Sonoma-Calaveras County CA Archives Biographies.....Fritsch, John 1829 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 28, 2006, 8:30 pm

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)

Fritsch, John. This old settler, who is now a resident of Petaluma and whose
portrait can be found in this history, was born in France March 28, 1829. When
only three years old his parents brought him to the United States and settled in
Warren county, Pennsylvania, where they resided till 1842, then moved to
Chicago, Illinois. During Mr. Fritsch's eleven years residence in Pennsylvania,
he received his primary education in the common schools, and completed his
studies in the Queen City of the West. In the year 1847, he became apprenticed
to the trade of carriage making, which he served for two years, and afterward
continued as a journeyman workman until 1851, when, being twenty-two years old,
he determined to make for himself a home on the Pacific slope and he left
Chicago during the Winter of that year, sailed from New York by the way of the
Isthmus of Panama, and arrived in San Francisco on the 15th of January, 1852. He
at once proceeded to Calaveras county and was engaged in mining until the 28th
of July of that year when he came to Petaluma, Sonoma county, and engaged in the
wagon-making business in partnership with William Zartman; six months thereafter
James Reid was admitted into the firm which was conducted under the style of
Fritsch & Reid until September, 1857, Mr. Zartman having retired from the
business in 1854. In 1857, Mr. Zartman and N. O. Stafford were then admitted
into the partnership. In the month of September of this year, Mr. Reid started
for New York on board the steamer "Central America" for the purpose of
purchasing machinery for a steam wagon manufactory, but the steamer was
unfortunately wrecked and Mr. Reid drowned. With his death, the project was
abandoned and the firm dissolved. In 1858, in company with William Zartman and
N. O. Stafford, the firm of Fritsch, Zartman & Co., wagon-makers, was organized
and continued in existence until 1862. In this year, in company with William
Zartman, N. O. Stafford, C. Tustin and J. Church, Mr. Fritsch proceeded to the
Washoe mines and there constructed the Petaluma Quartz Mill, remaining there
until 1864, when the building was sold and the party returned to Petaluma. In
the year 1868, we find Mr. Fritsch in company with N. O. Stafford establishing
once more a wagon-making business, which they continued until 1872. In the
following year (1873) he engaged in the grocery trade with W. E. Cox, the firm
being Cox and Fritsch, which is still in existence. On March 20, 1876, the City
Trustees of Healdsburg granted the petition of F. T. Maynard and John Fritsch to
establish water works and lay pipes in that city. The plan was carried out and
the work completed during that year by these gentlemen. That Mr. Fritsch has
been actively identified with the business interests, not only of Petaluma, but
in other places in the county, cannot be better illustrated than by saying that
at the present writing he is an equal partner in no less than seven different
enterprises. He married Miss Soloma Rapp on September 1, 1853. She was born in
France May 28, 1834. By this union they have: John R., born May 26, 1854; Katie
A.—now Mrs. A. F. Perry, born July 2, 1856; Walter S., born November 2, 1858;
Nellie L., born January 22, 1862; Ella, born April 9, 1870.

Additional Comments:
Petaluma Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY
—OF-
SONOMA COUNTY,
-INCLUDING ITS—
Geology, Topooraphy, Mountains, Valleys and Streams;
—TOGETHER WITH—
A Full and Particular Record of the Spanish Grants; Its Early History and
Settlement, Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources; the Names of Original
Spanish and American Pioneers; a full Political History, Comprising the Tabular
Statements of Elections and Office-holders since the Formation of the County;
Separate Histories of each Township, Showing the Advancement of Grape and Grain
 Growing Interests, and Pisciculture;
ALSO, INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE; THE RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG; AND BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
—AND OF ITS—
Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc., Etc.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO:
ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1880.


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