German Roots: Frederick, Maryland

The Puritan migration to New England was marked in its effects in the two decades from 1620 to 1640, after which it declined sharply for a time. The term Great Migration usually refers to the migration in this period. They came in family groups rather than as isolated individuals and were motivated chiefly by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion. 

Read more: Wikipedia

Harriett 'Amanda' Fry

Our second great grandfather* (see relationship notes below), Price London Fuller (1848-1924), was a sixth-generation Mayflower descendant of Edward Fuller. (blog post here). He married Harriett (known as) 'Amanda' Fry (1854-1939) on January 7, 1876, in Indiana. She was the fourth generation of German immigrants with the Evangelical Reformed Church. They thought the Puritans were still too 'Church of Englandish.'  This post is about her ancestors.

Henrietta (Nunz) Fry

Great-grandma Harriett 'Amanda' (Fry) Fuller's mother was Henrietta (Nunz) Fry. Her grandparents, on both sides, were German immigrants with the Evangelical Reformed Church. They lived and worked there for several generations before relocating to Ohio.

Dutch & German 
click to enlarge

John Thomas Schley

John Thomas Schley (1712- 1789) was the great grandfather of Henrietta Nunz (see image above).

John 'Thomas' Schley, the founder of the family in Maryland, was born 21st August 1712, at Mertzheim, Germany, according to an entry in the reformed church of Maryland and died after one day's illness, 24th November 1789. He was the son of Nicolas and Eva (Brigetta) Schley (of) Bavaria.

He emigrated 1737 from Phalsburg, in the Palatinate of the Rhine, to Philadelphia, Pa., and in 1745 removed to Frederick Co., Md., at the head of a colony of about one hundred families of Calvinists and Huguenots - natives of France, Switzerland, and Germany - and with them settled the beautiful Catoctin Valley, and founded what is now Frederick City, Maryland.  

Read more: Colonial Families of the United States page 637.

Fredericks, Maryland

The current town's first house was built by a young German Reformed schoolmaster from the Rhineland Palatinate named Johann Thomas Schley (died 1790), who led a party of immigrants (including his wife, Maria Von Winz) to the Maryland colony. 

Artist's depiction of
Schley's first house

The Palatinate settlers bought land from Dulany on the banks of Carroll Creek, and Schley's house stood at the northwest corner of Middle Alley and East Patrick Street into the 20th century. Schley's settlers also founded a German Reformed Church (today is known as Evangelical Reformed Church, and part of the UCC). 

Read more: Wikipedia

Reformed Church
Fredericks, Md. (1752)

Native Americans

'John Thomas Schley who erected the first house in Frederick in 1746, at the corner of Patrick Street and Klinchart's alley, in this house the first white child, Eva Catherine Schley, was born in 1747 and was nursed by an Indian squaw, showing the Indians could be trusted even to care for a little baby. This white baby was often rocked to sleep on the bosom of this Indian maiden.'  

History of Carrollton Manor, Frederick County, Maryland page 146

American Revolution

Boston Tea Party December 1773

The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party.  The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. 

Read more: Wikipedia

Frederick Maryland's Response

Great-grandpa Schley was a member of the Committee of Observation and the Committee of Correspondence. 

Response to Baltimore's
Committee of Communications

He signed the letter above, acknowledging Patriot plans to resist these punitive laws. Whatever action they took, it didn't stop the war.

Margaret (Schley) Dofler

Grandpa Schley's daughter, Maria Margaretha 'Margaret' (1743-1821), married Peter Dofler (1731-1803) on December 21, 1766, in Frederick, Maryland. (Maryland, Compiled Marriage Index, 1634-1777 pg 52).

The Evangelical Reformed Church and Cemetery were (abandoned) in 1924. ...A bronze plaque was erected to establish the burials of the earliest settlers in Frederick. 

Memorial Grounds Park

No stones exist today, and many of these interments were originally at the Trinity Chapel (abandoned). The plaque in Memorial Grounds Park has been able to add 366 inscriptions from the two cemeteries - (Find-a-Grave here).

Our grandparents Peter and Margaret (Schley), Dofler's names, are on that plaque.

Frederick and Catherine (Dofler) Nusz

The grand-daughter of grandpa Schley, Catherine Dofler (1774-1832),  married Frederick Nusz (1774-1842).  Grandpa Frederick went into business in 1918. He was licensed as a 'silver, watch and clockmaker' but worked in the trade only for one year. His work is rare and treasured.

Fredrick Nusz TM

He is listed in the index cards of The Baltimore Museum of Art (link here). He's also listed, with an image of his trademark, in American silversmiths and their marks, III on page 177.

And a limited time offer:

"For sale is an extremely rare piece of southern coin silver. This was made by Frederick Nusz of Frederick, M. D. who was only in business in the year of 1818-1819 so there are limited amounts of his spoons still in existence which probably are not in as good of condition as this one. 

There is only one tiny ding to the edge of the bowl, which can be seen in the photo. There is also a CH monogram. This measures 5 11/16" long. This spoon is the perfect piece to add too any serious collection and would make any silver collector's year to own this rare piece of history." - WorthPoint

 

(Disclaimer: We pulled this from a Google search. We don't endorse anything. We merely present.)

History of Frederick County, MD

*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Leon Arthur and Anna Grace (Fuller) Merrick.

Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.