Ludwick Fritz (1892)

FRITZ, WERT, WEST

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 1/20/2008 at 14:21:51

Winterset Madisonian – December 30, 1892
Winterset, Iowa
Page 2

County and City

Mr. Ludwig Fritz, an old and highly respected citizen of Madison township, died on Christmas day, aged 64. He had been sick for nineteen months with a complication of diseases which finally resulted in heart trouble. Mr. Fritz came to the state in 1865 and to this county in 1869, making his home in the southern part of Madison township. The funeral was held last Monday, at the Worthington church, Rev. A. C. Heckathorn officiating, and was very largely attended in spite of the extremely cold weather.

Winterset Madisonian – January 20, 1893
Winterset, Iowa
Page 7

Obituary

Notes on the Life and Character of the Late Ludwig Fritz

FRITZ—Died, in Madison township, Madison county, Iowa, Dec. 25th, 1892, Ludwig Fritz, aged 64 years, 6 months and 20 days.

He was born in the state of Pennsylvania, June 5, 1828.

In early childhood his parents moved to Ohio, his father dying soon after. He was then placed in the care of another family, with whom he remained till of age, growing up to manhood in a home of hard and honest toil. He then came west as far as Illinois, staying there three years; he then came to Cedar county, Iowa, and securing for himself a home, went back to Ohio. On the 21st day of March 1857, he was joined in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann West. In this union there was born to them eight children, six sons and two daughters, all of whom with the bereft mother, survive him. In the fall of 1869, with his family moved to Madison county, Iowa, and settled upon a quarter section of raw prairie land, and by hard and honest toil, secured for himself and family the beautiful home at which he died.

Mr. Fritz was a man of untiring energy and toil; was a model, systematic farmer, caring and providing for his family; rearing up his children to lives of toil and usefulness, and we can proudly say, that no man in the community in which he lived took greater pride and was more systematic in making a comfortable home than he was, manifesting his care to his stock of all ----, by providing ample room and shelter for them, so that no man could apply the term “cruelty to animals” to him. Around his house were many beautiful groves of trees and greens of all kinds, with orchards of small fruits, which have yielded an abundance of fruits to the family and many others at their ----- and have heard the sweet carol of many beautiful birds in their high perch upon the beautiful foliage of evergreens, planted by his industrious hand.

Mr. Fritz was a good neighbor and citizen, kind and generous at his home, taking a firm and decided stand against all that was wrong, a true advocate for what was right and just, for the good and elevation of his fellow men; was a believer in the Christian religion, joining the M. E. Church, at Worthington, in the year 1880, and living a faithful member of the same till death. In the erection of the Worthington church he was one of the trustees and a member of the building committee, and by untiring patience, toil and faithfulness, filled well his place. No member of the board, in the erection of the church and enclosing the cemetery, sacrificed as much time and took as much interest in the work as Bro. Fritz did. He was charitable in giving to all the benevolences of the church, faithful in all the means of grace, not boastful or forward, but rather inclined to timidity and reserved, yet punctual in the discharge of Christian duty, a willing witness bearing testimony so often to the power of saving grace. His death was caused from an attack of the grippe, from which he never fully recovered. His sickness lasted about eighteen months, the last ten weeks being confined to his bed, suffering very much, yet bore it all with Christian patience and resignation. On Thursday, before his death, he expressed to his wife a resignation to the will of the Lord, requesting her to be the same; was calm and peaceful, yet growing worse and nearing death’s door. On Saturday, the absent five married children, living in adjoining counties, were summoned to his bedside, and on Sunday, Christmas morning at early dawn, surrounded by his loved family and others who were his attendants during his sickness, the sands of life were ebbing out. The golden bowl was broken, and the happy spirit of Ludwig Fritz passed off to the spirit land. On the following Monday the body was conveyed to the Worthington church, followed by the bereaved family and a large concourse of friends and neighbors, in token of their last tribute of respect to their departed friend.

The funeral services were conducted by Rev. A. C. Heckathorn, pastor of the Worthington church, and then all that was mortal was laid in the silent home of the dead. To the bereft wife, mother and children, we say in conclusion, in this deep sorrow be resigned to the will of the Lord, as expressed by your departed husband and father, and while this affliction was the saddest Christmas of your lives, you should ever remember it in commemoration of the day that a Savior was born to redeem and save the world that was lost, and who is now your comfort and hope in the sad affliction, and who has said “I go to prepare a place for you and will come again and receive you unto myself,” and that you all may be partakers of his pardoning love and meet your dear husband and father in heaven, is the prayer of the writer of this article.

D. H. Eyerly
_____________________

Note: Burial was made in the Worthington cemetery. Gravestone reads Ludwick Fritz. Transcribed as published, his wife's maiden name is "Wert".

Gravestone Photo
 

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