From Bavaria to Schleswig
Peter’s account places George’s birth near Nuremberg, Bavaria. His father was a baker and hotel keeper. George served as a soldier during the revolutionary period of 1848 and later worked with his father in a wax-candle business. He also learned shoemaking and traveled through German-speaking regions before finding work in Schleswig, where he met Kjesten Schmidt.
A shared wedding and a new household
George and Kjesten married in a joint ceremony with one of her brothers and his bride. Peter remembered that the minister interpreted because George spoke little Danish and Kjesten little German. An inheritance from Kjesten helped them establish a shoe business in Ballum in 1853. They raised Ane Katherine, Ane Kristine, Paul George and Peter.
Work, loss and a more secure livelihood
A fire destroyed their home. Later, ill health interrupted George’s shoemaking, and flooding drowned most of the sheep in a new venture. He took other jobs, including work as a ship’s cook, before obtaining a mail-carrier position that he held for eighteen years. Its pension supported his later life. He visited Peter’s family in Cripple Creek in 1900. Peter remembered his parents as loving, harmonious and sustained by their Lutheran faith.
A note on the records
The written histories say George died at eighty-six, but do not establish an exact death date here.
Sources for this biography
Based on the family’s written histories. Recollections and compiled records are identified here so they can be revisited as the archive grows.
- Peter P. Dortzbach’s biography — Peter’s recollections, recorded by his granddaughter Eileen Townsend; Word transcript and scanned versions RB010–RB015 and RB022–RB025B.
- Personal History of the Dortzbach Family — Clara Dortzbach, October 25, 1984; scans HS001–HS011, incorporating material supplied by Jen Peter.
- Family tree supplied by the family — Relationship chart provided by the owner in October 2026. Used alongside the written histories.