Piecing together one’s family history is like piecing together a puzzle depicting a landscape. As you fit pieces of blue sky together, you sometimes find you have pieced together a portion of sky from another puzzle, and you have to toss it out. Other times, you’re left uncertain whether the pieces you’ve fit together are part of your puzzle or not.
I’ve encountered a few pieces that may or may not fit my Fritz family history puzzle.
Photo taken circa 1886.
My fourth great grandparents on the Fritz branch were born, lived, and died in Austria. Their son, Benedict, is my third great grandfather, and was one of three in his family (as far as I know) that immigrated to the United States.
I’m certain many genealogists have encountered it. The sought for record remains elusive. No matches turn up. Finally you decide to check some of the matches you know are wrong, and there it is: the record you were searching for was right in front of you the whole entire time.
This is what happened with me and my third great grandpa, Benedict Fritz. Or should I say…Frederick?