More Info

Well, I added the new Fritz and Wunsch family info that I found to new.familysearch.org. And while I went through and looked for possible duplicates on that site, I found some more new info about this family from the extractions, including some different spellings of a few of the names, and some more family members. (I’m going with these new spellings of the names, because they are from the christening records instead of the marriage records, and I try to record the name of a person at their birth – then I also make a note of name spelling variations so I can have a list of different possible spellings that they used throughout their lives).

So, I found the following spelling changes for the names: Instead of Franz Anton Fritz (husband of Maria Anna Wunsch), it is Francisci Antonii Wunsch. And Francisci and Maria’s daughters, Katharina and Elisabetha are actually Maria Catharina and Maria Elisabetha. Also, two new daughters were added to this family: Josepha Fritz and Maria Anna Fritz. And there are now christening dates for all four daughters in this family.

And I also found a new name variation for Johann G. Wunsch (the husband of Maria Elisabetha Ruckenbrod), which is Joanne Georgio Wunsch. Also, I found another daughter for Joanne and Maria, Maria Theresia Wunsch. And I now have christening dates for both Maria Theresia and her sister, Maria Elisabetha Wunsch.

Also, I found another son for Maria Elisabetha Fritz and Ignatius Werner: Ludovicus Werner, and a christening date for him.

And lastly I found that Richardis Fritz (the wife of Hyronimus Fritz) was actually named Maria Richardis Fritz. (And her father was Francisco Antonio Fritz, rather than Franz Anton Fritz). And I found four sisters for Maria Richardis: Maria Catharina, Maria Francisca, Maria Josepha, and Maria Caecilia Fritz, and christening dates for all five sisters.

Wow, these people sure liked the name Maria, huh? (I'm sure all of these Marias went by their middle names, though).

I’m planning to do a little more searching online – maybe I’ll get even more lucky (blessed) and find some more info about this family. Maybe some of them (other than my 4th great grandfather, Ignatius Fritz) even came to America too???

A Little Pedigree Chart

So, this little pedigree chart just gives you an idea how I am descended from my “new” Fritz and Wunsch grandparents that I found last week. (Susie Dobbins Graham in the no. 1 position on the pedigree chart is my great, great grandmother on my mom's side of the family).

Parents (and Siblings) of Ignatius Fritz and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch

Ok, so I found the marriage record of my 5th great grandparents, Ignatius Frits and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch (on FHL microfilm 1045736), and it gave me the names of my 6th great grandparents. I was so excited! And although these marriage records are in paragraph form (which makes it harder for me to try to figure out what they say than the column form records), I can read the names and numbers, and figure out a few other things. So even though I don’t have complete translations of the records, I thought I’d share what I have figured out so far.

So, Ignatius Fritz and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch were married on 5 April 1818 in Forbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Ignatius was 27 years old, and his parents are Franz Anton Fritz and Maria Anna Wunsch. And Maria Elisabetha was 26 years old, and her parents were Johann G. Wunsch and Maria Elisabetha Ruckenbrod, (microfilm 1045736, page 192).

*Notes:
• Yes, Ignatius’ mother and wife both have the same maiden names – there seem to be lots of Fritzes and Wunsches in this town.
• Johann G. Wunsch’s middle name ran into the binding of the book that was microfilmed, so I could only see that it started with a ‘G.’
• And I did see that there are other Ruckenbrods on microfilm 1045735 (birth records), which helped confirm the spelling of this name.

Since the marriage records on this microfilm went back to 1720, I started to go back and look for the marriage records of each of Franz Anton Fritz & Maria Anna Wunsch and of Johann G. Wunsch & Maria Elisabetha Ruckenbrod, but after a while the records stopped listing the names in the margin, and then the earlier they went the harder they got for me to read and even to find where the names were located within each marriage record. So I decided to go back to 1818 and start looking at the surnames for each marriage record. Whenever I found a record for a Fritz or Wunsch, I read the names of the parents of the bride and groom, looking to see if I could locate marriage records for any siblings of either Ignatius or Maria Elisabetha. It was pretty slow going, as I tried to read the old German script, but I got through about 15 pages starting in 1818 and looking forward chronologically, and I found the marriage records of 3 siblings of Ignatius Fritz so far: his older sisters, Katharina and Elisabetha, and his younger brother, Hyronimus Fritz.

After finding these marriage records on the microfilm, I looked back to the extracted records on the IGI at (where I had originally found the extracted christening records for Ignatius Fritz and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch’s children), and I searched within that ‘batch’ of extracted records for children of the three siblings of Ignatius Fritz that I found on the microfilmed marriage records. I found the extracted christening records for 1 daughter of Katharina Fritz Fritz [yes, her maiden name is the same as her husband’s surname], 4 daughters and 1 son of Elisabetha Fritz Werner, and 5 daughters and 3 sons of Hyronimus Fritz. So, from the microfilm and the extracted records, that makes 28 new people, if I’m counting correctly, that I was able to find. Woohoo! Now I need to check some websites and see if anyone else has done any more research on these families before heading back over to the family history center for some more time on the microfilm reader. Here is the marriage record of Ignatius Fritz and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch. (I’ll try to get the other marriage records and extracted christening records posted soon).

I Found My 6th Great Grandparents!

I’m so excited! Now that I’m a family history consultant I have my own keys to the family history center over at the church (which means I don’t have to ask someone else to go open the doors and sit around there while I look at my microfilms). I went over last night after dinner and was there until almost midnight. I was discouraged earlier because I didn’t think I’d be able to do anything with these microfilms I ordered a few months ago because I had so much trouble reading the records (in the old German gothic script), but I thought I’d keep looking at them, and last night I found the marriage record for my 5th great grandparents, Ignatius Fritz and Maria Elisabetha Wunsch. Although I can’t pick out much more than the names and numbers from the records, that’s enough. So, now I have parents for Ignatius and Maria Elisabetha. I didn’t have names for my 6th great grandparents before – I’m so excited! I am still trying to determine the correct spelling for Maria Elisabetha's mother's maiden name. I’ll try to get these records posted soon.