Anna Sabina (Fritzlen) Fritzler (1729)

Born 14 Jan 1729 in Kleingartach, ,Württemberg, Germany

Wife of Johann Michael Fritzler — married 30 Sep 1749 in Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Württemberg.

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Stephan, Saratov, Russia

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Biography

Sabina (Fritzlen) Fritzler was a Volga German.

Sabina (Fritzlen) Fritzler has German Roots.

Germany-Denmark-Russia

Family B-428 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766.

Family Rus14-15 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766.

Family #15 in the 1775 census.

Up to now, little was known about Sabina Fritzler, including her maiden name. After doing an exhaustive search on both her and her husband, I think I may have made a connection via German records. Her name was Anna Sabina Fritzlen.

First I should state that there is evidence that Fritzler was one spelled Frizle and Fritz, so that other spellings of the name should not be surprising. Sabina was a rather unusual first name, so there should be fewer of them to search through when looking at records. I finally stumbled upon a marriage record for Anna Sabina Fritzlen and Jung Johann Michael Fritzlen.

I have long assumed that Michael wasn't her husband's "real" first name, that the Michael was probably preceded by a "Johann." This is based on the pattern of names during the 1700s in what is now Germany. Based on what I've seen in German records, more than 50 percent of every German male has Johann for a first name and something else for a middle name. As a rule, these males were known by their middle names, especially later in life when they would have been heads of households and had their names on various documents. But in terms or birth and perhaps marriage records, their full name, Johann Michael, for example, would have more likely been used.

In this case, I believe that "Jung" in Jung Johann Michael Fritzlen is not an actual name, but the word "Young," as in Johann Michael Fritzlen the younger. He may have been named for his father or an uncle or grandfather. We know from this marriage record that his father's name was Jacob Fritzlen, so he must have been named after another Michael in his family.

The marriage record is in the right location, Wuerttemberg, to be a match for the Michael and Sabina in the first Grimm census.

Marriage Record ^[1]

Name Jung Johann Michael Fritzlen

Spouse's Name Anna Sabina Fritzlen

Event Date 30 Sep 1749

Event Place Evangelisch, Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wuerttemberg

Father's Name Jacob Fritzlen

Spouse's Father's Name Jerg Jacob Fritzlen

From this record, it looks like both Sabina and Michael had the same surname. Since their fathers have the same surname, I suspect they were related, probably cousins, rather than siblings. Siblings would show the same name for the father. In this record, the fathers names are listed as Jacob Fritzler and Jerg Jacob Fritzler. I suspect the second name had the Jerg (a variant of Georg) included to differentiate between the two men.

This Michael and Sabina Fritzler are also a match for the Michael Fritzler family in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766. By the time the couple immigrated to Denmark, they had four children, the eldest of whom was born in 1754. All the children were born in Wuerttemberg.

Additionally, two other Fritzlers are listed in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766. These men were also Evangelical Lutherans from Wuerttemberg.

• Johann Martin Fritzle/Fritzler, age 20, son of Jacob Fritzle/Fritzler
• Jacob Fritzle/Fritzler, age 44

Michael Fritzler was 36 when he immigrated to Denmark, so he was too old to be a son of Jacob Fritzler. The men were probably brothers or cousins. Jacob Fritzle/Fritzler immigrated to Denmark first in August of 1761, and Johann Martin and Michael followed in December of 1761 with their families.

All three of these Fritzlers left Denmark to immigrate to Russia, and that can't be a coincidence. There were other Fritzlers in Denmark. Two immigrated to New Saratova by St. Petersburg, Russia, and one went to Rosenheim, Russia. Clearly Grimm wasn't the only village to where Germans were sent, and there had to be a reason those three were kept together, rather than splitting them up.

So Sabina Fritzlen/Fritzler married a cousin, Michael Fritzlen/Fritzler. She was most likely born near the same place where her husband was born, in Weingaertner, Württemberg, in 1723. Michael's brother Jacob's full name was Hannss Jacob Fritzler Fritzler-37. I still need to research further to determine the name of her father, but her paternal grandfather would have been Hanss Jacob "Bauer" Fritzler Fritzler-38, born in 1688 in Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wuerttemberg, the same as her husband's paternal grandfather.

Sabina and Michael married in Württemberg on September 30, 1749. Their first child, Catharina, was born in 1754. They would have three more children before they left Württemberg.

The Württemberg area had been ravaged for years by war and famine, and Sabina and her husband had been around long enough to know that nothing was going to change any time soon. They were concerned about being able to provide for their family, as well as to find a way for their children to lead better lives than they had.

In 1759, Danish King Frederick V invited Germans from Hessen and the Palantinate to help settle the area of Schleswig-Holstein, at that time under the control of the Danes. The king was interested in converting the marsh lands to arable farm land. Germans were known for their good farming skills and for being hard workers, so it seemed like a win-win situation for both Danes and Germans. Sabina and Michael decided the opportunity to immigrate to Denmark with their family was too attractive to pass up.

They arrived in Denmark in December of 1761. ^[2] His occupation was listed as a wine gardner or what we would today call a vintner.^[2] He was an evangelical Lutheran who brought with him his wife, four children, and one servant:^[2]

• Wife: Sabina, age 34
• Daughter: Christina Catharina, age 7
• Son: Bernhard, age 4
• Daughter: Barbara, age 3
• Daughter Maria, age 14 days
• Servant: Andreas Grass, age 21

The adults took their oath of allegiance to Denmark on 24 July 1761.^[2] By the end of the year, the family lived at 6 Moltken Hof in Colony F6 Friderichsheide, in the district of Flensburg.^[2]

The marshlands were very inhospitable to farmers. Although the Germans were good farmers with typical farm land, it was far more difficult to convert these former wetlands and grow crops. Most of the German immigrants barely reaped enough to feed their families, let alone to provide food for others in Denmark. When Catherine the Great invited Germans to immigrate to Russia, Sabina and Michael decided it offered them a better opportunity than what was there for them in Schleswig-Holstein.

The family left for Russia on 24 April 1765, with their final destination being the Volga region to the Colony of Grimm.^[2] The journey was perilous and many people did not survive. By the time of the first Grimm census in 1775, none of the couple's daughters were listed with the family. Only the eldest daughter, Christina Catharina, may have been old enough to be married and living with another family. Barbara and Maria, who would have been ages 13 and 10 if they survived, were too young to be living somewhere else. It appears that they did not survive either the journey or the first few years of living in Grimm.

Two years after the family arrived in Grimm, son Michael was born, and three years after that the family welcomed Christoph.

1775 Grimm Census ^[3]

Family # 15

Head of the Household Michael Fritzler, senior, age 52

Wife Sabina [Fritzlen] Fritzler, age 48

Child #1 Bernhard Fritzler, age 17

Child #2 Michael Fritzler, age 8

Child #3 Christoph Fritzler, age 4 years 6 months

By 1788, however, for reasons heretofore unknown, Sabina and Michael moved to the colony of Stephan (Vodyanoy Buerak), about 20 miles south of Grimm. They took everyone in the family with him with the exception of their son Michael Jr., who remained in Grimm. It could be that other family members, such as Sabina's family, immigrated directly from Germany to Russia and were settled in Stephan. The two colonies were probably no more than 20 miles away from each other, which meant they could keep in touch with family members left behind.

1798 Grimm Census ^[4]

Item # 19

Head of the Household Michael Fritzler

Note Michael Fritzler with family moved to Stephan in 1788

Sources

1. ↑ "Deutschland Heiraten, 1558-1929," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VCYQ-W8W : 26 December 2014), Jung Johann Michael Fritzlen and Anna Sabina Fritzlen, 30 Sep 1749; citing Evangelisch, Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wuerttemberg; FHL microfilm 1,184,796.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Eichhorn, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Jacob and Mary Eichhorn, The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766; Bonn, Germany and Midland Michigan, USA; Drukerei und Verlag Steinmeier GmbH & Co. Kg, Deiningen, Germany, 2012.
3. ↑ The 1775 and 1798 Census of the German Colony on the Volga, Lesnoy Karamysh, also known as Grimm; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Published date: 1995; family #15 in the 1775 census, Michael Fritzler family.
4. ↑ The 1775 and 1798 Census of the German Colony on the Volga, Lesnoy Karamysh, also known as Grimm; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Published date: 1995; item #19 in the Appendix of the 1798 census, Michael Fritzler.

See also:

• VolgaGermans.org online database, research from Concordia University Center for Volga German Studies, History, Journey Through Denmark, see https://www.volgagermans.org/history/journey-through-denmark.

• VolgaGermans.org online database, research from Concordia University Center for Volga German Studies, Who Are Volga Germans, Settlements, Original, Grimm, see https://www.volgagermans.org/who-are-volga-germans/settlements/original/grimm.

• VolgaGermans.org online database, research from Concordia University Center for Volga German Studies, Who Are Volga Germans, Settlements, Original, Stephan, see: https://www.volgagermans.org/who-are-volga-germans/settlements/original/stephan.

• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagel%C3%B6hner