Author's note:
"Krauses Haar" in German means "curly hair", so "Kraushaar" may be translated "curly-head". We don't know who the original "curly-head" was; indeed, we don't know anything about the family before Johann Conrad Kraushaar ("JCK"), in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War, made his way from Germany to the East End of London. Research is continuing into the German roots, and we would be delighted to receive any useful input.
Until the late 1990s, the only information we had about our Kraushaars in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was that contained in a history written up (around 1930?) by Mrs Grace Ermyntrude Clist, a great-great-granddaughter of JCK, with whose life and times this story begins. Mrs Clist's account, based largely on family tradition and oral history, has been found inaccurate in many details.
More recently, we have benefited from research carried out by the late Peter Herbert Kraushaar ("PHK") of Ilford (1920-2011), a descendant of one Thomas Henry Kraushaar 1791-1846. The additional information has partly filled out the circumstances of the Kraushaars' migration from Germany and early years in England, but in spite of PHK's efforts (including advertising in German genealogical magazines), very little information is available on the family history in Germany.
Geographic coordinates have been added to help the reader identify and view many of the locations mentioned using the "Fly to..." option in Google Earth. For this, and for much other research besides, the author is indebted to the unbounded enthusiasm of Sukie Hunter. Searches on individual Kraushaar names may be made here.
John Conrad Crawshaw