Our Family's Journey Through America
Hans Ulrich 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."
This is my first line out of the Fritts Surname. If you ask most people, they are searching their surname, they forget they are part of many surnames.
This is the first step away from the Fritts surname, and it is just as intriguing to as my current surname.by Dennis C. Allen; Written 2021.
Thought to be originally from the Rhine-Palatine area of Germany, the father, Hans Ulrich Fritz, aged 30 and his son Wooldrich (Frederick) Fritz, aged 7, arrived in Philadelphia abt 1738 on the ship "Elizabeth" from Holland.
Married Mary Wilson and had the following children; John, Rachel, Mary, Adam, George, Hannah, Sarah, Reuben, Joseph, William and Catherine
Grandfather of Dennis Charles Allen
Dennis Charles Allen, Navy Vet, Retired Firefighter and Genealogist. The passion for life is to make others happy. This is my favorite thing when helping others with their family history. I have enjoined finding that lost relative all the way to resetting headstones.
We Hope You Enjoy Them
Where it all began.
We strive to document all of our sources in this family tree. If you have something to add, please let us know. We will be happy to make any change if there is better documentation than what we have.
