Your reference that ?Conrad became a Mason in 1797; made Worshipful Master of Masons at Winchester on 20 Dec 1812?, is very interesting.Especially now that Freemasons have come under attack by Christian fundamentalist in England and fast becoming ?forbidden history? here in the United States due to the rise of the use of fundamental Christianity in American politics.Conrad was listed to be a member of a specific order or lodge known as the Knights Templar here in Virginia.They exist today. This lodge had many famous members of which the grandsons and great grandsons of the American forefathers belonged.Many of these men fought and died for the Confederate cause several wars later.There are still lodges here in the Virginia belonging to the sect of the Knights Templar where a Mason may be buried with a full Masonic funeral.The American War of Independence secured American liberty through the Masons.Washington and his closets generals were Masons.Two Englishmen, both officers,! both Masons ensured that two bridges were left unguarded for Washington?s troops to cross during bleak hours of the New York campaign.Ahh ? the history you don?t know - it?s far more interesting that the diatribe in history books. I wear a ring today handed down to me from my grandfather. It was given to him by his grandfather. It belonged to our Hessian soldier private Christian Schweinsberger. The Masonic compass is clearly recognizable behind the Hessian Lion. /R Stephen Washington, DC >-----Original Message----- >From: Dfehlings@aol.com [mailto:Dfehlings@aol.com] >Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 11:08 PM >To: AMREV-HESSIANS-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [HESSIAN] German names > >We have an ancestor, Conrad Kremer, born about May of 1748 in Germany, who >appears to have been a Hessian soldier. There are several credible sources that >say that he was, but none give the regiment to which he was assigned nor his >date of capture by the Continental Army. > >The sources we have indicate that he deserted as a Hessian soldier from the >British Army, while a prisoner of war, and enlisted in the Continental Army >near Philadelphia in May 1777. He enlisted in Capt. Bartholomew Von Heer's >company of Colonel Thomas Proctor's Fourth Artillery Regiment, participated in the >Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and encamped with his regiment at Valley >Forge. > >On 1 July 1778 he enlisted in Capt. Von Herr's newly authorized company of >Light Dragoons (the Marechausee Corps) having been recruited by Capt. Von Heer >to be Quartermaster Sergeant. He served in this capacity until his three year >term of enlistment expired and he was honorably discharged after the Battle of >Springfield (NJ) in July of 1780 in Pennsylvania. > >He next appears in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia in local histories. >He became in succession, a Blue Dyer, and later the owner/proprietor of a >Winchester hotel that had a good reputation and a tavern. This hotel had a wagon >yard in the rear of the tavern. In 1798 he was licensed to operate a tavern on >Court House Avenue. In 1814 he was licensed to operate an ordinary. His land >where his hotel was situated was originally granted to John Michael Rutter by >Lord Fairfax on 15 May 1753, and conveyed to Conrad Kremer by deeds dated 20 >and 21 Feb 1786. Conrad became a Mason in 1797; made Worshipful Master of >Masons at Winchester on 20 Dec 1812. He was listed by the Knights Templars, a >Masonic organization, as Sir Conrad Kremer, Grand Warden, on 27 Nov 1823. He had a >Masonic funeral and a Christian burial at Mt. Hebron Cemetery at Winchester on >31 May 1837. > >Beginning 11 Mar 1790 he became Sergeant at Arms of the Corporation of >Winchester. In 1798 he also became Clerk of the Market of Winchester. In 1822 he >became the first Superintendent of Police of the City of Winchester. He owned >other property in Winchester and is recorded as a buyer and seller of several >tracts. He was on several occasions a bondsman. He transferred property to his >son's before his death. > >On 16 Mar 1784 he married Catherine Helfenstein, daughter of Major Peter >Phillip Helfenstein who helped to organize and became Executive Officer of the 8th >Virginia Continental Regiment (The German Regiment) commanded by Colonel >Muhlenburg. They had six children. > >He applied for a Revolutionary War soldiers pension on 3 Jun 1825 at >Winchester, and was twice awarded Pensions for $96.00 and $180.00 per annum, >respectively. > >Interestingly, though he was conversant with the law and familiar with his >entitlements, he never applied for a Rev. War bounty land grant. This suggests >that he did not have an entitlement to such a bounty land grant because he had >been a Hessian soldier in British service. Hessian officers who deserted did >have an entitlement, Hessian soldiers did not. > >There were very few Rev. War veterans at Winchester who knew of Conrad >Kremer's desertion from British service, as a Hessian soldier. However, one such >veteran did record his recollection of Conrad's Hessian service. Other Hessian >deserters also served in Von Herr's Marechausee Corps. And Conrad had a Lutheran >Bible, in German, printed in 1768 at Marburg which is still in the Kremer >family at Winchester. > >What we are now interested to know is in what Hessian regiment did Conrad >serve, and when, his date of capture, his home and parents in Germany, and any >other available information on him. > >Yes, I am familiar with the HETRINA studies but have found no listing for >him. By a process of elimination, if he deserted from British service and >enlisted in the American army near Philadelphia in May of 1777, there were some >possibilities from the captives at Trenton. British deserters serving as American >soldiers and recaptured by British forces were subject to immediate execution. >Names could have been changed to try to avoid easy identification. There were >Hessian captives named Conrath Kram and Krammel. > >Any information, ideas or theories would be most welcome. > >Don Fehlings > >Renton, Washington, USA >Tel: 425/255-8588 >Dfehlings@aol.com > > >==== AMREV-HESSIANS Mailing List ==== >HETRINA - "Hessische Truppen im Amerikanischen Unabhaengigkeitskrieg" >Six Volumes covering Hessen-Kassel, Hessen-Hanau, and Waldeck. >HETRINA does not cover Braunschweig/Brunswick, Ansbach-Bayreuth or Anhalt-Zerbst. Those are partly covered by other publications. >This list was started in 1998 by Johannes (John) Helmut Merz, and you will find his explanations about HETRINA in our mail list archives. > >============================== >View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find >marriage announcements and more. Learn more: >http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx > >