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.

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).

 

THE RITTERHOUSE DAUGHTERS

It appears that in my previous blog posts I have ignored William and Rosena's daughters. This was brought to my attention by one of our cousins who requested seeing pictures of the daughters. So here they are.

The oldest daughter was Rosa Ritterhouse. Obviously named after her mother, Rosena (who often went by the name of Rosa) she was born in 1860 in Illinois. I think Rosa's real name was probably Anna Rosa since that name shows up in her father's probate papers. She married John William Schlereth, a German immigrant who was living in the Tazewell County area. They moved to Nemaha County, Kansas where Rosena and the rest of the family purchased or leased farms. In 1900, the Schlereth family moved to Falls City, Nebraska, where Rosa lived the remaining 41 years of her life.

A second daughter was apparently born September 2, 1861. Named Anna Mary, she was Rosena and William’s first child to die. According to one source, she “died as an infant”. Her death date and cause of death are not known. As far as I know, no picture remains of the infant.

William and Rosena's third daughter was born in 1869. They named her Anna Louise, calling her Anna. Anna also lived in Falls City, Nebraska for a time, before moving to Colorado Springs, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Rosena was living with her daughter Anna during the last few years of her life.

Rosena had a fourth daughter, Emma Louise VanDorn. in 1880, by her second husband, Joseph VanDorn. Emma married Edward M. Montague. Ed and Emma farmed in Brown County, Kansas, in the far northeastern corner of the state, their entire lives.

These were the Ritterhouse daughters. I will try to do fuller profiles of Rosa, Anna and Emma in the future in this Ritterhouse Roots blog.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 RACER -- TROY RUTTMAN

So far in this blog, I have been trying to go somewhat chronologically, but as I finally resume writing about our Ritterhouse Roots (after a year's absence), I'm departing from that practice. And, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 which is being raced this weekend on Sunday, May 29th, I'm profiling the man who is probably our most famous American “Ritterhouse”: Troy Ruttman. In 1952, at the age of 22, he became the youngest winner ever in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” – the Indy 500 – a record that stands to this day. He won it the year I was born (in fact a week after I was born) on May 31, 1952.

Troy was born March 11, 1930 in Mooreland, Oklahoma, the son of Ralph "Butch" Ruttman and Mary Ellen Ritterhouse. Mary was the daughter of George and Cora (Tyner Shipman) Ritterhouse. George was one of William and Rosena's sons who went to Oklahoma in the early 1890s. He settled in the Mutual, Oklahoma area in Woodward County (in the panhandle). Ralph grew up in Mooreland, Oklahoma, not far from where Mary's older brother, Lloyd George, was living in 1920. According to one online site (The Autosport Bulletin Board), Ralph "was an unsuccessful racer in Oklahoma in the twenties and the thirties, and with his family moved to California in the forties to find his luck". He apparently was a fine mechanic, though, and served as chief mechanic for several successful open wheel racers.

Troy began his driving “career” at the age of 9 when he received his first traffic ticket, having volunteered to drive his mother to visit a friend. At 15, he raced "jalopies" in Los Angeles backyards. According to his Wikipedia article, he entered his family car in a roadster race at San Bernardino, California in 1945 (when he was 15) and won the race. He reportedly went on to win 19 of the 21 events staged there that season. At 16 he was racing track roadsters at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California and at 17 he graduated to WRA (Western Racing Association) "Class B" Sprint Cars. By 1947, he was the California Roadster Association roadster champion. He also won his first five midget car races that season. The next year he again won the CRA championship, along with the United Racing Association Blue Circuit championship and 23 midget car events. In 1949, Troy left California for the AAA Sprint and Championship car circuits of the Midwest. His New York Times obituary (published May 21, 1997) reported that Troy "first raced at the so-called Brickyard in 1949 at 19, two years younger than Indianapolis Motor Speedway rules allowed. 'I had to fudge to get in,' Ruttman recalled years later. 'I had to produce a birth certificate. Ralph Wayne Ruttman was my cousin, and I used his. They asked me why I went by Troy and I told them it was a nickname. I corrected it when I turned 21.'"


In the 1952 Indy race, after qualifying seventh, Ruttman led 40 laps in mid race and was steadily closing on leader Bill Vukovich. He took the lead 20 miles from the finish when Vukovich's car had a broken steering pin. His victory came while driving one of the famous red and cream No. 98 cars entered by J.C. Agajanian, a Southern California race promoter. He also set a new record at 128.922 miles per hour in that race. “A towering figure at 6 foot, 3 inches and 250 pounds, he undoubtedly was the biggest winner, too,” writes Shav Glick in Ruttman's Motorsports Hall of Fame profile. He won five times in the AAA and USAC Indy Champ Car competition in 58 official starts. He won only one more Indy car race, a month after the 500, before breaking his arm severely in a sprint car accident in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which kept him away from racing for nearly two years.

Troy Ruttman competed in numerous Indianapolis 500 races from 1949 to 1964. In 1958, he became the first Indy 500 winner to drive in a Formula One race when he drove at Reims, France.

According to racing historian Terry Reed, Troy is “arguably America’s greatest automobile racing talent.” But, Troy admitted that his winning the 500 at 22 was “a classic case of too much, too soon.” One online source argues that Ruttman could have been a contender on the Formula 1 race circuit if it hadn't been for the "petty pace lap crash" at Cedar Rapids on August 17 in 1952. Before the accident, he qualified fastest for 40 events, against only two after 1952. From 1949 to 1952, in just four years, he won 49 "AAA Big Car races" and finished second in most other races in which he finished. After his accident, he never won again. Instead of undergoing strenuous rehabilitation following his arm injury, he spent his time, in his own words, "Drinking, playing cards and chasing women."

After driving in his 12th 500, in 1964, he abruptly retired. He was only 34. In hia words, "I want to walk out of it alive with my head up." He said he felt racing had been good to him but "every time I sit down in a race car death is sitting right beside me." He had been injured seriously several times and narrowly escaped death in that year's Indianapolis 500 in which one of his closest friends, Detroiter Eddie Sachs was killed. Troy had been running alongside Sachs when the fatal crash occurred. Sadly, it was Troy's son, Troy Ruttman, Jr., who lost his life racing. Young Ruttman's race car went through a guard rail and chain link fence at Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, in May of 1969. He was only 19 years old.

Handsome, personable and gregarious, Troy Ruttman was a natural salesman and built a thriving motorcycle and snowmobile business in Detroit. Later, Troy learned to fly, moved to Venice, Florida, and ran an aircraft brokerage business. More significantly, he quit the fast life that he'd known since he was a teenager. "I'm more proud of giving up drinking and gambling and all that other stuff than I am of winning the 500," he said a few years before he died of lung cancer on May 19, 1997. He was living in Lake Havasu City, Arizona at the time.

Troy’s younger brother Joe (born October 28, 1944) followed his big brother’s car tracks into the world of automobile racing, but that's another blog post!

WILLIAM FREDERICK RITTERSHOUSE, ELDEST SON

Sixty-five years ago this week, the eldest son of John William and Rosena Ritterhouse broke his leg in an accidental fall and died two days later from the "shock of [the] fracture of [his] leg." His home at the time was the Masonic Home in Wichita, Kansas.

William Frederick Ritterhouse was born, like the rest of his siblings, in Tazewell County, Illinois. According to his death certificate, he was born in Tremont, Illinois on Halloween of 1858. No doubt, he helped his father farm on land west of Pekin, Illinois. Then, as the oldest son, he would have helped his mother after his father's untimely death in 1870.

William was the first of his family to leave home and settle in Kansas. By the time William was 21, he was a farm laborer on a farm in Brown County, Kansas, near Hiawatha (according to the 1880 Census). Brown County is in northeastern Kansas approximately 375 miles from his home in Illinois. Although it may not be possible to ever know, I wonder why William went there. In 1880, he was working on the farm of Samuel Meyers. Five years later, when the state of Kansas took a census, he was working as a farmer and living with the J.D. Crook family in Hamlin, Kansas (also in Brown County). Mr. Crook was a butcher.

Probably when the rest of his family relocated to Kansas in the 1890s, William began farming in Nemaha and Marshall Counties. In October 1904, he purchased a home in Blue Rapids, at 301 N. Main where he lived with his mother. In Blue Rapids, he was the water superintendent. Later, he moved with Rosena to Scott City, Kansas, where he also served as water superintendent. (According to his death certificate, he was an electrical engineer.) He reportedly became deaf, possibly from working around the noisy machinery in the water plants.

William's Blue Rapids, Kansas, home ca. 2000


The eldest Ritterhouse child went by the name Rittershouse until World War I, when anti-German sentiments convinced him to change it. According to his niece Edna, he always stated that "Rittershouse" was the “German way”. He never married, apparently taking care of his mother until he was no longer able to. Rosena lived with him in his house in Blue Rapids and his house in Scott City. His niece, Edna, lived with them during her high school years since the schools near her stopped at the eighth grade.



Advice from “Uncle Bill” to his niece Edna in her autograph book in 1903.


In Marshall County, William (or Uncle Bill or Uncle Will as his nieces and nephews called him) was active in various patriotic/fraternal organizations. He participated in meetings at the P.O.S. of A. camp, and the Masonic Grand Lodge. He reported having a “grand good time” when he visited the Leavenworth Masonic Grand Lodge (according to the February 26, 1892 Axtell Anchor). (The Patriotic Order Sons of America (P.O.S. of A.) was "organized December 10, 1847 to preserve the Public School System, The Constitution of the United Sates and our American way of life.")William also helped organize a lodge of Odd Fellows in the neighboring town of Baileyville while he was living in Axtell.

Uncle Bill spent the last 12 years of his life in the Masonic Home in Wichita, Kansas. In 1896, the Masonic Order and Order of the Eastern Star purchased the estate of Robert Lawrence and used his former home as a retirement home for members until a fire destroyed the facility in 1916. In 1917, a new facility was constructed at the site (on the corner of Seneca and Maple), designed in the Mission architectural style. Completed in 1921, the buildings are known for their white stucco walls and red tile roof. On June 25, 1946, William fell and broke his leg. Unfortunately, he died two days later, at the age of 87, from complications from the fall. He is buried in a simply-marked grave in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita in a section donated by the cemetery for the Masonic Home.

[Note: I started this post last year, but basically wrote it in June 2011 and actually posted it June 25, 2011, which is why I refer to the anniversary of his death being "this week".]

UPDATE ON "VOYAGE TO AMERICA" POST

Back in February, I wrote a post on John William Rittershaus' voyage to America. At the time I was researching and writing that post, I e-mailed the Focke-Museum in Bremen, Germany which is the port from which William departed his home country for his new life in America. The Focke-Museum explores the immigrant experience and I had read that this museum had a model of the ship William sailed to America on, the George Washington. Just recently, five months later, I received an e-mail from the museum with a photo of the model attached. Looking at this photograph, you can tell that the George Washington was not a large ship, and it is amazing that this small ship carried 186 passengers plus the crew for the six week journey across the Atlantic ocean. I had thought that the Washington was surely a steamship, but it looks like it was a three-masted sailing ship. I guess that explains why it took six weeks to travel from Bremen to New York City. The museum did not send any information about the ship or its voyages. I'm still hoping to learn more about both of those topics and if I do, I'll post further updates.

ROSINA -- PART 3

In researching these Rosina blogs, I was intrigued to find I had pictures of most of the houses Rosina lived in. It's not EXACTLY accidental since I'm thrilled if I can find the actual place and, especially, the actual house where an ancestor lived. So, I seek these places out and, naturally, take pictures of them. The intriguing thing (to me) is that Rosina is pretty much the only ancestor for whom I have a trail of homes.

Of course, since I don't know where Rosina came from in Germany, I don't have a picture of her home there. Odds are good, though, that it still exists. At least as I've visited the cities, towns and villages of Germany, I've seen many, many homes that are at least 200 years old.

The first house that I have pictures of that Rosina MIGHT have lived in is located in Tazewell County, Illinois, a few miles east of Pekin. The attached picture was taken in 1919. I honestly have some doubts as to whether this was the house the Ritterhouses lived in. I'm no student of historical architecture, but, to me, this house does not look like it could have been built in the 1860s. Nevertheless, it is fairly certain that the Ritterhouses lived in a house at this site. And this particular house has not changed significantly in the past 90 years, except for the addition of beautiful trees and flowers and a front porch.




From Tazewell County, Illinois, Rosina and her family moved to Marshall County in northern Kansas.
Rosina bought a farm of 80 acres just a few miles south of the Nebraska border. The legal description of the land was S1/2 SE1/4, Section 3, Township 3, Range 10. Rosina apparently farmed this land from October 1890 to early 1899. I'm not absolutely certain this was her farm. I visited the site in 1994 and as near as my parents and I could follow the township map, these ruins were on the property identified in the land records. They certainly looked like they could be 90 years old!




I'm not sure where Rosina moved after selling her land (several of her children had purchased land in Marshall and neighboring Nemaha Counties), but in 1904, William bought a house in Blue Rapids, Kansas (still in Marshall County) and Rosina moved in with him. At this point she was over 70 years of age. The house was located at 301 N. Main St. They lived in this house about 15 years while William worked as an engineer at the city water works. From 1914 to 1916 (I think), Rosina's granddaughter, Edna Ritterhousee lived with them while here while she attended the Blue Rapids High School. In April 1919, he sold the house and they moved out to western Kansas, settling in Scott City.




For some reason, in 1919, William and Rosina moved to southwest Kansas, nearly to the Colorado border, where William worked for the City of Scott City as their "stationary engineer". This was definitely sparsely populated area. Despite Scott City being the county seat, the population at that time was under 1500. They lived there several years until William's health apparently failed, and he moved to Wichita to live his final years in the Mason's Home. They were still living in Scott City at the time of the 1925 Kansas Census.







As nearly as I can tell, the last house that Rosina lived in was in Colorado Springs. She apparently went to live with her daughter, Anna, when William could no longer take care of her. Anna lived with her husbands, first Ed Nolte and then William Ebright in Colorado Springs at 1011 N. Corona. According to Rosina's death certificate, this house was where she died.