Hello Hessians; Here is from our mail list archives back in 1999: Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 23:11:47 -0800 From: John Helmut Merz <hessian@cgocable.net> To: AMREV-HESSIANS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Pennsylvanis Oath For a long time I have in my possession a book by Thompson Westcott with the simple title of Names of persons who took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, between the years 1777 and 1789. Published by Genealogical Publsihing Company, Baltimore, 1965. A long time ago a went through the book name by name and found a total of 178 names of Hessians listed who took the oath and added them to my files. After that I advised Mark Schwalm of the Johannes Schwalm Hist. Association of my find and supplied my list to him. He did get the book or a copy of it for himself and went through it with a fine comb and found even a few more, and published all these names in the JSHA Journal of 1994. You can find the list and explanations on pages 15-23. At the bottom of page 15 in the footnotes Mark gave me credit for the inspiration to look for those Hessian names. He also did a rather good job of finding all these names in the Hessian military files, Hetrina, etc., and thereby identifying most of those deserters. The Oath the deserters had to take, was as follows: We the subscribers do swear (or affirm) that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the third, King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors, and that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a free and Independent State, and that I will not at any time do or cause to be done any matter or thing that will be prejudicial or injurious to the freedom and Independence thereof, as declared by Congress; and, also, that I will discover and make known to some one Justice of the Peace of this State, all treasons or traitorous conspiracies which I know or hereafter shall know, to be formed against this or any of the United States of America. Plunkett Fleeson Philadelphia, 1778. Here is a typical line as found in the listings: 1782, Aug.14. Peter Shuchard, deserted the Brittish Army & Hessian Line at N.York in 1779. Schoolmaster. Heinrich Albert, deserted the Brittish & Line of Anspach in Virginia in 1781. Taylor. John Spalter (his mark), deserted the Brittish Service & Hessian Line in Jersey 1778. Labourer. For more information on these names you should contact the JSHA and ask for their Journal of 1994. Regards, John. http://www.cgo.wave.ca/~hessian use re-load ______________________________ ------------------------------

John, I have the book listed in books to read... May I add your info here to its listing? Thank you Nelda Nelda L. Percival nee Gilpin, IBSSG http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gillock/ http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/

There is a very old copy of Westcott's Oaths of Allegiance in a library at Wooster College in Wooster, OH. Mary Vogus Hoffman ----- Original Message ----- From: "john" <jmerz@cogeco.ca> To: <AMREV-HESSIANS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 6:50 PM Subject: [HESSIAN] Westcott's Oaths of Allegiance. > Hello Hessians; > Here is from our mail list archives back in 1999: > > Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 23:11:47 -0800 > From: John Helmut Merz <hessian@cgocable.net> > To: AMREV-HESSIANS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Pennsylvanis Oath > > For a long time I have in my possession a book by Thompson Westcott > with the simple title of > Names of persons who took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of > Pennsylvania, between the years 1777 and 1789. > Published by Genealogical Publsihing Company, Baltimore, 1965. > > A long time ago a went through the book name by name and found a total > of 178 names of Hessians listed who took the oath and added them to my > files. After that I advised Mark Schwalm of the Johannes Schwalm Hist. > Association of my find and supplied my list to him. He did get the > book or a copy of it for himself and went through it with a fine comb > and found even a few more, and published all these names in the JSHA > Journal of 1994. You can find the list and explanations on pages 15-23. > At the bottom of page 15 in the footnotes Mark gave me credit for the > inspiration to look for those Hessian names. He also did a rather good > job of finding all these names in the Hessian military files, Hetrina, > etc., and thereby identifying most of those deserters. > > The Oath the deserters had to take, was as follows: > > We the subscribers do swear (or affirm) that I renounce and > refuse all allegiance to George the third, King of Great > Britain, his heirs and successors, and that I will be > faithful, and bear true allegiance to the commonwealth of > Pennsylvania > as a free and Independent State, and that I will not at > any time do or cause to be done any matter or thing that will > be > prejudicial or injurious to the freedom and Independence thereof, > as declared by Congress; and, also, that I will discover > and make known to some one Justice of the Peace of this State, > all > treasons or traitorous conspiracies which I know or hereafter > shall know, to be formed against this or any of the United > States of America. > Plunkett Fleeson Philadelphia, 1778. > > Here is a typical line as found in the listings: > > 1782, Aug.14. > Peter Shuchard, deserted the Brittish Army & Hessian > Line at N.York in 1779. Schoolmaster. > > Heinrich Albert, deserted the Brittish & Line of Anspach > in Virginia in 1781. Taylor. > > John Spalter (his mark), deserted the Brittish Service & > Hessian Line in Jersey 1778. Labourer. > > For more information on these names you should contact the JSHA and > ask for their Journal of 1994. > Regards, John. http://www.cgo.wave.ca/~hessian use re-load > > ______________________________ > ------------------------------ > > > > > ==== AMREV-HESSIANS Mailing List ==== > Hessian list website: > http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/ > 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. > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx > >