Rhodes from Pennsylvania?

Question

I've traced my tree back to a German immigrant who was born in 1763. I would like to find out more about Gaspar Rhodes, such as his birth name (likely not Rhodes) and why he came to America, if he was involved in the Revolutionary War, etc., but I'm not sure how to proceed.

Comments

I can't help with your ancestor, per se, but I think you should try Caspar for the given name.  Caspar is a fairly common old German given name, but I had never heard of Gaspar.  Wikipedia says Gaspar is a given name of Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Philippine origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar).  Gaspar might be a transcription error.

Answer 1

Philip -

If you are looking in Pennsylvania for Germans in that time period, try Casper and Caspar. Both were popular names and given handwriting of that era, easily mistranscribed. Also some PA Rhodes actually descended from a Roth family from Rhodt,  Germany. It might also be another avenue for your search.

Comments

Thanks, Jackie. I found something that says he was from Moravia in what is now the Cech Republic but was in Caspar's time - Germany, annexed by Frederick the Great. There were Moravian 'enclaves' in Silesia so that is a possibility, too. He was born at the end of the Seven Years War, but hostilities continued after the treaty - a good reason to leave.