The Creutz/Crites Family - Generation 1
Phillip Creutz (1710 Germany - 7 Dec 1796 Hardy County, West Virginia)
Phillip Creutz married Isabelah Sivelo ? ( Germany - 14 Jan 1779)
5 Children
1 - Jacob I (1755/1760 Germany - 25 Aug 1837 Hardy County, West Virginia) this is the line I follow
2 - Philip Jr
3 - Barbara
4 - Abram
5 - Michael
Notes on Phillip
The Creutz families originated in Nassau Germany which was in the Palatine Valley. However, some of the Creutz's may have had Swiss wives. Because of religious persecutions and endless wars with France, the families decided, sometime between 1680 - 1700, to pack up and move to Switzerland. So indirectly, some of them at sometime came from Switzerland, though they were of German parentage.
Traveling in those times was very difficult, whether by land or by sea. The immigrants embarked for a long and dangerous voyage to the New World.
Phillip arrived in America on the ship "Europa" which sailed from Rotterdam, Holland. He landed 20 Nov 1741 at the age of 26 years. He is listed among Rupp's 30,000 immigrants.
Pennsylvania began to register ship arrivals and passengers about 1727. The situation of those early Germans to Pennsylvania did not lend itself to careful record-keeping. They arrived in such swarms that they scared the sits out of the Scotch-Irish who were the original Pennsylvania settlers. Most of them were poor, although the Creutz family seemed to have paid for their passage and to have bought land soon after.
In most cases they seemed to have "swarmed" out of Pennsylvania into the "wild lands" beyond: and some were massacred by the Indians. Some did not consider themselves important enough to leave behind any records at all.
Early records found in the 1700's spell the name Creutz - - in Holland it had been DeCreete, DeCreite, CeCritz - - In 1842 the spelling was changed to Crites. An original spelling was Kroitz - meaning "Cross". It was pronounced as Kroitz, which gave rise to the many spellings, Krites, Kritz, Kreutz, Dritz, Creits and Crites. Since they came from Holland (the ships did) they referred to themselves as "Deutech", and so came the term "Pennsylvania Dutch", though many of them were of German origin.
Even England encouraged German immigrants to settle the American Colonies. The German population in the Colonies grew to such extent that it was possible to speak of a German Belt extending from Southern New England to Southeast of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This sturdy race had been able to obtain the very best land available for agriculture.
England's oppression of the Colonists caused the settlers to prepare for armed resistance in Pennsylvania as early as 1774. These German and Swiss settlers, although naturally conservative, entered into the Revolution with the same fervor with which they had resisted the oppression in their European homeland.
Phillip and his family were members of the North Mill Creek Lutheran Church, whose records are now in the vault of St. Matthews Church, Petersburg, West Virginia. A partial transcript is also in the DAR Library in Washington, DC under "Grant County West Virginia Records". These records are in the original German Script.
Eight companies of riflemen were organized among the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers before a single armed man was sent into the Revolutionary Was. They became known as "Morgan's Virginia Riflemen" (even tho' most of them were from Pennsylvania). A famous reply to the question, "Who are the best soldiers in the Army"? was "I like best my Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers, they serve so d--d well. They can march too, as well as starve".
The tax list of 1782 for the Hardy County area information was found:
Philip Crites, Sr 1782 - 4 white souls - - no blacks - - 1 dwelling
1784 - 2 white souls - no blacks - - 1 dwelling and 1 other bldg.
Phillip Crites, Jr 1782 - 3 white souls - - no blacks
1784 - 4 white souls - no blacks - 1 other bldg.
Jacob Crites 1782 0 6 white souls - - no blacks
1784 - 7 white souls - no blacks - 1 dwelling
Generation 2 - Jacob II & Elizabeth (Hinkle) Crites
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