In 1709, two residents of Adelshofen fled war and persecusion in Germany by way of England to New York State. Since that fateful journey, Hans Dietrich and Christian Casselman are linked directly to an estimated 100,000 Casselman descendants world wide. The church books of Adelshofen document most of the ancestors of the American Casselmans back to the early 1600's.

The exodus of the Casselman extended family spans five centuries and two continents, the three primary host countries being Germany, The United States and Canada. The desire to build a Casselman Ancestral Society was spearheaded by eight members of several Casselman families, whose ancestors were granted land as United Empire Loyalists (UE's) in the old Loyalist Townships of Eastern Ontario. These loyalists settled in the area when the first battalion of the King's Royal Regiment of New York was disbanded in 1784.

To the best of our knowledge, the accounts which are related here by members of the Society provide an interesting portrait of the Casselman clan and the challenges they were confronted with over many centuries.