How many of you have been told you have an “Indian princess” in your ancestry? Our family legend is that our earliest Billow ancestor in America was a Hessian mercenary soldier and he married a Cherokee Indian princess.[1] But is it true? Nah!
Our earliest Billow ancestor is Peter Billow (d. 1819), my fifth great-grandfather, who lived in York county, Pennsylvania, before moving to the part of Cumberland county which later became Perry county. There is intriguing information suggesting that he was born in Bavaria, but I need to see a little more evidence before I’m on board with jumping back another generation. However, there is nothing to suggest he was a mercenary. The only military service I can find is that he was on the York militia rolls in the late 1780s. And the closest thing I can find to the “Cherokee Indian” story is that there was a school for Native Americans in Carlisle – not too far from where he lived.
So where did this story come from? I haven’t the foggiest[3]. But, it’s been around for years and years and has had various embellishments, to include that he was a prisoner of war at Trenton, and one where he was a prisoner and just escaped being hanged. My great aunt (technically “grandaunt”) noted the basic story in her contribution on the Billow family to a local town history. I’ve seen it referenced in a newspaper from the 1970s. And, it’s even mentioned in a book by a distant cousin (Hey cousin!) – and he’s a priest, so it must be true, right? Sad to say, no. [And no aspersions on my cousin – he’s just repeating the same legend I was told.]
Time and again, from what I’ve seen, when descendants have tried to pin down any facts, there are none to be found. For instance, no Billow (or any variation of the name) was on the Trenton prisoner list. Further, their queries to the Johannes Schwalm Association (a well-known repository of information on Hessians)[4] have not turned up anything. At one point, I was thinking I’d like to visit but as I gathered records on Peter, it seemed less and less likely that there was much credence to the Hessian mercenary story and that it would probably be a wasted trip.
As for Peter’s wife, Margaretha, she appears to be of German descent, like her husband, and there’s no indication of Native American ancestry in any records to date.
However, I would absolutely love to hear from any Billow descendant who has more information. Do share!
[1] The “Cherokee Indian princess” myth is very common. If you really think you are a descendent, I encourage you to visit this link: https://www.powwows.com/my-grandmother-was-a-cherokee-indian-princess/. Meanwhile, a number of posts about this myth have by consolidated by Cyndi’s List here: https://www.cyndislist.com/native-american/myths/.
[2] Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004670202/. Accessed 26 April 2021.
[3] I have to note that if my father’s sense of humor is inherited, someone along the way may have made up the story for fun. Remember – Billow? Hawaiian?
Oh darn-been telling people for years I am a descendant of an Indian Princess. I even thought we looked a bit Native American!