John Jacob Hess was a Swiss-German Anabaptist minister and martyr.
Background
John Jacob Hess was born in Wald, Zurich, Switzerland on May 17, 1584 to Hans Heinrich Hess, a bailiff, (1534–1587) and Adelheid Kuntz (1546–1585). He was a direct patrilineal great-great-grandson of Johannes Hans Hess, and thus his Y-deoxyribonucleic acid was Haplogroup I-M170.
Career
He had eight older full siblings: Margaretha, Christian, Matheus, Hans, Elsy, Margaretha, Heinrich, and Dorothea. Five older half-siblings from his father"s first two marriages: Adelheid, Barbara, Veronica, Catharina and Anna. And one younger half-brother, Hans, from his father"s fourth marriage.
In 1637, he was arrested for being Anabaptist, and locked in Othenbach Prison for 19 days.
Later that year, he was again arrested, this time spending eight weeks in Othenbach Prison. In 1638, he was arrested for the third and final time, and thrown in Othenbach Prison for 83 weeks.
While imprisoned, he was stripped and put in iron bonds for 16 weeks. His property was seized and sold for 4,000 guilders (approximately $800,000 in modern United States dollars).
None of the money was restored to his descendants.