The Hillegas and Gery families (Hillegass) arrived in America from Germany, Switzerland, and the Alsace Lorraine in the early 1700s. At the time, many from these regions, including the Amish, were fleeing religious persecution and most, along with the Hillegas and Gery families, settled in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Hillegas family later moved to the Midwest during the Great Westward Expansion of the 19th century.

The Luman and Fowler families were among the early settlers of America, arriving from the British Isles in the 1600s. Several of the early settlers arrived from Essex and Sussex England along with the Great Puritan Migration, while others may have been fleeing religious persecution arriving from Cornish/Lancashire origin. Some arrived in the mid-1700s from Northern Ireland, County Donegal (Scottish Presbyterian roots) and settled in Virginia. The earliest settlers arrived in Massachusetts and then traveled to Maryland before joining the Great Westward Expansion in the 19th century. Among the Fowlers is a Revolutionary War hero, buried and honored in Maryland.

The Anderson/Carlson family (Andersson/Carlsson) arrived in the late 1800s from Sweden to homestead in the Mid-West. They settled virgin land at the time. In Sweden they had resided in two adjacent counties near Stockholm and appear to have been landowners in farming and artisan crafting.

© 2019