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Although my records go back to about 1600, I shall, for practical reasons, begin the Frisz History with Jean Frisse and his wife Anne Weisse. Jean was born December 29 1756 and Anne January 1, 1763. They were married on May 22, 1782 in St. Jacques Catholic Church at Seingbouse, Moselle, Lorraine, France. St. Jacques was built in the 1400's and is still in use today. They had fourteen children. Jacques, their first child, was born in 1784 and their fourteenth child, Barbe Frisse, was born November 12, 1811. All were born in Seingbouse. Three of their children died at birth or within the first year of life and four others never reached their teenage years. Their tenth child JOSEPH FRISSE married MARGUERITE LANG on May 15, 1821 in St. Jacques Catholic Church. They had seven sons and two daughters that were all baptized in St. Jacques Catholic Church. Their first child, Barbe, was born May 13, 1822 and their ninth and last child, Joseph, was born September 28, 1843. At the time the Frisz ancestors lived in the Seingbouse region of France (1655/1846), the language spoken was a German dialect called Platt. Today, very few people speak or understand the Platt dialect but efforts are underway in France to preserve the language.
On May 21, 1846, Joseph and his wife Marguerite with eight of their nine children boarded the sailboat the I.H. Cooper under Ship Master Joseph Varney at Le Havre, France and started a 62-day ocean voyage to New Orleans, Louisiana. They landed on July 20, 1846 and then boarded a riverboat and journeyed up the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, then up the Ohio River to Madison, Indiana. From there they went overland to St. Ann Village, Jennings County, Indiana where they joined friends from the old country. They settled on a piece of land that was part of The Kipper Farm, as it was known in 1846. The reason only eight of the nine children made the trip was that the oldest son Christophe Frisse was serving as a gunner in the French Navy. After his release from service in 1850, Christophe joined his family at St. Ann Village about March of 1851. His French passport was issued at Rouen, France January 22, 1851.
There were 220 passengers on the I.H. Cooper when it docked at New Orleans. Ten of them were the JOSEPH and MARGUERITE FRIES family. At this time the family had changed back to the German form of their name. FRIES was the way the name was spelled on the I.H. Cooper passenger list and is also the name that appears on all of the St. Anne Catholic Church records between the years 1846 to 1868. Among the passengers on the I.H. Cooper, was John Michel Brunet, age 28, who married Barbe Frisse in the St. Anne Catholic Church just 23 days after they arrived together in the United States.
In 1655 the family name was FRIES and about 1750 it was changed to FRISSE. The changing of the spelling from FRIES to FRISSE was a Gallicizing of the name from German to French. (GALLICIZING: To make or become French, as in form, character or custom). The German pronunciation of Fries and the French pronunciation of Frisse are the same. The names are pronounced Frease as in Grease. In 1868, the seven Frisz boys were using several different spellings of their name, but while attending their mother’s funeral, they decided to adopt a common spelling. The spelling “FRISZ” was voted on and was agreed to by all. At first everyone pronounced Frisz as Freeze. Today the name is pronounced FRISS except for the Vincennes, Indiana descendants of Christopher who still pronounce it FREEZE.
Joseph and Marguerite (Lang) Frisse are both buried side by side in St. Anne Catholic Cemetery, Jennings County, Indiana. He died in 1864 and she followed him in death four years later in 1868. His tombstone was inscribed with the name “FRISE” and hers “FRISZ”.
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