Biography
Christian Fritz was born in Lech, Austria on the 14th of November, 1827. He was fourth child, and third son, of Benedict and Veronica Jochum Fritz. Christian's mother died on the 1st of May 1837,[1] when Christian was nine and a half years old.
During the early 1850's, in his mid-20's, Christian immigrated to the United States. He headed first to Ohio before moving to Iowa and settling in the town of Blakesburg. Soon after, Christian married Ellen, a native of Ohio.
About October of 1869, Christian and Ellen's daughter Annie Isabella was born.[2]
Christian lived in Urbana Township in 1870, next door to Ellen's parents.[2]
During their time in Blakesburg, their family grew by at least three: a daughter, Rebecca Alice, and two sons, William Benedict and Frank Layton. They moved to Churchville by 1877, having added two more sons to their family: John Frederick and Albert Levi. About this time may be when they had their son, Josia, who may have been stillborn or may have died very young.
The family moved to Jefferson by 1880, by which time they also lost their second daughter, Isabella. At this time, Christian worked as a tailor, although he had been unemployed for three months. The only child in the family attending school was Fred. They also had a boarder, a 43-year-old Danish blacksmith named John Johnson.
The family didn't stay in one place too long, moving during the next decade to Madison, and then to Penn, Iowa by 1900. During this time, Alice married and moved out, followed much later by Fred, and then William, then John. A few years later, Levi passed away.
Christian suffered because of his age for the last six years of his life, including a stroke of paralysis in May, 1908.
Christian and Ellen spent winters with their daughter Alice's family in Wiota. They were in Alice's home during winter early 1910 when Christian suffered another stroke of paralysis. He died a few days later, in the early mornining. He was given a funeral, and was buried in the Earlham cemetery.
Ellen lived another fifteen years where she became a highly respected citizen of Penn. She passed away in the home of her son William.