When I was young, my grandma told me a story about my grandpa’s ancestors. She said they were Hessian soldiers who came over during the Revolutionary War.
When I grew up, I decided to look for them.
They were nowhere to be found—not online, in books, or on microfilm. A Hessian history expert said, “Are you sure they were Hessians?”
Then a cousin whispered, “I think they were Loyalists.”
What? No. Why?
I looked for them again. I found them. They came to America in 1710 from a famine-struck, war-torn German state. Over decades, they moved up the Hudson River valley. They were tenant farmers, ultimately settling in Hoosac, NY in the 1740s.
In the 1770s, the Revolutionary War came. Some of my ancestors chose to support the British side.
Why?
Borderlands is their story and the story of thousands like them.
One more thing…
Grandma told me another story—about her ancestors. I’m looking for them now.