Happy Independence Day to the Schmidt family and all its branches! On this day in 1776, when Thomas Jefferson and his committee published the Declaration of Independence, our ancestor Johann Friedrich Schmidt was an 8-year-old boy in Machtlos, Germany. Friedrich was being trained as a young linen weaver apprentice. He had just lost his father two years earlier, and was being raised by his mother, Anna Katharina, along with several other siblings. A handful of Friedrichs relatives and neighbors from Machtlos were hired as mercenaries to fight against the colonial rebels in America. Although these Hessian mercenaries fought against our country, they brought back to Germany tales of a beautiful, bountiful land where freedom and independence were prized, and where immigrants from all over the world were welcomed and allowed to prosper. Years later, many of Friedrichs grandchildren and great grandchildren would follow this dream and settle in America, producing the thousands of us who inhabit and enjoy this land. We live in a land of freedom not only because of the colonists who fought for independence in 1776, but also because of our German ancestors who encouraged their children and grandchildren to follow their dreams and who worked hard to help them afford the voyage across the Atlantic. As we gather with family, lets not forget what this day is about.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 21:32:17 +0000
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