The American colonial holdings of England called the Colonies had declared their independence in 1776. British soldiers were sent to put down the insurrection. Their numbers were augmented by mercenary troops from Hessen, Germany hired by King George III. Between 1776 and 1784, 30,000 Germans had been hired to come to America and fight on the side of England. Among the 30,000 was one young man, Heinrich Meykrantz who was a Hessian soldier. He was a grenadier, the elite of the infantry, in the military service. Hesse-Cassel in Germany supplied the most German troops. A treaty between George III and Federick III, Land grave of Hesse-Cassel hired approximately 17,000. Heinrich is our great-great-great-grandfather. Many hessian soldiers deserted as the war went on. Nearly 6,000 remained in Canada and the United States after the war was over. From a web site called Johannes Schabalm (JSHA Home Page), Heinrich Meykrantz from Hesse, Cassel, Ransbach Germany is listed as a private in the VonLengerke Regiment (Hetrina Vol I.) .He deserted from his regiment on June 1778 in Mt. Holly New Jersey and remained in America.

The Meykrantz name has been changed through the years with various spellings. These are Maikranz, Maikrantz, Mykrant, Mygrants to Mygrant. Our ancestor, Heinrich was born in Ransbach, Hessel Cassel Germany in 1754. He arrived as a Hessian soldier in America in 1776. After deserting, he settled in Pennsylvania. He met and married Elizabeth (Anna Elizabeth Agness)in 1785 in Pennsylvania. She was born in Unity Township, Westmoreland County Pennsylvania in 1760 and died there. They had five sons: Johannes, Christopher, Henrich, Jacob and Joseph. They were born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Heinrich died in Westmoreland County 6-29-1795.

Many Maikiantz names are listed in the records of St. Johns Lutheran and Reformed Church in Mt. Pleasant, PA. All are probably related. Our great-great-grandfather was Joseph Mygrants. The spelling of the last name has evolved from the original spelling of Meykrantz. Joseph was born in Westmoreland County, PA on November 17, 1795. He married Catherine WaIters, his second wife, about 1820. She was born in Pennsylvania on January 14, 1799. In a document listing baptisms, Joseph Maykrantz and Catherine are listed as parents of Sara in 1820, Wilhem in 1822 and in 1824 of Johannes. In the census of 1840 Joseph is listed as a resident of Tuscarawas County Ohio. There were two adults over 40 years of age and nine individuals listed between the age of 20 to 5 years of age. We can assume that Joseph and Catherine moved to Ohio and had nine children at that time. In the 1850 US census of Tuscarawas County Ohio eight children are listed. They are Joseph b. 1825, Isaac b. 1828, Ephraim b. 1830, Henry b 1833, Lavina b. 1836, Rebecca b. 1837, Elizabeth b. 1839, and Nancy birth date unknown. Our great-great grandfather, Joseph was listed as a farmer, 54 years old. His wife, Catherine WaIters Mygrants was listed as 49 years old. Their children were listed as follows: Name Age Occupation Birth Place Joseph 25 laborer PA Isaac 22 carpenter Ohio Henry 16 cooper Ohio Lavinia 14 Ohio Rebecca 13 Ohio Elizabeth 11 Ohio Ephraim was also a son, married in 1849 to Catharine Espich at the age of 20. He was a laborer born in Ohio. Nancy was a daughter who married William Rouser in 1849. Joseph married Rebecca Haely Sept. 19, 1852 in Ohio. Isaac married Susannah Benell March 17, 1851 in Ohio. Henry married Mary Critchfield in 1860. Lavinia married David Rouser Nov. 10, 1859. Rebecca married a person with the last name of Stockwell or Stock dell. The following is an excerpt from an account written by Maro Bitzinger, about Rebecca. "Now we come to our beloved Aunt Beck, my grandfather's sister who was so completely different from him. She always was welcome wherever she went for a visit. She had so little to share but was so willing to make us happy and we knew when we saw her coming up the street with her little suitcase that we were going to have fun. She earned her living by working for people who were sick or needed help and I know that she got very little for her work. We always begged her to tell us scary stories so that we could shiver and shake. Her favorite one was about the headless horseman; so real that we thought she knew him. Then she sang songs for us. Her favorite was "The Frog He Would A Wooing Go" and Camptown Races. I can still see her little crooked finger searching in a little purse for pennies to buy us candy. She would sit and peer so long at the newspaper and finally put it down and say, "Ach, there is nothing in the paper"; when all the time we knew she had never learned to read because girls were never sent to school if they were needed at home. When she came to see us, my mother always cooked those foods she liked so well. One of which was cabbage. She always cooked enough so that there would be some left in the dish. Aunt Beck would carry it back and forth while clearing the dinner table, eating every step of the way. We loved her no matter what she said or did". Rebecca took care of Catherine and Joseph on their farm in their old age. She is mentioned lovingly in Joseph's will and received more from the estate than the other heirs. Joseph died March 29, 1882 and Catherine died January 16, 1881 in Wells County, Indiana.

Our great-grandfather is Isaac Mygrant. He was born near Sugar Creek, Tuscarawas County Ohio in 1828. His father, Joseph, was a farmer and undoubtedly all the children had to work on the farm to support their large family. At the age of 22, Isaac was listed as a carpenter in the US census of 1850. In 1851, Isaac married Susannah Benell whose family lived on a neighboring farm. Susannah was born in Ohio in 1828. Her father, William Benell, was a farmer born in Pennsylvania in 1794. Her mother, Elizabeth was born in Maryland in 1798. Isaac and Susannah's marriage has been recorded with Susannah's name misspelled Pernell or written so that the first three letters were mistaken to be "Per" instead of "Ben" .This has caused some mistakes in preparing genealogy charts. Isaac and Susannah were married in Tuscarawas County Ohio March 17, 1851. Three children were born in Ohio: Sophia, Catharine Mary, and G. Allen. In 1860, Isaac Mygrant is listed as a resident of Allen County Franklin Township, Indiana (Eighth Census of US, Roll 243, Volume 1237-988) . He was a 32-year-old farmer. His wife was listed as Susan. Four Children were counted: Sophia, Mary, Allen, and Franklin. In the 1870 census he is listed as a house carpenter with three new children: Seneca, Clara, and Charles. Franklin was not listed. In the 1880 census, Lafayette Township, Allen County the following was listed: Mygrant Isaac Carpenter 53 Susan Wife 52 C. Mary Daughter 24 Allen George Clerk/dry goods 22 Senn William Son at home 18 Jane Clara Daughter at home 16 Ozro Charles Son at home 13 Emery Schyler Son at home 6 The area, Lafayette Township, had many inhabitants who had migrated from Ohio. Susan died in 1899 and Isaac died in 1914. They are buried in Markle Indiana. The following is quoted from an account authored by Maro Bitzinger, daughter of J. Clara Mygrant Farley. "My grandmother's name was Susanne Bueche or Bourchard, a very gentle and sweet French girl, married very young as girls of that period were. Her life with my grandfather was a very hard, unhappy time, completely dominated by my grandfather, which my mother seemed to think, was the reason for mental collapse and death. My grandfather as I said before was a hard man, the only one in the world so completely wise and right according to his thinking. He was not a tall man but carried himself like an Austrian potentate, whatever that might be. He always wore a swallowtail coat, a bowler or derby hat, he walked as though he had a steel rod for a backbone. My sister told me that he was born in western Ohio. He lived in a log cabin and was very poor. When I complained that I had to stay in the house because my shoes were being repaired, he said that never kept him in. He would play in the snow barefoot. That was to prove that he was a strong boy and gave him the right to be boss. That marriage brought into the world, four boys and two girls who evidently inherited his strength and ambition but not his character for they loved and cared for each other. I believe Allen was the oldest. He was a good carpenter and cabinetmaker. I think he did inherit his father's stingy ways for when he came from Los Angeles to see my mother, he brought a package containing three or four slices of bacon which he could not throwaway or leave there to spoil; of course, that was after his wife died. My Uncle Senn inherited his father's proud carriage but his mother's disposition. He was an accomplished cornet player and so were the other brothers. I don't know how they got their musical training but when the circus came to town, they joined the band without telling their father and traveled allover the United States. When they left the circus, they joined a theater band and played in theaters in New York City. Then my Uncle Senn was made director of a US cavalry band. He rode proudly at the head of his band when war with Mexico was fought. There he learned to carve things out of very hard wood that grew there. After the war, he went back to his family in New York. The youngest brother, Emory, died quite young from alcoholism. They were always good to mother, not financially but lovingly. Uncle Senn managed a boys' camp in the Adirondak Mountains- not much money but an honorable job. He always sent us a big box of chestnuts, which we kids could not stand. My Uncle Ozro married twice, each time to women with money and he sent mother money occasionally. He came to see her several times. My Uncle Al was kind enough to leave my mother $15,000 when he died which made her more comfortable and independent. She invested this money in land stock which gave her a monthly income.

Our grandmother was Jane Clara Mygrant, the third youngest born of Isaac and Susan. She was born May 14, 1864 in Indiana. She had one sister, Mary; and four living brothers, G. Allen, Seneca W., C. Ozro and S. Emory Mygrant. She married Silas C. Farley on July 20, 1881 in Indiana. They were parents of eight children, seven living at home at the time of Silas death at the age of 42. There were six girls and one boy: Delsie (Fenton) 1884 Edith (Palmer) 1886 Grace (Cady) 1888 Fern (Holloway) 1889 Gladys (Young) 1894 Marc (Bitzinger) 1896 Emory Clinton 1901 Clara had a hard life. She was a young widow with financial worries and seven children to raise. The baby Emory was called Babe from his birth. We have always referred to him as "Uncle Babe" not knowing for many years that he was named Emory Clinton. Our grandmother and mother did not have a close relationship. This was due to many factors we can assume. Clara's upbringing was harsh-- ruled by an autocrat father. She learned that life was serious. Then her husband died leaving her facing the responsibility of providing for seven young children. There was little time for anything but survival. Maro writes this about their relationship. "I don't really know much about her (Clara) family but will tell what I do remember which is probably my fault as we did not communicate too well. And, she probably thought I was not interested and to tell the truth, I guess I wasn't. She was very critical of what I said, what my friends said and what I did and I didn't want to hear that so I just never told her anything. Now I have finally admitted that it was not all her fault." Clara lived in Huntington Indiana on White Street. Her son, Babe, lived in the same block. She raised her children and was in contact with her brothers. She traveled to Los Angeles with her daughter Fern to attend to her brother Allen's estate in 1926. Later she went to New York with Babe to attend the funeral of her brother Ozro in 1941. We visited our grandmother on summer vacations but have only vague memories of those experiences. Our mother has said that her mother grew fond of our father after she learned he was taking care of our family financially but at first was very cold to the marriage. Joanne and I visited our grandmother about 1943 in a nursing home in Huntington. She was happy to see us and although we were glad to see her, we had little to talk about. She died in 1946 in Huntington Indiana.

Maro Elizabeth Farley was born on December 18, 1896, the sixth daughter of Clara and Silas Farley in Huntington Indiana. The year 1901 brought lasting changes to the Farley family. Clara gave birth to her first son who was the center of everyone's attention. Eight months later, in November, Silas became ill and died. Clara had a baby to care for and a husband to grieve. Little time was spent on five-year-old Maro. These events shaped her personality and her concept of her place in her family. She had five beautiful older sisters who had their friends and lives. She was only close to Grace and of course, Babe. She attended school until her mid teens. She took typing classes and left school to earn money as a secretary. She was employed by the Erie Railroad. She met our father and fell in love. Clara did not approve of Arnold but that made little difference to Maro. It was wartime and Arnold enlisted in the army. After the war, he returned to Huntington IN. In October of 1919, they were married. Arnold had heard of employment in Flint Michigan. They moved to Flint where they began their married life. Maro had a sweet disposition and was well liked in our neighborhood. She was shy and let Arnold show the way. Her greatest joy was having her own family and taking pride in her children. There were six children from this union: James, Howard and Dorothy, all red-heads were born in a five year period; Joanne and Pat were born in 1930 and 1932 only 18 months apart; Janet was born in 1941, nine years after Pat's birth date. The years between 1941 and 1945 were hard on Maro. Arnold had accepted a transfer to Illinois by Buick. They found a rental house and the eight of us moved in. Jim and Howard left in 1942 for the army. She feared for their safety and her fears were realized when she learned that Jim was missing in action. Dorothy graduated from high school and found a job at Buick. There she met and fell in love with Robert Georges. They were married shortly thereafter. Arnold worked very long hours because of the war effort. Maro's companions were her three youngest daughters, two neighbors and wives of Arnold's co-workers. She did enjoy going to downtown Chicago and especially visiting our sister, Dorothy, who had an apartment there. It was great news when the war department notified us that Jim was a prisoner of war in Germany. Maro was relieved but still very unhappy and uncertain of his welfare. After the war, the family returned to Flint with the exception of Dorothy whose home would remain in Chicago. She was the mother of Robert Jr., the first grandchild. It was hard to leave her behind. The family lived in a home on Josephine Street until all of the children had left home. They then purchased a home on Home Avenue. Arnold became a semi-invalid and Maro cared for him until his death in 1973. Dorothy had another son, James. Dorothy's husband Robert died in 1965. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in 1978. Maro went on with her life but the loss of Arnold and Dorothy was hard for her. She lived in an apartment until 1979. She had many health problems. After a surgery, she went to recuperate with Janet but she never regained her strength. She died in 1979 at her daughter's home. She is remembered with love by her remaining five children as uncomplaining, patient, humorous and a joy to be with.