From: <hessian@sympatico.ca> Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 8:45 PM > ================================ > Source: CLAUS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Kaspar CLAUS, Hessian soldier settled in Marysburgh, Upper Canada. > > > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Surnames: CLAUS, CLAUSE, CLAWSE > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/IGJ.2ACIB/71 > > Message Board Post: > > A friendly Hello to all you CLAUS family researchers! > > There seems to be some confusion about the roots of > the CLAUS/CLAUSE families who settled in the Upper > Canada areas after the American Revolution. As I can see > from postings on this Rootsweb Board not even 6 weeks > back, a good deal of effort has been devoted to dig to the > bottom of this mystery. Perhaps I can help a bit in clearing > up some brickwalls. > > From my perspective there are more than one CLAUS who > can claim to be an original settler. There is the one, > Daniel CLAUS who was in America long before the American revolution and joined the Loyalists and the British Indian Department, and was associated with the famous Mohawk chief Joseph Brant. I have not studied his family tree nor his actions, but I do know that he went to England to present his case and died there during this undertaking. His family probably stayed in Upper Canada, but I have no idea where settled. > > What I do know is that there was another CLAUS, first > name Kaspar (or Caspar - same thing), who was a Jaeger > with the Hessen-Hanau Jaeger Corps, served in the 4.Comp. > from 1777 to July 1783 in Quebec, and was discharged in > Quebec before his Corps went back home. > > He was born appr. 1757/58 in Gelnhausen in Hessen, near > the City of Hanau, where the Prince of Hanau had assembled > a whole Regiment of Grenadiers to help his uncle, King > George III of England, to win the war against the American > rebels and to defend Canada. The Jaegers were send over > after the rebels defeated the British at Saratoga in Oct.1777. > and those Jaegers defended Canada from there on. > > However, this Jaeger Casper CLAUS, after his discharge, > came with a group of other German soldiers to Township > #5 Marysburgh on Lake Ontario, Bay of Quinte , under the > leadership of the Brunswick Lieutenant Baron von > Reitzenstein and arrived there on 4. October 1784 to settle > under the most difficult circumstances. > > In Reverend Langhorn's church records you can find an > entry: "John Gasper Claus, 5th Ts., bachelor, married > Deborah BROCK, of the 4th Ts., spinster, 17 May 1790. > Wedding took place at the St. Paul's Church, Fredericksburg, > witnesses were John Allen, Barnard Cole, and Catherine > Cole. > > Later you find: Jas. Gasper CLAUS and wife Deborah > baptised daughter Deborah Susan Elizabeth, 15 June 1791, > sponsors were Gasper Claus and Henry RIMMERMANN > (Heinrich Roemermann, a former Brunswick soldier and > also belonging to the same group of settlers). > > All this and more you can find in my book "The Hessians > of Upper Canada" published 1997, on deposit at the > Rose House Museum, Waupoos, and many other Genealogical or Historical Societies. > > And last not least, I would like to mention that on > Saturday, 21. August 2004, at the Rose House Museum > a "Hessian Day" will be celebrated, with big tent, music, food, > and entertainment, and many descendants will come to > meet old and new cousins of these hardy settlers. > > I will be there as well. > John Helmut Merz, hessian@sympatico.ca > researching Hessian soldiers of the American Revolution. >