House of Friedeck

House of Friedeck

Country	Kingdom of Überstadt
Titles	King of Überstadt
Current head	Ralph von Friedeck
Ethnicity	English, German, Scottish

The House of Friedeck is the ruling royal house of Überstadt. The head of the house is Ralph von Friedeck, grandfather of King Adam. Because the junior line of the house produced a reigning monarch, it is considered to be divided into the Überstadti and American branches.

Etymology

The House of Friedeck gets its name from the earliest-known birthplace of a male-line ancestor, the head's father; Friedeck is not the legal surname of the family. Friedeck was a small village in West Prussia, today lying in north-central Poland and known as Pląchoty.

History

The earliest known male-line ancestor bearing the family name was Carl von Friedeck, who lived most of his life in the Kingdom of Prussia. According to family stories, Carl was a Swede who migrated to Prussia to become a farmhand during a labor shortage. No records exist to verify this, but some evidence can be seen as corroborating this once-controversial theory of the family's origins. First, all existing records spell Carl's name with the letter C, more typical of Swedish usage than Prussian, as demonstrated by the use of the variant Karl by other family members born in German lands.

Carl was borne two sons by his wife, whose name is unknown; family legend identifies her as the young female farm worker who would sheave the wheat Carl cut in the field. The sons they had together were Karl, born in 1861, and Julius, born in 1867. Karl would live out his life in Germany, while Julius would go on to move to the United States and purchase a farm in Waterville, Washington.

Karl married a woman named Johanna Makowski, probably a Pole, and they also bore two sons, August in 1887 and Adolf in 1889. Friedeck was August's birthplace. After fulfilling his mandatory service in the Reichsheer and working as a shepherd, he migrated to the United States in 1912, going to work on his uncle Julius's farm. Adolf, however, remained in Germany, and was killed during the First World War. This left August as the last bearer of the family name after Julius died.

August married one Sadie Betcher, half German and half Scottish. They had their first two children, Harold and Betty Lou, in the countryside. They later settled in West Seattle, where August worked as a postal carrier, and had three more children: Betty Lou, Ralph, and Viola. Harold went on to die without issue, leaving Ralph the bearer of the family name.

Ralph served as a clerk in the US Air Force during the Korean War. He then became a public high school science teacher and married a woman named Betty. They settled in Edmonds and had four children: Ann, Catherine, David, and Michael. Both daughters married, losing the Friedeck name. David had three children, including two sons, with his first wife, then divorced and remarried. Michael became a public water utility worker and married a drug dependency counselor named Kara, who bore him two sons, Adam and Aaron.

As Ralph is still living, he remains the head of the House of Friedeck. David is his heir, but as the house has for the first time in its known history had two distinct groups of male grandchildren with the family name, the house is considered as now having two branches. The Überstadti branch is junior to the American branch presided over by David, but is the only one to have produced a sovereign.

Members

• Ralph von Friedeck, head
  • Ann H.
  • Catherine S.
  • David von Friedeck, head - American branch
    • Justin von Friedeck
    • Jacob von Friedeck
    • Sarah von Friedeck
  • Lisa von Friedeck*
  • Michael von Friedeck, head - Überstadti branch
    • King Adam
    • Prince Aaron
  • Kara von Friedeck*
• Betty von Friedeck*

(*by marriage)