Rev. John Gottfried Fritchey ^{1 2}

   FamilySearch ID: K8QG-Q3N.

  Christening Notes:

Baptized by Rev. Moeller.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Book: Biographical Annals of Lancaster County: Biography of Rev. John G. Fritchey, 1903. ¹
REV. JOHN G. FRITCHEY. On March 12, 1885, in the fullness of years and good works, there entered into rest Rev. John G. Fritchey, a faithful laborer in the Master's vineyard.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century there came from Germany to America one John Godfrey Fritchey, a young man of gentle birth and good education. In the beginning it had been his intention to return to the Fatherland, but the beauties of the Pennsylvania hills and the broad opportunities of the life in a new country proved so attractive that he decided to remain, and located near Harrisburg.
Like so many of his countrymen, he was a musician of considerable merit. In his new home he met and married Dorothy Bucher, a faithful and sincere member of the Reformed Church, and an aunt of Rev. John Casper Bucher, D. D., a noted divine of that denomination. Mr. Fritchey had been reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, but was too broad to object to his children following the teachings of the church of their mother. Thirteen children came to brighten their home.
John G. Fritchey, son of John Godfrey and Dorothy Fritchey, was born Feb. 6, 1802, and was reared amid the refining influences of a pure Christian home. He was baptized by Rev. Mr. Mueller, and in 1821 was confirmed by Rev. John Winebreuner, the popular pastor of Salem Reformed Church, five miles from Harrisburg, who had taught him the Heidelberg catechism. His home training, and his natural inclinations alike turned him toward the ministry, and at the suggestion of his beloved teacher area pastor, he entered a classical school at Sandy Hollow, taught by a Mr. Cummings, a graduate of Princeton College, where for two years he pursued a course in Latin and Greek, preparatory to a course in Theology.
In the spring of 1825, at the invitation of Rev. Mr. Winebreuner, he accompanied that gentleman to Carlisle to attend the opening of the new theological seminary then and there established by authority of the Synod of Bedford. He witnessed the inauguration of the first Professor of Theology, Rev. Lewis Mayer, D. D., and became the first enrolled student of the institution. Having completed the course, he in 1828 was ordained to be a missionary, his intention being to labor in the destitute regions of the West.
With this idea he left home, traveling on horseback, with his face toward the setting sun. At Chambersburg, however, he came under the influence of the pastor of the Reformed Church, Rev. Mr. Rahauser, who had an extensive knowledge of the home missionary field, and who persuaded him to change his course southward, to the mountains of North Carolina. Arrived in the vicinity of Lincolnton, in that State, he found a field ready for the harvest, and for twelve years thereafter engaged in arduous labor, establishing many churches in that time, and rejuvenating the work of the church generally.
His field of labor extended over seventy miles down into South Carolina. In 1840, having secured a pastor for the South Carolina churches in the person of Rev. William C. Bennett, and being unwilling to rear his family amid the influences of the slave system, he returned North. He was successively pastor of churches at Mechanicsburg, Cumberland Co., Pa., East Berlin, Adams county, and at Taneytown, Md., being at the latter place thirteen years. In each of these places Rev. Mr. Fritchey was a power for good, building up the churches and freeing them from financial burden. In 1865 he moved his family to the town of Lancaster, and from that time to the date of his death engaged in active service for his Master in the county.
He preached in many places, but was particularly helpful in New Holland, Millersville, Elizabethtown, Maytown and at Shoop's Church. He was also very helpful to the Zwingli German Church in Harrisburg. His method of work was to go into a disorganized field, or in communities where the cause of religion was languishing for any reason, and by the magnetism of his energies fan the dying embers into flame again.
When the fire burned brightly he would secure the establishment of a regular minister at the place, and move on to other less favored communities. In this manner he was instrumental in building up a number of churches in the county which are now lasting monuments to his efficient labor. At the Zwingli Church he was peculiarly effective in the raising of a large debt that sapped the vital forces of the church, undertaking this work and carrying it through under the weight of fourscore years. The missionary spirit, the carrying of the Gospel to those who had it not, was the all-consuming force in his character, and dominated his actions all through a long life of usefulness. No journey was too long, no day too unfavorable on account of the weather, to respond to a call in which he saw an opportunity to do good.
On Oct. 12, 1828, Rev. Mr. Fritchey was united in marriage with Mary Ann E. Hendel, who was born in Carlisle, Pa., May 13, 1809, and who died in Lancaster Feb. 17, 1875. She was a daughter of George Hendel, and a granddaughter of Rev. William Hendel, the latter of whom was pastor of the Race Street Church, Philadelphia; he fell a victim to the scourge of cholera which swept over that city in 1798.Mrs. Fritchey was also a niece of Rev. William Otterbein, a power in the early church, and of Dr. William Hendel, of Womelsdorf, Pa.
Rev. Mr. Fritchey and his bride made for their wedding journey the trip to North Carolina, where he was to devote his labors, in which his good wife heartily sympathized and greatly assisted. In her girlhood she had publicly professed her faith and had been confirmed by Rev. John S. Ebough.
Thirteen children blessed the home of Rev. Mr. Fritchey and his wife, as follows:
(1) Sarah E., born Sept. 27, 1829, married Joseph Eberly.
(2) William A., born May 4, 1831, died Nov. 18, 1861.
(3) Ann Catharine, born Jan. 24, 1833, died Jan. 6, 1851.
(4) Mary E., born Nov. 24, 1834, died June 12, 1851.
(5) Martha A., born Sept. 14, 1836, died Dec. 31, 1880.
(6) John H., born Dec. 7, 1838, died July 22, 1869.
(7) Theodore L. Mayer, born Feb. 21, 1841, died April 15, 1880.
(8) Alfred N., born May 25, 1843, died Feb. 6, 1895. He enlisted in the Union army when but seventeen years of age, being assigned to Company C, under Col. Cole, in the Maryland Cavalry. He was taken prisoner in 1862, and was confined several months in Libby prison, and on Belle Isle, and after his exchange rejoined his command. On Jan. 1, 1864, he was again taken prisoner, this time being confined in the prison pen of Georgia, known to the whole world as Andersonville stockade. His comrades in the same company said of him, after his death, that he was not only a born soldier, but a most intelligent and companionable comrade.
(9) Frances A., born Feb. 19, 1845, died May 13, 1875.
(10) Laura J., born Jan. 27, 1847, is the widow of Dr. Amos A. Roth, a prominent physician of Frederick, Md.
(11) James G., born April 6, 1849, died Nov. 4, 1871.
(12) Joseph U., the only survivor of the family, is mentioned elsewhere.
(13) Addison H., born Nov. 9, 1853, was a graduate of Franklin College, a prominent member of the Bar of Lancaster county, and an accomplished musician; he died May 7, 1899.

John married Mary Ann E. Hendel on 12 Oct 1828.¹ (Mary Ann E. Hendel was born on 13 May 1809 in Carlisle, Cumberland, PA ¹ and died on 17 Feb 1875 in Lancaster, Lancaster, PA ¹.)