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Germany-Denmark-Russia
Family A24-9 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1776.
B-427 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1776.
Rus14-12 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1776.
Family #54 in the 1775 Grimm census.
Johann Jacob Fritzler was born at 4:00 a.m. on 19 August 1716 in Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Württemberg. His sponsors, similar to godparents, were Johann Jacob Gebhart, Johann Jacob Faber, and Anna Catharina Loblen.
Some German records show his first name as Hans, Hanns, or Hannss, which was surprising to me. When I researched what that might mean, I discovered that Hans is the Danish version of Johann. His name by birth was Johann Jacob, but after moving to Denmark in 1759, he used the Danish version of his first name. Some records list his name as Hans Jacob; that is essentially the same thing as Johann Jacob.
He may have been a brother or cousin of Michael Fritzler Sr. (Fritzler-64). I am still researching this.
Note: The surname Fritzler was sometimes spelled Fritzle.
Jacob Fritzler married Franciska Catharina Eurich on 15 November 1740 in Kleingartach, Württemberg. The couple's first child was born the next year. They would go on to have seven more children by 1761.
The economic conditions in Württemberg mid-1700s were poor, due to war, famine, high taxes and burdensome tithing expected by the local Church. As a farmer, Jacob had difficulty feeding his children and poor prospects for the future.
Starting in 1759, the Danish government offered these disadvantaged Germans a chance for a new life in Denmark helping to farm as yet unfarmable land. Those who chose to immigrate would be given an opportunity for a brighter future via homesteaded land or through a land lottery.
Jacob and his wife Franciska Catharina and seven of their children arrived in the city of Altona, the processing site for Germans immigrating to Denmark. Their children were:
Note: The Transportation List A24 clearly states that the total number of people traveling to Denmark was nine. Youngest daughter Anna Maria (Cathrina) was born 10 days after the family arrived in Altona. Also Johann Martin is listed twice; once with his parents and siblings, and separately with his wife Christiana.
They arrived in the Danish town of Schleswig on 04 July 1761, and the adults took their oath of allegiance to Denmark on 24 July 1761. In December of that year, the family lived at 3 Christianshof, Christians Thal, in the district of Flensburg. After nearly four years of unsuccessful farming and after Catherine the Great issued her invitation for Germans to immigrate to Russia, Jacob Fritzler requested to leave Denmark on 24 April 1765.
Permission to leave the country was granted on 24 May 1765, but it is not clear how soon after that they left Denmark. Since transportation to Russia didn't officially begin until 1766, the family either remained in Denmark temporarily or moved to another country to await transportation to Russia. Their names are not in the Kulberg Reports or in the Volga transportation lists, so it is unclear how and when they arrived in Grimm, Russia.
If they arrived earlier than 1766, they were first settled in the Colony of Dobrinka. Those first few years were very rough on the settlers. Cossacks, bandits, and other migratory people routinely plundered the new villages and killed many of the villagers. The villagers' plight did not improve until after 1765 when the Cossack bandit Pugachev was captured and hung. The arrival of additional immigrants also helped the villagers be better able to defend their property and lives.
By the time the 1775 census was taken for the village of Grimm, his wife was listed as a widow with four older children still living with her. It is not clear whether three of his children perished, or if they were old enough to be married and/or given property separate from their mother's land.
Jacob Fritzler died prior to 1775, but the exact date and manner of death is not given. There are several ways he may have perished:
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Categories: Grimm | German Roots