FAZENBAKER, GEORGE - George Fazenbaker was born 8/15/1757 at Heidelsheim, Germany. (Heidelsheim is now part of the city of Bruchsal, located in Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany.) George was baptized "Johann Georg Fesenbecker" at the Evangelical Reformed Church at Heidelsheim on 8/16/1757. The baptismal record gave the parents' names as "Joh. Georg Fesenbecker" and wife "Catharina."

George was among the "Hessian" soldiers hired by England's King George III to fight the colonial forces during the American Revolutionary War. Concerning George's military service, Jack Fazenbaker discovered that George was a private in the 6th Company of the "Jäger-bataillons" (that is, the hunter battalions).

While some of the German troops came from the part of Germany called Hesse, others, like George Fazenbaker, did not. Nevertheless, historical accounts often refer to all the German soldiers hired by George III as Hessians.

One western Maryland historian speculated that George may have been among the captured Hessian soldiers held in old Fort Frederick, Maryland. These soldiers were allowed to work for local farmers, some of whom were also native of Germany. Whether George was actually among these soldiers is not known.

M. A. Schwalm of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Inc., cited German records which show that George was labeled a deserter with full arms and equipment on 4/4/1781. His unit served in Virginia. Western Maryland genealogist Wayne Bittinger noted, however, that "a history of Germans in the state of Maryland ... reports that he had been taken prisoner of war and had refused return transportation to Germany." The Germans and Americans understandably had different perspectives on the same event.

George Fazenbaker married Elizabeth ----, who was born in the 1750s or 1760s in Germany.

George eventually settled in what is today Garrett County, the westernmost county of Maryland. The first known record of the Fazenbaker family in western Maryland was made in 1787, four years after the end of the Revolutionary War. George was a farmer. He remained in what is now Garrett County when he made his last will and testament on 10/17/1809. The will named his nine children. He died within several months of the date of his will. His wife Elizabeth died sometime after 1823.

George Fazenbaker's web site. My 853-page book "The Fazenbaker Family of Western Maryland," 1999 identifies thousands of his descendants. To learn how to obtain the book, contact Walt Warnick by e-mail at ashlie@erols.com, or by postal mail at 4911 Sundown Road, Laytonsville, MD 20882.

(I do not personally know Mr. Warnick nor do I have any knowledge of the contents of his book... Sylvie).

Walt Warnick