Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Hillenberg / Hillenburg Ancestry; Our Link to George Washington's Famous Delaware River Crossing

0 comments Posted by Hillenblog at 12:04 PM


(Great Article...Thanks Jerry for sharing it with us here at Hillenburg.com)

By Jerry Hillenburg Oct, 2006 (revised April 2011#4)

Grenadier Daniel Hilgenberg of Colonel Ralls Regiment, of the Hessian German Army (6,7) began a family line in America with surnames spelled “Hillenberg” and Hillenburg”.  was born September 10, 1752, in Hesse-Cassel Roehrenfurth Germany to Johann Christian and Anna Sinninger Hilgenberg.

His Regiment was among others that were "rented"  by the British and sent to America to fight the Americans during the Revolutionary war. On August 15, 1776 they “sailed into the harbor near Stanton Island” New York (8).

He and 895 other Hessians were captured on Christmas Eve 1776 at Trenton New Jersey after Washington’s famous Potomac River crossing (6,7). This small but decisive battle was the turning point of the Revolutionary war; it galvanized support for the colonial effort. Daniel and the other Hessians spent over one year as Washington's prisoners before being reunited with the British in the fall of 1778 through a prisoner exchange (8). 

Washington had ordered his men to treat prisoners with “utmost humanity,”(1) so that they would become “fraught with a love of liberty and property."(2) This kindness and a promise of “50 Acres of unappropriated lands” (3,4) caused many of them, including Daniel, to desert the British after the exchange (I cannot verify that Daniel was given any land). This was Washington’s plan. He changed them from being invaders to settlers, neighbors and citizens. 

Daniel deserted the British in April of 1779 (4,6), and in 1780, he purchased and  created a homestead on property that now has an address of 951 Spraker Road Crockett Wythe County Virginia 24323 (10).

Daniel came to America named Daniel Hilgenberg (6), the Trenton prisoner list also calls him Daniel Hilgenberg (5), and he changed his name to Daniel Hillenberg just before his death in June 19 1819. Many of his children changed the spelling to "Hillenburg".

He and Mary Barbara Shrader married on March 25, 1787 and they are the parents of 13 children. Among them is Crisley Hillenburg b.1810 d. 1902, who is the father of Andrew Jackson Hillenburg (Union Civil War Vet.) b. 1844 d. 1907, who is the father of George Washington Hillenburg b. 1871 d. 1958, who is the father of Marshal Hillenburg b. 1905 d. 1965, who is the father of my father Willard Hillenburg (WW2 Vet).

I have visited Daniel’s homesite twice. The original log house and hand hewn timber frame barn still stands (10). So there you have it! The Hillenburg link to what some call the most pivotal point in American History.


References;
  1. 1.   George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress; Letter from George Washington to William Howe, November 9, 1776.  
  2. 2.   George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress; Letter from George Washington to Continental Congress Governing Committee, January 1, 1777.
  3. 3.   Library of Congress Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789, Wednesday,  August 14, 1776 volume 5 page 654 - 655.  
  4. 4.   Library of Congress Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789, Wednesday, April 29, 1778 page 406 - 409.
  5. 5.   Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, “Registry of Researched (Hessian) Soldiers”.  
  6. 6.   1985 Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association Volume 3, Number 1, ISBN No. 0-939016-10-9. Complete List of Hessen-Cassel Officers and Soldiers Captured at Trenton, 26 December 1776, translated from the German Records by William E. Dornemann, PhD and edited by R. C. Barth, PhD and Mark A. Schwalm. A copy that pertains to Daniel is in Box 25 Folder 35, Johannes Schwalm Historical Association Collection, at the German Collection of the Shadek-Fackenthal Library at Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster PA
  7. 7.   Hessische Truppen Im Amerikanischen Unabhangigheitskrieg Hetrina Marburg 1976 This document’s sources are from size and rank lists and monthly reports on changes of personnel maintained by the Hessian Regiments during the American campaign. A copy that pertains to Daniel is in Box 25 Folder 35, Johannes Schwalm Historical Association Collection, at the German Collection of the Shadek-Fackenthal Library at Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster PA
  8. 8.   Diary of a Hessian Grenadier of Colonel Rall’s Regiment, by Johannes Reuber, translated by Bruce E Burgoyne,  P.18 August 15, 1776 entry.
  9. 9.   Diary of a Hessian Grenadier of Colonel Rall’s Regiment, by Johannes Reuber, translated by Bruce E Burgoyne,  P.30, October 28, 1778 entry.
  10. 10.   Google map link to 951 Spraker Rd.;  http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=Spraker+Road+Crockett+Wythe+County+Virginia+24323.&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Spraker+Rd,+Crockett,+Wythe,+Virginia+24323&gl=us&ll=36.861862,-81.208542&spn=0.002228,0.002242&t=h&z=19

 

Friday, July 13, 2012

0 comments Posted by Hillenblog at 6:36 AM

Recently Ron Deckard send me some interesting research that he had been doing into Daniel Hilgenberg.  Here is some correspondence below that is pretty interesting.



 

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