MY FETSCH TREE
- GEORGES VETSCH, born 1658, died
21 Oct 1712 in Niederlauterbach
- JEAN-MICHEL VETSCH, born about
1682, died 17 Apr 1732 in Niederlauterbach
- JEAN-THEOBALD VETSCH, born 28
Jul 1712, died 17 Dec 1796 in Niederlauterbach
- FRANCOIS-GEORGES VETSCH, born
1746, died Jul 1805 in Niederlauterbach
- JEAN-MICHEL FETSCH, born 05 Oct
1784 in Niederlauterbach, died in Selz
- KARL FETSCH, 1826 -- ?, born in
Selz, Odessa district
- MICHAEL FETSCH, 1857 - abt. 1935,
born in Selz, Odessa district
- BRIGETTA FETSCH, 1888 - 1966,
born in Selz, Odessa district
- REMIGIUS WEISS, 1919 - 1988, born
Fox Valley homestead
- MERVIN WEISS, 1949 -- , born in
Prelate, Saskatchewan
GEORGES
VETSCH. Georges Vetsch, was 54 years old when
he died on 21 Oct 1712 in Niederlauterbach, Bas-Rhin,
Alsace. He was a civil judge in this small town in the
extreme north-east corner of today's France, north of
Strasbourg. Georges Vetsch was married to Marguerite Von
der Stein, daughter of Michel Von der Stein and Anne-Catherine
Heilmann. Marguerite died 10 Feb 1712 in Niederlauterbach
at the age of 49. Court records (20 Nov 1712) of the disposition
of their property revealed six children.
CHILDREN OF GEORGES VETSCH:
- Eva, 33, married to Wendel Anstett
- Barbe, 30, married to Laurent
Heintz
- Michel, 28 (age
doesn't correspond exactly with other records)
- Anne-Marguerite, 26, married to
Hans-Jakob Zimmermann
- Wendel, 24
- Martin, 8
JEAN-MICHEL
VETSCH. Only his death record refers to him as
Jean-Michel, and his name is spelled as "Fetsch". Other
records refer to him simply as Michel Vetsch. His death
record says he was about 50 years old when he died on
17 April 1732. He had suffered from two diseases listed
as dropsy and phthisis". Michel Vetsch was married to
Magdalena Gutlin. They had four children.
CHILDREN OF JEAN-MICHEL VETSCH:
- Anne-Marie, who married Franz
Engelhardt in Niederlauterbach
- Jean-Theobald
- Marie-Anne, who married Gabriel
Eberle in Niederlauterbach
- Jean-Adam, a shoemaker, who married
Eva Karch in Niederlauterbach
After Michel died
in 1732, Magdalena re-married to Jean Burckart. Magdalena
died in Niederlauterbach on 23 Aug 1757.
JEAN-THEOBALD
VETSCH. Jean-Theobald Vetsch was born in Niederlauterbach
on 28 Jul 1712. When he is listed as a beneficiary in
the 1740 will of his father's childless uncle (Hans Wendel
Von der Stein), his name is given as Hans-Theobald Vetsch.
Jean-Theobald lived a long life, dying in his son's home
on 17 Dec 1796 at the age of 84 years. On his death record,
he is referred to as Johannes Theobald, but legal documents
concerning his estate again refer to him as Hans-Theobald
Vetsch. These documents, dated 12 Jan 1797, reveal that
Jean- or Hans-Theobald was married twice. His first wife
was Eva Reisinger, who died in 1745, after giving birth
to three daughters.
CHILDREN OF JEAN-THEOBALD VETSCH:
- Anne-Marie, deceased in 1777,
never married.
- Marie-Jacobea, married to Joseph
Leininger.
- Marie-Barbe, deceased in 1748
at the age of 6 years.
His second wife was
Eve-Marguerite Lummert, with whom he had three more
children
- Franz-Georg
- Marguerite, who left the country
30 years ago.
- Jean-Adam, a soldier of whom the
family has had no news for 9 years.
Marguerite Lummert
died in their son's home in Niederlauterbach on 18 Mar
1796 at the age of 70 years. Both Marguerite and Jean-Theobald
had lived long lives.
FRANCOIS-GEORGES
VETSCH. Francois-Georges Vetsch was a farmer
("cultivateur") in Niederlauterbach born about 1746. On
the birth record in 1784 of his son, Jean-Michel, Francois-Georges
is referred to as a day labourer. Francois-Georges died
in Niederlauterbach in July 1805. The
disposition of his property in 1812 shows that he
was married three times. His first wife was Anne-Marie
Flick, born about 1750 in Niederlauterbach, the daughter
of Michel Flick and Catherine Heinrich.
The will lists two children:
CHILDREN OF FRANCOIS-GEORGES
VETSCH:
- Jean-Michel
- Barbe, who married Michel Metzger.
Anne Marie died 12
Nov 1788, shortly after the birth of a third child,
daughter Marguerite.
The second wife was Marguerite
Huber of Neeweiler, another town nearby. This union
produced one son - Georges, who was a tailor.
- Georges
The third wife was Benedicta Oberkirch, and they had five children:
- Marguerite
- Laurent
- Joseph
- Catherine
- Jean
This document from the
Archives Departementales du Bas-Rhin refers to the heir,
Jean-Michel Vetsch, as "charpentier etabli en grime",
meaning that he was a carpenter living in Russia.
MICHAEL
FETSCH. Michael Fetsch left behind a long history
in Alsace and emigrated into Russia in 1808. Jean-Michel
Fetsch was born on 05 Oct 1784 in Niederlauterbach, and
was baptized the day after.
His godparents were George-Adam Heydel and Barbara Baumann.
This record spells his name with "F", but his marriage
record spells it again with a "V". His marriage record
also gives his birth as 06 Oct 1784 and refers to him
as Francois-Michel Vetsch. The marriage record clearly
identifies his parents (both deceased at the time) as
Francois-Georges Vetsch and Anne-Marie Flick. His signature
at the bottom appears to read as Franz Michael Vetsch.
Perhaps in later life, Michael adopted his father's name
- Francois - to differentiate from his half-brother Jean.
Any records recovered thus far from Michael's life in
Russia refer to him as Michael Fetsch, sometimes Vetsch.
Michael's first wife was Margueritha Sennhauser of Neeweiler,
Lauterbourg, Bas-Rhin. They married in Neeweiler on 19
Jan 1807. (See marriage
record.) Margueritha was born 23 Jan 1789, the daughter
of Georges Sennhauser and Catherine Elizabeth Kah. They
had one son, Francois-Antoine, born Oct 1807 in Neeweiler.
He must have died young because he does not appear in
any further records.
From archived records retrieved from Saratov, it appears
Michael Fetsch fathered fourteen children with four different
wives. Michael Fetsch was a carpenter by trade, and became
the first mayor of the new village of Selz, Odessa district.
He is listed in the 1852 Village Census for Selz, in Household
# 36, age 66 years old. Another Fetsch, Johannes, also
from Niederlauterbach made the 1808 trip to Selz, Odessa
district. Other Fetsch families from Neeweiler and Niederlauterbach
had established themselves in nearby Kleinliebental and
Josefstal as early as 1804. Further research may reveal
more "old-world" relationships among the Fetsches of "New
Russia".
See the Family
Tree of Jean-Michel Vetsch as prepared by Raymond
Schwengler of Strasbourg, France, whose research discovered
nineteen archived documents pertinent to my Vetsch family's
lives in Alsace.
CHILDREN OF MICHAEL FETSCH:
- Francois Anton, b. 24 Oct 1807
(mother Marguerite Sennhauser)
- Franz Joseph, Abt 1809
- Michael, Abt 1810/1811 (mother
Elizabeth Reinhardt)
- Franz Georg, Abt 1813
- Johannes, Abt 1815
- Franz, Abt 1822
- Karl, Abt 1825
- Mathias, Abt 1828
- Christina, b. 15 May 1830
- Marianna. b. 14 May 1832
- Margaretha, b. 05 Sep 1833
- Anton, b. 13 May 1837 (mother
Maria Eva Grimm??)
- Andreas, b. 18 Jun 1838
- Katharina, Abt 1849 (mother Margaretha?)
KARL
FETSCH. Karl Fetsch was born in Selz about 1825.
His parents were Michael Fetsch and Elizabeth Reinhardt
(born about 1794). At the age of 22, Karl married Agatha
Koehler in Selz. I have birth records for five children,
and know only that at least two survived to have children
of their own. A daughter, Fransizka married Casimir Riffel
of Mannheim. Casimir and Fransizka migrated to Culelia,
Rumania, and then to Canada with two sons (Peter, Anton)
and three daughters. They homesteaded in the Prelate -
Blumenfeld district of Saskatchewan.
CHILDREN OF KARL FETSCH:
- Fransizka, Abt. 1850
- Johann, b. 28 Sep 1854
- Elizabeth, b. 06 Nov 1855
- Michael, b. 05
May 1857 -- my great grandfather
- Peter, b. 27 Jul 1861
MICHAEL
FETSCH. My great grandfather Michael Fetsch or
Vetsch married Barbara Schwab in Mannheim on 04 Nov 1880.
They raised their family in Selz. Their yard is shown
on the 1944
Selz town map behind the mill on Mühl Gasse.
They had seven children. My Aunt Eugenia (Weiss) Stach
told me that she remembered the day her mother in Canada
learned of her father's death in Russia. She remembered
that her mother cried all day, and the year to be about
1935. On Barbara (Fetsch) Goldade's 1944 EWZ form, she
lists her siblings as "Adam - in America, Brigetta
- in America, and Michael - in the SS. There is no mention
of Philomena, Elizabeth or Appolonia. Ida Vetsch of Leverkusen,
Germany says her family has always spelled their surname
with a "V".
CHILDREN OF MICHAEL FETSCH:
- Philomena, Abt. 1881
- Adam, b. 15 Sep 1883
- Balthasar, b. 17 Mar 1885
- Brigetta, b.
10 Jan 1888 -- my grandmother
- Elizabeth, b. 21 Feb 1889
- Appolonia, b. 10 Dec 1891
- Barbara, b. 25 Dec 1895
- Michael, b. 27 Feb 1900

Barbara Vetsch, and
younger brother Michael on the day of his First Holy Communion,
about 1910 in Selz. Photo from my Aunt RoseMarie.

My grandmother, Brigetta
Weiss, taken about 1956 in Medicine Hat, AB. After Conrad
died in 1948, Grandmother lived in Fox Valley. She re-married
to Raphal Steinkey in 1953, but he died in 1954. Brigetta
moved to Medicine Hat about 1956, and lived there for
10 years.

The Adam Fetsch family
of Prelate, SK.
BRIGETTA
FETSCH. My grandmother was born in Selz, grew up
in Selz, and married my grandfather, Conrad Weiss, in
Selz on 10 Aug 1908. They had twelve children. three were
born in Russia, and the rest in Canada. Four died young;
two died as young adults. Conrad and Brigetta left Russia
in January of 1913, and traveled by train to Hamburg,
Germany. Grandfather was quarantined for a month with
an eye infection. There followed a twelve-day Atlantic
Crossing on the S.S. Belgic, and then more than a week
on the train, as they made their way from Portland, Maine
to Montreal and then via the CPR on to Maple Creek, SK.
A two-day trip by horse and wagon took them north to her
brother's place (Adam Fetsch) south of Prelate, SK, ariving
there about April 20, 1913. Grandmother had been travelling
for three months with two small girls, 3 1/2 years and
7 months.
CHILDREN OF BRIGETTA FETSCH:
- Emelia, b. abt. 1909
- Barbara, b. abt 1910. Died in
Selz.
- Agatha, b. 1912
- Joseph Weiss, b. 15 Sep 1914
- Frank Weiss, b. 28 Dec 1915
- Julia, b. 22 Nov 1917
- Remigius Weiss,
b. 05 Jan 1919 -- my father.
- Eugenia, b. 13 Oct 1920
- RoseMarie, b. 29 May 1922
- Nicholaus Weiss, b. 1924
- Dan Weiss, b. 25 Jul 1925
- Anne, b. 14 Feb 1927
See Michael
Fetsch Descendant Chart, 5 generations.
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