ROSINA -- PART 1

In honor of Women's History month, it's only right that we talk about Rosina. Rosina Kramer Ritterhouse Vandorn was the wife of John William Ritterhouse and mother of the seven Ritterhouse kids who were our first generation American-born Ritterhouse ancestors, as well as mother to another daughter by her second husband. Rosina lived a very long life and traveled a long way in the journey of her life.

There are many questions about Rosina's early life, but we pretty much know where all she was the last 75 years of her life! There is some controversy over when she was born. Some of the family believe that she lived to be nearly 103 years old, being born April 7, 1828 and dying February 27, 1931. Throughout her life a wide array of ages was given to the census takers. According to her death certificate (for which information was given by her daughter Anna) she was born April 8, 1831. (Her actual death date was January 31, 1931, so she most likely lived to be 99 years and 9 months.)

We know that she was born in Germany and died in Colorado Springs, Colorado -- a mind-boggling distance to travel in the days before airplanes and interstate highways. But, we do not know where Rosina was born. One cousin told me that Rosina was from around Strasbourg (which is actually in France), but she also told me that Rosina was born near the Stuttgart Castle. I am unsure which is the correct immigration record for Rosina. There are several Ros???? Kramers who were born around 1830 and immigrated in the 1850s. If the 1920 census information is correct, Rosina immigrated in 1852. The closest match to Rosina that I've found so far is a "Rosette Kraemer" who arrived in New York City aboard the ship Marmion. This Rosette was 20 years old and hailed from "Bavaria". There was a Rosina Kraemer born in Hambruecken, Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, which is about 60 miles from Stuttgart. I'm inclined to believe this is the area Rosina came from even though I doubt that the Rosina Kraemer that I have a record of is "our" Rosina since she died as a child.

(Note: Unfortunately I didn't finish this post last week and haven't had a chance to work on it, so I'm going ahead and posting this as Part 1. I'll try to post a Part 2 tomorrow.)