My maternal family line lore has always had some of the original ancestors in America as Hessians who got left behind. Hard to know for sure, but it seems plausible.
Funnily enough, my dad's family has always considered itself German. After doing some DNA tests, it turns out that other than our last name (and thus direct paternal line), pretty much the entire family lineage is English. I was able to track that lineage back to Germany and even back to a small village in the 1500s. They came over in the 1720, part of some huge waves of Palatinate German migrations.
"Show Washington crossing the Delaware"
True story, some of my ancestors were the Hessians. We have a hard time inviting Americans to Christmas parties even after gaining citizenship
My maternal family line lore has always had some of the original ancestors in America as Hessians who got left behind. Hard to know for sure, but it seems plausible.
There were Germans on both sides.
For sure!
Funnily enough, my dad's family has always considered itself German. After doing some DNA tests, it turns out that other than our last name (and thus direct paternal line), pretty much the entire family lineage is English. I was able to track that lineage back to Germany and even back to a small village in the 1500s. They came over in the 1720, part of some huge waves of Palatinate German migrations.