The King and I: My Family Ties to Elvis: Elvis: The King of Rock 'n' Roll, #1

By Raymond C. Wilson

While watching the "Who Do You Think You Are?" TV show in February 2011 featuring country music singer Tim McGraw, I learned that his ancestor (Jost Hite) and Elvis Presley's ancestor (Johannes Valentin Bressler) made the treacherous voyage to America on the same ship named 'Fame' in 1710. It was fascinating to learn that both famous music legends descended from early German immigrants who traveled to America and labored in New York tar camps. It was during this same television show when I learned for the first time that I was related to Elvis Presley through my Bressler ancestors. This book tells the story of the humble beginnings of Elvis as well as my family ties to the 'King of Rock and Roll'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond C. Wilson
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005454685

Raymond C. Wilson

Raymond C. Wilson is a military historian, filmmaker, and amateur genealogist. During his military career as an enlisted soldier, warrant officer, and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for twenty-one years, Wilson served in a number of interesting assignments both stateside and overseas. He had the honor of serving as Administrative Assistant to Brigadier General George S. Patton (son of famed WWII general) at the Armor School; Administrative Assistant to General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley at the Pentagon; and Military Assistant to the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon. In 1984, Wilson was nominated by the U.S. Army Adjutant General Branch to serve as a White House Fellow in Washington, D.C. While on active duty, Wilson authored numerous Army regulations as well as articles for professional journals including 1775 (Adjutant General Corps Regimental Association magazine), Program Manager (Journal of the Defense Systems Management College), and Army Trainer magazine. He also wrote, directed, and produced three training films for Army-wide distribution. He is an associate member of the Military Writers Society of America. Following his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1992, Wilson made a career change to the education field. He served as Vice President of Admissions and Development at Florida Air Academy; Vice President of Admissions and Community Relations at Oak Ridge Military Academy; Adjunct Professor of Corresponding Studies at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and Senior Academic Advisor at Eastern Florida State College. While working at Florida Air Academy, Wilson wrote articles for several popular publications including the Vincent Curtis Educational Register and the South Florida Parenting Magazine. At Oak Ridge Military Academy, Wilson co-wrote and co-directed two teen reality shows that appeared on national television (Nickelodeon & ABC Family Channel). As an Adjunct Professor at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Wilson taught effective communications and military history for eighteen years. At Eastern Florida State College, Wilson wrote, directed, and produced a documentary entitled "Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence" for the Chi Nu chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Since retiring from Eastern Florida State College, Wilson has devoted countless hours working on book manuscripts.

Book preview

THE KING AND I

MY FAMILY TIES TO ELVIS

Written by

RAYMOND C. WILSON

Author of:

Martyr of the Race Course

THE KING AND I

MY FAMILY TIES TO ELVIS

Published by Raymond C. Wilson at Smashwords

Copyright 2022 Raymond C. Wilson

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Bressler/Preslar Name Origin

Chapter 2: Common Ancestors

Chapter 3: Preslar Branch of Family Tree

Chapter 4: Bressler Branch of Family Tree

Afterword

Bibliography

About Raymond C. Wilson

Introduction

Tim McGraw and Elvis Presley

In February 2011, while I was watching the Who Do You Think You Are? television show, I learned that Tim McGraw’s ancestor (Hans Justus Von Der Heydt) and Elvis Presley’s ancestor (Johannes Valentin Bressler) traveled on the same ship named ‘Fame’ to America in 1710. It was fascinating to learn that two famous music legends in Nashville, Tennessee, descended from early German immigrants who initially settled in New York in 1710 with a desire to build their American dream.

The devastation created by the French Army in the Rhineland during the War of Spanish Succession, along with the severe religious persecutions and devastating weather conditions, forced tens of thousands of Germans (like Hans Justus Von Der Heydt and Johannes Valentin Bressler) to flee their homeland.

The passage down the Rhine River took from 4 to 6 weeks. Tolls and fees were demanded by authorities of the territories through which they passed. The first boats packed with refugees began arriving in England in early May 1709. The first 900 people were given housing, food and supplies by a number of wealthy Englishmen. The immigrants were called Poor Palatines: poor in reference to their pitiful and impoverished state upon arrival in England, and Palatines since many of them came from lands controlled by the Elector Palatine.

Early in June 1709, the number of Palatines entering Rotterdam reached 1,000 per week. Throughout the summer of 1709, ships unloaded thousands of refugees in London, and almost immediately their numbers overwhelmed the initial attempts to provide for them. They were initially crowded into St. Katherine’s, also written as St. Catherine’s, today known as St. Katherine’s by the Tower. Since Johannes Valentin Bressler’s family (consisting of his wife, three sons, and two daughters) were among the first to arrive in England from Germany, they were taken to St. Catherine’s on 6 May 1709.

St. Katherine’s by the Tower

At that time, these accommodations were tenements by the docks in an unsavory area. Having entirely overrun all buildings available, they lived in tents in squalid conditions and the local London people came to view them as ‘gypsies’ or ‘vermin’.

By summer, some were moved to the fields and barns of Blackheath and Camberwell, now part of metropolitan London. A Committee dedicated to coordinating their settlement and dispersal sought ideas for their employment. This proved difficult, as the Poor Palatines were unlike previous migrant groups -- skilled, middle-class, religious exiles such as the Huguenots or the Dutch in the 16th century. The Poor Palatines, by contrast, were rather unskilled rural laborers, neither sufficiently educated nor healthy enough for most types of employment. Their health wasn’t improving by living in those squalid conditions, either.

Later that year (1709), the British government issued a Royal proclamation in German that all arriving after October 1709 would be sent back to Germany. The British could not effectively handle the number of Palatines in London and there may have been as many as 32,000 by November 1709. The authorities had to figure out what to do with all of these immigrants.

By the beginning of August 1709, the people of London had visited their camps and the poor Palatine refugees had not lived up to their billing. Rather than being fit objects of charity, they had become, in the words of an anonymous pamphleteer, a parcel of vagabonds, who might have lived comfortably enough in their native country, had not the laziness of their dispositions and the report of our well-known generosity drawn them out of it.

Life was bad and getting worse for the German families. Many had been reduced to begging in the streets. Others were shipped back home (especially if they were Catholic). England became desperate to get rid of this group of people they hadn’t wanted nor invited and who couldn’t support themselves. When the opportunity to send the entire group to New York and Pennsylvania arose, they were all too happy to take advantage of the opportunity and send them on their way.

The 13,000 Palatines who left Germany for England between May and November 1709 believed that the English Queen Anne was giving land in America in return for settling there. It wasn’t true, but the Germans didn’t discover that until after arriving in either Rotterdam or London, and then many refused to believe it. Note: Of the 13,000 Germans who reached London in 1709, about a quarter of these continued on to New York.

Queen Anne of England

During the winter of 1709, a proposal was put together by Colonel Robert Hunter, the English governor of the colony of New York. The British needed people to work with the resources in America that could support the navy’s shipping needs; namely, producing tar, pitch, and resin, and harvesting hemp for ropes and virgin trees for ship masts. Queen Anne approved Hunter’s plan, and money was raised for passage on 10 ships for 3,300 of the Palatine immigrants. The ship owners received only 5 pounds to 10 pounds per person to transport them to New York.

Robert