Artist Lewis Miller produced these drawings (and one below) and 19 others of York County residents in the 19th century who were former German soldiers fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War. Descendents of these Hessians live in York County today. (These drawings courtesy of York County Heritage Trust.)
Jonathan Stayer, profiled in a recent post State Archives, made a interesting contribution to York County history in his 1988 master's thesis. Its title explains why: "The Hessians of Lewis Miller: Assimilation of German Soldiers in America After the Revolution."
Artist Lewis Miller captured a group of these German mercenaries on paper, and Stayer researched and wrote about them. Today, Stayer heads the reference section of the State Archives, part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Generally, these "Hessians" were deserters from the German armies, who found their way to York County, according to Stayer. Some of them, such as Leonard Baumgardner, served in Armand's Legion of the Continental Army after leaving his German unit.
Some of the Hessians stayed behind at war's end and, aided by a predominant German culture, assimilated into the fabric of York County life.
One of the most prominent Hessians, Frederick Valentine Melsheimer, a chaplain, became a noted McAllister's Town - later Hanover - minister. He gained national stature in entomology for his study and collection of insects... .
Charles Godfrey Bollan Wintersmith, a former Hessian prisoner, married an American cousin, Mary Elizabeth Spangler, said to be 'a most remarkable and romantic coincidence, in which truth was indeed stranger than fiction.'
Other Hessian names, many now Americanized, included: Baumgardner, Cramer, Hartwig, Henicker, Herbst, Schaffel, Sleeger, Stein, Stengel and Youngker.
I've speculated elsewhere something I'll repeat here: What if the descendents of these Germans served as guards of fellow countrymen at Camp Stewartstown, York County's World War II POW camp?
Now, that would be an interesting research project.
There were no "Hessians" at Camp Security, and certainly, none of Lewis Miller's "Hessians" was incarcerated there. Camp Security held only British prisoners for the most part.
Johann Heinrich Herbst was my gggg-grandfather; captured w/ Burgoyne at Saratoga, marched as a POW to Boston's Winter Hill and marched again (w/ the proposed destination of Virginia) as the Redcoats approched Boston. Researchers claim the Hessians were encouraged to take the oath of Allegiance and 'fall out' in the Germanic areas of Pennsylvania to save on costs. At least one of his progeny also married a Spangler. The Battle of Gettysburg started on the Herbst farm and encompassed the Spangler, Trostle and other related farms. (Good article by Jim McClure and his postulate on descendents is intriguing.)
Im interested in information on the group of Hessians that settled in the northwest part of new jersey. In particular along the Delaware river near the town of Layton N.J. One U.S.Forest ranger commented that they occupied a region about five miles long south of Milford Pa.on the Jersey side. My grandfather surname Wickham was raised in that region near the town of Layton. The fields on the east side of the river i.e. NJ side are flat and fertile and still farmed. The town of Montague is the commercial center for the region.I know that some of the wickhams married into the Smith Family in the region. My grandfather was raised in the Luthern church and later married my grandmother Helen Malone and became a catholic.
He was then disenherited from the family.
I would like to contact any of the remaining wickhams in the area.
Thanks Kevin Cunniff