Fanny Hutzler was born in the town of Hagenbach, in Bavaria, one of the six children of Isaac and Mindel Hutzler. Her siblings Abraham, Moritz and Rosalie left home for the United States, settling in Richmond, as did so many Jews from Hagenbach, including Mary Millhiser Thalhimer and, in 1838, Fanny herself. When she arrived, she was travelling with Moses Mitteldorfer, also from Hagenbach, whom she’d marry and raise a family with, although it is unclear whether they had wed before they’d left: it is her maiden that appears in the ship’s manifest.

In Richmond, Moses worked in dry goods, and the couple and their five children formed part of the community around Congregation Beth Ahabah.