Talk by Howard L. Frysinger at the Pennsylvania Frysinger Reunion July 27, 1969

(Howard L Frysinger was born in 1879 and lived to be at least 100. He lived in Lansdown Pa at least in later years. WNF)
A clipping from the York Dispatch August 4, 1931, states that the 7th annual reunion of the Frysinger clan was held August 1st on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. William Gross along the Conewago Creek. So that this is the 45th reunion.  Apparently the idea of a reunion was started when Jacob, son of John, visited my father who made the statement that he would like to see the descendants of his father Jacob, and the first meeting was held in 1924. I do not have a clipping of the first meeting, but I do have a clipping from the York Dispatch of the 1928 meeting at which 264 people were present.
There were 42 Frysingers, 22 from the Lease family, 18 from the Krebs family, 17 each from the Gross and Sipe family and 14 from the Sueitzers. This meeting was held in the band hall at Zions View and we had a musical program. When these meetings were held at Zions View many friends of the family would attend. The 1928 meeting was the last attended by my father, who died in April 1929. It may have been at this meeting that a man named Greenewalt, who had been a member of my father's company in the Civil War, came along and he and father had a good time rehashing old times.
I became interested in knowing who our ancestors were for I had an idea that we may have been related to one of the Hessian soldiers who served the British in the Revolutionary War. Many of these men were taken prisoner and stayed in this country after the War was over. There was an interesting story in the Saturday Evening Post some years ago why the Hessians were hired. The English had smooth bore guns while the Americans had rifles. The rifle was invented in Germany in 1498 and was first used for military purposes in 1630 but it was not until the Revolutionary War that the value of the rifle was fully demonstrated. About 30,000 of these men were sold by the German princes to the British to fight a war in which they had no interest.
I had access to the libraries in Philadelphia and found that the first Frysinger of whom I could find any record was Daniel who was on board the ship "Jacob" and landed at Philadelphia on October 2, 1749, with other immigrants from Swabia, Wirtemberg and Darmstadt. The ship cleared from Amsterdam and last from Shields, England. Just why this was necessary I was not able to discover. No further record of' Daniel could be found. It is possible that he died on shipboard as so many of these men did. People in Philadelphia had agents in Germany soliciting young men to come to America. They were ill fed on board and mistreated. -Many of them landed with only the clothing on their backs their baggage having been plundered. The people who had paid their fare then sold them, or hired them out until the fare and often much more was paid. It is reported that some of these Philadelphia people made a fortune from this traffic. These men were called redemptioners. Many of them had skills and were well trained in their art.
On page 337 of I. Daniel Rupp's 30,000 immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776 I found Ludwig Frederick Frysinger, the one in whom we are interested. He landed in Philadelphia on October 16, 1754 having sailed on the ship “Peggy”, James Abercrombie, Captain from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, England and brought to America inhabitants from Palatinate and Wirtemberg. Ludwig was able to sign his own name.  Frysinger Evans, an attorney in Philadelphia, told me that he had a transcript of the passenger list showing Ludwig’s signature. I did not see the list nor was I able to get a copy. So many of these men were unable to sign their name and the captain of the ship signed for them.
In upper Bavaria about two miles north east of Munich is a town named Freising, which was founded. by the Romans prior to 444 A.D. It is noted for its training schools for brewers and fruit growers. The town was destroyed by the Hungarians in 955 and fortified by Emperor Otto the second in 976. It was, and still is, controlled by the Catholic Church and whether Ludwig came from this town, or its vicinity is doubtful since he was a Lutheran. Early records in Germany have been destroyed by its many wars and we have been unable to find any information about Ludwig.
Ludwig may have been a redemptioner for I lost tract of him until I found that he had settled in Windsor Township in York County in 1755, where he married and where some of his children were born. In 1775 he took up land in Dover Township, which is established by the original deed. Elmer Frysinger did a lot of research in the records at Quickel's Church and in the Court House in York and turned up valuable information. He turned up baptismal certificates and property transfers. Many of these are in German script and hard for anyone to read who is not a German scholar. The records show that in 1783 Ludwig owned 30 acres of land and that he had four male and three female children. In May 1779 there is an entry showing that Ludwig paid a find of three pounds for non performance of military duty. Tradition is that he had a club foot and there is another story that he was a good shot and a well trained soldier. Apparently he was too old for service in the Revolutionary War but was used to guard prisoners who were encamped near his home.
Records at Quickel's Church show the following children born to Ludwig.

John, November 6, 1766
Anna Maria, married Jacob Feiser Ludwig, born 1771
Jacob, born October 24, 1773 
Elizabeth, born July 1, 1776,
married John Dattisman 
Peter, born June 30, 1779
George, born September 2, 1781 
Barbara, born April 24, 1784,
married David Fetrow
These checks with the census of 1790 which shows Ludwig as living in Dover Twp. and reporting two males of 16 years and upwards, three males under 16 years of age and three females.
Jacob is our ancestor. He married Catharine Miller and they had the following children.
Jacob, Born November 16, 1809, died December 13, 1890. He married Magdalena Rauhauser who was born May 16, 1813 and died November 13, 1897. John, born June 1, 1811, Catharine, porn January 13, 1813. She married Samuel Zorger. Daniel born August 16, 1815, Elizabeth, born June 22, 1816. She married a man named Wagoner, Sarah, Mary who married Isaac Harro and Lavinia who married John Sipe. No record as to the dates they were born or when they died.
To Jacob our ancestor and his wife Magdalena were born the following children.
Samuel b. 1-18-1836   d. 4-14-1865
 m. Lucy Augenbaugh
Elizabeth b. 4-16-1837   d. 4-25-1901   
m. Michael Lease b. 11-20-1830   d. 6-15-1906 
Andrew b. 12-12-1838    d. 12-15-1916
m. Mary Witmer   b. 12-25-1842     d. 1-14-1902.
Sarah b. 8-9-1840  d. 2-24-1904. 
m , Levi Gross   b. 2-27-1829    d. 12-18-1896.
Hannah b. 2-20-1842   d. 9-16-1877
m. Peter Hoover b. 3-1-1837    d. 5-14-1863
m. Nathaniel Krebs  b. 1832     d. 1905 
Daniel b. 2-6-1844   d. 4-1-1929
m. Margaret Quickel b. 1-2-1848   d. 4-21-1935 
Jacob b. 2-28-1846 d. 7-13-1899
m. Susanna May d. 7-22-1919
John b. 11-8-1850   d. 8-28-1922
m. Amanda Richcreek  b. 1857   d. 1933 
William b. 4-17-1852 d. 1916
m. Agnes Fackler b. 1861   d. 1912 
Rebecca b. 1-15-1854 d  . 1916
m. Nathaniel Krebs b. 1832   d. 1905 
Lucy b. 12-17-1855   d. 1-2-1940
m. George H. Gardner b. 12-21-1845
Samuel was wounded at the battle of Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865 and died April 14, 1865. Samuel was Corporal of Company E while my father was Corporal of  Company d. 200th Pa Volunteers. I have a letter written by my father to his brother John saying that the 200th was the cleanest, and the best regiment in the division. The regiment distinguished it­ self at Fort Stedman. The regiment captured the fort and the trenches. The Confederates lost most than 4000 men and hundreds of them surrendered. Samuel was shot in the hip and died from loss of blood in a Washington hospital. His wife went to Washington to bring the body back but due to the assassination of President Lincoln the train service was disrupted and she had trouble in getting back to York, where she met a farmer with a two horse wagon and the plain wooden box was interred in the cemetery at Quickels Church. My father learned that Samuel had been wounded but it was a long time before he learned that Samuel had died.
My father enlisted in August 1864. At that time Samuel was in the U.S.A. General Hospital in York and was drafted along with 76 others from Conewago.
Hannah Frisinger's husband, Peter Hoover was killed in the war and brought to Quickels cemetery early in July, 1863. I think my Mother said it was the Sunday the Columbia bridge was burned, the smoke from which could be seen from the cemetery. Hannah later married Nathaniel Krebs and bore him 8 children before she died in 1877.
Levi Gross was wounded and here is a portion of a letter from Uncle John to my father, the date of which I do not know, “I almost forgot to tell you that Levi Gross is at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia but will try to get to York. He said his wound is not quite out of danger but it will be out of danger if it betters on as it did the last few days. Sarah got a letter from his yesterday”. Andrew was also in the Civil War but I do not know in which regiment he served. It may have been the 166th for Samuel spent his first enlistment in that outfit.
My own recollection of my grandparents is rather limited.
They lived with my Uncle John and I recall that in the 1880's there was much talk and concern about a new house that John was building. I recall that while quite a boy we paid a visit to John and his family and I saw the remains of an old log cabin with a ladder to the second floor where the boys slept. I do not know if my father and his brothers and sisters were born in the cabin. I also remember a large spring on the property which no doubt helped Ludwig in selecting this particular spot on which to settle, Lillian Frysinger Rohrbaugh, Uncle John's daughter, has written a 14 page story of her recollections of her and my grandparents. Apparently when John built the new house he made pro~dsions for his parents. This provision is quite common in Lancaster County especially among the Amish where you can see a smaller house alongside the big farm house known as the Gross Dawdy House. Our grandparents had a room on the first floor of  the house which was their own room. It had three windows and two doors, one outside door and the other leading into the part of the house occupied by John and his family. In this room there were two beds, a small table, of the drop leaf style, a chest or two and a chair called "Grandfather's chair and one called "Grandmother's chair. Grandmother's chair was a small chair of the sewing chair type, but grandfather's was an arm chair. In this room was also a stove resembling a chest on long legs. They would burn rather long pieces of wood in this stove to heat their room during cold weather and in summer on damp and chilly days. This was possibly what was known as a Franklin stove, the wood for which was 24 or 30 inches long. Grandmother did a lot of knitting. She used steel needles and would knit stockings and mittens. She was a member of the Reformed Church at Quickels and Grandfather was a member- of the Lutheran Church. Most of their reading was from their German Bibles.
Grandfather worked in the building of the present church at Quickels. Instead of putting the bricks and mortar in a hod and climbing it up a ladder he laid planks and used a wheel barrow.
Eli Gross says that his earliest recollections of his grandparents is associated with hazel nuts. When he paid them a visit they would get the nut bag but he was too small to crack the nuts so that Grandmother did the job. Many people owned wood lots in the Conewago hills and the people who lived near these lots cut the wood for fuel, for fence rails and posts. Grandfather was one of those who hired out to cut wood. He had a cutting ax, a splitting ax, which was heavier than the cutting ax and a pair of wedges. The usual rate for a cord of wood was 45 cents a grandfather would boast that he could cut five cords in two days. He also had a Dutch scythe which he used to mow grass. He would sharpen the scythe with a hammer and a dangle­ shuck, which must have been a piece of iron on which he would place the scythe and then hit it with the hammer. When the scythe got too hot he would put it in water so as not to draw the temper. Grandfather was an ardent church member. He loved to walk and my father told me that one winter Sunday during a heavy blizzard grandfather walked to Quickels church and he, the pastor and the care taker were the only people in church. Eli Gross said that once when Grandfather came to church someone asked him if he walked. He replied that John had asked him to ride along with the family but he declined and said he would rather walk.
Grandfather always said grace at table and used Psalm 145 verse 15 and 16 “The eyes of all wait upon Thee and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" but he said it in German "Aller auchen warten auf dich und du gebst inren schpise tsuer rechten tseit Du thust deine hand auf, und erfuellest alles was lebst mit Wohlgefallen.  Eli says that he has seen grandfather on many different occasions, in his own home and in the homes of other people. He has seen him in the woods and on the farm, in church, Sunday School, sales and at picnics but he never has seen him doing anything or heard him say anything that was unworthy to be reported. For my father I can say the same thing.
Thank you for listening.