[Brad from Tennessee]

A friend of mine traces his lineage on his father's side to a Hessian POW. He said groups of disarmed Hessians in a long, straggling line were walking down a road, unguarded, to a POW camp north of the family farm where his great-great-great grandmother, who was German, grew up. He said when one of the Hessians heard my friend's ancestors speaking in the field in German he walked over to them and struck up a conversation and never left.

[Dysart]

Interesting tale. Family oral histories can be maintained for a very long time. In my family, the oldest story is the path my paternal 8GF took alone departing from his family home in Angus, Scotland to Wales to sail for James City, Virginia in 1695 at the age of 20, or middle age back then and as it turned out.

His grandson fought against those Hessians and came into land in NC thereafter thanks to a generous RW land grant as payment for service.