My second great grandfather, George W. Fritz, lived a short life (just under 32 years). Initially, I could not find any information on him. Over time, the information piled up, as I found more about him from a variety of sources.
There are still blanks which may never be filled. The best way to recognize those blanks is to put together everything I know about him. This is my timeline for George Fritz.
Photo taken circa 1886.
Back when I was starting out, I found the wrong George W. Fritz and family, and added them to my tree. It wasn’t that I was missing sources—I had censuses of George before and after marrying Birdie, after all—but rather I was missing the right sources.
Where did I go wrong, and how could I have avoided this? I’d best start from the beginning.
My second great grandfather, George W. Fritz, was born in Iowa. After he died, he was buried in a cemetery in his hometown of Blakesburg. I don’t know whether he lived in Washington or Iowa when he died.
Other than George having married Birdie Fowler, and their having two kids while in Washington, I had no information on George’s life. They lived in Iowa in 1885 (1885 Iowa State Census), and their kids were born in Washington in 1892 (Hazel Fritz) and 1984 (Howard Fritz). George passed away in 1898, and Birdie was back in Iowa in 1900 (1900 US Federal Census).
As it turns out, while in Washington, George started a company selling sewing machines.