AMREV-HESSIANS-L Archives

From: John Helmut Merz <>
Subject: Hessian ancestor, New Brunswick
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 23:09:35 -0800

Hello, Tamela, this is going to be some challenge, and for this
reason I am going to post this over the
list, to possibly get help. My books do not cover the New Brunswick
Hessians, there were only a few who settled there. In the next few days
I will give all the N.B. names to the list, but at this moment the
name Foss is not included. I do have a Charles Foster, (Foerster), but
I do not believe this to be your man. However, I do have a sneaky
suspision that the actual name was not Foss, but VOSS, we Germans do
pronounce the V rather like an "F", and any German Voss would call
himself "Foss". There where several Voss soldiers, but I need time
to look at them. Can you offer a possible first name for him?
Well, this is a start, and some results will come, I am sure.
Regards, John http://www.cgo.wave.ca/~hessian
------------------------------------------------------
Softwest wrote: mailto:
>
> Dear Mr. Merz:
> I don't know if you can help me or not. In recent years I was told
> that my ancestor was a Hessian soldier who settled in Oromocto, New
> Brunswick. The last name was Foss.
> I had thought that my ancestors were very ordinary--Dutch extraction,
> with no wars in their experience as far as I knew. It seems that during
> both World Wars, the elders told their children that they were Dutch,
> not German, probably due to the anti-German feelings at the time. They
> wanted to protect their children from that, but the result is that
> future generations (like me) never knew about our German heritage. My
> grandfather even worked at a prisoner of war camp in New Brunswick. I
> suspect that he never knew about his German background, or was told to
> keep it a secret.
> I'd like to find out more about this Hessian ancestor, his complete
> name, his state of origin, etc. My mother recalls that the family
> 'homestead' was in Oromocto.
> If one of your books outlines the history of the New Brunswick
> Hessians, I'd like to order it.
> Thank you,
>
> Tamela Georgi

This thread:

• Hessian ancestor, New Brunswick by John Helmut Merz <>