Dear List, I guess I'm the one to blame for getting this controversial Hessian pin topic started! I did only mention it briefly, and asked that respondants contact me offline to minimize chatter on the list. However, since the validity of these pins has come into question, I would like to clarify why I am seeking to buy extra pins. As I have mentioned before, I am organizing a family trip to Germany in October to visit the homeland and birthplace of my Hessian ancestor. This trip is a dream come true and is finally possible only after many years of difficult research. It is something that we never even dreamed would be possible only a short time ago. In reality, our family has been searching and wondering about our Hessian ancestor and our family origins for over 200 years. Up until about ten years ago, we didn't even know his true name, or where to begin the search. But with the help of this list's founder, John Merz, and other kind researchers and historians, we finally actually rediscoved long forgotten and buried history, and the impossible has become possible. Our family is very proud of our heritage and our very hard won recenty uncovered identity. A group of hopefully about twenty of us will make this pilgrimage to our Hessian's homeland and trace the route from his birthplace up to Ansbach, where his military regiment marched out of town to leave all that they loved behind as they left for America. Our trip will also include a visit to his ancestral homeland in Austria. As the organizer of the trip, I wanted to give a small gift to our participants and thought the Hessian pin would be something nice for them to have and wear with pride. Even though we have rediscovered our identity, it seems that nothing else personally of our Hessian has survived, save his precious signature, and I thought the pin could serve as a tangible token linking us to him. I do not feel that it is insignificant or inappropriate. It can be a source of pride, and connection to our Hessian ancestor for those of us who have no other physical objects existing from his life. It has been stated many times that Robert Fetters offered the pins to our group as as service. He layed out a large sum of his personal money to have the minimum order of the pins produced and offered them to us at cost plus postage. He made no money on the project, and in fact was left holding the bag occasionally. It was not a money making venture and was most likely probably more of a headache to him, which he did as a service to us on at least two occasions. I would like to thank Robert Fetters for taking the initiative to bring the Hessian pins to us, not to mention the beautiful Hessian and Hessian Descendant bronze plaques that are appropriate for cemetery markers and other commemorative uses. I, in fact, will be using at least one of the bronze plaques to present to the town in Germany where my Hessian was born. I am also researching the possibility of presenting one in Ansbach in his memory. Marie Rasnick Fetzer Descendant of Private Johann Jacob Rierschneck Musketeer, 1st Company Ansbach 1777-1783 http://www.rasnickfamily.org ---------- Original Message ---------- From: "Bob Brooks" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AMREV-HESSIANS] Hessian Pins Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:26:20 -0500 Dan (and others thinking the same) -- I am not the list master but I have been on this list for eleven or twelve years and recall that, in the past like Dan does now, newer members to the list raised the issue of the suitability of this discussion on this list. Dan writes "These pins have nothing to do with Hessian and other groups' history in the American Revolution." Not so, Dan --