Posted on 04/18/2023 5:53:08 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In Rob Lowe's episode of "Who Do You Think You Are," the actor delves into his family history and uncovers a surprising connection to early American history. Through genealogical research and personal interviews, Lowe traces the lineage of an ancestor who fought in the American Revolutionary War and explores the possibility that he may have been commissioned to defeat George Washington. The episode provides an engaging and insightful look into Lowe's personal connection to the events that shaped early American history.
Emmy nominee Rob Lowe has a Surprising Ancestral Link to George Washington!
40:14 | Who Do You Think You Are? | 216K subscribers | 58,597 views | April 15, 2023
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Transcript 0:00 · with a career spanning more than 30 years actor Rob Lowe is revered as one of Hollywood's Leading Men 0:07 · his breakout performance in The Outsiders launched a flourishing career in both film and television 0:14 · he received critical Acclaim for his portrayal of Sam Seaborn on the emmy-winning series The West Wing 0:20 · and currently plays the enthusiastic Chris Traeger on the sitcom Parks and Recreation 0:26 · he lives in Santa Barbara California with his wife Cheryl and their two sons John Owen and Matthew 0:33 · I grew up in the midwest I grew up in Dayton Ohio I always wanted to be an actor and when my parents divorced my 0:42 · mom remarried we found ourselves in Southern California in Malibu I was 0:47 · 12. so my teenage years were sort of formed in Malibu and trying to start my 0:52 · career in a very very cultural shift from from coming from the Midwest 0:58 · but family history was never really discussed growing up I'm not really sure why that was and as 1:04 · a kid I I didn't really care now as I get older I wonder and you start to think about 1:12 · who you are and and where you've come from I started thinking about what resonates 1:17 · for me why have I always been so in love with Americana patriotism and politics 1:24 · and then I end up on a show called The West Wing which plays to those themes 1:29 · every day and when I first read I felt I was literally born to play why am I interested in what I'm 1:35 · interested in when I was first thinking about going on this journey I was wondering well would 1:41 · I follow my father's side or would I follow the maternal side with my mother 1:47 · and I'm so blessed to still have my dad in my life but my mom passed away a number 1:53 · of years ago and it left me wishing I'd asked her more 1:58 · and she was really the last member of that wing 2:04 · of our family and it's all gone and and so I would really like to to know where 2:09 · we've come from so it's going to mean a lot to me to share this with the last connection to 2:16 · that side of my family and that's my brother I'm gonna meet my brother Chad to pick 2:22 · his brain about my mom's side of the family so I'm off on the uh 2:27 · this road trip is there anything that you know that I may have forgotten the only 2:34 · thing I have is this mom's scrapbook so let's see what we have in here 2:41 · that's Mom it's got to be high school graduation or something yeah 2:48 · wow look at this here's some MIM and Grandpa our mom's parents 2:55 · all right who is this I have no idea who these people are [Music] 3:01 · see if they're it's Oren Hepler and Bessie May East 3:09 · Oren Hepler says it's our great grandfather Yeah and his wife they're our great grandmother Bessie May East 3:16 · my mom's scrapbook has helped my brother Chad and me remember my great-grandparents Oren Hepler and 3:22 · Bessie May East I remember hearing the name East as a kid but what else can my mom's album tell me 3:29 · all right let's see here huh okay here's a this is a clipping from 3:34 · Ohio from the times Democrat of Lima Ohio 1906 3:41 · the East reunion it was the third annual for descendants of men and women who 3:48 · made up prosperous country what is that the descendants of 3:54 · Christopher East stand high in the culinary art 3:59 · Christopher East why is the East family reunion newsworthy and I think we better figure 4:06 · out who Christopher East was you want to hear it look it up yeah let's go to ancestry.com 4:12 · Christopher right yeah 4:19 · John Christopher East wait a minute what do you say 4:24 · abstract of graves of revolutionary Patriots 4:31 · wow this collection of abstract gravesites contains information originally 4:36 · published in the Senate documents of the National Society Daughters of the 4:42 · American Revolution veterans and Patriots of the Revolutionary War whose Graves were found between 1900 and 4:49 · 1987 are included in this first volume that sounds promising evolutionary 4:54 · Patriots so we know that Bessie May East our great-grandmother 5:01 · somewhere and her in a lineage has John Christopher East 5:07 · who turns up in conjunction with the Daughters of the American Revolution 5:13 · which means they've found a gravesite of his that they believed to be indicative of him serving in a revolutionary war 5:18 · but we don't know where he fits in so it looks like I need to go to Washington and I need to go to 5:25 · the DAR all right I have full report love you love you good luck thanks 5:32 · so I'm off to Washington D.C 5:38 · [Music] John Christopher East I learned today 5:43 · was a patriot I mean that's that's the stuff that I love I mean that's the word Patriot 5:51 · revolutionary that's my dream is is to have some connection to real 5:58 · American Heroes I don't know who John Christopher East 6:04 · is I don't even know his relationship to Bessie May East or how far back he goes 6:09 · in my family tree so I'm meeting with genealogist Josh Taylor the Daughters of the American 6:15 · Revolution headquarters I learned recently of a family member named John Christopher East okay and we 6:23 · have him in a revolutionary war Patriots grave a virtue of documents I found online okay so my question is how am I 6:31 · related to John Christopher East and what if anything did he do in the 6:38 · revolution well you're in the right place you are in the research library of the daughter's American Revolution and 6:44 · to be a member of the DIA you have to be a documented ascendant of a patriot right so they have an 6:50 · online database they're actually going to take a look at to see what records might be here great 6:57 · so if I type in John Christopher East here and it comes up what exactly is that going to tell us it means that 7:03 · someone has submitted an application on behalf of John Christopher East to be confirmed as a revolutionary Patriot the 7:10 · dir recognizes those who serve military and non-military service you had to support the Revolutionary college right 7:16 · right thank you John Christopher 7:23 · are all my just taking in 7:30 · service Pennsylvania rank private I am actually going to go have the DAR genealogists here pull the application 7:37 · that have to do with John Christopher East and they're incredible because they contain family Bibles letters diary 7:43 · entries that you might not see anywhere else but here good excellent all right 7:51 · John Christopher East born in 7:56 · 1754. jumping if we're starting here where are we 8:02 · going to end up Rob Lowe is at the Daughters of the American Revolution headquarters in 8:08 · Washington DC and has just located his ancestor John Christopher East in the 8:14 · dar's genealogical database Rob is hoping to find more information about his relationship to John 8:20 · Christopher East and east's involvement in the Revolutionary War what do you 8:25 · have there I have Treasures oh my goodness here are the original files 8:31 · wow here's a family tree for John Christopher East 8:41 · Bessie May Bessie May there she is absolutely Toledo and it's 8:47 · already the family tree yep [Music] gosh look at this 8:54 · so John Cooper's Reese is going to be your great great 8:59 · how many grades are we dealing with Rebecca how great is this 9:04 · so is your five times great grandfather wow 9:13 · that is unbelievable [Music] did you go to the next document yeah 9:19 · let's see we have here 1793 it's a tax bill it's a tax list 9:26 · so it's everyone in the town who is paying taxes what town so the town of Newton up here 9:31 · so this is actually in Pennsylvania because remember from the service record he served from Pennsylvania 9:38 · well here's East okay Stephen what is it what is that word 9:45 · stoffel s-t-o-p-h-e-l 9:51 · that is actually John Christopher East but how do you know that theoretically the tax list says that there's a man 9:57 · with the name that sounds like John Christopher East particularly in a town that's this small absolutely it's a process of elimination and so oftentimes 10:04 · you'll find nicknames that enter in you'll find just however they thought they could spell it phonetically okay so 10:09 · with all of this documentation is there anything that signifies that he is an 10:16 · accepted Patriot well I actually I have some bad news for you when I was back talking to the 10:21 · aerogeneologist they informed me this line has actually been closed there is no documentation in here that actually 10:27 · says that John Christopher East was a patriot so the first one we have of 10:33 · private we don't know where that there was a man in the same area who was named 10:38 · Christian ish right and so originally when all the applications were submitted they'd confused the two 10:46 · so whether my ancestor served in the Revolutionary War at this moment we have no proof nope 10:53 · that's the big question basically so that's it well where one door closes another one always opens in genealogy 10:59 · I'm going to look at some of the non-military Avenues to see if we can figure out a way that he might have served and I'm going to send you off to 11:06 · look for the military Avenues where would I go next I'm actually going to recommend that you go to the Library of Congress they have over 151 million 11:13 · items so the largest library in the world part of their collections include some significant materials on the Revolutionary War great thank you good 11:19 · luck I know today that John Christopher East is my five times great grandfather 11:25 · but I have no evidence that he was involved in the Revolutionary War 11:30 · I'm going to keep digging at the Library of Congress I'm meeting with Revolutionary War 11:36 · historian Scott Stevenson he's asked Julie Miller from the Library of Congress to pull documents pertaining to 11:42 · my five times great grandfather John Christopher East so this is an original document from the Revolutionary War how 11:50 · did this come to the Library of Congress do we know Peter force was a collector 11:56 · of all kinds of documents and so those materials were gathered together and 12:02 · acquired by the Library of Congress along with the Jefferson papers the Washington papers the other founding 12:08 · collections is a real pillar of their Holdings about the revolution okay well 12:13 · it's a list of people in the military see Corporal Corporal Corporal Sergeant I know that looks like something German 12:20 · to me heinhauer sergeant all over 12:27 · oh Christopher OST Christoph OST is pretty close to Kristoff East 12:33 · am I right about that that's right and what is what is what is this 12:39 · grouping of of men well it's take a shot at the um at the heading here so 12:45 · it's radish and Grenadier regiment this is a Grenadier regiment they were sort 12:51 · of assault troops commanded by a man named Raul Raul 12:57 · so what we have is an original document that proves my 13:02 · five times great grandfather served in an assault regiment 13:08 · in the Revolutionary War yes fantastic so this is a list of 13:14 · anganin this is the word that's most significant it's a list of prisoners can 13:20 · we find out where this was or or what it what it's in relationship to well I think a Next Step would be to try the 13:27 · papers of George Washington literally his personal papers yes indeed 13:34 · that'd be amazing those are here they've been digitized at the Library of Congress so anyone with internet access 13:41 · essentially can do searches but I think as a special treat maybe we'll pull the 13:46 · original for us to look at in June of 1775 George Washington took command of 13:52 · the Continental Army in an effort to organize rebelling colonists outraged at the British crown for unfairly 13:59 · implementing taxation without representation Washington knew he was at the Forefront 14:04 · of one of the greatest acts of treason against Great Britain and was careful to document his every move 14:11 · today his letters are an invaluable resource for understanding the Revolutionary War including what they 14:18 · reveal about rawl's regiment to Congress 27th of December 1776. 14:27 · I have the pleasure of congratulating you upon the success of an Enterprise which I had formed against an attachment 14:35 · of enemy lying in Trenton I find that the Detachment of enemy 14:42 · consisted of three Hessian regiments okay so Hessian soldiers would I know 14:48 · them to be and you tell me if I'm right is they were they're mercenaries technically not mercenaries trained 14:56 · soldiers yes Hesse Castle is a region in Germany the central part of Germany that supplied the largest group of troops 15:03 · that were literally rented out by their princes During the Revolution to fight with the British 15:09 · so three Hessian regiments of lanspatch 15:16 · nip housing and roll there he is so those were the German Hessian commanders with the 15:22 · battle Trenton yes so let me ask you if Kristoff OST is on a list of 15:30 · prisoners in a regiment commanded by Colonel Raul 15:36 · I guess he's he's playing the Hessian side 15:41 · so you mean to tell me my five times 15:48 · great grandfather was trying to stick it to George Washington yes 15:56 · oh my God Rob Lowe is at the Library of Congress 16:02 · in Washington D.C he just found out his five times great-grandfather was a 16:07 · Hessian Soldier part of a German Force hired by Britain to help fight the Americans during the Revolutionary War 16:13 · it just never would occur to me that my guys out there trying to kill George 16:19 · Washington yes that would explain why he's not in the Daughters of the American Revolution 16:25 · grave site so we know my fifth great-grandfather is a Hessian 16:34 · Soldier he's an he's a a veteran of the Battle of Trenton absolutely 16:39 · well it's a big Time battle too and I don't know enough about it sure 16:45 · most people might know the famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware but that's the extent of their 16:51 · Association so Washington Crossing the Delaware is affiliated with the Battle of Trenton clearly I need to go 16:59 · to Trenton who should I talk to so I think you should start with the old Barracks 17:06 · Museum in Trenton and all range for you to meet a colleague up there thank you for everything I'm on my way so I'm off 17:13 · to Trenton to find out about my five times great grandfather's imprisonment during the Revolutionary War 17:21 · [Music] I've always so identified with this country now I'm learning that I need to 17:28 · spend some time thinking about the people that fought against this country and why they did it and what are their stories and where's the meaning in that 17:36 · so I'm meeting with Hessian prisoner expert Daniel Krebs in hopes of uncovering the story behind my ancestors 17:43 · capture at the Battle of Trenton where we're seated are the old Barracks the actual these are the actual Barracks the 17:51 · actual bearings in Trenton taken over by Hessians during the campaign of 1776. 17:58 · I'd love to know how did he get here what went on well we are actually very 18:04 · lucky that we have a very rare document here this is a replica of a diary 18:10 · written by a young common soldier in the same regiment as your five times great 18:16 · grandfather Christopher his name was Johannes royber who came home with Christopher they probably knew each 18:22 · other so ruber Roy wrote this diary about his 18:28 · experiences it's also amazing to think that he and his fellow soldiers are not fighting for for 18:34 · their country they're doing their duty to their prince who has an agreement 18:43 · with the crown of Britain that's unbelievable 18 August 18:50 · the remaining Hessian regiments were landed and also entered our camp on Staten Island near the Hessian Jaegers 18:58 · and English troops in the summer of 1776 approximately 18 19:04 · 000 Hessian troops landed at Staten Island and began fighting the American Continental Army in a matter of days 19:11 · The Fearsome disciplined German soldiers provided the British with the needed manpower to drive George Washington's 19:18 · Army out of New York through New Jersey and across the Delaware into Pennsylvania 19:23 · Christoph ost's regiment set up camp in Trenton preparing to attack Philadelphia and overtake the capital in hopes of 19:30 · ending the Revolutionary War my family ancestor is here in Trenton 19:37 · he's been kicking ass all through America 19:42 · George Washington is on the other side of the Delaware with his demoralized troops and he's 19:50 · hoping for some kind of a Hail Mary exactly 19:55 · Washington knew the redcoat's plan to march across the Delaware as soon as it was frozen and take over the American 20:02 · capital of Philadelphia Congress had fled the city in panic and 20:07 · many thought the war was already lost for America to survive there was just 20:12 · one Thin hope a stealth attack on Christmas night 1776 in what was to 20:20 · become one of the most defining moments in American history Washington steered his continental army across the 20:27 · ice-choked Delaware River the next morning at dawn the tide of the Revolutionary War turned after 20:33 · Washington attacked the Hessian stronghold at Trenton taking Kristoff and the raw regiment by surprise 20:40 · so Christopher and his men were surprised in the fog in the weather it 20:48 · must have seemed as if this wave of soldiers Came Upon them 20:54 · now the Americans charge rawl's quarters overran it and took the cannon from the 21:00 · regiment then Colonel Raul charged with his grenadiers 21:07 · we retook our Canon and retired from the city into the fields 21:12 · The Bravery of it is amazing Christopher in his 21:19 · fellow soldiers mounted you know desperate desperate counter-attack they're outnumbered with 21:25 · cannon fire they took a cannon but it were eventually beaten back 21:31 · this was not the Hessian battle where they could deploy their bad lines in many ways this was a street brawl a 21:38 · battle in the middle of a city and that is something that makes it even more difficult and more brutal and 21:45 · vicious now Colonel Rawl commanded 21:50 · all those who are migrant years charge however 21:57 · after we had entered the city the rebels in three lines marched around us 22:03 · and as we again tried to retreat they again brought even Canon into the Main 22:09 · Street we had to go past them 22:16 · but things went badly for us if the colonel had not been so seriously 22:22 · wounded they would not have taken us alive we were too weak 22:28 · and in the end all was lost 22:33 · Rob Lowe is in Trenton New Jersey having just uncovered the events leading to his Hessian ancestors capture by the 22:40 · Americans during the Revolutionary War now that I know more about my five times 22:45 · great-grandfather Christoph ost's role in the Battle of Trenton I want to know what happened after he was taken 22:51 · prisoner I'm traveling west following the same path my ancestor was marched on his way 22:57 · to prison I was very conflicted knowing that my Revolutionary War story ends up with 23:05 · my ancestor fighting the revolutionaries but as I learn about the Hessians it's a 23:13 · very compelling human story I feel like I know under what circumstances he got here 23:18 · but one of the things going forward I'm interested in is how do you come to a Strange Land to 23:23 · fight and end up wanting to stay Daniel is taking me to the old 23:29 · Presbyterian Church in Newtown Pennsylvania where records show that Hessian soldiers spent their first night 23:35 · in captivity on their forced march to prison near Philadelphia 23:40 · christopherster and his group on the 4th March this is the 23:45 · destination that is their first stop was is this actual church this actual Church 23:52 · and I have a diary entry generalized entry that I would like you to read from royber 23:58 · about their entrance in Philadelphia after the night here January 1777 the American Guard which 24:06 · escorted us had orders from General Washington to lead us through the entire city so that we could be seen by 24:13 · everyone in the city the old women who were present screamed and scolded us in a terrible 24:20 · manner and wanted to strangle us because we had come to America to steal 24:26 · a freedom you know parading the Vanquish through the city is as old as time itself 24:34 · and it's always a March of domination and humiliation 24:40 · then General Washington had a broadside posted in the City and surrounding Countryside 24:46 · that we were innocent people in this war and were not volunteers 24:52 · but forced into this war and a broadside is a paper is a paper 24:57 · that was posted around the city I brought you one of those broad signs 25:02 · that were posted and we're addressing those Hashem prisoners 25:08 · it's in German obviously so they can read it to make it a little bit easier we have here an English translation of 25:15 · that broadside the resolution has passed that the states will accept all 25:21 · foreigners that choose to become part of these states and who are willing to leave the army of 25:27 · his British Majesty in America one can imagine that these foreigners prefer land tenure Freedom security 25:35 · and the benefit of good laws and Mild government in a country where already many of their 25:42 · friends and relatives have happily settled down rather than being exposed to the strains and dangers of a long and 25:48 · bloody war taken against a people that has not committed any crime 25:54 · other than the refusal to exchange its freedom for slavery 26:00 · decree by Congress John Hancock president that's amazing 26:07 · I mean it's so extraordinary I mean 26:13 · we take it for granted because of it it's it's so much a part of our national 26:18 · idealized version of ourselves as Americans 26:23 · but at the time it was so revolutionary and to be 26:30 · vanquished and in a prison and reading something like this 26:40 · it must have it must have blown their minds 26:45 · well how many of them returned home when they could what we know about the Hessians is 15 percent 26:52 · roughly staying 85 percent went home somebody like 26:57 · Kristoff took a huge huge risk they knew what 27:02 · they had at home but they knew only here a piece of paper 27:08 · with some promises they had to jump into the unknown 27:14 · take that risk and that is christoph's story 27:20 · so does it mean that if they wanted to take this offer 27:25 · that he could go free unfortunately we don't have a military record that he he went to one of the guards and said I saw 27:32 · this pamphlet what we do know is the Americans didn't have the resources to 27:38 · keep them confined in long-term prisons most of these prisoners are loaned out 27:43 · by the Americans and worked there on farms on shops what we do know is he 27:49 · disappears from prison if he's disappeared now has gone cold and he's disappeared 27:55 · how in 1909 are they celebrating him in Lima Ohio something must have told him 28:04 · it's better here than there than there I would love to know what he left behind 28:12 · to find out more to answer these questions I think you'll have to go to 28:17 · Germany to the state archives in Marburg with a Hessian military records are kept 28:23 · I'll do it Barbara here I come thank you now I want to find out more about 28:30 · Christoph ost's life before he came to America so I'm headed to Marburg Germany 28:36 · [Music] such an inspiring thought to think of everything that 28:44 · Christoph left behind for the promise of something great 28:50 · he had a life he would have had friends he would have had family but he had to take a leap of 28:56 · faith to give up all he knew in Germany and he never went back 29:02 · why that's what we're going to find out so I'm meeting with Professor Holger 29:08 · Groff at the Marburg State archives with his help I want to find out where are my five times great-grandfather was born 29:15 · and gain an insight into Kristoff's life in Germany I was wondering if you had any records 29:21 · here that could help me as I try to learn more about him best is if we look up in this list do you know the regiment 29:29 · where he's uh yes in Rawls regiment this is helpful now this is a compiled list called hetrina which is a short form for 29:37 · the Hessian troops in the American war of independence it's alphabetical it's an alphabetical 29:44 · order oh b o c we're looking for o e OST Adam 29:51 · UST George Christoph unbelievable there he is 29:56 · but it doesn't say as far as I can see anything else about him I'm afraid 30:04 · when I see that a lot of the men have the town that they're from but there's nothing for Kristoff no I'm afraid not 30:11 · at this point from this records I think it looks a bit like a dead end well I 30:16 · didn't come all the way to Germany for a dead end I can tell you that Rob Lowe is in Germany at the Marburg 30:22 · State archives but his search for Christoph ost's Roots has gone cold now 30:28 · Rob is hoping to find out where his five times great-grandfather was born and why he left Germany what would you recommend 30:36 · would be my next step what we have seen inside Estes because Christopher's is not a 30:43 · very common name it's not very spread like Miller or brown also and we probably find other Earths 30:51 · in the herena list and look up where they came from so this is a list of towns what village 30:59 · should I should I maybe go to I would start I think in firstenhag it's the 31:05 · closest from here okay see if I can find something yes so we're off in the countryside all right 31:14 · I still want to know about christoph's life anything that I could find helped frame who he was 31:22 · Holger is taking me to the Village of fierstenhagen where the parish preacher has pulled any Parish records that might 31:28 · help me in my search thank you thank you so these are our Parish records yeah baptisms marriages 31:37 · and burials so we can start here the first entry 31:43 · 1754 in the month of August in English is 31:51 · that's his dad this is Dad his dad was John as well nurse as well yeah in the 31:57 · evening at 10 o'clock born and the 18s he was baptized and he named 32:03 · it John Christoff so now we have John Christopher East 32:09 · yeah so he was born here in this Village in this Village so this is where it all 32:15 · began for me he would have adapted us here in this church Yes somewhere here must have been the baptism of on 32:24 · wow but there are some more books what I don't know what we're going to 32:30 · get that's going to top that well to be born you need parents don't you 32:36 · yes so let's see the copulations from the year 1689 onwards marriages 32:42 · marriages 1728 yeah 32:48 · so there's a marriage of Johannes OST and Laura Laura short name for Eleanor 32:53 · Laura no that's the first I've heard of that yes I've actually gotten another generation 33:00 · I've located Christoph OST parents my six times great-grandparents Laura Noll 33:06 · and Johannes OST digging further into the parish records I've discovered that Christoph OST is 33:13 · the youngest of eight brothers and sisters wow that is a big that's a big family is 33:20 · it would that have been a normal sized family in this time it's quite normal quite normal five seven 33:27 · eight ten children wow so there's other entries then they start here 33:33 · some informations on the parents of Christoph Johannes Ester was buried in his age of 33:41 · 62 years seven months so christoph's father dies in April 33:48 · of 1766. yeah and when Christoph was 12 33:54 · years old 1770. 33:59 · February the 18th so is Johannes urson his widow 34:06 · eleonor was buried old 61 years 34:11 · basically five years before he goes to America 34:17 · of course he will not inherit any property from his parents really because only the eldest son will inherit 34:26 · the land and the family property so I was also wondering at 22 years old when he left he could 34:33 · have easily have been married and we have no record of that younger Sons with no 34:39 · occupation or Fortune they had to stay more or less single and work as a groom 34:44 · on a farm or as a day laborer or go to the Army I'm starting to put a picture 34:49 · together that he really has nothing here yeah a different time very 34:57 · different an amazingly different time [Music] so no Dead End 35:05 · no dead ass thank you so much thank you thank you it all makes sense to me now that 35:13 · Christopher Foster would choose America based on what his life would have been 35:18 · here it isn't just that he served as a Hessian 35:24 · he was of Germany and that's a perspective I would never have 35:30 · gotten from the name John Christopher East 35:36 · puzzle solved [Music] 35:41 · but there may be more to the story back at the hotel I received a letter from Josh Taylor 35:54 · Rob I found something that I think will make you very happy I have submitted it to the DAR and have 36:01 · included their response Josh Rob Lowe is in Germany where he just 36:06 · learned that genealogist Josh Taylor submitted new research about his ancestor John Christopher East to the 36:13 · Daughters of the American Revolution Lowe 36:19 · congratulations your ancestor John Christopher East 36:25 · has officially been accepted as a patriot 36:31 · for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution the documents submitted on behalf of 36:38 · your ancestor a 1782 Supply tax list shows estofl 36:45 · Hessian paying taxes that were specifically raised to pay for material supplied to 36:52 · the Revolutionary War effort this document was checked and cross-checked by our staff genealogist 37:00 · to make sure that it was your ancestor and we were able to confirm this 37:05 · combined with the knowledge that John Christopher East stayed in America 37:10 · became an American citizen and did not return to Germany shows that he contributed to the 37:16 · Revolutionary War and is considered a patriot in addition 37:23 · we are providing you with the necessary documentation to verify John Christopher 37:28 · east's Revolutionary War service should you be interested in applying to 37:33 · the sons of the American Revolution you should provide them with copies 37:41 · thank you 38:05 · [Music] Mr Lowe 38:11 · congratulations on having a good fortune of being able to prove with historical 38:17 · documentation that you are descended from a patriot of the American 38:22 · Revolution John Christopher East I extend to you my personal invitation 38:28 · to join the National Society of the sons of the American Revolution wow John Christopher East served on both 38:37 · sides of the American Revolution 38:44 · I really did want my five times great grandfather to be an American Patriot 38:50 · but I think the way he came to be authenticated is much more powerful I 38:56 · think than I was expecting in spite of having thought against the 39:02 · revolutionaries he chose America to choose that ideal 39:08 · is heroic I'm glad I came on this journey because 39:14 · John Christopher East became more than a name on a newspaper clipping 39:20 · in the Lima Ohio newspaper so much of what I am about 39:27 · my love of politics my patriotism I can't help but think that 39:33 · some of his dreams and aspirations 39:38 · were passed down and I feel them there's a story of people leaving behind 39:44 · what was safe to embrace what is promised 39:52 · that's a happy ending [Music] 40:00 · [Applause]
Glad this is back online (legit this time). I love how celebrities get all the work done for them. WDYTYA? is still better than the PBS version.
SPOILER ALERT!Rob Lowe explores the life of his Hessian soldier forefather! | 10:37
Who Do You Think You Are? | 216K subscribers | 43,882 views | April 10, 2023
BTTT
Descended from Anne Pope, a great-aunt of GW - also a descendent of one of the French crusader kings of Jerusalem - but ah ain’t seen none of that money, so don’t know ‘bout that...
I’m supposedly cousin to Ben Franklin 10 times removed.
The oldest member of the local SAR chapter, who died recently at the age of 101, was related to Mary Todd.
The only reason it’s surprising is that Washington had no children.
That’s pretty cool. I’m related to Lucy Ball (and I believe Katherine Hepburn) through maternal line. On paternal side we found out they changed the surname upon coming to the States so for the longest time I thought we had an English coat of arms, instead I’ve got ancestors that were listed in concentration camps.
George Washington is my fourth cousin nine times removed and his wife Martha is my second cousin 6 times removed. I love genealogy.
94 year old Harrison Tyler is related to President John Tyler. who was his Grandfather.
Well if we are gonna engage in name dropping, I’m related to Adam and eve- top tnat rob Lowe lol
Lucille Ball and Katharine Hepburn. That is interesting.
My Mom did extensive research on our family many years ago and on her side there was a Franconia Chopin. But my Mom never could pin down whether she was a blood relative or married into the family. Back then people died so often one person might be married 3-4 times so hard to know who was the mother of the children. But one of my distant cousins is the curator of the historical society in Brownsburg, Indiana and she’s the one who told us about being first cousins 10 times removed from Ben Franklin and that we had a relative that fought in the revolutionary war.
Some of my Canadian ancestors ended up in Canada because they had to leave the US in a hurry, after backing the wrong team in 1776.
:^)
BTW, I find it a little weird that Canadians don’t live in Canadia...
lol, his ancestor had the privilege of getting his ass kicked by The General at Trenton, being taken into deep-wilderness captivity (the Penn Dutch hosted most of them), and being well-treated to the point that he started to financially support The Revolution.
It does drive me to distraction that some people don’t understand what an ancestor is, it’s even happened around here.
I come from a long line of in-bred mutts. Grrrr! ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.