Martin and his family were in Lancaster County east of the Susquehanna River at Conewago in 1736. Daughter Barbara and son Peter were born there in 1736 and 1740, respectively. Martin’s carpenter trade required that he be away from home often from before dawn until after dark. Thus most days Margaretha was alone raising the children. In her memoir, she describes a crisis she underwent at Conewago. She began to run away from the house, but the crying of her children she had left behind caused her to return. This may have contributed to Martin’s decision to try farming. He took out a warrant for 200 acres of land in Lancaster County west of the Susquehana at Little Conewago. It included the area now occupied by the town of Littlestown in (now) Adams County. The warrant bears the date July 2, 1741. Martin also received a warrant for 50 acres adjoining the original 200 acres on Jun 7, 1743.

Due to a flaw in the founding charter of Pennsylvania (1681), the land west of the Susquehanna River was claimed by both Maryland and Pennsylvania. In the 1730s, Marylander Thomas Cresap was actively trying to establish Maryland’s claim to the region. Cresap’s actions included forcibly removing settlers who did not recognize Lord Baltimore’s authority. Collectively these actions are known as Cresap’s War. Cresap himself was captured by Lancaster County Sheriff Samuel Smith in November 1736. Thomas Cresap was transferred to a Philadelphia jail where he remained for eight months. With Cresap held by the Pennsylvanians in jail at Philadelphia, the Maryland Governor Samuel Ogle appointed Charles Higginbotham to take over the effort previously headed by Cresap. The following incident, known in Maryland records as “The Revolt of the Germans” depicts the situation on the ground.
On August 11, 1736, 54 “Germans” sent a letter to Lord Baltimore informing him that they mistakenly had Thomas Cresap survey their land and that they have decided to place themselves under the Pennsylvania government. Lord Baltimore issued warrants for the arrest of all 54 signers on October 21, 1736. In May 1737, Lord Baltimore’s officers rode up and seized Hendrick Hahn, Michael Danner, Conrad Strickler and Jacob Welshover, who were all attending the funeral of a neighbor’s child. They were taken to Annapolis, Maryland and thrown into jail with fourteen others, who were engaged in what the Maryland government considered a revolt. They were all later released and allowed to return to their homes.

Another Marylander involved in the Little Conewago area was John Digges. He held a Maryland warrant for 10,000 acres issued in 1727. Digges’ Choice, as it was to be known was surveyed in 1732, but only 6822 acres were included. The 250 acres of land that Martin Hauser’s Pennsylvania warrants described were part of Digges’ Choice and hence also claimed by Maryland. This dispute over the land west of the Susquehanna continued until 1767 when the border survey of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon was completed.

Martin did not return the warrants for a patent on the land. Instead, he applied for a warrant on 110 acres in Maryland a few miles south of the Pennsylvania location. The warrant bears the date December 18, 1744. Martin sold the 200 acre warrant to Andrew Hall on June 4, 1745 for a consideration of ninety pounds.
On to Maryland

A patent on the land known as “Houser’s Choice,” in Maryland, in (then) Prince George’s County was issued to Martin Houser [sic] on April 15, 1745. The 1745 patent was based on a survey of that date by Deputy Surveyor of Prince George’s County, Thomas Cresap. The Hauser family lived on the farm, but by 1751 was considering new land. To that end, the two oldest sons, Johann Geörg (age 21) and Michael (age 20) set out for North Carolina to look for better land. Meanwhile, early in 1752, Martin and Margaretha’s daughter Barbara married Dietrich (Dieter) Danner, son of Michael Danner

The young Hauser men, Georg and Michael, returned in November of 1752 to the great joy of the rest of the family who had feared that they were dead. Not only did they return unscathed, they had news that Michael had purchased a tract of land near the new Moravian settlement of Wachovia. In this time of celebration, Barbara and Dieter presented Martin and Margartha with their first grandchild, a daughter named (appropriately) Margaret, born December 2, 1752.

The Hauser family spent most of the 1753 growing season in Maryland, preparing for the trip to North Carolina. Michael married Anna Cunigunda Fiscus shortly after his return from the scouting trip. Georg married Anna Margaretha Elrod July 19, 1753.
Martin sold the 110 acre tract of land known as Houser’s Choice to John Storum on April 13 of 1753. The consideration was ten pounds. The buyer, John Storum was not a stranger to the Hausers. He married Dieter Danner’s sister, Marie Elizabeth in 1755. Thus at the time of the 1753 sale, he was Barbara Hauser Danner’s future brother-in-law.

Martin and his extended family, a party of nine, left Maryland for North Carolina in August of 1753. Two family members stayed behind, son Jacob and daughter Barbara. Jacob eventually joined them in North Carolina late in 1759. Barbara was married to Dieter Danner, stayed in Frederick County, Maryland.

Beginning in Wachovia

The Hauser party arrived in the Yadkin River valley October 22, 1753. The three families (George and Anna Margaretha, Michael and Anna Cunagunda, and Martin and Margaretha and three sons: Martin,Jr., Peter and Daniel) settled on Michael’s land on the Yadkin. The three families worked together clearing fields and building houses.