German Origins of Petzingers and the First Petzinger In Our Direct Line Coming to America

Hooray, I figured out how to get this map into the blog!  This map shows the two towns in Germany where most American Petzingers originated.  You can zoom in and out to see more. 


The brown marker shows Langenhain, which was technically in Prussia during much of our ancestors' time.  Petzingers from here emigrated in the 1800s to western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, and the midwest.




The pink marker identifies Darmstadt.  "Our" Petzingers came from a section of Darmstadt called Bessungen and initially emigrated to eastern Pennsylvania (Scranton), eventually settling in New Jersey.  I have yet to find a link between the two German clusters.  The only records are church records and they are not complete, especially when we get back to the early 1700s and before. 


Frederick Petzinger, our great-grandfather was born in 1859 in Bessungen and emigrated in 1884 through New York and lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Apparently, he followed his older sister, Katharine and her husband, Adam Creter, who had emigrated in 1881 from Bessungen and were in Scranton in 1885, running a painting business.  Although his immigration papers show his occupation as a farmer, Frederick worked as a painter in the United States, probably with his brother-in-law, Adam. Frederick's only remaining sibling, his older brother Martin, also emigrated to Scranton and worked as a painter, eventually also moving to Newark. 


Frederick, Martin and Katharine's father and mother, Conrad and Elisabetha (nee Creter, no close relation to her son-in-law Adam) joined their children in Scranton in 1887.  Conrad was born in 1803 [this was corrected to 1830 in March 19 blog entry] and Elisabetha was born in 1829 in Bessungen (hmmmm, I never realized there was such an age difference between them, so I bet he was married previously.  I will have to do some checking on that and will keep you posted!)  Conrad had been a carpenter in Germany, but worked as a laborer, first in Scranton and then in Newark.  Elisabetha died of senility in 1909 and Conrad died of senility in 1910, both living in Newark with their son, Martin.  They are buried in Woodland Cemetery in Newark.


In 1885 in Scranton, Frederick married Amelia Schneider (Snyder, born in Scranton, 1866) and the babies began in 1886, named in order:  Elizabeth, Henry, Frederick, William, Amelia, John, Charles, Florence Albert, and Malvina.  Elizabeth died of diphtheria at 4 years and Frederick died of influenza at Fort Dix during WWI (the Petzinger street in Irvington is named after him), but the rest lived full lives.


Frederick's sister's family, Katharine and Adam Creter, moved to Newark in 1893 and Frederick bounced back and forth between Scranton and Newark for quite a few years, probably following work and permanently moved the family to Newark in 1908.  He died from a fall from a ladder in 1912.  He was cremated.  Amelia moved to Irvington in 1917, returning to Newark in 1919 and died in Newark in 1943 from a stroke and is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Newark.


Still cannot get photos to upload to the blog, but I did put photos of the tombstone for Amelia and the plot area for Frederick's parents, Conrad and Elisabetha on the Petzinger Shutterfly site.


 

Petzingers in England and Ohio

In my researching, I have found clumps of PETZINGER's across the United States and a couple in England.  So, what is their story and how do they relate to us???


I started with Henry and Elizabeth, the only PETZINGER's that showed up in the English census in the late 1800s.  The earliest is 1871 where Henry is working as a laborer and he and Elizabeth have three children, Maria (4), Ludwig (3), and Elizabeth (6 mos.).  Importantly, it tells me that they were both born in Germany  about 1847 (Frankfurt) and so the German originations persist.  Frankfurt is not far from Darmstadt where most of "our" PETZINGER's are from. It may be that they simply gave the nearest big city when asked their homeland.


I also found a marriage bann and application showing that they were both minors, needing consent and were married July 27, 1865 in England and that Elizabeth's maiden name was Riehl.  In 1881, Henry is working as a greengrocer and they are still in Lancashire with a few more kids:  John Henry (b. 1873), George (b. 1876) and Louise (b. 1879).  Still in Lancashire in 1891, they have continued with the children:  Fred (b. 1881), Anthony (b. 1882) and William (b. 1886).


They emigrated to the United States in 1893 with their youngest children, George (17), Fred (11) Anthony (9) and William (7), specifically stating their final destination was Cleveland Ohio.


Hmmm, I have seen PETZINGER's in Ohio, so apparently he was joining a family member, but who???  The only PETZINGER I could find in Cleveland in the 1880 census is Adam and Mary, and their two daughters, Bertha and Gertrude.  So, where did Adam and Mary come from? 


Lots of hours and research later, I found they were born in Butler County, Pennsylvania to John and Catherine (I think, or there may have been a previous wife, Elizabeth born the same year) PETZINGER.  It turns out that although John was from Darmstadt, his wife was from the Frankfort area.  Oh yeah, and remember Henry was born in Frankfort.  Cool, huh?  John and Elizabeth were busy, busy, busy making babies, including one set of twins that died at birth.  There is Conrad, Henry, Elizabeth, John, Adam, Catherine, Mary Samuel, Isabel, and William. 


But, here is where additional confusion comes in because I found a few other PETZINGER's in the census for Butler county, Pennsylvania with interesting spellings:  PATSINGER, PETSINGHER, PETSINGER, PITING, and PETAINGHAR!  Apparently, though, all but Adam stayed in Pennsylvania primarily using the spelling PETSINGER.  So, how was Henry related to Adam and how are either of them related to us?


Darned if I have been able to figure it out, but the Ohio and Butler Count Pennsylvania PETZINGER's and PETSINGER's were fruitful and multiplied. 

In the Beginning

I have been working on the PETZINGER Family Genealogy for several years with the intention of having my software generate a wonderful book.  Yeah, that probably will not happen, so thought I'd share snippets of family history as I work on them through this blog.


So, unlike the title of this post, I will not start at the beginning.  Instead, I opened my genealogy software, Family Tree Legacy and found myself looking at Grandma MAAS' first husband, Edward FitzGerald GORDON. 


I believe Grandma met him while working at the Prudential Life Insurance Company in 1905.  He worked as a clerk in the 1901-1905 timeframe, according to the Newark City Directories of the time.  He was born in Stillwater, New Jersey in 1868, while Grandma was born in 1886, so he was 18 years older.  According to Shirley Gordon in her book, "On Becoming Alijah" had spent time in Uruguay and Argentina working as a building contractor in the 1890s and was a bit of an outcast to his family before returning to America around 1900.


Edward and Catherine Emma SCHULTZ, known as Katie, were married August 5, 1905 in a church in Manhattan nicknamed, The Little Church Around The Corner according to a newspaper clipping, but I have not yet been able to obtain the marriage license.  According to Shirley, they kept the wedding a secret from his family for three months because he was concerned about his family's acceptance of Katie.  They started their married life in Newark, moving to Irvington in 1913 and returned to Newark by 1916. Their first child, Clarence (Uncle Pat) was born August 14, 1907, followed by a second son, Edward FitzGerald, Jr., who died on March 22, 1910.


He went on to open a real estate office in 1908 and, at the same time, advertised as a "mason builder." He was involved in starting a company that specialized in concrete and masonry work in 1911.  The Gordon Brothers Company was incorporated in Newark on September 11, 1911 with $1,000.  Michael J. Quigley is listed as "Agent" on the Newark Corporations listings.  Edward was listed as Treasurer of the company in the 1917 Newark City Directory.


According to Shirley, Grandma had been severely ill with the start of turberculosis in 1910, probably part of which was due to the loss of her second son.  Edward was very ill and had an unknown operation in 1912, all of which contributed to severe financial difficulties. 


Edward was killed in an auto accident on October 30, 1917. Although he left Katie was considerable debts and mortgages, he also left significant properties in the Newark area. I have not found where he was buried. 


In 1920, Katie was living with family friends, the Atkinsons and running a nursery called Hilton Dahlia Farms.  More on her later!