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Hans Ulerich FritzFrom email by Martin Stevenson | |
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Hans Ulerich FritzFrom email by Martin Stevenson | |
The information in the e-mail was extracted from a narrative of the Fritts Family written by Ross Fritts in 1978. Ross lived in Mountain City, Tennessee. - Martin Stevenson.
Hans Ulerich Fritz (my, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather) was born at Baden-Wurttemberg Dettigen, Germany in 1708. His only son, Wooldrich (my great, great, great, great, great, grandfather) was also born in Germany in 1730. The family left Germany, went down the Rhine River, boarded the English ship Elizabeth, and sailed to the Isle of Wright and from there to America. They arrived in Philadelphia on October 30, 1738. The son, Wooldrich, was eight years old when the family landed in America in pursuit of a better life in the New World.
From Philadelphia, they took up residence in Shenandoah County, Virginia. Wooldrich married there and had two sons, George and John, (born in 1762, my great, great, great, great grandfather), and two daughters, Mary and Jean. Wooldrich's family moved to Lexington, North Carolina some time after 1762. A third son, Henry, was born in Lexington, North Carolina. The three sons of Wooldrich changed the spelling of the family name from Fritz to Fritts.
Wooldrich and two of his sons, George and John, were soldiers in the service of North Carolina in the American Revolution. A few weeks after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, as the war was coming to an end and the British troops were withdrawing to ports to ship out to their homeland, an enraged band of Tories, Redcoats and British sympathizers came to Wooldrich's home on the evening of November 2, 1781 and shot and killed him instantly. Another patriot friend, Valentine Leonard, was fatally shot at the same time. He died a few days later on November 18, 1781.
The two were buried side by side in the Old Pilgrim Reform Churchyard near Lexington, North Carolina. This is one of the oldest graveyards in Davidson County, North Carolina. Some of the oldest tombstone inscriptions are in the German Language. The most outstanding marker in the graveyard is a monument about sixteen feet high, "Erected to the memory of two courageous Patriots of the Revolution, Wooldrich Fritts and Valentine Leonard." The monument was erected over the graves by "A grateful Citizenship in the year 1896."
Some other interesting information:
George Fritts and his wife Mary had ten children, five boys (including George Fritts II, and five girls. George Fritts II and his wife Pheby had two sons (including Reuben Fritts II ) and two daughters. Reuben went to Johnson County, Tennessee, as a school teacher about 1835 and he and his wife Kiziah had seven sons (including Daniel Fritts and five daughters. Reuban was a Jacksonian Democrat when he settled in Johnson County which he remained until the issue of "Secession" from the Union came about. When Tennessee seceded, he quit the party and became an ardent Unionist. When the War of Secession broke out, the Confederacy mandated that he produce food for the Confederate Army which he refused to do. He thus became a marked man and encountered numerous narrow escapes from the infuriated enemy. His place was frequently raided by the enemy in search for him and for anything that could be used by the Confederacy. On one occassion, a teenaged son of Reuban was forced to load all of the corn Reuban had in a corn crib into a large ox wagon, hitch a yoke of oxen to the wagon and deliver the corn to the nearest encampment of the enemy which was some thirty miles away at Valley Forge, in Carter County. On arrival at the camp, the corn and wagon as well as the oxen were confiscated and Reuban's son was sent home on foot.
This ends the information contained in the email from Martin Stevenson.
Lexington, N.C. Visit
November 6, 7, 1998
On November 6, 7, 1998, Donna and I attended the National Fritts/Fritz Family Reunion, held in Lexington, N.C. We took the Old Greensboro Road by the County Fairgrounds until we came to the historical marker for the old church. We turned left and found the church right away. The cemetery was in a very peaceful setting which was very difficult to capture on camera. The monument was erected in 1896 to Wooldrich Fritz and Valentin Leonard who were killed in 1781 during the Revolutionary War. The original old church stood in the blank area near the monument.
Wooldrich Fritz monument
The fall color was magnificent. It was great to meet with around 100 other Fritts cousins from all over the country at the present day church for the reunion meeting. There was a tour of the cemetery, a wreath laying, and group photos taken by the monument. After that, there was a covered dish dinner in the church group room. It was a moving experience to walk these grounds and think back to the times when the original family members were farming and worshipping on these grounds and then dieing for our freedom.
THE FRITTS LINE
This page created Nov. 23, 2002.
Last updated: Sat. Nov. 23, 2002 at 10:54 PM
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