Frederick Freytag

Frederick, the founder of the family, was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, January 4, 1804. He and his wife, Sophia Arps Freytag, lived with their seven children: George, William, Frederick, Mary, Henry, Minnie and Herman in the village of Stellichte. In 1851 he emigrated to America where he settled his family on eighty acres of virgin land near Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio. This land had been sold to him by the government for a dollar and a half an acre in accordance with the Homestead Act. This farm is still in the family, now in possession of Kenneth Freytag, great-grandson of Frederick. Two of Kenneth's prized possessions are the original deed signed by President Millard Fillmore and a Centennial plaque certifying that the property had been in the family for at least one hundred years.

There is a picture of the old log house and barn which Frederick built from the trees which grew on the place. This picture was shown for the first time at the Freytag reunion of 1977. 1 remember the occasion when my brother, Henry, the oldest son of George H. Freytag, sketched that scene. His father and others who had actually lived on the place told him how it looked, and then, when it was down on paper, pointed out details in construction which needed changing to make it look as they remembered it. There is no doubt that it is a good likeness. Henry later gave it to his brother, Alfred, who is a commercial artist.

Alfred kept it in his files until 1977 when he re-drew and enlarged it. It is not only a work of art, but, because of the details, it clearly shows the way those old buildings were put together. We treasure this picture because it shows the place where the Freytag family first put down roots in their newly adopted land of America.

Frederick and his family had hardly settled when, two weeks after their arrival, the mother, Sophia Arps Freytag, died. It left Frederick with seven motherless children ranging in age from one to fourteen. Frederick must have been a good father, for all the children survived the hazards of childhood and grew to maturity.

As the children grew older, they left home to establish themselves elsewhere. George, the oldest, settled on a farm just one mile east at the intersection of Bales Road and Langenhop Road. Frederick, who also farmed, later moved his family to Nebraska. The two girls became housewives. Mary married Henry Teitje, and Minnie married Henry Drewes. Henry, Frederick's son, was seventeen when the Civil War started. When he came of age, he enlisted at Napoleon and served in Co. B, 100th O.V.I. (Ohio Volunteer Infantry). He was captured and died in prison camp at Belle Isle, Virginia, January, 1864. Herman went to school and became a pastor in the Lutheran Church. He served parishes in Iowa. Later, when he retired, he moved to California where his daughters lived. William remained on the home farm for the rest of his life. His father, Frederick, died June 7, 1886.

Submitted by: William H. Freytag