| 4. | Fritts, John Sr was born in 1762 in Virginia, British America (son of Fritz, Wooldrich Frederich and FRITZ, Janet); died between 1847 and 1848. Notes:
Name:
JOHN FRITTS, SR., second known son of Wooldrich and Janet (__?_) Fritz (1731), b. 1762, Shenandoah Co., VA. As far as he knew there was no record that indicated the month and day of his birth [Military Records John Fritz, Private, NC, #S10701]. As a very small child his family moved to Rowan (now Davidson) Co., North Carolina, settling near what today is the town of Lexington.
At age nineteen, John joined the North Carolina military, as a
Private under Captain John Lopp. This company of Rangers marched through Rowan County and the surrounding countryside searching for Tories and spying on the movements of the British, who were at this time heavily in the South. John fought at the Battle of Guilford Court House in Guilford Co., North Carolina on 15 Mar 1781 with his father, Wooldrich, and several of the Leonard’s, Wilson’s, and others of the Lexington area. The battle began with a formation of three American lines, the first consisting of North Carolina Militia.
The fierce battle continued for two and one half-hours, but the British were just too much for the Americans. Even though the Americans lost the battle, the British suffered greatly with a loss of nearly 600 while the colonists suffered only about half as many casualties.
Shortly after this battle John was discharged. In the summer of 1782, John re-enlisted in the service as a volunteer under Captain Peter Fost (Foush) for the purpose of guarding British and Tory prisoners who had been taken in South Carolina and brought to Salisbury for safe keeping. After a period of time at Salisbury, the British prisoners were taken toward Guilford Court House, but John remained as a guard over the Tories until relieved of service.
After the war John spent the next several years living in
North Carolina and Virginia. John Sr. received a 50-acre land
warrant from Virginia as early as 1782 but he did not cash it in for some twenty-eight and one-half years. John Sr. purchased two tracts of land in North Carolina. The first on 18 May 1789, land grant (#1794) from North Carolina for 260 acres located on Abbotts Creek next to Michael Zink (Sinks), Frederick Smith, Valentine Beard, and John Avery.
Sometime after this, John returned to Virginia, where on 9
Jan 1791, he md. Mary Beaver in Rockingham Co., VA, by Rev.
Paul Henkel, with Mathias Beaver as the bondsman. At the time of their marriage John was age c29y and Mary was age c32y.
From 1791 to 1808, when Mary would have been c49y, there were ten children born to this union. How long they stayed in Virginia is not definite at this time.
John is found to have traveled between North Carolina and
Virginia on several occasions. He was in Virginia in 1788,
according to the militia "Vouchers" of Captain Josiah Harrison's Company #9, Tenth Legion, of Rockingham County. He was listed there in June 1792, same militia, Company #8, East District.
The Tenth Legion was a small hamlet on the "great road" located shortly after entering Rockingham County from Shenandoah County.
The censuses for Virginia in 1790 and 1800 were evidently destroyed in 1814, when the British burned Washington, D.C., Thus we have not been able to locate John with the census for this period.
On 14 Mar 1791, just two months after his marriage, John sells
his 260 acre, North Carolina land grant (#1794): 125 acres to Paul Dumer [DBK 12, p. 544] and 135 acres to John Avery [DBK 12, p. 542].
Then on 28 Jan 1792 [DBK 14, p. 469 or 569] John purchased his
second tract of land in North Carolina —177‘/2 acres from Peter Workman. This land was located on Hamby's Creek. Here John and his family evidently lived for a couple of years. One son, Henry (c1794) was b. in North Carolina. However, his older sister, Anna Maria, who was b. 31 May 1792, could have been born either in Virginia or North Carolina? We do know she was baptized on 27 Jul 1793, at the Pilgrim Reformed Church near Lexington, North Carolina where her grandfather, Wooldrich was buried. Her parents, John Fritz and wife, Anna Marie, were her sponsors. In German the name Mary is written Maria, and in church records we found it was quite often processed by the name Anna.
Records in North Carolina indicate that John sold his 177‘/2
acres on Hainby‘s Creek to Jacob Bowers on 29 Sep 1796 [DBK 16,p. 145] and as far as we know, he did not live in North Carolina again.
John and Mary's third child, Barbara, listed her place of birth as Virginia, and since she was born 15 Jun 1796, it is possible that John had left the State of North Carolina before the selling of the 1771/2 acres.
John and Mary’s family have five children listed by name but
from census records we strongly feel that there were five more
children born but we have no concrete proof as to who they were.
After leaving North Carolina, the family traveled to
Rockingham Co., VA where they lived in the area of the Tenth
Legion probably until 1810. John and Mary purchased two tracts
of land in this area. We have found that Rockingham County land records were destroyed by a fire at some date and re—recorded "from the original deeds in 1884" by act of Assembly. This would indicate that perhaps they were not a total loss. In the Rockingham County, August 1810 Court, John Fritz and wife, Mary, sell two pieces of land [DBK0000,pp. 538-540]both to Andrew Spitzer. One for 17 acres and the other for 39 acres. The 39 acres was originally granted by the state of Virginia to a John Depo? in 1792. We have not located the deeds that indicate when John and Mary purchased this land. Federal census for 1810 show that John and family were living in Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA.
What drew John to Rockingham Co. can only be speculated.
It is my (G.A. Fritts) belief that it was either family ties with the Beaver's or the Fritts's, and only time will provide us with a chance to investigate. John moved his family into Lee Co., VA in the of fall 1810, where he would live except for a five year trip to Indiana, until his death.
Lee County is the State of Virginia’s furthest western
county—the very tip of the state. It is deep in the Allegheny
Range. Cumberland Mountain is its western boundary. At the
lower end of Cumberland Mountain lies Cumberland Gap, a very
important landmark in American History. Do not be deceived into thinking that just because Lee County is in Virginia that it was settled and peaceful. This county is on the Kentucky border, closer to Boonesborough than to Richmond. It was formed in 1792 from the western part of Russell County—parts of Scott and Wise counties were taken from Lee County in 1815 and 1856. Lee County was named for "Light Horse" Harry Lee of Revolutionary War fame.
John settled on Wallen's Creek, a tributary to the Powell River, and lived on Wallen‘s Ridge. Over the years, John purchased and sold several tracts of land in Lee County. The earliest record was on 28 Sep 1805, when he purchased 100 acres of land lying on the north side of Waltons Ridge from Byron Breeding and his wife, Jane, [DBK 2, p. 78]. Half of this land was to remain in John's possession for better than thirty years until he sold it to his son John, Jr. who stated:
"that he had a deed from his father", however, no deed was found when he, John Jr., sold it and two other parcels of land on 18 Dec 1848, to Birdine Wygal of Pulaski Co., VA; the Wygal heirs are reported to still own the property. The land that John Sr. owned, contained a cemetery—believed to be the "OLD FRITTS FARM" cemetery, where John Sr. was buried. It is located "high on a windy hill" at the very top, some 210 feet above Hurricane Branch Creek.
His son, George (1807) had purchased, on 8 Mar 1828, the other half of the original farm [DBK 6, p. 11] from his father and sold it on 23 Aug 1829. to Thompson Edwards [DBK6, p. 121].
As it has been written, John Sr. and family were in Rockingham
Co., VA in the 1810 census. We also are aware that he owned 100 acres in Lee Co., VA from 1805, where he was maintained on their tax list.
I, (GA. Fritts) believe that John Sr. and family moved to Lee
Co., in In fall of 1810. There on 21 Dec 1810, John Sr. cashed in his 50 acres of Virginia land preemption warrant (#1750), dated 10 May 1782, having the 50 acres surveyed [SBK 1, p. 416] right next to the 100 acres that he had purchased in Sep 1805.
John, Sr. like others of his time — was a farmer, and from the
land transactions he did well in making a living for his family. He obtained five additional tracts of land while in Lee Co. Only one would record his wife, Mary's signature that was on 2 Aug 1816, when he bought 97 acres from Benjamin Sharp and his wife, Hannah, [DBK 3, p. 212].
In the 1830 census, John Sr. and Mary were in Lee Co., VA.
Mary was older than John Sr. by at least two or three years, being born between 1750 and 31 Dec 1759. The exact date of her death is unknown, probably in early 1830's in Virginia. John Sr. was living alone in Monroe Co., IN, 1840 census, next door to his son, Henry (C1794).
John Sr. applied for his Revolutionary War pension [#S10701] on 27 May 1834, in Hawkins Co., TN, instead of Lee Co., VA where he lived because it was more convenient. In applying for the pension he stated: "I have lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia since the Revolutionary War." However, we have found no record of his living in Tennessee.
On 6 Nov 1837, John Sr. applied for transfer of his pension to
Monroe Co., IN where he was living. John Sr. returned to Lee Co., VA in the fall of 1842 and applied for his pension to be transferred back to Virginia in Apr 1843. John Sr. died in 1847-1848 time frame, about eight-five years of age.
His great-great-granddaughter, Hattie Muncy Bales, would write
in years to come that he "was buried on the old Fritts farm. A few years ago there was a rough stone marking the grave but it is no longer in evidence."
In John Sr.’s pension file there was a letter from West Liberty, KY, dated 26 January 1859, to the War Department from a S.R. Fritts stating: "that my grandmother is still living and claims her pension."
This woman, I, (G.A. Fritts) believe is not our Mary (Beaver) Fritts, but rather Elizabeth (Sipe) M, and as of this time we have not determined who her husband was. Elizabeth was in the Lee Co., VA, 1850 census [Dist. #31, p. 72], age ninety years, living with a Samuel Fitts, his wife and family. We have no knowledge of whose family or where Samuel R. Fitts connects! The name “Fitts” is an Americanized form of the English name “Fitz”. We are aware that Susannah Fitts and her son Cornelius lived near our Fritts’s Lee Co., VA.
John married Beaver, Mary in Jan 1791. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1816 - 1895 (78 years)
