Was the Austrian Baron by chance named Fisher? We had a similar claim that our line was possibly related to a Baron Fischer, who had died in Germany, leaving a vast fortune.
The claim was researched over the years by several family members, including the late Lucy Fisher of Charlotte. She had been kind enough to send me two transcribed copies of the story, written by two different newspapers. One article was from the Denver Post, dated January 8, 1906, page 12. It included this information: Baron Fisher was a member of the Head Counsellors of Frederick the Great. One of his sons was Adam Fisher from whom the American heirs claimed title to the vast estate. The Baron’s other sons died, leaving no immediate heirs.
It was written: “Traditions which have been handed down in the Fisher families for over a hundred years, repeatedly tell the same story, which the members of each family give in exact detail, to the effect that Adam Fisher, while out hunting, shot a deer on the King’s forest preserve, a thing which usually meant death to the offender, but as Baron Fisher was one of Frederick’s chief advisers, no action was taken against young Adam. The Baron, however, considered the deed a disgrace to the family and sent his son away.
Adam Fisher came to America on the ship “Mary,” and landed in New York. There, his first son Daniel was born. Adam then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and later to the valley of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. This was in 1742. Within ten miles of the city of Philadelphia, his other children were born: Jacob, Lewis, Abraham, and Adam. Ten years after he had settled in Pennsylvania, Adam Fisher started for Europe to claim his father’s estate, but while waiting for the ship, he was attacked by smallpox and became blind. He never went back to Europe. When he died his widow bound out the youngest son, Lewis as an apprentice to a blacksmith. Lewis ran away from his master and settled in Culpepper, Virginia. He had four sons, Stephen, Barnett, Caleb and Adam.”
The article went on to list the children of each of the other sons, as did another article in the Miami County Sentinel, dated Thursday, December 3, 1891. That article listed only four sons: Abraham, Jacob, Daniel and Adam. Abraham, the oldest had moved to North Carolina, where many of his grandchildren now lived. Jacob the second son, died in Maryland, in 1785. Daniel, the third son, lived in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, where he raised a large family. Adam, the youngest son, was apprenticed to a blacksmith at an early age and ran away. He went to Kentucky, then on to Clermont County, Ohio.
Remember that all of this took place over almost a hundred and thirty-five years ago. I am sure that many Fisher families wanted to believe that they were related to this Baron, heard this story, and tried to find the necessary proof to claim the estate. They repeated the deer hunting story that had been printed in all the newspapers to their children, a story that is still being passed on to today’s generations. Many Fisher family genealogies found on Ancestry.com, still claim that they are related to this Baron Fisher, and some have even named a child, “Baron.” They tell the same hunting story, and are trying to find a link from their family members to this Baron.
Unfortunately, the Baron Fisher story was found to be bogus. A delegation that was assembled from many different Fisher families was sent to Germany after WWI to search out this Baron Fisher. They found there was no evidence ever of the existence of a Baron Fisher, nor any other Fisher whom had ties to Frederick the Great and owned vast amounts of property in Germany. There was never an inheritance to be distributed!
The bottom line for our Fisher family was that even though many family members knew that our Lewis Fisher was from Hesse-Kassel, and a former Hessian soldier, they still sent the family Bible, his will, and other important family documents to the offices of the lawyers Este and Hill in Washington, DC. These items were never returned to the family.
Nancy Fisher
