Rob Lowe explores the life of his Hessian soldier forefather!
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Rob Lowe traces his ancestry back to a family member who took part in the American Revolutionary War. However, what prevents him from being acknowledged as a hero, alongside other veterans?
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My Dad's side of the family, came over from Darmstadt, Hesse . He landed in Baltimore, and settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
This was in the 1840's, long after the war. His name was Christopher Wahl.
My Dad's side came here too as Hessian soldiers. Two brothers. One stayed behind under the offering by Congress, the other returned to Germany to settle family affairs, then returned a year later with his wife, son, and elderly mother. My Aunt was into tracing the family tree and found all kinds of documents and letters detailing their migration to the USA. Very interesting stuff.
And I’ll bet all legally emigrated?
We’re they Bruner’s?
Ai gude wie!? Would the people in Hessen say. 😂
@@pushmoje Ei jo!
@@m.asquino7403 Congress asked them to switch sides. Later Benjamin Franklin hated that Germans and others didn't assimilate. They still kept their culture and language.
A very interesting description of a piece of our common history. Greetings from Frankfurt in Hessen, Germany
I learned several years ago, through research and DNA, that I had an ancestor with a similar story. His name was Balthazar Kaltwasser, a Hessian conscript of the Third Waldeck Regiment, who was captured by the Spanish and imprisoned in New Orleans. He escaped the prison and made his way up the Mississippi River, then up the Ohio River, where he joined George Rogers Clark’s Regiment, and Americanized his name to John Coldwater.
Wow, that is very interesting!!
So he was traitorous scum, good to know.
Dave, your detailled family history can not be achieved by DNA results.
@@henningbartels6245 "through *RESEARCH* and DNA"
He wasn't saying just DNA evidence.
@@b99b12 how could DNA tests help with this research anyways? When these tests usually can't distiguish between Dutch, German, Swiss or northern French ancestory - how would they pinpoint a Hessian from Waldeck?!
Although Americans love these dna test, but they are not precise and often misleading and more for entertainment. Maybe they can confirm family trees and research done in old records but not replace it.
I studied battles such as Trenton in school and continued to read about them later in life. Finding out through genealogy that my 6th great grandfather fought at Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, and Monmouth Courthouse, as well as endured Valley Forge, was just mind-blowing to me.
That is mind blowing. After my daughter in law heard family stories about Revolutionary War ancestors, I did a in-depth research and found 5 ancestors who fought 👍
My Grandmother was in the DAR, she would tell me all about her family's role in the Revolution. All my names are based off my Ancestors in the Revolution.
I am obsessed with revolutionary and civil war. Rob - you should play your ancestor. These real life stories are exactly what America must never forget
I agree I think he would make a great soldier.
This is amazing!! My husbands ancestor was a hessian soldier who stayed and named his first son George Washington Kinzle !! I thought more than 15 % hessians stayed here though.
I recall being taught that twice as many, 30%, stayed.
Gen. Washington & the Continental Congress showing the organizing strength and the farsighted wisdom of compassion.
Rob Lowe being the manifest evidence of the power of faith in the idea of freedom, and this nation's turbulent promise of equality.
I love studying genealogy, it makes history come alive. ❤️
I am proud to say that Lieutenant Durden, who was with General Washington at the crossing of the Delaware, is in my family tree. Also, the Castleman's who provided horses to General Washington in the same time frame, are my direct ancestors.
@MorganLaFae, I live right down the block from the Delaware River. I use to have to go fish my kid brothers out of it before my Mom murdered them. Fun times.
Was he Tyler Durden?
@@TransoceanicOutreach Don't have the paperwork handy. My aunt and I talked about going to see his grave marker. Seems there's a statue there as well. It's on private property and we have to provide proof we're from the Durden family. That's easily done!
I’m told that my ancestor was a Hessian soldier who deserted and took on the name of a German woman he met in the US named Adler. They settled in Ohio and later Indiana .. this video helped explain quite a bit
What an interesting story, about which I knew very little. How handsome, intelligent and articulate Rob is too!
Yep he's not just a pretty face. He's intelligent, rational and well spoken.
Despite the violence towards Americans, the level of grace, forgiveness, understanding and welcome the Americans showed & offered to the Hessians must have been just absolutely mind blowing to those men!
To bad.. now.. that story was the idea of America..
America needed more settlers, and so the Hessian soldiers benefitted from that.
@@normaredman2198 Also there were already established German communities in the colonies by that time, so it would not have been difficult to settle and ultimately assimilate.
It was. The stories of the men that came back triggered many emmigration waves over here. I'm from rural Hessia and everything is pretty well documented. Around 10% of the people in my area left. There was no opportunity here, basically feudalism. In America you could get land and be free. My relatives went to Canada, Niagra Falls area as far as i know.
@@normaredman2198
Yes. They probably also saw on early that those people weren't fighting for their own interests.
The real history unlike what the schools teach . Look at the neat hand writing . It’s beautiful.
I was thinking the same thing about the writing and the book was so well preserved.
@@marywood8794 They said it was a replica. They've done a great job making it look like an old book. Also, it took me a while to realise, but it was in English. The original text would have been written in German.
@@carokat1111 That makes sense. I probably missed that because every time I watch something my kids make sure that to make noise so that I never hear the whole thing! Lol
@@carokat1111 The replica could be very old anyway. It might be from the 19th century, for example, and therefore be authentic. Of course I don't know, but it's possible that it's actually a very old book.
What do "the schools teach?" This fits well with the view of US History I got in school.
George Washington is in my family tree and it's so crazy that years later, to learn Rob Lowes ancestor and mine crossed paths in such an incredible way.
The fact that he went all the way to Marburg to look up his ancestors is kinda sweet.
Hope he liked it.
And Fürstenhagen is really tiny.
My mother & sister lived in Newtown, Pa. for many years. Drove by that church many times.
There's a story behind every side in a civil war. Thank you for sharing this one.
This wasn’t the civil war my friend
ROB still so great looking!!!
I love this, history under every stone. Greetings from Hamburg, gateway for thousands to the US and south America.
I always get emotional hearing these stories
Thank you for sharing a piece of history that the books don't teach, compassion. At first, when I heard Washington marched them through town, I thought ill of that, but then the decree that is offered is so generous beyond measure. ♥
My husband just found out through his lineage that he too had a 4th generation Great that served as a Hessian Soldier and he came from Hess. It would be great for someone such as Rob Lowe to compose a movie on The Hessians. I read that 5000 stayed in our countries. His Great was granted 1000 acres in York,Adams County in Pennsylvania. One stayed here and a brother migrated to Alberta.
I had an American forefather who was courtmartialed for refusing to fight beside the French auxiliaries that came with Lafayetter. They were Catholic and he was Protestant. But he got his sentence commuted because they needed soldiers so badly.
As an immigrant living in Hessia , Hessian history is an underrated gem.
Nobles from Hessia married into the royal family of Russia and the Netherlands.
Russian czar Catherine the Great was of Hessian origin
Respect. Thank you Rob.
This is blowing my mind. We already have the history of our Hessian soldier who fought against the revolutionaries. Our Hessian soldier chose to join the revolution on the American side. His name was Charles and he settled in PA to become married and have eight children. Many of us are in Ohio now but were originally living in PA. My aunt has been able to completely document this and is now in the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution.) Who knew that my ancestor Charles was more than likely in the same regiment as Rob Lowe's ancestor?
I wonder if you and I are related. I can trace my ancestors back to that as well. I believe near lurgan pa. I have photos of a hessian cemetery where my ancestors are but sadly they didn’t put names on the stones.
@@christopherluce3294 My ancestor, the Hessian soldier, was Charles Harkless. I'm afraid I don't have very much information beyond what I've already mentioned.
I absolutely love these stories.
My Hessian ancestors founded a township in New Jersey.
Amazing history lesson about our country. I think Rob Lowe is proud of his heritage as he should be. On a side note, I wonder what George Washington would think of our country today?
Me too and our Heavenly Father.
That’s amazing never knew that side of history
What side?
Three Americans were wounded at Trenton. One was James Monroe, fifth President.
So… this incredibly handsome guy has some German roots…. Pretty good genes from there, right?! 🤩
Wow, what a journey….
What an incredible story.
how come the diary are in english and not in german?
Mr. Lowe, we have two things in common. I also grew up in Dayton, but my Hessian ancestor surrendered at Yorktown.
So you're descended from a bunch of losers, lol
A lot of those Hessen POW were settled here in the Shenandoah Valley because the of the German migrants that came from Pensilvania migrating south for lands that they settled.
Wow, everyone has heard the stories of the Hessian soldiers in American history, but here is living proof, I knew a few decided to stay in America, and wondered what would make them decide this, now I know.
I found Loyalists in my family tree. They left for Canada and fought with the British.
Hubby's also. Some interesting stories.
My great great great grandfather also was a Hessian soldier.. I read that they started training them at 7 yrs old... he fought in the Revolutionary War and was captured by Paul Revere's brigade... he was convinced to fight with the Patriots and stayed in America and raised a family... after they were told the truth about the war many decided to fight with Americans not against them... It says that one of his daughters married into the John Q Adams family... My mother said that her father and his brother who were the descendants of the soldier... were really big men... they could hardly find shirts big enough to fit... I guess the brother was so strong he literally fought bears at some carnival in the Dakotas... I suppose that's why they were selected to fight... They were considered mercenary soldiers as the King or whatever they're called of Germany was paid for their services. They were considered one of the best soldiers ever and the Americans highly respected them.. they were given land if they fought and survived. I also read that about 3000 died in the war and 5000 stayed behind in America and they are probably the reason we won that war... This left so few Hessian soldiers for Germany this group was basically disbanded as they didn't have enough after the War.
Why would a Hessian German soldier write a diary in English?? Obviously a great deal of poetic license here!
Hessian children have been taught how to write English diaries and how to use computer font in public schools for over 300 years!!11! ;-)
I had many ancestors that fought in the American Revolution, all patriots. One of them my 5th great grandfather, was on duty one day when George Washington rode up beside him on his horse. Washington pulled out his spyglass and was looking at the British then he casually handed it over to my 5th ggf and told him to take a look after which a long conversation ensued. Proud to say I'm also a distant cousin of Washington.
Just think, some want to bury this history and more.
Erm why would they want to “bury” this history?
Hessen owed money and protection to Great Britain , so their soldiers were given no choice where to fight nor when to fight. Hess treated their soldiers as drafted or even slaves with no choice but to be in the army.
Yep.
Same as every army in the history of mankind.
That's not slavery, that's joining the army.
@@fortythird As long as you get paid and can transfer the money back to your family, I agree. There have been many armies in history whose personnel were not paid, in other words, slaves.
@@andrewrobinson2565 ...and the Hessians were not any of them.
So many different paths to America
I wonder what percentage of those Hessian soldiers had little or nothing at home to return to - no property, no inheritance, no wives or children, no position in German society, and vulnerability to the politics and skirmishes within their own country at the time. Over the 50 years following these events, German immigration to the newly formed U.S. had increased 10 fold.
Many of them were forced into subscription. The Hessian Landgraf Friedrich II literally sold his citizens to King George of England and anybody else who asked, in order to finance his debts.
How can a common soldier from Hesse being the first time to America write a diary in flawless English? Dubious.
And on the outside it says "Diary" in German (Tagebuch).
@@AP-RSI if you look closely you see that the text is printed in a font which looks like handwriting but actually the letters are repeating eachother in exactly the same way.
Why do they give the impression, that they show something historical. Or is this type of newly produced book typical in the US?
1:25 he says it’s “a replica” - would seem that the replication involves translation
@@ej3016a "replica" closely resembles the original, it copies the original in the scale 1:1 and is usually made from the same material. That clearly doesn't included a translated version printend with a computer fond. It is simply misleading to call it replica ... and that even from an historian of an university who should know better.
@@henningbartels6245 I had now rather assumed that it was a translation. But if it was copied 1:1, it should be close to the original. If nothing was changed!
My 6th great grandfather Heinrich Linkost was one of these soldiers
Ei gude mosche ihr babbsäck viele Grüße aus Hessen. 🙌
I li e in reading pa where the hessian were held as pows after capture in the battle of trenton
They did a wonderful thing for those men. However, the hypocrisy of the letter was they had the audacity to denounce slavery for that army. Many, not all, of the founding fathers owned slaves, including Washington.
Would a Hessian soldier not write in German ?
Just saying .
yup.
He gets FLUSHED.
My Rosenberg Hessian soldier was captured in January of 1777. He had landed in the US around the end of October 1776. He was held in Lancaster PA and, we think, went AWOL before a prisoner exchange. George number three got cheated out of his services.
fyi these soldiers came from Hessen, now one of the 16 german states. it's pronounced Hessen with a sharp 's'. i wonder when it changed to 'heshian' cause there is no 'sh' in Hessen. anyone knows? i am sure the soldiers from Hessen always called it Hessen with a sharp S. so who changed that?
Agreed! Wonder if he thinks they're Haitians!?! 🤨
@@lovingmayberry307 🙄
How do you know anyone changed it? It's probably just how the people in the video pronounce it.
@@AmandaFromWisconsin because I spent 9 years in the US and being German people brought the Hessians up from time to time and always with a 'sh' :-).
it’s the i in Hessian that changes the pronunciation into what sounds like sh but really isn’t (like nation)
Hey man I need too get in contact with you frfr I have documents that proves my 7th grandfather was a Hessian Soldier during the battle of Trenton. He was captured his story is very interesting
He was also a member of the Von Rall Regiment
I’m very proud to say that I have 2 ancestors of German decent that helped capture Rob Lowe’s ancestors
Haha, later on they drank beer together and sang German Xmas carols.
As many as half the soldiers who remained settled in Canada
I'm curious why the diary is written in English , if he was hessian
Because it was written to document memories for people who read english but not german.
Depending on the schooling he received in Germany he might have been more fluent in written english.
The curator stated it was a replica.
@@RandomStranger246 Replica is not a translation
@@sisuguillam5109 he was a common soldier and not from nobility or rich family who could effort to study foreign languages. Your theory is very unlikely that he was fluent in written English upon his arrival in America.
@@henningbartels6245 do wr know that it was written upon arrival? It doesn't look like a diary but more like a autobiography. And yeah, I know that he was unbelievably poor because the paper in Marburg published an article several years ago when they looked up the family tree in the archive there.
Was this document a translation or did Cristoff write in English. Hessians were German? Interesting.
Hessians are Germans - the only true Germans if you ask me
the original diary must hve been written in German
btw Joe Reuber (the guy who wrote the diary) is from my hometown
@@kleinweichkleinweich are there untrue Germans?!?
At this particular time in history there was no unified germany or a national feeling of being "german". Hessen was one of many minor states comprising the space today known as germany. Germany as a unified concept only emerged in the later part of the 19th century.
@@henningbartels6245 everyone sporting a half swastika Z
@@TheLordFragger back in the day there were two states in Hesse (Landgrafschaft Hessen - Kassel and Hessen Darmstadt) and the free city of Frankfurt. The allied soldiers were from northern Hesse (Landgrafschaft Hessen - Kassel) which includes Schaumburg in modern Lower Saxony (close to Hanover). The elector of Hanover had a part time job as King of England etc. so sending troops to support a direct neighbor with a colonial rebellion was kind of natural.
Rob Lowe looks like Zac Efron in 10 - 15 years.
Or like Zac and Brad Pitt had a love child.
Is there a list of all Hessian Soldiers that served in this war? I'm from Kassel, Hessen in modern day Germany and I am wondering if maybe someone from my Family fought overseas.
My husband’s forefather was from Vaake, Hesse (which we have visited), captured at the Battle of Yorktown (Redoubt 9), sent to Frederick, MD (large German population and married a local woman and stayed in America. The rest, as they say, is our history.
If the Hessians were German, I'm wondering why the soldier's diary would be written in English, and in native- level English at that. Even if he spoke English, you'd think he would have written his diary in his mother tongue. Am I missing something here?
Translated
I was wondering the same.
@@star_fossil but why make it look like a handwritten original document from the time if it is a later translation? Dubious.
Apparently the text in book is a printed font with repeating identical letters and words - not a handwriting. So, why would someone pretend to have something truely historical?
@@henningbartels6245 television? It's cheesy AF
Bear in mind there was probably not a lot to look forward to back in Germany. Kristoff may have come from a family with no land or property of their own and no prospects.
The only word in the broadside that rankles is "Slavery".
A bwtter word would ve Leibeigene... but would translating that into serf work?
He was granted the land by William Penn,whom was granted land at that time. The third brother went back to Germany.
Is this some take of a documentary? Because this "diary" handwriting is clearly a computer font. Just saying. Why the "effort" to make it look old?
I think I have to watch Sleepy Hollow again....
Whoa! Hold on!
You voice over the world "Americans" without it being seen written in that diary!
The Colonists in that part of the country were mostly British anyway!
Where do you think all those English names on the declaration of independence came from, the Apache people??😅
You can find all those names in an English Telephone directory this minnet!
Don't get me wrong, the colonists had a point and thank God they eventually prevailed but never forget who was fighting who at the time.
Well those Germans can write good English in their diaries !
🤣
Why is he so proud
most Americans are proud. Any more questions?
German heritage, that explains the jawline.
Time seems to simply given up on trying to age Rob Lowe.
Was this journal rob was reading from, written by an English soldier or Hessan? If it was Hessan then it would have been written in German wouldn’t it??
Have you heard of the House of Windsor?
Well before 1914 they were
The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha they owned little Hesse, and Saxony,
in what's now part of Germany, and a lot of property, and people other places!
But they lived in England.
They didn't RENT the Hessians.
They OWNED them!
The British royals owned lots of people all over the world. They were one of the largest slavers in the world for over a century.
@@dianenewton3953the British were also the first country to outlaw slavery well before America so your point is ? And what has that got to do with the story ? Hessian soldiers were not slaves. The 18/19th century British Royal Family were German and very much intertwined with European Royalty. Hessian soldiers were mercenaries. Paid to fight. If you are finger pointing at other countries for starting wars, take a look in the mirror.
That's not really true, is it now. They definitly did rent them. German history is far more complicated than you make it out to be. Just looking at a mag of Hessen as it was then will tell you that.
Hessen-Kassel (the Fürstentum) quite a lot a men who ended up in Yorktown came from was not Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Back then, in 1776, it belonged to Langraf Friedrich II of Hesse. But that one had a habit of offering his soldiers as mercenaries to serve in different wars, to finance his debt.
@@dianenewton3953 we got rid of slavery long before you yanks did and patrolled the seas looking to end it elsewhere,but people like to stick it too us these days by giving out half a story.
I traced one of my ancestors back to the Revolutionary War. She would stand by the roadside, and hurl vulgar insults at passing British or American troops. It didn’t matter who they were.
What a saucy and sassy wench she was!
I don't know the temper or personality of my relatives 6 generations ago. That is very unusual since they would be people even my grandparents were not able to meet and tell me about.
The British royal family real name is Saxe Coburg and Gotha they are German ?
Yes, But they are far from Landgraf Friedrich II of Hesse, who ruled Hesse at that time. Germany as a Nation did not yet exist back then in 1776, when he sold his mercenaries to King George of England. It came into existence as a modern Nation only in 1848.
That is the current House of the royal family - not back then. A "House" is like a family name ... it doesn't nean you are German in reality. Rob Lowe has also a family name with probably German origin: Löwe. Though he is still American and not German. And don't forget on the other side of the revolutionary American also German fought.
Don’t mess with Hessen
Guude!
Wait a minute eighteen thousand
Soda pop
While he wasn't Hessian, I have a relative from Westphalia who fought with a German unit against the American rebels. I've never seen that as a reason to be ashamed - after all, the Americans were rebels and they were committing treason by supporting overthrow of the British crown. Also, besides me, my guy Adam Hoffmann is the only other Lutheran in my family!
I'm from the same city as General von Steuben in Germany, who fought with Washington.
German precision 🎉
Always Saw him as a nuance. 🤷♂️
Rob Lowe Pelinka
Rob Loew might be the same guy .. i mean he is ageing at 1/10 the human speed. Dude is 60
The first perp walk!
Hardly
@@drusillawinters212 yeah, your ancestors were probably in an earlier one
@@Marcel_Audubon What Drusilla means to say (and they said this in the video) was that it was common at the time for the conquering army to march the captured through town (sometimes dead BTW). This was was far from the first time this happened in military history.
@@Marcel_Audubon
Defensive much?
That wasn't even Drusilla's point.
@@RS-tz2zn I know, sweetie, I watched the video, I was kidding ... forgot the can-only-interpret-things-literally millennials were here
15 % of the Hessian soldiers stayed in America, 5 % returned home, the historian said. That means that 80% of the poor guys lost their life forced to fight for a cause that wasn´t theirs at all.
the historian said 85% returned home.
Hessian were paid not for loya
and as always - be careful with historical documents - as you can see, the diary is handwritten in English by a German hunter who was brought to America from Germany a few months ago as a subsidy soldier for the British, and nobody sees that - when was this diary written by whom?
That’s a replica of the diary.
@@eg61400 a replica is an identical copy - not a translation or interpretation.
I like to say they were Americans before they got here.
This is why we love rob Lowe, as women. He comes from super masculine men ❤
What? You've been round men from Hessen? Oh, honey...
Rob`s ancestors must be so ashamed of him
No need for profanity.
That so? Please, never come to Hessen.
THIS EXPAINS EVERYTHING
HE COMES FROM BLOODY DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY
MERCENARIES
It's more like drafted soldiers sent to fight for a different country. Hessen owed money and protection by treaty to Great Britain, like NATO today.
You seem to habe next to no insight into the situation these men found themselves in. They were literally sold by their rulers.
0 choice.
The 3 part TV series 'Der Winter der ein Sommer war' (1976) might be a good starting point if your german is up to it.
Says who? A Mr. Benner, Benner a German name!😂
Hessian soldiers weren't mercenaries.
@ what would you call them though? They were soldiers hired out to fight the war of someone disctinctly not hessisch. Mercenary does come close.
"And one can imagine that these foreigners once informed about the ordinances of the states, prefer land tenure, freedom, security benefit of good laws and mild government..." George Washington would be horrified by the authoritarian government in this country today, anything but mild with politicized state security organs, that thinks itself our lord and master.