Religion  and  Politics

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, religion frequently determined the direction of the government, and certainly determined the direction of the lives of the people there.  Our Fritscher family was Catholic, and religion played a large part in their lives in the Old Country, and when they came to America they sought out a new area where they could be comfortable practicing their religion with other Catholics from Austria.  Some ancestors even helped build churches along the way.   Catholic church records are very thorough, and tracking families through their many religious records has provided excellent documentation. 

During my research I have found that an earlier Fritscher group of families who arrived in the United States in the 1860's and before, were usually Lutheran, and most often came from Germany.  Those families located first in New York; several located in Illinois, and many moved through the southern United States and can be found in Louisiana and Florida.  It does not appear that the early Lutheran line and the later Catholic line are related.  Both lines have spelled the name as Fritscher and Fritcher.  In early census records the place of birth for the Catholic line was identified as Austria. But as time went on, and political changes came about, the family often changed their response to 'Germany' as their place of birth on census records.

The menu at the left will provide records that I have uncovered in many of the locations where our Fritschers lived.  Records are also included for several allied lines as well.  I have contracted with an excellent professional researcher in the Czech Republic and so have received documentation on the early ancestors of our family in Kaltenlautsch, now Studena Loucka.  I am continuing to research and will add to these records as more become available.