Welcome to the
Hess Family Heritage Page
Charles Hess Charles & Mary Hess
(probably withMary Amelia and Ruth Isabel)
Elizabeth and Henry Hess
Henry and Dorothy Hess with their five children.
Click here to see More Vintage Photos
My name is Virginia Knowles, and I live with my husband Thad and our ten children near Orlando, Florida. My maternal grandparents, Henry and Dorothy (ages 96 and 94) are still alive and kicking, as you can see in these photos. They live in Maryland with my parents, Phil and Mary Quarrier. Grandma Hess broke both of her hips in 2008 (August and October), and Grandpa quipped that it's a good thing that she doesn't have 3 of them! That's me with Grandpa below in November 2008.
Henry Edward Hess, Sr. <2006> Dorothy Ransom Hess
Henry and Dorothy on Thanksgiving Day 2007
I'm proud to be part of the Hess clan. Whenever anyone does anything frugal in our family, we say that's because they're a Hess. It's a happy heritage!
Well, a pretty happy heritage anyway. My mom's cousin Priscilla just told me that our direct ancestor Margaret Stevenson Scott (in the Graves side of the family) was the last person and the oldest person (at age 77) to be hanged in the Salem witch trials. It is pretty fascinating stuff. She was eventually exonerated, but too late for her. Here are a few links for you to explore:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/324796/margaret_scott_victim_of_salem_witch.html
http://home.comcast.net/~heidi.quinn/all_margaretstephensonscott.htm
If that's not enough scandal for you, Priscilla also says that Tamsen Meserve, another ancient relative, was the first woman convicted of counterfeiting. She also survived being scalped by the Indians.
OK, back to more cheerful stuff! Here is the English translation of a brief memoire that my great great grandfather, Henry Hess, wrote in July 1886 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (It was originally written in German.)
Memoire of Henry Hess
Scranton, July 3rd 1886
Henry Hess born the 30th of November 1826 in Harnheim on the Pfrem, Rheinbaiern. My father was Henry Hess; my mother Barbara Gottler.
As a young man of almost 23 years of age, I left the ancestral home on the 21st of August 1849 to immigrate to America. Arrived in New York in September on a sailboat in which we had been on the ocean 24 days. Stayed in New York a few days where I and three of my comrades decided to go to the state of Pennsylvania. Since at that time where was no railroad there we had to travel partly by water and partly on foot through virgin land until we reached Hale on the Rainen and then came to Blekle on the Crafede Road. From there we had to continue our trip on Shuster's Rabe (Shoemaker's black horses) to Schlokem Haller (now Scranton). It wouldn't have suited us for we had heard of distant Pitston where the pigeons were already roasted and only has only to eat them. However, we turned back disappointed to the renowned Backdon where we stopped and stayed with Ludwig Engle. We spent a few days here and looked for work. Went to Slaken Haller again where we finally got work as laborers for 75 cents per day. On the 8th of October 1849, I found it (myself) in the Rest House with Carl Art (probably tuberculosis). In the first year, everything became so ill that there was no hope for my getting well. However, the Lord decided otherwise; I became well again. So it went good again. I stayed in the above named Rest House a year; then I went to John Reob where I then met Elisabeth Simon, now my beloved wife. We were married on the 5th of July 1852 in Wilks Bar (Wilkes-Barre) by Bredge Lasher with Henry Rebb and Micheil Helperch as witnesses. My wife, identified above, was born in Ruhrhessen on Basken Singlis on ------. Her father was Henry Simon; her mother ---------. Eight children were given to us; 7 boys, 1 girl, of which one, a boy, went before us.
A review of almost 37 years -- so I must say the Lord has done great things, more than I can comprehend.
"At my confirmation I selected this verse, Psalm 143, verse 10, "Lord, teach me to do thy will for thou art my God. May your good spirit lead me on a smooth road." The Lord has lead me up to this point and I know that He will also lead me further on if I will only believe in Him. My wish and will is to make myself subordinate to Him and to be true to Him until my end."
On a slightly more modern note, several years ago, I asked my grandmother, Dorothy Ransom Hess, to share some about her childhood, marriage and motherhood years. I just unearthed the letter that she wrote me -- maybe about 8 or 10 years ago? I thought you might enjoy reading it as well.
Memoire of Dorothy Ransom Hess (1990s)
Your grandfather Henry Edward Hess was born in 1912 in the small town of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River. Years before there had been a fort built there. Forty settlers from Connecticut walked or came by horses to settle in the Wyoming Valley on the Susquehanna River and named the area Forty Fort. I had a great, great grandfather, Captain Samuel Ransom, who was killed and scalped by the Indians while trying to defend the fort where the settlers went for protection.
Grandfather Hess lived at Forty Fort through his kindergarten years. Public schools did not have kindergartens at the time; private people ran them and charged for it. Then his father decided to move to the country to raise his children and he bought a 165 acre farm out beyond Dallas, Pennsylvania, near Demunds Corners. They had cows, horses, chicken, pigs, turkeys (I was scared to walk over there sometimes to see my best friend Elizabeth because they had a mean turkey gobbler). They hired a man to help them farm because Great Grandfather Hess was really a banker and drove one of the few automobiles in the area down to the city of Wilkes-Barre each day to work in the bank. He later was the president of a bank.
Grandpa Hess attended a one room school for his first eight grades. They walked about a mile to school. When the weather was nice they could cut across fields and through the woods to get there. There were about 15 in the school and three in his grade. The first teacher was a man teacher who was quite mean. He used a switch on them and sometimes would yank them out of their seats by the hair and hit them for talking or misbehaving. He was glad when they got a woman teacher. Each day one of the big boys would take a pail and go down the hill for a pail of water for drinking. They all used the same dipper. They had two outside toilets and Grandpa's brothers were so embarrassed that he went into the girls' toilet one time. They had a potbellied stove in the room for heat.
When it came time for high school, the township had to pay for them to attend any school they could get to. Some folks would move in town with relatives or friends for the week and go home weekends. Of course with Great Grandfather Hess working in the city, his children would ride into town with him and go to school. Grandpa Hess and his best friend Hilton Long would sometimes take the trolley out to around Dallas and walk the five miles on home so they didn't have to stay in town such a long day. They graduated from Kingston High School.
I was born on down the river from Forty Fort in a small town called Dorranceton, later merged with Kingston. I went to Kingston schools. The first five grades I walked about three blocks to school. Then it was six blocks until I was through eighth grade, then further to walk to high school. When I was around five years old, my father decided to buy a farm, too, and bought one right across the dirt road from the Hess farm. So you see, we grew up as neighbors. We only stayed at the farm from May until October and then would go down to our city home. That was until the big stock market crash in 1929. Then my father sold our city place and we lived in the country one. My father was a contractor and built hundreds of homes in the Wyoming Valley. Imagine, in those days he sold homes for $500 and automobiles cost about $500. He was also one of the first to own an automobile in the area. The houses of course didn't have plumbing nor electricity at the beginning. Like out in the country, we used oil lamps and candles and gas lanterns until our fathers bought Delco light plants for our electricity.
Airplanes were a rare sight. We would go outside to see them when we heard them flying over. I can remember going outside to see Charles Lindbergh fly over on his way to New York, and then he flew solo in his little plane clear across the ocean to France. That was quite a feat. We didn't have the big planes at that time and couldn't hop a plane to New York or Philadelphia like we can now.
Our first radio caused lots of excitement. We had to use our ear phones so only one could listen at a time until we finally got a speaker to set up on top the radio. You didn't just plug in your radio at first, you had batteries working it. Folks would brag that they heard Chicago last night, or New York.
One of your Grandfather's first jobs was in an ice plant. Before they learned how to manufacture ice, men cut ice from lakes and ponds and stored it in an ice house where they packed the ice in sawdust to keep it from melting. Then men would truck it from house to house and sell you maybe fifty pounds for your refrigerator and it would keep things cool for a few days. We were married over ten years before we bought an electric refrigerator. After the refrigeration business died down, your grandfather learned how to sell life insurance and that remained until retirement.
While still in the ice business, the war, World War II, came along and your grandfather served in the Navy. He was a Machinist Mate second class. He didn't have to fight. He was on a repair ship to keep refrigeration units working. He was gone for almost two years. They were a long two years for me for we had five children and I was expecting the sixth.
Then along came TV. Our neighbors bought a TV set and graciously let our children and the neighbor children to come in Friday night and sit on the floor and watch a certain family program, like "I Remember Mama" or some such show. It was a great Friday night thrill. After a year or two they wanted to buy a better set so offered their set to Grandpa Hess for a reasonable price and we became TV owners.
Now we are into the Computer Age. What fantastic changes every day. We just can't keep up with what they are doing. Look at your children, as young as they are, having their own web site and we don't even know what all that means.
~*~*~
Thanks, Grandma, for sharing your memories! I encourage all of us to ask our parents and grandparents, as well as to write things down for our own children and grandchildren. Let's keep the family history alive!
I've had the privilege of attending a few Hess family reunions in Pennsylvania throughout the years. The ones I remember were in 1976, 1988, and 2006. We drove all the way from San Francisco for the one in 1976! You'll find a link to that story near the bottom of the page.
On the rest of this page, I've decided to feature a group picture from the 2006 reunion, as well as a scan of a 1933 letter from Mary Graves Hess to Henry Hess, a picture of Charles and Mary Hess with one of their babies, a family tree page, and a picture of the Hess gravestones. I'll try to add additional pictures, including ones of our family tree, later on. If you have anything you would like to contribute to this page, send it along to me at VirginiaKnowles@gmail.com. Thanks!
There is also a personal message for my Hess relatives, especially those of my generation, at the end.
Hess Family Reunion
at Frances Slocum State Park in Pennsylvania
June 24, 2006
(I'm in the front row, third chair from the right, with my daughter Melody on my lap. My Grandpa and Grandma Hess, the only ones still alive from their generation, are in the light blue shirts in the front row.)
Letter from
Mary Graves Hess to Henry Hess
on May 3, 1933
(I have a whole bunch of these letters on a CD!
She is always reminding him to take his Phillips tonic,
and Grandpa says that's why he's lived to be 94!)
Charles and Mary Hess
with Baby
Hess Family Genealogy
(Note that Mary Amelia Hess, the first entry to the left, was one of the seven children of Charles and Mary. Many of us knew her as Aunt Amelia. She is probably the baby in the picture above. This chart belongs to her daughter Priscilla. Great Aunt Amelia was very kind to lend me her Graves genealogy packet about 30 years ago. I have more of these charts on my computer.)
Hess Family Grave Stones
A Personal Note
for My Hess Relatives
(and anyone else who would like to read it!)
At the 1976 Hess reunion, when I was almost 13 years old, I had the very profound experience of realizing a deep need for God's grace in my life. I know that I found it there, and my life has never been the same for the last 30-something years. If you would like to read about that, the story is here: My Story of Liberty in 1976. When I had the privilege of attending the most recent reunion in 2006, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for what had happened to me in 1976, and prayed that God would allow me to extend that grace to those of you whom I might meet then. Many years ago, I painted a plaque for my grandparents that said, "GOD BLESS THIS HOUSE OF HESS." Since they live with my parents now and don't need many of their own decorations, the plaque is back in my possession. It sits on the shelf, right next to my Grandma Hess's copy of the vintage book What Is Worthwhile? that she received from her mother-in-law, Mary Graves Hess. I can see them both from my favorite reading chair, and when I do, I pray for you, though I do not know all of you. I love to hear your news, because it helps me to intercede for you more specifically. I have prayed many times for all of you, especially for those in my generation (there are 63 of us second cousins), that God would pour out his fresh mercies on us in a way we have not yet experienced before, that our families would be knit together in love and unity, and that we would each live with integrity, purpose and impact.
And may God bless us all!