On April 27, 2012, Rob Lowe appeared on the NBC documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, seeking information about a mystery relative by the name of Christopher East. Lowe learned about East through a scrapbook kept by his late mother and wanted to dig into his history. Through an online index, Lowe and his brother came across information linking a John Christopher East to the Revolutionary War. After heading to the Daughters of the American Revolution National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Lowe was informed that the man in question was his five-times great-grandfather.
From there, Lowe made his way to the Library of Congress, where he discovered that East—who was listed in their records as Christoph Ost—was associated with a Hessian grenadier regiment that was commanded by Colonel Johann Rall. You see, Ost’s name was included on a list of Revolutionary War prisoners because he was a member of the enemy force. In fact, he was part of a regiment that George Washington referred to in his personal correspondence, which is now contained within the Library of Congress. Lowe was understandably surprised to learn that one of his relatives had been contracted to take out Washington.
One of Rob Lowe’s Ancestors Was Hired to Kill George Washington
Lowe then traveled to Trenton, New Jersey, to try and figure out what Ost’s experience was like during the Battle of Trenton. There, a local historian painted a grim picture for Lowe, detailing the bad weather both sides had to endure, and the close-quarters fight that ensued. On the morning of December 26, 1776, Washington’s troops got the jump on the garrison and captured a great many Hessian soldiers. Although what happened to Ost directly after he was captured isn’t entirely clear, it turns out he didn’t go back to Germany like some of his fellow soldiers.
Later in the episode, it’s revealed that Ost eventually popped up in Ohio, using the name John Christopher East. Evidently, somewhere along the way, the former contracted soldier decided to become an American. By the end of the show, Lowe received a letter from genealogist Josh Taylor at the DAR Headquarters with a bit of good news: Evidence of East paying taxes that supported the Revolutionary effort had been uncovered. In light of the new information, East was accepted as a proven Patriot in the DAR database.
You can check out the full episode featuring Lowe right here:
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