Friedrich Froebel was born on 21 April 1782 at Oberweißbach.
Friedrich was the sixth and youngest child of Pastor Johann Jakob Froebel and his first wife. The mother of Johann Jakob Froebel was from Oberweißbach and his father, Johannes Froebel was the gamekeeper or forester in Neuhaus am Rennsteig for the Prince of Schwarzburg Rudolstadt.
Oberweißbach is in the Rennsteig Schwarzatal region of Thuringia.
The ancestors of Friedrich Froebel were farmers in the villages of Großgölitz, Leutnitz, and Keilhau.
The ancestry of Friedrich Froebel has been traced to Caspar Froebel, who was appointed to the office of Schultheiß (a village magistrate or sherrif) by the ruling counts of Schwarzburg.