My Loretz Ancestors

(from Switzerland to PA to Lincoln County, North Carolina)

This begins the ancestry of my great-g-g-grandmother Nancy N. (Nannie) Loretz, born 1836 in N.C., who married John Norris Warlick...

Nancy N. Loretz was the daughter of Daniel Loretz.
Daniel Loretz was born May 27, 1802 in Lincoln Co. N.C.; He died April 21, 1851, in Lincoln Co., N.C. - and is buried in Salem Lutheran and Reformed Church Cemetery. He was a Farmer and by 1850 owned 5,482 acres of land. Daniel Loretz married in October 1828 to Elizabeth (Eliza) Reinhardt, born November 19, 1800; she died in 1864 in Lincoln Co., N.C (in a section of the county that later became Catawba County, N.C.), and is buried in Salem Lutheran and Reformed Church Cemetery. Daniel’s wife Elizabeth (Eliza) Reinhardt was the daughter of John Reinhardt (born 1773; died 1845) and Annie Moore.

Daniel Loretz (1802-1851) was the son of Andrew Loretz, Jr.
Andrew Loretz, Jr. was born in 1761 in Chur, Tschristschen, the Canton of Grisons, (Graubuendon) Switzerland. He was educated at Kaubeuren, Bavaria, and was a professor in the college there. His passport, is dated from Chur, Switzerland, August 7, 1784, and is signed by the Major (Der Burgermeister). He landed in Baltimore on the ship ‘Paragon’ after a voyage of three months on November 17, 1784, and from there went to Meyerstown, Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, in 1786 he married to a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Schaffer, who was formerly Miss Lehman of Hagerstown, Maryland. The latter part of that year he moved to Lincoln County, N.C.
Andrew Loretz, Jr. and his wife bought several tracts of land from 1788 equalling nearly 2,000 acres, and located their home four miles northwest of Lincolnton, North Carolina. According to Jim Dugan, He built a two-story home with solid brick walls (18 inches thick). On the eastern gable, near the top, are the initials and figures A.L. 1793. (The house is the oldest brick home in Lincoln County and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places). It remained in the Loretz family until acquired in 1857 by A.D. Fox, whose family held the property until 1914. It was purchased in 1926 by David Logan and is owned now by his daughter, Sophia.)

Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. was the first preacher of the German Reformed Church and according to Judge David Schenck in the ‘Lincoln Progress, Friday, September 06, 1996’, dated July 12, 1873, was a man of remarkable energy and great endurance, and zealous in the performance of duty. He was also a man of extraordinary talent and was well educated. His services were always conducted in German, this being the only language then in use among the Dutch people, and in which their records were kept until 1822.
Andrew Loretz, Jr. died at his home in Lincoln Co., North Carolina on March 31, 1812, aged 51 years, and is buried at Daniel’s Church Cemetery in Lincoln County, North Carolina.

Andrew Loretz, Jr. was the son of Andrew Loretz, Sr., who was born in Chur, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland, on August 29, 1731. He married Ursula Paravicini. At this time I only have information on Andrew Loretz, Sr. and wife Ursula's son (Andrew Loretz, Jr.).

Their son, Rev. Andrew H. Loretz, Jr. (born abt. 1761) was baptized April 14, 1762. In 1786, Andrew Loretz Jr. married a widow, Elizabeth (Lehman) Schaeffer (born 1760) in Maryland. Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. was a German Reformed minister, born Tschritschen, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. He came to America in 1784 with his father, also Rev. Andrew Loretz (Sr.). In 1792 he bought about 2,000 acres of land for fourteen pounds, North Carolina currency, and built a large brick home near the church, and he died there in 1812. It is said that Rev. Andrew Loretz filled a high niche in the church history of Lincoln Co., N.C. and left a posterity which honored the name.

Andrew H. Loretz, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth (Lehman) Schaeffer had these “known” eight children:

1. Anna "Catherine" Loretz, the first and eldest child of Andrew (Jr.) and Elizabeth Loretz, was born Sept. 1, 1788 in Lincoln Co. N.C. ; She married John Michael Motz on Nov. 16, 1809 in Lincoln Co., N.C.; she died Dec. 8, 1851, and is buried in Daniel’s Church Cemetery in Lincoln Co., N.C. They had five children: Caroline R. Motz; Caleb Motz (born abt. 1825); Wade Hampton Motz (born abt. 1827); Andrew Motz; and George W. Motz. It is said that they were all well-known and highly respected in their day.

2. Jacob Loretz, was the second child of Andrew (Jr.) and Elizabeth Loretz. He was born Sept. 29, 1790 in Lincoln Co., N.C. He died at the age of five on October 8, 1795, and is buried in Daniel’s Church Cemetery in Lincoln Co., N.C.

3. Elizabeth (Betsy) Loretz, was the third child of Andrew (Jr.) and Elizabeth Loretz. She was born about 1792 in Lincoln Co., N.C. She married Charles Reinhardt in Lincoln Co. N.C. on October 6, 1812.

4. Anna "Mary" Loretz, was the fourth child of Rev. Andrew (Jr.) and Elizabeth Loretz. She was born November 30, 1794 in Lincoln Co. N.C. She married David J. Ramsour on September 15, 1814 in Lincoln Co. N.C. Anna Mary Loretz-Ramsour died May 9, 1861. She is buried in Daniel’s Church Cemetery in Lincoln Co. N.C. Anna and David Ramsour had eight children.

5. Sarah (Salome or Saloma?) Loretz, the fifth child of Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. and Elizabeth, was born about 1796 in Lincoln Co., N.C. She married Henry Roseman on March 12, 1816. Sarah and Henry Roseman had at least one child, named Andrew Roseman.

6. Andrew H. Loretz, was the sixth child of Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. and Elizabeth. He was born June 3, 1799 in Lincoln Co., N.C. He married Elizabeth Ramsour on May 1, 1822. He died Dec. 30, 1864 in Lincoln Co., N.C. and is buried in Salem Lutheran and Reformed Church Cemetery in Lincoln Co., N.C. Andrew H. Loretz and his wife Elizabeth had seven children all born in Lincoln Co., N.C.: (1) Henry F. Loretz (born April 16, 1824; died Nov. 7, 1834); (2)Mary Loretz (born abt. 1823); (3)Barbara Loretz (born abt. 1825); (4)Elizabeth C. Loretz (born April 4, 1827; died June 5, 1829); (5) Ann "Elizabeth" Loretz (born December 4, 1829); (6)Sarah Loretz; and (7)George L. Loretz (born Jan. 11, 1833).

Andrew H. Loretz served in the State Legislature for three terms, 1828, 1829 and 1830. In 1837 Andrew H. Loretz divorced Elizabeth Ramsour.

7. John Frederick Loretz, was the seventh child of Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. and Elizabeth. He was born in 1801 in Lincoln Co. N.C. He married Polley Ramsour on August 21, 1827 in Lincoln Co., N.C. He died May 11, 1831, and is buried in Daniel’s Church Cemetery in Lincoln Co., N.C.

8. Daniel Loretz, was the eighth and youngest child of Rev. Andrew Loretz, Jr. and Elizabeth. He was born May 27, 1802 in Lincoln Co., N.C. On October 23, 1828 in Lincoln Co., N.C. Daniel married Elizabeth “Eliza” Reinhardt, daughter of John and Annie Moore-Reinhardt. (Elizabeth “Eliza” Reinhardt was born Nov. 19, 1800; she died Dec. 1, 1864, at the age of 64 years, 12 days, and is buried next to her husband at Salem Lutheran and Reformed Church Cemetery.) Daniel Loretz died on April 21, 1851, aged 48 years, 10 months, 25 days; He is buried in the Salem Lutheran and Reformed Church Cemetery in Lincoln County, N.C.
Daniel and Eliza Loretz were my great-g-g-g-grandparents...

Daniel Loretz and his wife Elizabeth “Eliza” Reinhardt had at least five children:
1. Sarah Loretz (born abt. 1829).
2. Daniel Pinckney Loretz (b. 1841; d. 1893).
3. Caroline Loretz.
4. Nancy N. Loretz (born 1836, Lincoln Co. N.C.) married John Norris Warlick, son of Philip and Nancy Norris Warlick of Jackson, (Madison County) Tennessee.
John N. and Nancy (Loretz) Warlick were my great-g-g grandparents...
5. Mattie Loretz (born 1838, Lincoln Co. N.C.) lived with her sister Nancy Loretz Warlick and her family until her death in 1900. She never married.

According to Jim Dugan’s “Summerrow/Loretz” Family History, The Loretz surname comes from the Latin “Laurens”, meaning “Laurel crowned one”, a man crowned by the emblem that personified vicoty and distinction. The spelling “Loretz” is the only one that family members have used although others have frequently used different spelling such as Loritz, Lentz, Lorits in references and records.

Sources:
"The Annals of Lincoln Co.". by Wm. L. Sherrill.

"Summerrow/Loretz Family History" by Jim Dugan.

Papers and Manuscripts from Lincoln Co., N.C. and Catawba Co., N.C. Libraries.

You might want to visit this Loritz page.

Please let me know if you have any additions or corrections to this info.

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This page was last updated on 31 December 2005