as Hahren or (with or without "von") appears fairly often in northern Germany, especially in Lower Saxony, Hanover and Westphalia, and in Schleswig-Holstein. The spelling with aa, ah, ae, or are (ahre), are only various ways of denoting the long a - sound [e.g.car]. Those who maintained the church records in Jördenstorf, Schorrentin, and Belitz, consistently spelled with aa, Hinrich Hahr, however, at least after he became a resident of Stockholm, always spelled his [last] name with ah, which spelling his descendants have maintained without exception.

In high German "Haar" means "hair". In older low German, the word "Hâr" signifies a tool for sharpening of scythes, "whetstone", In certain low German dialects it means linen, (comes from south-Swedish "hör"). Seen topographically, the German "Haar" is a term for ridges in the northern German heath land. Especially well-known is the long ridge "die Haar", which runs along the small rivers Möhne and Ruhr in Westphalia. The road along the top of the ridge is generally called "der Haarweg". Corresponding to this, the East Swedish "har" is used as a term for a shoal. "Haar" is also known as a place name, i.e. the village Haar near Neuhaus not far from the lower Elbe⁷ river, and Haaren near Lippe, not far from Hamm. The fairly important town Haar in Bavaria should also be mentioned.

The following may be mentioned regarding the occurrence of the family name and its distribution in Germany. The central office for Lower Saxonian Genealogy in 1929 published "Familienkunde des Landes Kehdingen" by H. Borstelman, in which one chapter is devoted to bearers of the name Haar in its various spellings.⁸ Kehdingen is the stretch of land south of the lower parts of the river Elbe between Stade and the mouth of the stream Oste opposite the old fortress town Glückstadt.

The first Haar (Haer) known there, was cultivating land in 1381 in Assel parish. Several people with this or a corresponding name appear later on in the parishes Bützfleth, Drochtersen, Abbenfleth, Dornbusch and others, The bearers of the name usually are "Kätner", "Pflugkätner", or "Erbgesessener". A "Kätner"⁹ corresponds closest to our "crofter", but owns his own land. In order to earn his full living he must also take on outside work as day laborer or craftsman. An "Erbgesessener"’ is more like our "farmer", and owns sufficient land so that added employment is not needed for his livelihood.

A family Haar(Haer) at one time resided in Flensburg in Schleswig¹⁰. The well-known "Moller’s Lineage Tables" there, note that the family had come from Westphalia by way of Stade, which possibly could have a connection with the bearers of the name in Kehdingen. In Stade a Thomas Haer was mentioned as early as 1511. Ditmar Haer, born in Stade around 1560, died as "Ratsherr" in Flensburg in 1619 without leaving male descendants. His grandfather is said to have been a merchant in Dortmund. His daughter Metta was married in 1619 to Balhasar von Oesede and died in l681.

In the German part of southern Jutland the family name Haar occurs commonly in the Schwansen peninsula between the stream Schlei and the Eckenförde bay, especially in the parishes of Karby, Sieseby and Rieseby, the names of which suggest a Danish-speaking population.¹¹ The great grandfather of the informant lived in Tranbüll near Kappeln, not far from Schwansen. He writes, "I assume that the Mecklenburg Haars also originate from Schleswig-Holstein. This also applies to the watchmaker Karl Haar, whom I encountered in Stolp, Rear Pomerania. In Hamburg we had numerous close relatives with the name Haar, but of these, no less than 21 lost their lives during the air raids (during World War II)".

Information has been received from Kiel, in Holstein, that a Lorentz Haar was mentioned in 1598 in "Bremer’s Chronicle"¹² A Mrs. Springer, née Haar, in 1947 accounted for six generations of Haars, originating from Brodersby parish, Schwansen¹³ , A Henning Haar from Kappeln became a resident of Kiel in 1862.¹⁴ The Kiel telephone directory in 1947 contained no less than about twenty people with the name Haar, the one from Flensburg only two.

The then Lieutenant of the Reserve of the 4th Lorrainian Infantry Regiment, Otto Hahr, J.D. in a letter dated: Bitsch April 13, 1909, has communicated the following facts:

This Otto Hahr survived World War I and is mentioned in the Honor Roll (Ehrenrangliste) published in 1918 as Corps Quartermaster attached to an Army Corps Staff in Posen (Poznan). The spelling, common with that of the Swedish family, should be noted.

In this connection, it should be mentioned that the muster roll of the Swedish regiment "The Queen’s  Life Guard at  Foot", which was mainly recruited with Germans, from musterings at Elbing in West Prussia during 1657, 1658 and 1659, includes a "Capitein Ernst Haar", In 1658 the name was spelled Hahr.

The well-known Baltic genealogist Eric Seuberlich has reported that the name also occurs in the former Kingdom of Saxony. August Har, of Elbersdorf near Pirna, in May 1647 was the author of a funeral ode to a certain von Kiesewetter, which was printed in Dresden. Conrad Hahr from Merseburg studied at the university there in 1684. Also in southern Germany the name occurs sporadically as well as among Germans in Hungary-Siebenbürgen.¹⁵

A van Haar was the principal of a school in Hamm, Westphalia, toward the end of the 18th century. In the county of Emden, near the city of the same name, several persons by name ter Haar occur around the middle of the 19th century, probably of Dutch origin (cf. page 12).¹⁶

The noble families von Ha(h)ren or Haaren, and von Har, should also be mentioned. A Caspar von Hahren, married to Anna von Langen at the end of the 16th century was the feudal lord (feoffor) of Lahr and Crollage not far from Lübeck.¹⁷ A von Hahren in the early part of the 18th century was the Swedish diplomatic representative in Regensburg. The same name may also be found in Lewenhaupt’s "The warriors of Charles XII". A von Har may be found on a grave stone in the Riddarholm church in Stockholm. In a book published in 1937 regarding this church, the following may be read: Tombstone number 109. Along the bottom of the old stone, a shield, the lower part of which is missing; In the shield, a mark of the combined letters M. L.  Above this, is inscribed, Hindrich von Har l628.¹⁸

Also in Courland ^18A, a noble family by the name von Haaren is found. The name of this family may originally have been von Horne, and originates from the village Hörne near Osnabrück. In its escutcheon were two horns.¹⁹ [Nils H. J.] Åkerstein in his memoirs, "En krigares ungdomsminnen"²⁰ mentions that during a visit to Frankfurt am Main in 1814 he became acquainted with a Baron von Hahr, a student at Heidelberg university, born in Courland, and, as he worded it, "a much too a nice lad."²¹

The German colonization of the Baltic provinces also brought bearers of the name Haar there. As is well known, in later years,²² branches of the Swedish family Hahr have also resided there. One of their members, Theodor Hahr, b. 1858, d. 1942. in Pernau, Estonia, was the author of a chronicle on this part of the family. In connection with this, he also tried to clarify the origin of the family, and in 1937 wrote to the well-known German-Baltic genealogist Adelheim, among other things the following:

The Second World War and the disturbances and upsets which preceded or followed it, however, laid insurmountable barriers in the way of proving this bold hypothesis of Theodor Hahr’s. First during the year [1954], the question of Jürgen Haar’s origin was solved. There is no indication of any connection between the soil-bound farmers Haar in Gehmkendorf and the family tor or zur Haar in Reval.

The latter family carried a commoners' coat-of-arms, the shield figure of which was an upright lion turned to the right. The same figure is found in the coats-of-arms of Heinrich von Plauens, Grand Master of the German Order of Knights, and of the Saxon town of Plauens. Probably some zur Haar had been one of this GrandMaster’s followers and had assumed this coat-of-arms.²³ The last member of this family, Heinrich zur Haar, died in 1666.

Occasionally bearers of the name Haar are also found in Holland. Among them have been noted the poet and theologist Bernhard ter Haar (1806 - 1880) and during recent years a radio astronomer of the same name.

The Scandinavian countries remain. In Denmark the name occurs often, Here it should be noted that in Denmark "aa" denotes the close a-sound (as in all). In order to make this sound long, an "h" is sometimes inserted, Haahr.

Mr. Helge Haar, a high school teacher in Ribe, in a letter from 1929 mentions the following concerning the Danish bearers of the name. According to a very loose tradition the family name derives from a small village Haar not far from Århus in Jutland. In eastern Denmark the name occurs more sparsely. However, it is borne by several families in eastern Jutland. The writer himself belonged to an old clerical family whose ancestor Peder Rasmussen Haar was the first Lutheran minister in Nyborg. Two noble families Haar, now extinct, had also existed.²⁴ Finally the assumption was brought forth in the letter, that a Norwegian family of the same name was of Danish origin.

This assumption has been partially corroborated.²⁵ The many varied ways of spelling the name has however made research difficult. It has been written Hardt, Haar, Har, and lately Harr. That the a-sound in Norway [as in arbor] is the correct one and not å-sound [as in all], becomes obvious in the name form Hardt. When it became customary there to spell the a-sound [as in all] with "aa" according to the Danish pattern, which was done until 1917, the consequence was that Haar also in Norway became pronounced with the a-sound. It then became necessary to write Har, which subsequently was changed to Harr, a family name still occurring in northern Norway. The reason for the spelling "Harr" among others, is supposed to have been to avoid the common nicknames "hare" and "harunge" [hare, and hare baby, respectively], well known also to us Swedish Hahrs. In older Norwegian "har" means high or tall.

The families Har existing in Norway are one clerical family and one noble family. The oldest ancestor of the former, Mikkel Nielsen Haar, first was a monk, but in 1576 is mentioned as the Lutheran minister of Barlöse, Denmark. His descendant in the third generation was Niels Pedersen Haar, born in Odense 1668, died 1712 in Norway as the minister of Torup, Bores. In the 17th century there was a clerical family Haar in Trondarnäs, northern Norway. From the Trondarnäs ministers the Ofoten family Har or Harr probably descends, the first member of which, Peder Raphaelsson Har, lived at Liland, Ofoten around 1675. A great-grandson of his, Ole Olsen Harr, born 1741, died 1795, had seven children, of which, only one daughter reached maturity. She was married to a substantial farmer of the Aas family. One of their sons was named Ole Harr, and from him all by the name Harr in northern Norway descend.

The noble family Haar became extinct on the male side already during the l6th century. A female member of the family was married to the district judge Trond Benkestokk of Melöy and Jordanger, born 1495, died 1558. Another one was married to Palle Lauritzen Friis of Löndegård, beheaded for the murder of his wife in 1616.

A family Har may also be found in Sweden. The death records from Enånger, Hälsingland, for 1772, report the following: "On October 2 died, and on the 13th was buried, the old master craftsman at Långvinds Company, Nils Isacsson Har. He was born in 1725 in Sundsvall, and was the son of the master shipwright Isac Nilsson Har and his wife Lisa Johansdotter; at the age of 18 he came here to the parish and to Långvinds Co., married June 24, 1750 to the widow Margareta Olofsdotter, who survives him, and who bore him four. children, two sons and two daughters; the sons are dead. The deceased had a good knowledge of Christianity, but lived badly in drunkenness and disturbance of the peace; died of stroke going on 67 years of age". The smith Anders Haar, who died in Stockholm in 1880 may possibly have been related to this family. To this may be added an item supplied by the formerly mentioned genealogist Seuberlich in 1937:

"Har", as has been mentioned before, in eastern Swedish dialects means "shoal", and may well have been assumed as a family name by coastal inhabitants. Research so far has been unable to disclose any proven connection between the (Haar—Hahr)family from Mecklenburg and other families here mentioned of the same or similar names.

An old family tradition should be mentioned in this connection. According to this tradition, two sons of Jürgen Hahr should have gone into Russian service. The older son, Teodosius Joachim, born 1702, should have become a major general, and the younger one, Herman Hart(w)ig, born 1708, a doctor and "inspector of all hospitals in Russia. The ancestor of the younger Hahr family branch in the Baltic countries, Theodor Hahr, Sr. in Riga, grandfather of the above-mentioned Theodor Hahr in Pernau, in 1860 made a search of the Russian War Department archives concerning the major general. The result of this search was that the Russian War Department sent a copy²⁶ of a letter from the well-known adversary of Charles XII, Field Marshal Scheremetjev.

In the letter he orders that "the foreigner", Peter Johannes Sohn Gelden Ha(h)r, who had been admitted into the Russian army on July 3, 1716 as a major, and who originally was to assume some vacant post as the local commandant of a town, should remain instead with his division for the purpose of filling a major’s vacancy in some regiment when available. This obviously concerns a person other than Teodosius Joachim who was only fourteen years old at the time. The name Gelden Ha(h)r would most likely seem to indicate Dutch origin. The Dutch connections of Tzar Peter I are well known.

No Haar or Hahr occurs among all the higher officers and government officials who were included in the book "Neuverändertes Russland oder Leben  Catharina der Zweiten" (Riga & Leipzig 1772) with its appendix "Etat von Russland 1770". E. Amburger Ph.D²⁷, the foremost expert at the present time on the genealogy of foreign families in the old Russia, in 1947 reported that he knew the names of practically all Russian generals during the 18th century, but that among them was no one by name Hahr (Haar). An inquiry with the Soviet Russian Legation in Stockholm for remittance to the proper archives has not been found worthy of a reply.

The tradition regarding the physician Herman art(w)ig, however, seems to have been corroborated. Dr. W. Lenz at the town archives in Stade, also in 1947, found in "Geschichte der Medizin im Russland" (Moscow 1817), by W. M. von Richter, that a surgeon Ha(h)r, in Russian "Ghar", had been buried in Moscow on November 12, 1760, which year of death could apply to Herman Hart(w)ig,. He also occurs as a "doubtful debtor" in the estate of his brother Hinrich Hahr in 1748.²⁸

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Footnotes

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1	The church records of Jördenstorf, the oldest one from 1647, in the Cathedral Archives of Ratzeburg (1953). The genealogist G. Bruegmann, Rostock, Germany, has the honor of obtaining this information. (Cf. page 11 etc.)
2	Should correspond to "Church Elder".
2A	[It should be noted that there is a town called Levetzow on the way to Klein Markow --- LAH 2002]
3	Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin.
4	Old family annotation of unknown hand.
5	Sometime after he arrived in Sweden he started spelling his last name as Hahr instead of Haar.
6	Corresponds closest to "Church Warden".
7	Reported by P. Tramsen in Flensburg.
8	Number 3 of the series of publications.
9	Also spelled"Kötner".
10	Town records, Flensburg.
11	Reported by Rev. Johann Haar in Oeversee, near Flensburg.
12	City records, Kiel.
13	City records, Kiel.
14	City records, Kiel.
15	The Hungarian Marek Haar (Stockholm telephone dir, 1953).
16	"Deutsche Sippen-Namen", 24:74, 35:66.
17	City records, Lübeck, Pincier misc.
18	Volume 2, page 751
18A	If you want to read more about Courland, this site is interesting. This site was valid as of 12/31/2001. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5539/courland/courland.html Also the site below  will show you the map as it existed in 1648 after the Peace of Westphalia: Historical  Map of Europe in 1648 - Peace of Westphalia links to other maps are shown on web page:  HahrGen_pics.htm
19	Gen, Handbuch der balt, Ritterschaften 3:1, page 300,
20	An approximate English title would be: "A Warrior's Memories of His  Youth ".
21	Page 37. Probably Carl v. H., squire, Prussian Captain, born 1785, died 1835.
22	From the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s.
23	Reported by Professor August Hahr after a visit to Marienburg in 1936. [This person is probably the August Hahr  who was professor of Art History at Uppsala University born Oct 29, 1868 and died May 21, 1947.   -- LAH Jan 2002]
24	See de Hofman: Directory of Danish Nobility.
25	Reported by Social Service Inspector M. Harr in Narvik.
26	July 7, 1860 exp. nr. 8112.
27	Berlin, Charlottenburg.
28	An Imperial Physician to the Tzar, Friedrich Haar, born 7/18 1813, year of death unknown, has been assumed to be a possible descendant of the above-mentioned Herman Hart(w)ig. After a closer check, it has been found, however, that the birthplace of the former was the church village Mötzingen in Würtemberg [Germany]. No provable genealogical connection between these two therefore seems to exist, Friedrich Haar’s great grandson, Arthur Douglas Hahr, born 4/4 1930 in Helsinki, has become a Swedish citizen, and is now a Lieutenant in the Royal Swedish Air Force.

Last revised: 05/15/03