Friday, February 29, 2008

I have done the entire genealogy form the medieval period in Europe and know exactly what happened to the line. It appears to me that we are all descended from the same Hessian soldier who was captured at Trenton by Washington on Christmas Day when he crossed the Delaware. This soldier was given 50 acres in Virginia in exchange for not returning to the fight. He married a woman from Virginia and had a son who he gave the farm to. This son had more than one boy of one of the sons inherited the property and the other moved to Indiana. I haven’t looked at the records for 10 years but that is the gist of it. The property in Virginia is still owned by the descendants of the grandson’s wife. My dad has met them and they are aware of it originally being owned by the Hillenburg clan. My dad is descended from the son who stayed in Virginia. My dad had a brother who had two sons (one of whom is the creator of SpongeBob) and I am one of six kids. We are now spread all over the country and there are no longer any Hillenburgs in Virginia. My twin sister teaches at NIU and I noticed there is a Hillenburg as a student there. Anyway I hope I filled in some family history for you. My siblings are Mark (VT), David (MD), Lisa (MD), John (DE), and Kim (IL). My two cousins live in CA. The only boy in our line that can carry on the Hillenburg name is my cousin Stephen’s son. My two brothers that have children have daughters.

Kelly (Hillenburg) Desgrosseilliers