Great-great-grandpa William Ritterhouse was a schlosser or locksmith. Most locksmiths were blacksmiths who made locks, so they were called locksmiths. As early as 1411, Charles IV of Germany created the title of "Master Locksmith". Locksmiths were skilled metalworkers who trained as apprentices and became journeymen locksmiths. One source I read mentioned that the work of a locksmith required ingenuity and accuracy. Ingenuity was probably needed to stay ahead of the lock-pickers.
To become a master locksmith, the journeyman designed and produced a one-of-a-kind "masterpiece" lock as a "test". These locks were displayed without covers to show the component parts of the mechanisms, their functions, etc. and were never actually used on a door. The lock displayed above was made by great-great-grandpa William. I'm wondering if it could have been his "masterpiece" lock. It has been passed down through the family. At one time, William's granddaughter, Edna (the daughter of Charles), owned it, but she passed it to her youngest brother, Merle Ritterhouse, who willed it to his grandson, Jim Ritterhouse, the current owner.
William was identified sometimes as a blacksmith and sometimes just as a smith. The ship record listed him as a smith. Then in 1850, according to the census, he was working as a blacksmith in Blair, Pennsylvania. The 1860 Tazewell County, Illinois, census also states he is a blacksmith. By this time, locks were being mass-produced, but maybe not out in the prairies of Illinois. William also farmed, probably because he couldn't support his family on his smithing alone.
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