from Shaking the Hess Family Tree  http://www.hess-family-tree.com/2011/08/william-hess.html

William Hess was the son of Johann Conrad Hess and Anna Maria Best. He was born in 1745 in Bucks County, PA and died in Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County, PA. He married Anna Catherine Gotthard, from Northampton County, PA, around 1765.

He also served in the Revolutionary War and according to the DAR, he served as an Ensign with Colonel Abraham Labar in Forks Township, PA and also as a Private with Captain Buss, 2^nd Battalion, Northampton County Militia.

According to JH Battle, who writes in The History of Buck County, “William Hess owned a tract of land four miles in length, extending from Coles Mills to North Mountain. He built a log cabin near a small spring, the site of which is on land in possession of Andrew Laubach. His sons, George, John, Andrew, Tobias, Conrad, Frederick, Henry and Jacob took up their residences in the valley of the creek above their father in the order of their names. John Kile and Ezekiel Cole located in the immediate vicinity of William Hess.”

In William’s Dad’s will, William was left out of his “second share” which may indicate that William had already received his “first share”, perhaps the “dry land” he farmed with his wife and 15 kids and eventually abandoned to settle Sugarloaf Township.