Craig Hazelbaker pulls another rabbit out of his hat for us.  He found a second piece of important information relating directly to Peter Hasselbacher, the Hazelbaker patriarch. It was only a few months ago that he discovered Peter's overlooked grave site exactly where it was supposed to be, but lost to us.

His second discovery came just in time to be presented at the recent Hazelbaker family reunion in Vermillion County Illinois. We have known for some time that Peter's name was entered as "absent" on a 1783 list of conscripted soldiers who failed to return to Germany after the American Revolutionary War. The source of this information is generally referenced to the Doctoral Dissertation of Erhard Städtler in the 1950s. The listing also gave his rank (private). Jochen Seidel, another authority of the Ansbach/ Bayreuth Regiment, adds Münchsteinach as Peter's home but I do not know the source of that information. Until now, we had no knowledge of exactly when Peter left for America. The initial regiment was reinforced several times during the course of the war. Peter might have arrived with any of these troops.

Now we know exactly when Peter sailed. Working with colleagues in Europe who are also interested in military history, Craig gives us proof that Peter came over with the initial force. As it happens,the muster list of all the soldiers leaving for America still exists and is archived in Britain. This makes sense, as the British were responsible for paying the soldiers, which they did in installments throughout the war, even in their captivity! Here is the entry:

Ansbach-Bayreuther Truppen
Muster rolls Nijmegen [Netherlands]
Source:  Public Record Office,   SP 81/187
2.) Captain v. Ellrodt       25th March 1777
Company 2, No. 108
Name: Hasselbacher, Peter
Rank: soldier

“That means, that on the muster rolls of Nijmegen, where the troops were put on ships for England, he was in Captain v. Ellrodt's company of the Ansbach regiment. It is listed here as second company of all 12 Ansbach-Bayreuth companies, but it was the 4th company in the battalion counting.”

Courtesy of Horst Lochner
by way of Andy Braeunling of Germany, and Craig Hazelbaker

See also additional discussion and documents here.

Now we know when Peter came to America (on my birthday in 1777), when he did not return to Germany (1783), and where he was buried. The only other official document I know of that contains the name of Peter Hasselbacher in the 1700's is the Münchsteinach birth record of 1759. I think these two Peters are one and the same, but the link is not well forged and will be discussed elsewhere.

Until then,
Peter Hasselbacher (the Younger)