A RUBBING DOCTOR IN THE FAMILY

Anna Ritterhouse

I've been fascinated with Anna Ritterhouse ever since my Great-Aunt Edna Ritterhouse told me she was a "rubbing doctor" (a term I had never heard before).

Anna was the youngest daughter of (John) William and Rosena Ritterhouse and was only seven years old when her father died.  Born on May 25th in 1869 in Tazewell County, Illinois, Anna lived a long life, outliving two husbands but never having any children.  She died in Colorado Springs, Colorado on February 24, 1949, approaching her 80th birthday.

Ed and Anna Nolte

For forty years Anna lived at 1011 N. Corona in Colorado Springs, having moved there from Falls City, Nebraska with her first husband, Edwin Nolte about 1909.  Edwin was twenty years her senior and died in 1917.  Sometime after 1922, she remarried a divorcee, William Ebright who died a few years later (in January 1929).  Apparently after her oldest brother, William Ritterhouse, became too ill to continue to take care of their mother, Rosena, Anna moved her into the house on Corona in Colorado Springs where Rosena lived until her death at 99 years and 9 months, in 1931.

Anna buried both husbands and her mother in Evergreen

Anna (standing) with her mother Rosena, husband William
Ebright (left) and brother William Ritterhouse (right)

Cemetery in Colorado Springs, all marked with one headstone (which also includes her own name as she was eventually buried there also).  (See photos of both sides of the headstone below.)

According to the 1940 census, the highest grade that Anna completed was third grade.  She apparently began her career in alternative medicine about 1896 to 1898 while she and her husband (Ed Nolte) were living in Falls City, Nebraska (based on a 1909 ad where she stated she had eleven years experience and a 1910 ad that claimed she'd been practicing "for fourteen years").  An ad in the July 5, 1908 edition of the Colorado Springs Gazette reported:

     MRS. ED NOLTE, magnetic healer, office at 508 Cache la Poudre St.  Office hours
     9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m.  Sunday by appointment.

Ads in the same newspaper the following year provided more details:

     MRS. ED NOLTE, magnetic healer, has now moved to her new home, which she
     has recently bought at 1011 N. Corona St.  She can be found at her office here
     between 9 and 11 a.m. and 1 and 4 p.m.  All chronic diseases successfully
     treated by her method of curing disease without medicines or surgery, rheumatism
     a specialty.  (June 11, 1909)

     MAGNETIC HEALING A SUCCESS  Mrs. Ed Nolte has demonstrated this fact
     time and again for eleven years.  Mrs. Nolte has given her entire time to this
     healing, which requires a perfect knowledge of its application;  it is logical and
     its cures are certain and permanent;  it is not a myth but is founded on common
     sense and appeals to the judgment of every unprejudiced person.  Office at
     residence, 1011 N. Corona.  (November 4, 1909)

House in Colorado Springs at 1011 N. Corona in 2007

Use of magnets for healing dates back several centuries -- basically since the discovery of magnetism.  In the Middle Ages, doctors used magnets to treat gout, arthritis, poisoning and baldness.  In the 19th century it was very popular and then enjoyed a revival in the 1970s when it was supposedly found that magnets could kill cancer cells in animals and could also cure arthritis pain, glaucoma, infertility and other conditions.  Magnetic therapy involves placing magnets of varying sizes and strengths on the body to try to relieve pain or treat disease.  Although scientifically debunked many times over, "magnetic charms, bracelets, insoles, and braces remain popular and are sold with claims that they improve athletic performance, relieve arthritis pain, increase energy, and pretty much treat whatever symptoms you might have" (http://www.csicop.org/si/show/ magnetic_healing_an_old_scam_that_never_dies).

From censuses and city directories, it appears that Anna was no longer a practicing magnetic healer by the 1920s.  The 1920 R.L. Polk Directory shows that Anna (now widowed) was a housekeeper at the Elk Hotel and was living in the rear of her house at 1011 N. Corona, the front apparently rented out to a Mr. R.E. Holcomb.

But back to that "rubbing doctor" description.  What exactly was a "rubbing doctor" and how does it relate to a "magnetic healer"?  According to my research, rubbing doctors were early versions of chiropractors and it was not uncommon for the magnetic healers to also practice the early chiropractic methods in the course of their healings (and vice versa).