Prince/Printz Family History

The most typical question I get sent to me from people who find that website is "is INSERT NAME related to this family line?" I don't get to these inquiries as fast as I or you would like, so a much better way for you to start to find an answer to that is to search the Geni.com website. That is kind of like the Wikipedia of genealogy sites with family trees. It is not always 100% correct sinc...

The day I first saw the Printz family gravesite in Page County, Virginia was one of the most special days of my life. Seeing where my Prince family ancestors who came from Germany to America, were buried was a big part of it. Another unforgettable part was being tour-guided there with Charles Printz Sr., who wrote the authoritative book on our family line, Into the Valley: A History of ...

I just heard the news earlier this month that the patriarch of our remaining German cousins in Duhren, Germany passed away. I had the absolute pleasure to meet Hermann Wolfhard both times during my visits to the Prince/Printz/Brentz home village in Duhren, Germany. He lived quite a full life and will be missed. His family still lives in the area and we have built a cross-Atlantic relationship...

Manfred Wolfhard is publishing a book about the Wolfhard Family history and having an event on July 22, 2018 in Duhren Germany. I am going, as well as others from my family. If you are a descendent of of Johann Philip Brentz, then you are connected to this Wolfhard family in Germany, which goes back to the 1300s. Contact me if you are interested in joining us in Duhren for the event.

I have to report heartbreaking news I recently received from one our our distant Prince/Printz family who still lives in Virginia. The house in Stony Man, Page County, Virginia that Captain George Printz (1742-1834) lived in was recently destroyed by a fire. That house had been in the Printz/Prince family at least into the 1950s or so, I think, based on my memories from my conversations with the late Charles Printz, Sr..

In 2012, I made my first visit to the Brentz/Printz/Prince family ancestral hometown in Duehren, Germany. While at the Sunday service at the village’s only church, the pastor made me stand as he announced my visit as a Brentz descendent to the rest of the audience. I was a bit embarrassed, but was glad he did when a woman came up to me after the service to say we wer...

One of our distant cousins from Germany is biking across the USA this summer. Yannick Wolfhard is from the Wolfhards who are in Germany. We are related to via a marriage between Hans Melchior Brentz and Anna Dorothea Wolfhard in the 1600s in Germany. Hans Melchior Brentz was one of the earliest documented ancestors in the Brentz line that became Printz and Prince after emigrating from Germany to Am...

I just entered this family tree line into the genealogy website, Geni.com. I found that site to be quite useful even without paying a subscription fee. Like any website that has user-generated content (e.g., Wikipedia), be wary and question the validity of information you find on there before you take it as fact. 

Best of luck with your research.

Victor

Manfred Wolfhard is the historian of the Wolfhard family, the German family line that married with our Brentz family line in the 1600s before our ancestors came over to America. (See earlier blog posts to see the link.) I have been in contact with Manfred since we met each other in November 2014 in Duhren. He has built a wonderful website on the Wolfhard family, complete with many illustrations and photos. His website is in German and is at www.wolfhard.info. If you want to see the website tr...

The Geni.com website has a family tree that shows where the Brentz family and the Wolfhard family got connected by marriage. It is available here. Clicking around on the names of our ancestors can provide some interesting information. For example, here is information on Georg Johann Wolfhard, one of our direct ancestors.

"About Georg Johann Wolfhardt - Pastor in Euchtersheim in 1626 in Neydenstein in...

I just visited Duhren, Germany for the second time in two years. Duhren is the small village near Heidelberg that the Brentz family emigrated from in 1751 to start the Printz/Prince family in America. In my first visit, I went to a Sunday service in the church in Duhren and met up with members of the Wolfhard family, who are direct ancestors of the Brentz's. We met up with them again this year and had a wonderful visit with them, including visits to their homes and a very nice luncheon. A hig...

I just came across a new resource that gives interesting information about emigrants from the German state (Baden Wurtenberg) where our ancestors came from. It is in the Stuttgart Archive library at this link - http://www.auswanderer-bw.de/auswanderer/index.php?sprache=en&suche=1

In the next few months, I will be going on my second trip to the village in Germany where the Brentz/Printz/Prince family lived before coming to American in the 1700s. I am planning on going to a couple of the other villages nearby where our Wolfhard ancestors were mayors, religious leaders, etc.. Stay tuned for more pictures.

-- Victor

The following is from an application to the US Department of the Interior to designate Mount Calvary Church in Stony Man, Virginia to be on the National Register of Historic Places.  This is the Historical Background section of that application and has an interesting description of how the Page County area was very German in its early settlement.

Thanks to Gary Summers for sending in this copy of the land grant George Printz received in 1812 for his service in the Revolutionary War.  The land grant was for land near Steubenville, Ohio.  It is signed by President James Madison and Commissioner of the General Land Office Edward Tiffin.  The Madison signature looks more like initials than a signature, but the M is Madison has the same distincitve slant that can be seen in other Madison signatures.

QUESTION - This is all very interesting. I feel like I am related some way. My 3 great grandmother was Elizabeth Evaline Prince. Born 1820 died about 1897 in Indiana. Her father was Jacob Prince and his father was Gottfried Printz that served in the Revolutionary War. I would love to hear from someone who has these same ancestors in their tree.

ANSWER - Here is what might be your line if Elizabeth was Eliza, she was born a few years after 1820, and she died in VA not IN. That's a lot o...

Question  - "My Great Grandfather was John Rockefeller Printz, and I think he was from Liberal, Kansas. At least I know he was there when my Father and Grandfather built houses in Liberal after WWII. John was old at that time. Do you know if our family is part of your clan?

Answer - Bad news, good news.  Bad news - The book does not have any mention of the name "Rockefeller."  That could have been nice on so many levels.  Good news - the book does mention a "John Roc...

Question -

"I am doing research to join the the Sons of The American Revolution. My line goes from George Printz to daughter Anna Maria Shaffer to Phillip Miller who was my 2nd Great Grand Father. I have no documentation on these people such as birth or death records. If anyone could help secure this information I would be thankful."

Answer - Here is what the book has on that line:

1B3D5E. Anna Maria Shaffer, born c!805; died c!899. She married on Sept. 8, 1821 to Philip Mi...

We often get questions about whether a particular person with the last name Prince is part of this particular Brentz/Printz/Prince ancestry line. So unless you already have a link to the Printz family of Virginia or to the Brentz family of Duehren, Germany, the general answer is "it depends, but probably unlikely".  Here is why...

First, as an example, when I search my own "firstname lastname" on whitepages...

During our trip to Duehren in 2012, we met some members of the Wolfhardt family who are our distant relatives.  They shared a bunch of documents with me on the family tree and history.  Here is the family tree that documents ancestors all the way back to 1375. To put the year 1375 in perspective - this was the last part of Middle Ages and the eve of the Renaissance. Black Death just wiped out 1/3 of Europe’s population 25 years earlier. Edward III is King of England in 1...