HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



145 



the United States, the country of my 

 birth, and remembering that by reason 

 of my age and infirmities during the re- 

 cent unnatural rebellion to destroy it, 

 I was unable to render service in the 

 field to put down and punish that great 

 crime, and being not unmindful that a 

 huge public burden of indebtedness has 

 been necessarily incurred in accomplish- 

 ing that object, I desire not only to 

 leave behind me when I am gone an 

 humble testimonial of the gratitude I 

 feel towards those whose virtues, val- 

 or and sacrifice and services preserved 

 what I regard as the best government 

 man was ever permitted to have, but 

 beyond that and in addition to paying 

 the ordinary taxes on my estate, 1 think 

 it my duty out of the means Providence 

 in His bounty has enabled me to ac- 

 quire, and the Laws of the Country 

 has aided me to preserve, to do some- 

 thing towards extinguishing the Nation- 

 al Debt; Therefore moved thereto by 

 the foregoing causes only, I hereby give 

 and bequeath unto the Secretary of thd; 

 Treasury of the United States of Ameri- 

 ca, in trust and to be applied only to- 

 wards cancelling the National Debt, the 

 sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars." 

 Dated at San Francisco, May i, 1867. 



2. John Fretz. born October 2, 1811, 

 in Warwick, died at White Sulphur 

 Springs, California, where he was op- 

 erating a gold quartz mill, June 26. 1863. 

 He had also been associated with his 

 brothers in enterprises at Panama. 

 Neither of the above were married. 



3. Philip Kratz Fretz, see forward. 



4. Elizabeth Fretz, born February 23, 

 1818, in Doylestown township, died 

 there February 9, 1897, married John 

 Farren, of Lancaster county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, January i, 1844. He was born 

 March i, 1809, and died in Doylestown 

 township December 16, 1878. He was a 

 contractor, and was associated with his 

 brother-in-law, Philip K. Fretz, in rail- 

 road building, etc. He and his family 

 were members of the Roman Catholic 

 church. l'h<Mi children were: Mary Jan- 

 netta and Frances Annetta, who died in 

 infancy; John Augustus, born April 21, 

 185s, died December 17, 1884, ' married 

 January 25, 1882, Alleta Bleiler; he left 

 no issue. Mary Cecilia Farren, born 

 February 21, 1858, died; married June 

 16, i88j, Samuel J. Penrose, and has left 

 children, Cyril F., Ralph and Norman. 



5. Christian Augustus Fretz, born 

 February 23, 1824, died December i, 

 1859. He was a provision merchant at 

 Panama for seven years prior to his 

 death. He was never married. 



6. Mary Catharine Fretz, born Janu- 

 ary 13. 1827, died March 4, 1842, unmar- 

 ried. 



Philip K. Fretz, third son of Chris- 

 tian and Mary (Stover) Fretz, was born 

 on the old homestead at Fretz valley, 

 now Doylestown township, September 

 10-3 



14, 1813, and died on board the steamship 

 "Henry Chauncey" off the coast of the 

 Carolinas, March 13, 1867, while on his 

 way to California. Mr. Fretz was one of 

 the prominent men of his community, not 

 in the sense of seeking or holding public 

 office, but in the doing day by day, as 

 occasion offered, those things that tend 

 to uplift humanity and stimulate in oth- 

 ers that love of country and home which 

 is the sheet-anchor of American liberties 

 and citizenship. He inherited from his 

 forefathers a stern sense of duty, a lov- 

 ing and jovial disposition, and an un- 

 swerving directness in following the 

 course which his conscience dictated as 

 right and proper. One who knew him 

 well has said of him, "To write of him 

 as he was known is to write of the day 

 by day life of the earnest loving Chris- 

 tian who had at heart first, his town- 

 ship, then his county, next his state and 

 finally the best country that God Al- 

 mighty ever made." At the time of the 

 civil war he was one of the foremost in 

 calling meetings to raise funds to clear 

 his district and neighbors of the drafts 

 and, when the money could not be raised 

 in time, advanced it himself and went 

 to Philadelphia and cleared his district 

 of the draft. He was president of the 

 Democratic club of Pennsylvania before 

 and during the civil war. About 1850 

 the cholera, which was prevalent in 

 many parts of the country, broke out 

 with great virulence at the almshouse, 

 and many of the inmates died of the 

 dread disease, several in a single day, 

 and it was impossible to obtain assist- 

 ance to bury the dead or care for the 

 living; the steward was dying of the dis- 

 ease, and his son was already dead and 

 unburied, when Mr. Fretz, after remov- 

 ing his wife and family to her father's, 

 residence at Erwinna, with Davis E. 

 Brower, went to the almshouse and 

 worked till the scourge was abated. Be- 

 ing unable to find an undertaker who- 

 would bury the steward's young son, he 

 secured a hearse and buried the lad him- 

 self. 



Mr. Fretz succeeded his father as pro- 

 prietor of the Fretz Valley Inn, which 

 he conducted until January 9, 1846, the 

 first anniversary of the birth of his 

 daughter, Mary Catharine, when he cut 

 down the sign pole and closed the inn as 

 a public house. He was extensively en- 

 gaged in contract work in connection 

 with his brother-in-law, John Farren, 

 and was one of the contractors to build 

 the horse-shoe curve of the Pennsylvan- 

 ia railroad over the Allegheny moun- 

 tains. He was buried in the Atlantic 

 ocean. His wife, Anna Stover, whom 

 he married February 18, 1841, was born 

 in Tinicum township, at Point Pleasant, 

 where her father. Henry S. Stover, was 

 an extensive miller, September 11, 1812. 

 She was a fitting helpmate for an earn- 

 est loving husband. Their children 



