John Calvin Fretz and Ettie Philips

---

---

Husband John Calvin Fretz ¹

---

           Born: 10 Jul 1856 - DeKalb Co, IN 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

         Father: Christian Fretz (1824-1862) 2
         Mother: Esther Showalter (      -      ) 2

---

       Marriage: 29 Oct 1876 1

---

---

Wife Ettie Philips ¹

---

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

         Father: C. M. Philips (      -      ) 1
         Mother: 

---

---

Children

---

1 F Maggie Fretz ³

---

           Born: 25 Feb 1879 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

2 M Granville P. Fretz ³

---

           Born: 12 Jul 1887 3
     Christened: 
           Died: in infancy
         Buried: 

---

3 M Victor C. Fretz ³

---

           Born: 14 Jun 1888 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

---

General Notes: Husband - John Calvin Fretz

---

He was named John Calvin because he chanced to be born on the same day of the year as the great theologian of that name. His early life was that of an ordinary farmer boy. At about the usual age he began attending school. He was compelled to leave the summer school at the age of twelve. However he attended the district school for about three months each winter until he was sixteen years old. He then took a short normal course, and was licensed to teach the common branches. At seventeen he began teaching, and for six consecutive winters followed that profession. In 1878 he finally decided the great question, "What shall be my life work?" which had agitated his mind for years, by determining on the science of Medicine as a permanent profession. He at once began, and for a year studied medicine in connection with farm and school work. In the spring of 1879 he removed to Auburn, where he entered the office of Jared Spooner, M. D., and set to work with a firm determination to succeed. In the autumn of the same year, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. This was a year of great mental growth for him, and well did he avail himself of all the advantages with which he was surrounded. The careful and thorough instruction imparted by this institution formed a broad base for a thorough medical education. After an absence of nine months from home and family, he returned and settled at Deedsville, Indiana, where he at once began the practice of medicine. For five years he continued his practice, and then once more returned to the University where he completed his course and graduated in 1886. For a short time he located at Garrett, Indiana, but the same year he returned with his family to Deedsville. Since that time he has enjoyed a growing reputation, earned by hard and honest work. In 1888 he joined the medical society of his county, and in 1889 was chosen its President, a position occupied by him at present writing. In the spring of 1872, when in his sixteenth year, Calvin became a Christian, united with the U. B. church, and was baptized. He has earnestly labored for the salvation of souls, has occupied all the offices in the gift of the church society and Sunday School, and enjoys the labor in "The Master's Vineyard." Not only has his wife greatly assisted him in the battles of life, but he still has a mother who has done all that a mother could, to encourage him in the acquisition of knowledge. It was by her that this truth was fixed in his mind "Much is possible to him who tries." [BHJCF, 459]

1 Rev. A. J. Fretz, A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz (Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1890), Pg 459.

2 Rev. A. J. Fretz, A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz (Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1890), Pg 456.

3 Rev. A. J. Fretz, A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz (Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1890), Pg 460.