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.