By Anik Laflèche
If your last name is Schneider, Sigman, Henry, or André, or it has “von” in it, you may be of German descent.
In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies declared the United States of America to be independent from Great Britain. Many reasons were behind this declaration, including excessive taxation and lack of representation in Parliament. Civil war broke out in central North America, pitting George Washington against Benedict Arnold, and John Adams against Samuel Adams. This brutal civil war finally ended in 1783 when Great Britain accepted the independence of its old colonies. The United States would become a country and Great Britain would keep the northern colonies, now Canada. This started a massive wave of migration (almost 70,000 people including British citizens, First Nations and freed enslaved people) to what are now the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
United Empire Loyalists Landing at the Site of the Present City of Saint John, New Brunswick, 1783 by John David Kelly, reproduced in Confederation Life’s 1935 calendar (e011154201)
While numerous families arrived during this massive wave of settlement, many Canadians are descendants of a smaller, less noticeable population migration that happened simultaneously—not First Nations, French, American or English immigrants, but surprisingly—German mercenaries, also known as Hessians.
Let us backtrack a bit in our story of American rebels and British Loyalists. From the late 1770s to the early 1780s, King George III of England, faced with war in the colonies, decided to hire 30,000 German soldiers (that is a German soldier for every 22 Québécois!) and ship them to the New World to combat the rebellious states. While many of these mercenary regiments were sent directly to the Thirteen Colonies to fight, some were deployed in Canada to protect the frontier, such as the Hesse-Hanau Regiment, which were active in the forts of Ontario and Quebec.
Transcription of a War Office letter from officer de Looz concerning the movement of the Lossberg regiment, 1783. (MG13 WO28, vol. 8, p. 224, microfilm C-10861)
Although the German mercenaries and Loyalists fought valiantly, the balance of power tipped in favour of the American patriots. After the war was over, the German mercenaries were offered a choice of returning home to Germany or settling in Canada. Many soldiers decided to stay in Canada, settling in Lower Canada, Upper Canada, and Nova Scotia—learning French or English, marrying local girls, and assimilating into the surrounding societies.
But how did so many Canadian families forget their German ancestors? Should it not be easy to pinpoint a German name in our family trees? Not necessarily as in the 18th and 19th centuries, spelling of names often changed throughout people’s lives. Spelling, especially when foreign words were concerned, was based on sounds, and thus varied greatly. In the case of the mercenaries, local French or English priests were the ones recording names for marriages, births and deaths. When they heard a German name, they often francized or anglicized them based on what they understood. Thus, Heinrich Kristof Sieckmann, a German mercenary born in Vlotho, Germany, who served in the Hesse-Kassel Regiment, became Henry Christopher Sigman and André Christophe Sicman. A few generations later and other phonetically similar variations started to appear such as Ciegman, Sicman, Sickman, Sigman, Sickamen, Silchman and even Tieckman. With this new spelling, Heinrich Sieckmann, now Henry Sigman, could easily have been mistaken for an English immigrant on paper.
War Office 28: nominal roll of the 1st Hesse-Hanau Battalion, January 1783 (MG13 WO28, vol. 8, p.205, microfilm C-10861)
So to the Henrys and Andrés (Heinrich), the Sigmans (Sieckmann) and the Schneiders—if this might be you or if you are simply curious to learn more about these German soldiers that popped up on the Netflix show Turn, come on over to Library and Archives Canada. Our collections have a surprisingly large number of archival sources concerning the German mercenaries who fought during the American Revolution. We have nominal rolls of different regiments in manuscript groups MG11 and MG13; letters written by German officers in the Haldimand papers (MG21); and orders, correspondence and journals in MG23. Many of the microfilm reels containing these documents are digitized and available to the public through Héritage. We also have published sources on our German ancestors, with historical analysis, lists of soldiers and short biographies, mostly located in our Genealogy section. To learn more about our holdings on German mercenaries, visit Immigration: German.
Anik Laflèche is a student project assistant in the Public Services Branch of Library and Archives Canada.
Library and Archives Canada Blog 
Reblogged this on Business Startup-Bay Area.
I’m looking for a Germanic family’s surname who became UEL in Canada and used the surname LOYST, maybe because they were loyalists. The boys names were Heinrich and Andreas with a forename of Johann. As a researcher, i only find this surname in North America, Can you help!
I am looking for Johann Wilhelm Hildebrandt, he came to Canada to with the Hessen-Hanau Jaegercorps to fight for England in the American Revolution. I have excerpts from Quebec-Hessians-L Archives with his name and that of his family.
Would you have any information on Johann? He settled in the Chateauguay area of Quebec after being mustered out in 1783.
Thanks for your question. LAC’s Genealogy team will be happy to help you. You can contact them using the Ask Us a Genealogy Question form. Best of luck in your research.
Hello,
I learned through my genealogical investigations, that I am descended from a Hessian Jaeger who was stationed in La Prairie (which is outside of Montreal), named Johannes Schneider. I am attempting to learn the exact year and date, that Johannes Schneider arrived in Canada with Kreutzbourg’s Jaeger Hesse-Hanau Corps. I have seen conflicting accounts which stated that he arrived in Quebec with Kreutzbourg’s Hesse-Hanau Company in July of 1777, 1781 or 1782. I would also like to learn what Battles or Raids in New York or Vermont, that he may have taken part in. I would lastly like to learn the details of his life in Canada. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great deal of time to sift through Canadian records, and I would greatly appreciate it, if you might be able to help me answer my three questions above. I also do not have the skills to access complex Canadian archives on my own. You seem to be quite knowledgeable in this subject matter, so I will trust in your skills to help me locate the answers. Thank you very much for your time and patience.
Regards,
Christopher-Jude Wekelo
Our Reference section should be able to point you in the right direction to find the answer to this question. Please use our Ask us a question form. https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/services/public/ask-us-question/pages/ask-us-question.aspx
Dear Christopher Jude Wekelo:
My name is Denis Robillard and I am a published poet and historical researcher who lives in Windsor, Ontario. I have been researching my Hessian roots since about 2000, so I have been at it for a while. Your ancestor Johannes Schneider of the Hesse Hanau troops is special to me as he married into the same line as my ancestor Valentin Scheid who was in the Wittgenstein Company of field jaeger chasseurs. They both married women with the last name Riel and settled in the same area of St. Philippe, St. Constant in Quebec. Jean-Baptiste Schneider was god father to my ancestor Jean-Baptiste Scheid who was baptised in 1791. If you look in the Jean Francois Regis births, death registry for St. Philippe Church you will find his name and offspring in there. Schneider married Marguerite Riel on January 18th, 1790. He was born in Bad Soden Salmuenster in 1757 and was in the Francken Company of chasseurs. ( if you go on line you can order the Hetrina records from Germany). Both soldiers arrived in Canada in 1777 and were under Colonel Kreuzbourg.
Good luck with the further research.
Hello Denis,
Thank you for your response, and it is a rare and unique opportunity, for me to make the acquaintance of a published Poet. I appreciate and enjoy Poetry, such as the Sonnets of William Shakespeare and the Poems of Robert Frost and John Greenleaf Whittier. It is a pleasure to make the acquaintance of a person who respects my Ancestor, Johannes Schneider, as well. I must say, that it is fascinating know that the lives of your Ancestor Valentin Scheid (whom I had read about, previously) and my Ancestor Johannes Schneider intersected. If you might be willing or comfortable, to answer a few questions, about my Ancestor Johannes Schneider, I would be greatly appreciative. I have been wondering about and pondering the following questions, for quite some time, and have not gotten satisfactory answers through my own efforts, thus far. Is the arrival of my Ancestor Johannes Schneider in North America, in the month of July in the year 1777, a proven, documented, indisputable, and validated fact, supported by documentation? In addition, did Johannes Schneider’s Company of the Hesse Hanau Chasseurs meet the retreating forces of General Barry St Leger, in the month of August, in the year 1777, at Fort Oswego in New York? Did Johannes Schneider and his Company of the Hesse Hanau Chasseurs, entered the Colony of New York, and take part in Raids or Battles, during the American Revolutionary War, and is it documented? Lastly, was Johannes Schneider truly born and raised in Bad Soden, Salmunster, Hesse, Germany and is it proven and documented? Thank you, once again, for your response, and for your time, in reading my message.
Best Regards,
Christopher-Jude Wekelo