Genealogical Research

We also have information available on Kreuzwertheim, and sources upon request.

In the spring of 1752, Michael Lutz of Kreuzwertheim Germany, born there on the 7th of April 1723, applied for permission to immigrate to the new world. He was 29 years of age. He had been married in 1747 to Anna Walburgis Weissler and had two children: Anna Catharina, born 11 January 1749, and Peter, born 12 March 1751.

In the fall of 1752, with his wife and two small children under four years of age, he set out for the new world, sailing down the river Main and making the difficult journey down the Rhine to Rotterdam. There they took the boat Phoenix, and on November 22nd 1752 they landed in Philadelphia.

They say people left the old country because of religious persecution or because of compulsory military service; no doubt there were many reasons. I believe Michael came to the new world seeking land, but Philadelphia was the great port of entry of that period and free land in and around Philadelphia was gone. There were already many listed as husbandmen and vinedressers, weavers, carpenters, wheelwrights, coopers, brewers, etc. We assume that Michael was a husbandman, that is, a man of the land.

One John Bernard Lutz, a bank president in Pittsburgh, was born in Germany, his father was an architect. John Bernard was educated as a civil engineer, so we see engineering as being a profession of long standing in the Lutz family.

Through the centuries, the Lutz family has spread all over Europe and beyond. When buying at the Frankfurt Trade Fair, I met and dealt with Lutz participants on several occasions. I remember once going by taxi down a street in Wiesbaden in West Germany and seeing Lutz Jewellery (in German of course) on a store window. I made it my business to get back there. It was a beautiful store, very expensive; and like so many people in Europe, the clerk spoke English. She told me "yes, four hundred years ago a Lutz came from Mainz and established this firm, but there are no longer any Lutz in the firm".

In medieval days, when reading and writing was not a common art, they had signs to distinguish families. If you search, you will find ten for the Lutz families in various places in Europe and fourteen more that have "Lutz" as part of the name. When I first saw the Lutz coat of arms for Bavaria, which is the area that Michael came from, it had a sword and a plowshare in it. I said, "that is ours", for the Lutes have always been fighters and farmers. They can be found in practically every other known occupation and profession as well. There is a famous clinic in Washington run by a Dr. Howard Lutes.

They have fought in all the wars, one of George Washington's army officers in the American Revolution was Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Lutz, born in Germany in 1740. He later became a member of the general assembly. But most of all they fought for a better life for their families wherever they settled.

In the last census of the United States, there were nearly 35,000 of the name Lutes, so you can often read of Lutz activity in the current press. For instance, quoted from the 'New England Pattern', The Lutz public school system does a great deal of work with travelling exhibitions. This institution came into existence as a result of the efforts of Miss Hazel Lutes, art supervisor.

There is a Lutes room in the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. In January of 1766, Michael signed an agreement with the Benjamin Franklin and Hughes Associates to go to Nova Scotia to settle on their properties. In the spring of 1766, Michael, his wife and four children, Anna Catharina, Peter, Margaret, and John -the last two born in Philadelphia- sailed north with a Captain Hall and landed where Moncton now stands. They named the creek where they first stepped foot on land, after the Captain, so we now have Hall's Creek. This was part of Nova Scotia, how it became New Brunswick is another story.

I have a copy of the letter written by Captain Hall on June 13th, 1766, saying he had landed the settlers on June 3rd, and that they now had their potatoes planted.

I remember in Germany seeing people eat huge servings of potatoes, I know how well we like potatoes in our family. I can well believe those German settlers were in a hurry to get a crop of potatoes in the ground.

These settlers were promised that the boat would return before winter with supplies and equipment. It never came.

The ill-equipped Lutz's and other families had to struggle for survival. In our anecdotal history, we have heard that a Frenchman named Belliveau helped them. He taught them how to snare rabbits and other things important for their survival. In 1765, the Belliveaus had returned to what is now Dieppe, which wasn't far from where the little band of German settlers were struggling to survive on the west side of Hall's Creek.

Survive they did... That's us!

This is how I found the information about the Michael Lutz Family:

Starting with Dr Esther Clark Wright's "Samphire Greens" and "The Petitcodiac" giving the date of their arrival in 1766 coming from Philadelphia.

I made several trips to Pennsylvania finding there the name of the ship Michael came on and the date he arrived in Philadelphia. Also found there the letter written by Captain Hall, June 13th 1766, and the place where Michael came from Germany.

So, I went to Germany finding much more about Michael, the dates when he and his family were born and where, the dates he was married, the names of his father and grandfather, etc.

John Lutes visited Kreuzwertheim Germany in 1984 and took a picture of the church where Michael was married in 1747.

Muriel Sikorski
-October 1984