The earliest of the Frey ancestors can be traced back to the German village of Winnweiler in the mid-18th century. Johannes Freÿ was born around 1756 to Heinrich and Maria Freÿ of Winnweiler. He had at least one sister, Maria who was born in 1768 in the same town. The family would later move to the nearby town of Weidenthal which was about six hours south of Winnweiler on foot. When he was about twenty years old, Johannes Freÿ married Catharina Gloeckle on 18 March 1776. According to the marriage record, the couple was married in the small catholic parish of Weidenthal.  The couple continued to live in Weidenthal for many years, likely since it was the hometown of Catharina's family.

In 1792, Johannes and Catharina Freÿ became parents to Joseph Freÿ. There are no records indicating any other children born to them in the Weidenthal area. On 9 April 1815, Joseph Freÿ married Susanna Scherrer (or Seherher) in Weidenthal. The following year, on 13 July 1816, Joseph and Susanna became parents to their first son, Elias Frey. In total, Joseph and Susanna Freÿ would have nine more children together.

Sadly, on 6 December 1831, only two weeks after giving birth to her ninth child, Susanna passed away. While there is no listed cause of death, it is assumed that it was related to the pregnancy. Her passing left Joseph Freÿ with the enormous task of raising his nine children alone. Unable to handle this task on his own, it appears that the youngest children were sent to live with a relative of their mother. The four older children, (those who were old enough to take care of themselves) stayed with their father and began learning the blacksmith trade.

In 1836, Joseph Freÿ decided to immigrant to the United States with his four eldest children, Elias, Lambert, Sebastian and Catharine. Certainly, the political climate during this time was unstable in Germany (i.e. Frankfurter Wachensturm), and earning a living as a blacksmith was likely not easy. These factors may have played a role in his decision to immigrate alongside thousands of other German citizens during the 1830s.

According to ship manifest records, Joseph Freÿ and his four eldest children departed from the port in Le Havre, France.  The distance between their hometown and Le Havre was a tiresome and long trek of more than 600km. Once in La Havre, they found passage on the sailing ship "St. Clair" and departed from the port on 15 July 1836. Together, Joseph and his children spent several months crossing the Atlantic Ocean before finally arriving in America.

On 3 October 1836, nearly four months after leaving France, Joseph Freÿ and his children arrived in the New York City harbor. Following their arrival in America, Joseph and his children spent several years in New York before deciding to move westward into Pennsylvania in about 1840. The family settled in the small town of Beaver Meadows and Joseph worked as a blacksmith. During the next six years that the family lived in Beaver Meadows, Joseph continued mentoring his sons in the blacksmith business, ensuring that each of them would have the skills needed to support themselves.

The family moved to Coolbaugh Township, PA around 1846.  Here, Joseph's son, Lambert, married Mary A. Gerhart and went on to become a respected blacksmith in addition to holding several political offices. The 1850 census shows that Joseph Frey was operating a blacksmith shop while living with his other son, Sebastian, and Sebastian's wife, Catharine Greenebauer (who had three children all under the age of 6). The family continued living there until 1852, when they moved again to Dreher township, PA. While living in Dreher township, Joseph Frey passed away sometime before 1860.

After staying in Pennsylvania for a year, the eldest child, Elias Frey, in about 1841, moved further westward to a small farming community west of Cincinnati, Ohio known as Peach Grove, Ohio. According to records from his siblings in PA, he was never heard from again and his fate remained unknown to them. However, the story of Elias is well known by his own descendants.

After living with his father and siblings for several years, Elias Frey, a young man in his mid-twenties decided to travel west to find a new place to call home. Although still young, Elias was a proficient blacksmith and had spent several years working alongside his father and brothers in the trade. Settling in Peach Grove, Ohio, a rural community west of Cincinnati, OH, Elias started his own blacksmith shop.

After about three years of hard work, the young bachelor met and married Barbara Huppmann on 15 May 1844. Barbara was also an immigrant from Germany, who arrived in the United States almost exactly one year after Elias had. The young couple purchased a home in Peach Grove on Springdale Rd. (the home still exists today!). Here, Elias continued his blacksmith business in the barn near the house.

Together, Elias and Barbara had ten children; five sons and five daughters. Many of their children continued to live in the Cincinnati area which led to a proliferation of the Frey surname on the west side of Cincinnati.

During the American civil war, the aging Elias had several encounters with the rebel group known as Morgan's Raiders. During July of 1863, Morgan's raiders traveled toward Cincinnati under the pretense that they would attack the city and neighboring communities. Outside of the city, the hundreds of horses were exhausted from traveling and needed to be refreshed. According to our family stories, Elias, knowing that the raiders were stealing horses, instructed his daughter to take several of their best horses into the farmhouse and hide them in the dining room. Hidden in the house, the horses were given lots of food to keep them from making noise.

When a small section of raiders did arrive (about eight of them in total), they searched Elias's barn but only found a donkey. Elias told them that his sons had taken the horses on a trip into the city and wouldn't be back for several days.  Angered that no horses were there, the raiders decided to exploit Elias's blacksmith skills by forcing Elias at gunpoint to re-shoe their horses until  Elias ran out of good horseshoes. Although Elias was not a trained farrier, the raiders were satisfied with his work and left the rest of the Frey homestead unscathed. However, several chickens fell victim to the raiders' campfires while they waited on Elias to finish his work.

Elias and his family managed to survive the whole ordeal and he continued his blacksmith business for several more years. His son, Elias Frey Jr. eventually took over the blacksmith business and expanded to a new wagon business as well with his brother, Louis. Eventually, the onset of automobiles would force Elias's son, William Frey to open an auto mechanics garage nearby and close the wagon shop.

Many of Elias Frey Sr. other children also operated businesses nearby. For example, his oldest son, John B. Frey ran a general store and hotel at the northeast corner of Colerain Ave. and Galbraith Rd. John B. Frey was born on 6 August 1852 as the fourth child and first son of Elias Frey Sr. and Barbara Huppman. Alongside his siblings, he grew up playing in the woods around the family home on Springdale Rd in Peach Grove. As a child, John was often sent on errands to the nearby village of  Groesbeck. Often, he was sent to fetch items at the local general store which had be opened in 1850 by Martin Luichinger. During his frequent trips, John found affection with the store owner's daughter, Katharine. According to family stories, the two began courting and John was often seen "walking to and from her house, an accordion under his arm". Whether John's accordion skills had any influence over Katherine is unclear, however, the couple soon were married and purchased a home on Gaines Rd. near the Frey homestead. John continued to work as a blacksmith with his father during the next few years until his father passed away in 1879.

A few years back, in 1872, Katherine's father, Martin, had passed away leaving the general store in Groesbeck to be managed by his wife, Barbara. After eight years of difficult management, Barbara asked John Frey to buy the store from her and become the proprietor. John agreed and purchased the store from her around 1880. Subsequently, John relinquished his father's blacksmith business to his younger brothers and moved his budding family into the apartment above the general store.

The Frey Building, as it was then called, was located at the northeast corner of the busy Galbraith and Colerain Ave. intersection. Soon more buildings were built nearby and John Frey's general store become a bustling center of commerce for Groesbeck and the surrounding communities. In 1890, to accommodate the increase in traffic, John built a large addition onto his building which served as a hotel and tavern for visitors and hucksters. The opportunity for business was also noticed by others and soon another hotel was built on the opposite corner of the intersection. The competition between the two hotels ensured reasonable prices for the passing teamsters and drivers.

The business continued and eventually John's children began helping with tasks required by the business. In total John B. Frey and Katharina Luichinger, had nine children. In 1900, Katharina passed away leaving John and the children heartbroken. In 1902, John married Monica Luichinger Buschle, Katharina's younger sister. According to several family stories, the children claimed that Monica was mean towards them and rarely in a good mood. The children always referred to her as "Aunt Monie" even after she married John.

After operating the store for more than forty years, John passed away in 1922, leaving his store to his son, John C. Frey. His son kept the business running for many more years. Eventually, however, the building was sold and subsequently torn down.

Many of John B. Frey's children, were married and continued to live in the Groesbeck area. The most relevant being, Edith Frey, who married Victor Beischel. The history of the Beischel family can be found here.