Hanß Jacob Fritzler (1716 - bef. 1775)

Born 19 Aug 1716 in Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wurttemberg, Germany

Ancestors

Husband of Franziska Catharina (Eurich) Fritzler — married 15 Nov 1740 in Evangelisch, Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wuerttemberg

Descendants

Died before 1775 in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

Profile manager: Julie Mangano [send private message]

Biography

Jacob Fritzler is a Volga German.

Jacob Fritzler has German Roots.

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.

Birth Date and Place

• 19 August 1716
• Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Württemberg

Parents

• Hanß Jacob Fritzler
• Anna Catharina (Oppenländer) Fritzler

Marriage

• Franziska Catharina (Eurich) Fritzler
• 15 November 1740
• Kleingartach, Württemberg

Children

• Johann Martin Fritzler Sr., born 1741
• Johann Jakob Fritzler, born 1743
• Johann Jakob Fritzler, born 1745
• Johann Michael Fritzler, born 1749
• Georg Ludwig Fritzler, born 1751
• Barbara (Fritzler) Birheim, born 1753
• Johann Andreas Fritzler, born 1753
• Johann Georg Fritzler, born 1758
• Anna Maria Catharina Fritzler, born 1761
• Konrad Fritzler, born 1766

Immigration

• From Germany to Denmark: Arrived on 04 July 1761
• From Denmark to Russia: Arrived 1765-1766

Death Date and Place

• before 1775
• Grimm, Saratov, Russia

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:

• Johann Martin, born 1741, age 20
• Johann Jacob, born 1745, age 16
• Johann Michael, born 1747, age 14
• Georg Ludewig, born 1749, age 12
• Johann Andreas, born 1751, age 10
• Maria Barbara, born 1753, age 8
• Johann Georg (Juergen), born 1758, age 2.5
• Anna Maria (Cathrina), born 11 June 1761, age .25

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:

• Did not survive the journey to the Volga Region
• Was killed by marauding bandits or Cossacks during a raid on their village
• Contracted an illness which resulted in his death
• Died due to age-related causes

Sources

• Stumpp, Karl. The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763-1862; Publisher: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska; Published; 1982,1993.

• 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; page 409, family 427.

• "Deutschland Heiraten, 1558-1929," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VCYQ-SKJ : accessed 14 April 2016), Hannss Jacob Fritzlen and Francisca Catharina Eurich, 15 Nov 1740; citing Evangelisch, Kleingartach, Neckarkreis, Wuerttemberg; FHL microfilm 1,184,796.

• Pleve, Igor, Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766, "Reports by Ivan Kulberg," Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation, Saratov State Technical University; Published in Saratov, Russia, 2010.

• Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga 1766-1767, translated and edited by Brent Alan Mai; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1998, Lincoln, Nebraska.

• The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), online resources, German Origins, Fo-, page 23, see: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ahsgr.org/resource/resmgr/German_Origins/Fo.pdf, page 23.

• Wikipedia.com, online encyclopedia, Schleswig-Holstein, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleswig-Holstein.

• The Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University, Portland, Oregon, online resources, Origins, Fritzler, see: http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/origins/f/fritzler.cfm.

• Behindthename.com, origins of the name Hans, see: http://www.behindthename.com/name/hans

• Map of the Volga German villages in Russia, see: http://www.rollroots.com/volga.htm.

• Germans to Russia, online website for purchase of the Eichorn book: The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766, see: http://www.germanstorussia.com/.

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