I am a direct descendant of one listed as John Nikalas Doney who was captured at Trenton, NJ by George Washington on Dec. 26, 1776. The record indicates that he moved to the Lower Mahanoy Township in Northumberland County, PA, married, and had at least three children: Abraham, John Adam and Anna Maria. It seems to me that John Nikalas' given name at birth was probably Johan or Johannes and that his last name, Doney, was an anglicized version of his original German name (possibly Thoene or Doehne?). The historical record also indicates that the approximately 900 Hessians captured at Trenton were first sent to Philadelphia and then to Lancaster, PA. I also assume that it is possible that the Hessian prisoners were put to work on farms in the Lancaster area, but I have found no information on their disposition. Can anyone provide more information on John Nikalas Doney or any of the other Hessians captured at Trenton?
Some of the POW's were sent to the POW camp in Reading, Berks Co., PA. That is where my ancester Gottlieb Westfall/Westphal was sent. Worked on a farm there for 3 years then took oath to PA. Bio of him on the website. I do extensive research on Northumberland, Schuylkill, & Dauphin Counties. Where they meet is also sometimes called the Hessian Triangle because many of the Hessians settled in that area. But I have no one in my data base with the surname of Doney. I believe that there are a few messages in the archives on Hessian Triangle. While tracing my family line in that area I have tried to go back to any that were Hessians if I had enough information. I will save this email in case I come up with anything more. Or you can send email to <peggy.tyrrell @ gmail .com> On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Les Fredrickson <[email protected]>wrote: > I am a direct descendant of one listed as John Nikalas Doney who was > captured at Trenton, NJ by George Washington on Dec. 26, 1776. The record > indicates that he moved to the Lower Mahanoy Township in Northumberland > County, PA, married, and had at least three children: Abraham, John Adam > and Anna Maria. > > It seems to me that John Nikalas' given name at birth was probably Johan > or Johannes and that his last name, Doney, was an anglicized version of his > original German name (possibly Thoene or Doehne?). The historical record > also indicates that the approximately 900 Hessians captured at Trenton were > first sent to Philadelphia and then to Lancaster, PA. I also assume that it > is possible that the Hessian prisoners were put to work on farms in the > Lancaster area, but I have found no information on their disposition. Can > anyone provide more information on John Nikalas Doney or any of the other > Hessians captured at Trenton? > ############################### > FOUNDER: John H. Merz 1924-2006 List created 1998 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~ > AmRev-Hessian Website > http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin > ~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Volunteer Administrator [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >