Fretz of fire series#

Catherine married Joel Strawn in November 1829, and her Bible contains Strawn family records.

The plate for Magdalena is dated 1829, and Catherine’s was probably also made that year or slightly before. The bookplate for the oldest, Barbara, was probably made at the time of the gift or soon after, circa 1815. Grandmother Barbara Stover (1752-1822), who must have had extra money, purchased these large new Bibles for her granddaughters. The Bibles are all the same German-language edition, printed at Somerset, PA in 1813. The later two plates add a purpose: “to teach me and honor God.” Each plate states the name and birthdate of the girl, and that the Bible was “a gift from Grandmother Stauffer”. An unusual set of artifacts illustrate this-three Bibles with large fraktur bookplates that belonged to sisters-Barbara, Catherine and Magdalena Fretz. Mennonites were, however, very concerned with teaching their own children to live obedient Christian lives. Equity and justice for non-European people was not a primary consideration. In all likelihood, the Fretz’s and other Deep Run Mennonites, along with Scots-Irish, English and German neighbors, were happy to see the native people go.

Soon, the Lenape were driven away by the deceptive Walking Purchase and ever-increasing European settlement. The Fretz’s likely had interaction with native Lenape people as they carved farmland out of ancient forest. It is unknown to this author when Christian Fretz settled on the north side of the creek. John Fretz bought his farm on the Bedminster side of the creek in 1737/38, and it was at that time surrounded by wilderness. Until the Walking Purchase of 1737, the Tohickon was the boundary between Pennsylvania and Indian territory in this part of Bucks County. 1784) farmed across the Tohickon Creek in Tinicum Township. 1772), a weaver by trade, pioneered in Bedminster Township Christian Fretz (d. The American Mennonite Fretz family is descended from two immigrants, thought to be brothers, who came from near Mannheim, Germany, and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The stories reflect the enrichment brought to communities over centuries by the descendants of immigrants.

Fretz of fire series#

This is the last in a series of posts highlighting families descended from 18th-century Mennonite immigrants to eastern Pennsylvania, in connection with the MHC’s exhibit Opportunity & Conscience: Mennonite Immigration to Pennsylvania, on display until March 31, 2018. Our Immigrant Heritage: Fretz Written by Forrest Moyer on March 20, 2018