Numbers preceding names indicate the generations, counting from John as first. Names of Bretz males are underlined and the record of males is believed to be complete except where a (?) Terminates a branch of the “tree”. A plus sign indicates marriage with the female whose name follows. Parentheses enclose married names of Bretz-born females, with data on husbands where available. Left-hand columns contain the names of Bretz-born individuals. Residences and occupations, so far as listed, are mostly of the early 1900’s.
Only families bearing the Bretz name, and those one to two generations removed, have been included. The “Bretz Register”, organized and maintained for years by H. F. Pennington and Anna B. Seitz, was a manuscript record, which was planned to contain the names of every one whose ancestry included John. It has been the most valuable source of information for this incomplete genealogy. Miss Seitz commented in 1913 that it then contained between 1500 and 2000 names, that less than half of these were Bretz names, and that it then was far from complete.
Propinquity was a large factor in selection of mates in the sparsely settled country. Huddles, Kagys, Bartholomews, Penningtons, Foremans, Wines, Spitlers, Wolfs, Baums, Bevers and Seitzes married Bretz girls or were married by Bretz boys. There were seven Bretz-Seitz marriages, all occurring among the third and fourth Bretz generations.
The earliest known Seitz was Johannes, (1740-1793) who entered America in 1764, coming from Bavaria with wife, Katherine (Diehl) and a babe in arms, Lewis. Johannes settled in York Co., Pa., just across the Susquehanna from Lancaster Co. A Catholic in Bavaria he became a Protestant in America.
Lewis, the only son recorded came to Fairfield Co., Ohio with four sisters during the same decade that saw John Bretz and family move west. Two of these sisters had descendants who married into Bretz families. The seven marriages noted were all among Lewis’ children and grandchildren.
The outstanding frontier family among the Seitzes was sired by Benjamin Huddle. He married Anna (1805 - ), a daughter of Lewis. They had no less than 18 children. Four died young, eight lived past the 80-year milestone, five lived past 90 and one, (dying in 1945) was 102 years old. Seitzes as well as Bretzes, moved from Fairfield County into northern Ohio, where most of this intermarrying occurred.
![[IMAGE]](pictures/HeartlandPrairie.gif)
Send any inquirys to
This Home Page was created by WebEdit,Thursday, April 08, 1999
Most recent revision Thursday, April 08, 1999