The true story of the Fox family’s journey from Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, and the Netherlands, and their arrival in the American Colonies. An alliance with the Baroness Schwarzenberger, whose close relatives are leaders of the Franconian Knights changes the Fox families prospects considerably. In the service of the royal families of Bohemia and The German Empire, they become involved in the events of the day, which focus largely on the Protestant Reformation. Marie Antoinette, Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, hymnist Paul Gerhard, as well as the Henckel family of knights and chaplains, form lasting relationships with descendants of the knights. In the 16^th century the German knights join efforts with the Knights of the British Isles; The House of Orange; and descendants of the Simon family, and other followers of Menno Simon in the area of Krefeld, Germany. By the mid-1700s, many of the Pennsylvania Germans, following the trail of Quaker family descendant Daniel Boone, leave McCall’s Manor and their rolls as ironmasters and slave owners and choose instead, the relative safety of Maryland and the Northern Neck of Virginia, where the Dutchman founded new communities on Lord Fairfax’s land. Fox family descendants and their neighbors of the Northkill Amish Community (descendants of the knights of Zurich, Switzerland) who remain, become part of the collective known today as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Presented for the first time is the ancestry of numerous brothers and sisters of the Cloister in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, turned into a hospital for George Washington's wounded soldiers during the American Revolutionary War. Also included is a short-term Cloister member Indian translator Conrad Weiser, who arrived there from Tulpehocken in Berks County, Pennsylvania, with the future Cloister Prior John Peter Miller (member of the American Philosophical Society and correspondent with Benjamin Franklin). (395pp. index. Masthof Press, 2022.)

Also available: Knights Templar Descendants in North America, featuring the Knights of the British Isles, Volume 1 (item #4430).