ROSA'S KIDS: PART 2 -- EMMA

The second child of John William and Rosa (Ritterhouse) Schlereth was a girl who arrived about 17 months after her older brother, John, on July 7, 1881.  They named her Emma.  Her full name may have been Rosa Emma Schlereth or Emma Lese Schlereth.  I've seen it both ways.  On her gravestone (pictured below) it is engraved as "Emma L." which lends credence to the latter version.  (Rosa had a younger half sister named Emma who was only about a year and a half old at the time of this Emma's birth, but I doubt if she named her daughter after her, so I'm not sure who she is named after.)  John and Rosa were still living in Tazewell County, Illinois, so Emma was born in Pekin, Illinois.  She completed the 8th grade (according to the 1940 census).

Emma journeyed with her extended family to Kansas and by 1900 she was living in Seneca, Kansas and working as a servant, at the age of 18.  About five years later, she married Colonel L. Bradley who was born in Kansas around 1880.  I'm guessing she met him in Nemaha County, Kansas, and that they moved to Nebraska after marrying.  About two years later (1907), they started their family with a baby girl who they named Emma, keeping the name going in the family line.  The next year, another child arrived on December 16, 1908.  This time it was a son whom they named Howard V.

In 1910, Emma and her family were living in Humboldt, Nebraska, which is about 30 miles north of Seneca, Kansas and only a few miles from Falls City, where her mother and brothers were living.  In a few years, they relocated to Douglas, Nebraska, about 65 miles northwest of Humboldt and just a little southeast of Lincoln.  It was there, on April 12, 1918, they sadly lost their young son, Harold, at the age of 9 1/2.  He is buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Douglas (which is the same cemetery his grandma Rosa would be buried in twenty-some years in the future and in which his mother and father would eventually be buried).

Colonel and Emma Bradley were still living in Douglas in 1920.  Both were working for the telephone company; Emma as a switchboard operator and Colonel as a superintendent/lineman.  They continued to work in these jobs for the next 20 years (although Colonel had apparently retired by 1940).  Although they primarily lived in Douglas, in 1930 they were living in Hendricks which is a suburb of Lincoln.  By 1935 they were back in Douglas. 

In 1940, the U.S. Census showed Colonel, Emma and Emma's mother, Rosa, living in Douglas.  That census also showed Rosa living in Falls City with Emma's brothers, John and Edward.  Rosa was 79 and less than a year away from her death, so she was probably being taken care of by her children in shifts.

Emma lost her husband in 1957.  She followed about seven years later, dying in July 1964.  They are buried side by side in Rosehill Cemetery in Douglas, Nebraska.

ROSA'S KIDS: PART 1 -- JOHN

As reported in the last post (FIRST DAUGHTER, ROSA), Rosa Ritterhouse Schlereth had four children with her husband, John William Schlereth.  One Ritterhouse cousin reported to me that her grandfather, E.H. Ritterhouse, told her that Rosa was the keeper of the family history.  It's tantalizing to think there might be family records and stories passed down through her descendants.  Tracing the lives of her children, I was excited to find that she appears to have living descendants.  John and Rosa had four children:  John William, Emma, Edward Charles and Elmer Bryan.  Here's a little bit about each of them (broken up into the next four posts).



John William
John and Rosa's first child was named either for his father or for his maternal grandfather, John William Rittershaus (or possibly for both since they shared the same given names).  John (the son) was born on February 19, 1880 in Tazewell County, Illinois, in or near the small town of Pekin. He completed the eighth grade, mostly (if not all) while living in Illinois.  By the time he was 16, his family had relocated to Seneca, Kansas, about 400 miles southwest of Pekin.  On May 4, 1898 (at the age of 18) he enlisted in the Spanish War, serving as a Private until November 3rd, in Co. K of the 22nd Kansas Infantry.


The Spanish-American War is not thought about much.  The two things you probably learned about the Spanish War of 1898 were the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor and the formation of the Rough Riders by Teddy Roosevelt.  Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. On May 3, 1898, Company K of the 22nd Kansas Infantry was organized at Seneca and John enlisted the next day. (According to his military record, he was a musician in his company.)  The war consisted of a series of one-sided American naval and military victories on all fronts, owing to our numerical superiority in most of the battles and despite the good performance of some of the Spanish infantry units. The outcome was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which was favorable to the U.S. followed by temporary American control of Cuba and indefinite colonial authority over Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The defeat and subsequent end of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock for Spain’s national psyche.

 

By April 1900, John was working as a farm laborer, back in Seneca, Nemaha County, Kansas, in northern Kansas.  Ten years later, he was a hired man on a farm near the community of Ohio, in Stafford County, Kansas, about 250 miles southwest of Seneca, in the heart of Kansas wheat country.  He was still living in Stafford County (in St. John) in September 1917 when he registered for WWI.  He was described, at this time, as being of medium height, slight build, with gray eyes and light hair. I'm not sure where John was living between 1917 and 1940, but by 1940 he was back living with his mother and his brother Edward who had since moved to Falls City, Nebraska.  In 1945, on January 1st, at the rather advanced age of 64, John married for the first time.  His new wife was Bessie Susan Boggess, who was 38 years old, 26 years his junior.  They were married in Hiawatha (Brown County), Kansas, but established their home in Salem, Nebraska.  Later that year, they moved a few miles east to Falls City.

John and Bessie raised their two children in Falls City.  Their son, Daryld W.  was born on February 18, 1946.  Daryld married Dolores Whaley on November 22, 1969.  They lived in Lincoln where Dolores worked for the University of Nebraska.  Dolores died at the relatively young age of 58, on May 28, 2004 and is buried in Lincoln.  As far as I can tell, Daryld still lives in Lincoln.  From Dolores' obituary it does not appear that they had any children.  Bessie and John also had a daughter, Darla, who is married to Larry Cummings.  They have lived in Bellevue, Nebraska and in Lincoln.  It appears that they may still be living in Lincoln.  According to Bessie's obituary, they had at least two daughters, Krista (Scott) and Amber (Cummings).  At the time of Bessie's death, Darla and Larry also had three grandchildren:  Steven Scott, Sierra Scott and Branden Jones, all of whom were living in Lincoln.

John may have lived long enough to see a grandchild or two.  Luckily (since he married at such an advanced age), he lived a good long life.  He died at the age of 91, on March 9, 1971, in Falls City, Nebraska.  His wife, Bessie, outlived him by 28 years, dying on August 7, 1999 in Lincoln.  Bessie was buried in Maple Cemetery in Salem (Richardson County), Nebraska, near Falls City.  My guess is that John was buried there also, but I have not found a record of his burial site.

FIRST DAUGHTER, ROSA

The second child and oldest daughter of William and Rosina Ritterhouse/Rittershaus was named Anna Rosa, probably after her mother Rosina who went by "Rosa".  Anna Rosa also went by Rosa (or maybe Rose sometimes), her entire life.  She was born in Pekin (Tazewell County), Illinois on July 22, 1860 (according to her death certificate).

Rosa's parents were German-born immigrants who had been in America twelve years (her father William) and eight years (her mother Rosina).  Her father was already 41 at the time of her birth; her mother was 29.  William and Rosina apparently became naturalized citizens the year of her birth (as per the 1920 U.S. Census).  Rosa had an older brother who was about 21 months old awaiting her.  In just a few months, her mother would again be pregnant with a baby girl who would die in infancy --  Anna Mary (born September 2, 1861).  Eventually, Rosa would have five younger Ritterhouse siblings for whom she, no doubt, helped care, especially after her father died in 1876 when Rosa was nearly 16.

Rosa completed at least five years of school in Tazewell County.  When she was 18 (on May 29, 1879 to be exact), Rosa married a local man who was nearly twice her age, the 34-year-old, German-born John William Schlereth.  (John William was the son of John and Barbara Schlereth.)  Having immigrated to America from Germany in 1868, by 1879 he was living in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois, working as a laborer.

Rosa Ritterhouse Schlereth with her husband John and children Emma, Edward and John

John and Rosa began their family immediately, with their first child, a boy they named John William, no doubt after his father, arriving a little less than nine months later, on February 19, 1880.  The following year, their only daughter was born on July 7, 1881 and was given the name Emma Lese.  While still living in Illinois, they had a third child, Edward Charles, born on June 10, 1886.

In 1890, Rosa's (apparently widowed) mother Rosina Ritterhouse VanDorn bought land in northern Kansas in Marshall County.  It appears that all of Rosina's children moved with her.  John Lewis, Anna Louise, Frederick William and their half-sister Emma VanDorn (who was only about 10 years old) probably lived with Rosina on her new farm which was just 1/2 mile from the Nebraska state line.  George and Charles each purchased 80 acres in Nemaha County, just a few miles from their mother's farm, and big brother William leased land in Nemaha County.  In 1900 Rosa and John were also living in Nemaha County, in the town of Seneca.  Since their fourth (and final) child, Elmer Bryan, was born in Kansas on February 18, 1896, they apparently had been living there for several years.



Downtown Falls City, Nebraska in 1907

At some point between April 1900 and April 1910 (when the U.S. Censuses were taken), two important events occurred in the Schlereth family.  (I have not been able to determine exactly when the events happened or in what order they occurred.)   During that first decade of the twentieth century, John William Schlereth died, leaving Rosa a widow while in her forties.  Also during that decade, the family moved about fifty miles northeast and across the state line to Falls City, Nebraska.  According to Rosa's death certificate, she lived in Falls City for the last 41  years of her life. That indicates she may have moved there in 1900 or thereabouts.


John P. Falter's 1946 oil painting of downtown
Falls City, Nebraska used as Saturday Evening
Post cover 

Falls City, Nebraska is located in the southeast corner of the state, near the state lines of Missouri and Kansas.  It was founded by an abolitionist couple from New York in 1857 to use as a location to ferry slaves from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Kansas.  The town won a battle with a neighboring town to become the county seat of Richardson County and became an important railroad hub.

Rosa lived in various houses in Falls City during the forty years she lived in that town.  It appears she always lived with at least one of her children.  In 1910, she was living in a rented house in Ward 2 on Barada Street with her sons Edward (23) and Elmer (13).  Ten years later, she was living in the home of Walter Jones at 717 Harlan Street with her sons Edward (now 33) and John (39).  Then in 1930, Rosa was still living with her son Edward, now in a home she owned in the 3rd Ward at 806 Lane Street.  Near the end of her life, in 1940, at the age of 79, Rosa was living in another house she owned a few blocks away at 1123 Chase Street.  Edward, still single at 54, continued to live with her, along with John who was now 60.  According to the census record, they had lived in that house for at least five years.

Rosa spent her life as a wife and mother, living with and caring for her children all her life.  She had at least two grandchildren; daughter Emma had a son and son Elmer had a daughter.  Her children lived most of their lives in the Falls City area so, no doubt, her children and grandchildren were involved in her life.  Rosa lived a long life, dying at the age of 80 years, 5 months and 21 days on January 13, 1941.  She died of a cerebral hemorrhage accompanied by debilitating weakness and senility.  She was buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in Douglas, Nebraska which is located about 90 miles northwest of Falls City, outside of Lincoln.  Apparently her grave is unmarked but is located near the grave of her son Edward.




It seems like Rosa Ritterhouse Schlereth was less connected to the rest of her family.  I definitely have fewer pictures of her and have less information about her.  I have some information about her children which I'll include in a later post.  I'm hoping we can connect to some of her descendants and learn more about her life.