CRITES/KREITZ
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Definition of Crites/Kreitz
According to the Historical Research Center[1] the family name history for the Crites/Kreitz family is as follows: Crites - This surname was introduced to North America at an early stage in the European settlement of the continent, as attested by a reference in a volume entitled "The Germans in Carolina" to one Devault Crites, who arrived in that colony in the year 1753. The War of 1812 pension files include entries for Jonas, Leonard, and Philip Crites, all veterans of the Virginia militia and one or more of them perhaps a descendant of Devault.
The name Crites arose in North America as an anglicized phonetic rendering of the German surname "Kreitz", which was itself inspired by the town of Kreitz, which lies near the city of Neuss in northwestern Germany. There is even a street named: Crites Strasse in Frankfurt Germany[2]. This type of surname would ordinarily develop from the circumstance of an individual moving from one settlement to another, where the residents would often be inclined to refer to a newcomer by the name of his place of origin. Alternatively, there might also have been instances where "Kreitz" originated as a locative name, based upon a connection of the bearer with a feature of the landscape.
In the representation below (of Gottfried Kreitz), the appellation was derived from the German word "kreuz", denoting a "cross", thus the bearer might have been one who dwelled on a field or plot of land shaped like a cross, or near a prominent cross which served either as a religious symbol or as a boundary-marker (crosses were commonly used for this purpose in the medieval period). It is also thought that the surnames "Kreuz" and "Kreitz" sprung, in some cases, from a sobriquet referring to one who had served "under the banner of the Cross" in a Crusade. In addition to the well-known Crusades to the Holy Land, there were also Crusades mounted within Europe, notably against the Moors in Spain.
Blazon of arms
Argent, on a terrace vert a cross or
Quick Reference Reverse Family Tree Timeline
- Jeffrey Todd Crites
- Larry Ray Crites
- Fred Laurel Crites, Jr.
- Fred Laurel Crites, Sr.
- Wesley Harrison Crites
- George S. Crites
- (John) Adam Crites
- John (Adam) Creitz
- (John) Adam Creitz
- Johannes Henrich Crieutz
- Kreitz
Page Specifics
Updated By: Jeffrey T. Crites
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