Diana Fretz
ID # 8436, (1768-1801)
| Birth | Diana Fretz was born on 30 May 1768. |
| Marriage | She married Michael Rittenhouse on 11 June 1793. The date of marriage for Michael and Diana, 11 June, 1793, is taken from page 75 of volume 7 of the Annals of the Forty, published by The Grimsby Historical Society, 1956, revised and reprinted in 1992. |
| Death | She died on 7 September 1801 at age 33. |
| Note | The transcription of Vineland Mennonite Cemetery, as provided by the Niagara Peninsula branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, records the inscriptions on the Rittenhouse monuments - monuments as erected by descendants and not gravestones. This tells that Michael and Diana came to Lincoln County in July of 1800. This also records that Diana died on 7 September, 1801. The implication from the transcription is that Diana is buried in this cemetery. And she may be, perhaps for reasons of religious affinity, wherever in the peninsula the family happened to be living at the time. Just where they were living in the Peninsula originally remains to be found. Will Crooks in his testimony as to Michael's worthiness for the grant of a land patent which is dated 1808, tells that Michael was in his service for 'many years'. Certainly, when Michael applied for the patent he was resident in Grimsby Township. The Crooks family was located in Grimsby. This certainly borders Clinton Township, but is hardly a guarantee of propinquity so far as the Vineland Mennonite Cemetery is concerned. Michael came to Upper Canada with a trade, that of a miller. Or, perhaps he got a job at a mill and became a miller, for he is so described as such in his petition for a land patent. However this fell out, it does appear doubtful that his original intent was to farm. So just where in Upper Canada Diana died, we do not know. Is she buried in Vineland Mennonite Cemetery? This is uncertain, but we may say that from an early date there were Fretz family members in what became the Vineland area of Clinton Township. So her burial presence in Vineland might have had rather less to do with religious affinity and more to do with family connections. Either way, we can't be certain. An obituary from a periodical of the era is unlikely. As mentioned in the notes for Michael, Volume 7 of the Annals of the Forty, Rieger Press, Stoney Creek, Ontario, page 75, children are listed. These are entered with a view to finding places of residence that might assist in locating the progress of the family in Upper Canada. With regard to the Fretz family, in 1904 Rev. A. J. Fretz had published a book on the family of John and Christian Fretz. Page 13 of the book tells how in 1800 John emigrated to Canada with his family. Did he travel with daughter Diana and her husband Michael who came to Canada the same year? The description of the trip as it appears on the same page certainly indicates a sort of wagon train with an extended family. |
Children of Diana Fretz and Michael Rittenhouse |
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| Last Edited | 13 Mar 2021 |