Johannes Katronnes Wilhelm

'''Johannes Katronnes Wilhelm''' is a legendary figure in Wilhelm family lore.   

Johannes Katronnes Wilhelm was a single man in the Prussian Army, probably in the 1760s or 70s.  The army compound where he was assigned was bordered on three sides by a high barbed fence but was bordered on the other side by the Rhine River.  It was not considered possible for anyone to swim the river.

Johannes became unhappy and dissatisfied with the army and devised a plan to escape.  He saved some bread from every meal and hid it in a knapsack in his bed.  When he thought he had enough bread to sustain himself he took the knapsack and a 14" straight edge razor and with only the clothes he had on his back he slipped out of the barracks in the night and succesfully escaped by swimming the river.  When he reached the opposite shore he was in a foreign country.  He was able to make his way to the seacoast where he became a stowaway on a steamship bound for America.  He arrived in New York City.

According to the Wilhelm family he met and married an Englishwoman by the name of Mercy Farrington.  Wilhelm was resourceful and had natural business instincts.  He amassed a sizeable fortune, raised a large family and eventually became a farmer in the Finger Lakes district of New York.

The second version of the story comes from a cousin, Verda Foutz.  The way the story is told in her family is that two Wilhelm brothers stole passage to America.  When they arrived they couldn't speak English and had no money.  They stole food and clothes and were spotted.  The were being chased and decided they would have a better chance if they seperated.  One of them slipped away in the crowd while the other swam the Potomac and changed his name to Williams.

In the Wilhelm family you'll sometimes hear the expression "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."  This legend may have a number of facts as its basis, but has probably been exagerated for entertainment value.

The story starts to fall apart, however, when you consider that Johann Andreas Wilhelm likely came to America with his parents when he was very young, based on existing family group sheets for his parents Justus and Clarissa[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/family_group_record.asp?familyid=4539342].  If he came to America as a toddler, then it is very unlikely he was a member of the Prussian Army.  More research needs to be done to determine if, in fact, he did immigrate with Justus and Clarissa.  There always remains the possibility that he was left behind for a time, and later joined the Prussians, or possibly was a part of the Hessian forces sent to America during the American Revolution.  For that matter he could have been a member of the American forces, as he would have been 16 in 1776.  He did marry Mercy Farrington, but she is not an Englishwoman.  Her family did come from England, but they arrived in the 1600s.  Not much is know about his early life, or any fortunes he may have amassed, but he was indeed a farmer in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  John's son John Benjamin did indeed join the Mormon Church shortly after John died, but John Benjamin had married Clarissa nearly fours years before that, so that part of the story is not entirely acurate.  As for any family fighting over inheritance, Clarissa's journal mentions nothing.

In a taped interview conducted by his son John in 1992, [[Carl LeRoy Wilhelm|Roy Wilhelm]] had this to say about the story of Johannes Katronnes Wilhelm:

Johannes Katronnes Wilhelm may very well be Johann Andreas Wilhelm, with some embelishments tossed in for entertainment value.  Until more is learned about his early life one can not really dimiss the story out of hand.  While there are certainly inaccuracies in the legend that may have been introduced through several generations of oral tradition, there are also some grains of truth.  It is hoped that as more of this man's descendents contribute to this site, we will learn who he really is.  If your branch of the family has any lore handed down about him, please use the '''discussion''' tab above to document it.