REASONS FOR EMIGRATON

In the mid-nineteenth century, land was plentiful in newly opened territories in the expanding United States.  Entrepreneurs saw opportunities to recruit new land-buyers in troubled areas of Europe.  Germany was a rich mine of discontented or desperate souls ready to start new lives in a new land.

Wupper River

In 1848, a Barmen, Germany merchant described as "a man of influence in his native town" by one
source [How Wisconsin Came by Its Large German Population, 1892], Theodor Wettstein, began recruiting in the Wupper valley to take a ship of emigrants to America.  According to another source, since Wettstein was "a man of some prominence in that locality, having some important civil positions, many desired to go under his leadership." [The Icelanders on Washington Island, by Alfred Augustus Jackson, et al.]  Although many of the reports from the U.S. were generally looked upon with suspicion, a report written by a native of Elberfeld, Dr. Carl de Haas in 1848 from Wisconsin, was widely circulated in the Wupper valley and convinced many in the area that it would be worth the hardships and struggles to relocate to the U.S.



Barmen ca. 1848

A book published by Wettstein in Elberfeld in 1851 (Der Nordamerikanische Freistaat Wisconsin) gives us hints as to why our Rittershaus ancestor (Johann Wilhelm Rittershaus), may have joined his neighbors on the journey.  According to Wettstein, "for a long time streams of emigrants have been leaving Germany, but no trace of the agitation has reached the Wupper valley, though affairs are in a bad condition.  Manufacturing was the principal industry there, but it was losing ground owing to increased competition, which lowered wages and the price of wares.  The laborers and trading classes suffered most."  At least one of Johann Wilhelm Ritterhaus' fellow townsmen joined the emigrants due to the failure of the Forty-Eighters revolution.  Abraham Peter Olzendam was born in Barmen in 1821, as was our William Rittershaus.  In fact, Olzendam's mother was Johanna Rittershaus, so they were cousins of some sort.  According to a sketch in The Granite Monthly, a New Hampshire magazine [October 1881], Olzendam's "active mind found congenial study in political economy.  The demands of his countrymen for liberty were seconded by him, and with the enthusiasm of youth he entered heartily into the plans of his fellow patriots for the amelioration of his country.  Hopeless of accomplishing the herculean task of freeing his people, despairing of gaining at home that place among his fellows which his inborn ability warranted him in demanding, he quietly bade farewell to his fatherland, and embarked for America at the age of twenty-seven."

By early 1848, "about 300 persons in Elberfeld and Barmen had planned to emigrate.  They were mostly handicraftsmen and traders -- men of some means, who expected to enter farms in the West." [Jackson, The Icelanders on Washington Island]  Theodor Wettstein planned to take his whole family which included his wife, Lisette, and his seven children:  Theodor, 12; Otto, 10; Lina, 10; Hermann, 8; Pauline, 6; Adolph, 3; and Laura, 3 months (at the time of the passenger list).  Since Wettstein had four young sons whose futures caused him "much anxiety", he felt that the prospects for success were far better in the new world than in Germany.  According to one source, although Wettstein was "a prosperous merchant" in Barmen, he "failed in business in 1848" which caused him to emigrate to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ["Otto Wettstein: Three Generations with Otto I, Otto II and Otto III," Blue Grass Blade (Lexington, KY) October 11, 1908]

Possible drawing of the George Washington steam ship

Wettstein recruited at least 156 of his "neighbors" -- 69 from Barmen, 31 from Elberfeld and 56 from other towns such as Lennep, Remscheid and Langenberg -- and "engaged passage at $40 a head" on the George Washington, sailing from Bremen in May of 1848. [Jackson, The Icelanders on Washington Island]  The group included shoemakers, joiners, tailors, carpenters, merchants, smiths, "gerbers" (tanners), farmers, "webers" (weavers), bakers, "apothekers"
(pharmacists), "farbers" (painters) and maids.  Most of the company was composed of families.  Ages ranged from a 66-year-old painter from Elberfeld to babies one and under. It appears that at least a couple of the one-year-olds died on the voyage to America. 

One of my (many) questions is how they travelled to Bremen from Barmen.  The 160-mile journey (which would take about 2 1/2 hours via the A1 autobahn today) would take at least 53 hours to walk.  Assuming walking at least 8 hours per day, it would be at least a week.  They may have been able to take advantage of rivers in the area on at least part of the journey, but there does not seem to be any convenient water route. 



New York City docks, showing berth for the George Washington
(At Dock 3, it reads:  Steam Ships Washington & Hermann
for Bremen & Southhampton)

What is known is that the 450 ton Bremen sailing ship George Washington, sailed from Bremen on May 2, 1848, under the command of Master Mathias Probst with 186 passengers.  After six weeks at sea, they docked at New York City.

From New York City, it is interesting to consider where they went and why.  For Wettstein, "he seems to have started with a preference for Wisconsin, and in New York his impressions were confirmed.  He came to Milwaukee, and though no definite statement is made regarding the matter, he implies that the majority accompanied him."  [Jackson, The Icelanders on Washington Island]  Reportedly, "in New York every hotelkeeper and railroad agent, every one who was approached for advice, directed men to Wisconsin."  [How Wisconsin Came by Its Large German Population, 1892]  Government land was available in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, but was in shorter supply than the more northern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.  According to the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Censuses, at least some of Wettstein's compatriots followed him to Wisconsin.  Our ancestor's cousin mentioned above, Abraham Olzendam went first to Massachusetts "in the neighborhood of Boston" where he stayed for ten years before moving north to Manchester, New Hampshire.  One family (the Dahlmanns) went first to Melrose, New York before settling in Philadelphia.  Another family (the Schilds) headed west to Benton County, Iowa.  Our William Rittershaus can be found working as a blacksmith in Blair County, Pennsylvania in 1850, but soon after settled in Tazewell County, Illinois, where he married, raised a family, and farmed the rest of his life.

JOHN LEWIS RITTERHOUSE: OKIE FARMER NUMBER 2

Lew Ritterhouse ca 1880 at about 13 years old

The sixth child, and fourth son, of John William and Rosina Rittershouse was born on September 4, 1867, while his parents were living and farming in Tazewell County, Illinois.  They named him John Lewis and called him Lew.  Lew grew up in Tazewell County with plenty of siblings to play with.  Older brother Charles was less than a year older, and younger sister Anna was less than two years younger.  Lew was only eight years old when his father died.  He soon had a step-father, but apparently for only less than 15 years, when he must have also lost this step-father to death.

Lewis relocated to northeast Kansas with his family around 1890.  He soon met the teenager Mary Elizabeth Cassell.  Early in 1892, on January 11th, Lew and Lizzie (who was only 17) married in Hiawatha (Brown County) Kansas.  Living and farming in Brown County, near Hamlin, the young couple began their family on August 3, 1894 with the birth of their son, Clarence.  Three years later, their first daughter, Ethel, was born on July 14, 1897.   And three years after that, their second daughter, Ruth was born on May 30, 1900.  Sometime prior to 1910, Lew and Lizzie apparently lost a child, probably in child birth (as the 1910 census records that out of four children born, three were living).

In 1894, Lewis' older brother George joined the hundreds of other land-hungry prospectors in one of the Oklahoma land rushes, securing a 160-acre farm in Woodward, Oklahoma.  Thirteen years later, Lewis decided to follow him, journeying over 400 miles, with his family, to Ellis County where he received title to 160 acres on May 13, 1907.  I think that Lewis was probably accompanied by his younger brother Fred who also settled on 160 acres near him in Otter Township in Ellis County. (On the 1910 census, Lewis is listed at dwelling number 22, while Fred is at dwelling number 29.)



The John Lewis Family about 1923 (from left to right): Thomas O'Hair, his wife Ruth holding son Otis, John Lewis Ritterhouse (sitting) holding onto Clarence O'Hair, Edna Ritterhouse (standing) with husband Clarence, John's wife Lizzie (sitting) holding onto Lloyd Emmet Andrews, Edward Andrews (standing) next to wife Ethel holding daughter Nellie

Lewis Ritterhouse with older brother William

It was not long before the children of Lizzie and Lew were grown and began marrying and starting their own families.  Both girls found their husbands on neighboring farms.  First was Ethel who (at 17) married Edward E. Andrews, son of O. C. and Nellie Andrews who farmed nearby, on November 16, 1914.  Three years later, also at the age of 17, Ruth married Thomas Edwin O'Hair, son of Floyd A. and Addie B. O'Hair, on Christmas Eve, 1917.  The sisters Ethel and Ruth shared the joys and agonies of their first pregnancies as both began their families in 1919.  Ruth produced Lew and Lizzie's first grandchild on April 2, 1919.  Her first child was a son they named Clarence Edwin.  Three months later, Ethel's first child, also a son, was born on July 29, 1919.  He was named (Lloyd) Emmet.  Ruth and her husband Tom welcomed their second child, another son, into their lives on December 15, 1921; they named him Otis.  The next year, Ethel and Ed had a second child, their first daughter, whom they named Nellie, after her paternal grandfather.



Ethel and Edward, with Clarence
peeking around the corner.

Older brother Clarence was the last to marry.  In 1922, he married an older woman, Edna J. Gilbert who was 28 to his 27 years of age.  Edna was the daughter of Jeddiah and Etta (Peterson) Gilbert and had been born in and grew up in Edgar County, Illinois.  I do not know how they would have met.  I do not think Clarence served in WWI (which might have given him an opportunity to meet a girl who lived 800 miles away).  According to his WWI draft registration card, he was supporting his parents at that time, and he applied for a farming exemption.  Clarence and Edna settled on Lew and Lizzie's farm (at least through 1935).  By 1940, they had moved up to Vermilion County, Illinois and were living with Edna's sister, Ellen and her husband, Allan Hachett, helping them farm their land. 

The "depressing" Dust Bowl years of the early Thirties were difficult ones for all of those living and working in the Oklahoma Panhandle.  Thousands of Okies gave up and headed west to California.  In the midst of these dusty times, Ruth birthed their third and final child.  A daughter they named Doris June was born June 3, 1932.  Eventually, Tom and Ruth O'Hair also left Oklahoma for California, but not until sometime in the 1940s.  They were still living in Ellis County, Oklahoma in 1940 where Tom was working as a ranch hand on the Parker Ranch and their son Otis was working for the Neimeier Oil Co., but by 1950, they had relocated to San Bernardino, California.


Oliver Lewis Andrews



Ethel and Edward remained in Oklahoma, farming near Lew and Lizzie.  On May 12, 1939, their third child was born.  They named their second son Oliver Lewis.  Sadly, Oliver's life was to be a short one as he died about 28 months later, on September 21, 1941.  They buried him in the nearby Bickford Cemetery. 


Lewis did not live to see his last grandchild's birth.  Farming the Oklahoma Panhandle was hard work.  For several years prior to his death, Lewis suffered from "cardiac dropsy" or congestive heart failure.  At 5:30 a.m. on June 21, 1934, he succumbed to a fatal heart attack.  Lew was nearing his 67th birthday.  In an age when traveling meant a slow, ponderous wagon ride, he had journeyed first from Illinois to Kansas and then from Kansas to western Oklahoma.  For 27 years he wrestled with the unfriendly elements of the Oklahoma panhandle to grow wheat and other crops to feed his family and beyond. He was laid to a well-earned rest in the Bickford Cemetery.

His wife Lizzie lived with various of her children throughout the ensuing years. In 1930, Lew and Lizzie were already living with Clarence and Edna.  Before 1940, they had moved to Illinois to find work.  So, Lizzie moved in with daughter Ruth and her family where she was living in 1940.  Around 1940, the O'Hairs moved out to California to find work.  Although I can't say for sure, I feel certain that Lizzie would have moved in with Ethel and her family at that time.  Lizzie outlived her husband by 12 years, dying just before Christmas, on December 21, 1946.  She too was buried in the Bickford Cemetery.

While the fertility of Lewis' farm may have ultimately failed, he left a legacy of children with the Ritterhouse genes in his wake.  At the time of his daughter Ruth's death in 2000, she left two of her three children (son Clarence had been killed in a car accident in Wichita, Kansas, in 1969), 10 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and 30 great-great-grandchildren!





GEORGE RITTERHOUSE -- OKIE FARMER:

[Note:  Many thanks go to one of my cousins, Charles Lee Ritterhouse, who is a descendant of George Ritterhouse, and who helped me write this biography of his grandfather.]

George Ritterhouse, the third son of William and Rosena Rittershouse, was born in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois on May 28, 1863, during the Civil War.  His father, William, died on June 24, 1876, leaving George a fatherless young boy on the edge of puberty at 13 years old.  Not much is known about George during his early years.  After William's death in 1876, Rosena had to settle the estate which left her with some debt and a large family. She remarried and later sold the Illinois farm and moved the Ritterhouse family to Marshall County, Kansas in October of 1890.

George ca 1880 at about age 17

By this time George was a young man of 27 and took advantage of the opportunity to establish himself as a farmer by purchasing 80 acres in nearby Nemaha County, Kansas in 1891.  Now he needed a wife.  He met a young widow, Cora Bell Tyner Shipman.  Cora was born on September 14, 1869 in Morristown, Indiana.  George and Cora were married on August 26, 1891 in Axtell, in Marshall County, Kansas, at the home of Cora's parents, Henry Clay and Mary Ellen (Crandall) Tyner.  Henry Clay Tyner was a Civil War veteran.

Cora was an adventurous young lady for her times.  She grew up in Indiana but had travelled to Kansas and Iowa to visit family while she was still young.  Cora married Albert Shipman on March 22, 1887 (at the age of 17) in Axtell, Kansas.  Albert was also born in Morristown (Shelby County), Indiana (in 1866).  To this marriage two sons were born.  Fredrick Clay Shipman was born on September 19, 1888 in Thornburg, Keokuk County, Iowa.  Frank Cecil Shipman was born on February 19, 1890 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Not much is known about Cora and Albert's work in Iowa, but it was not long before they returned to Axtell, Kansas, the home of Cora's parents, possibly because of Albert's failing health.  Albert worked on the farm until he died of consumption on March 24, 1891.  He died at the home of Henry Clay Tyner in Axtell and was buried in the Shockley Cemetery in Marshall County, Kansas.


Consequently, Cora, at the age of 22, was left a young widow with two very young children.  But the 29-year-old George Ritterhouse came to her rescue and they were married just five months after Albert's death.  They immediately settled on George's recently purchased 80 acres and began adding to their family.  Charles Earl Ritterhouse was born ten months after their wedding on June 30, 1892.



George Ritterhouse holding son Charles Earl, with wife Cora.
Cora's sister, Sarah Lydia Tyner (Cray Eaton) stands behind them.
Taken in Axtell, Kansas, ca. 1893.

 
 
Lloyd George Ritterhouse made his appearance on February 22, 1894.  About this time, Oklahoma was promoting a homesteading land rush in western Oklahoma to be held that year.  George wanted that free 160 acres from the Oklahoma land rush.  According to the Axtell Anchor dated April 6, 1894, "H.C. Tyner and Geo. L. Rittershouse and their families left for the [Oklahoma] Strip. . .where they will locate."  They would have travelled the 300 miles by covered wagon, taking all of the items they would need to homestead. George and Cora had four boys in their family unit:  Frederick Clay Shipman who was 6 years old, Frank Cecil Shipman who was 4, Charles Earl Ritterhouse who was 2 and Lloyd George, only 2 months old.  The Henry Clay Tyner family included his wife Mary Ellen Crandall Tyner, daughter Sarah Lydia Tyner who was 14 years old and Frank Albert Tyner, 12 years old.  This would have made an interesting wagon train.

The Oklahoma Land Rushes opened up some of the best unoccupied public land in the United States.  The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land rush into the unassigned lands and included all or part of the modern day Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma and Payne counties.  That land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889 with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres.  The Indian Appropriation Bill of 1889 authorized President Benjamin Harrison to open the two million acres for settlement.  The Homestead Act of 1862, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, allowed legal homesteaders to claim lots up to 160 acres in size.  Provided a settler lived on the land and improved it, the homesteader could then receive the title to the land.  A second major Oklahoma Land Rush was held in 1893.  At precisely twelve noon on September 16, 1893, a cannon's boom unleashed the largest land rush America ever saw.  Carried by all kinds of transportation -- horses, wagons, trains, bicycles or on foot -- an estimated 100,000 potential land-owners raced to claim plots of lands in an area of land in northern Oklahoma Territory known as the Cherokee Strip.  The impact of the land rush was immediate and transformed the land almost overnight.

Example of sod dugout on the prairie

The Tyner family decided to stake their claim in Waukomis, Garfield County, Oklahoma.  George and Cora first settled in Waukomis before moving another 90 miles west to Persimmon Flats in Woodward County to homestead.  Persimmon Flats was the early name for Mutual, Oklahoma.  Charles Earl remembered hearing his father recall how they had one dime in cash money left when they reached Persimmon Flats.  They lived in a sod dugout until a house could be built.  Their living conditions would have been very primitive on their homestead.  A sod dugout was built by digging a hole in the ground about three to four feet deep.  It was usually small since it was difficult to dig in the hard-packed prairie soil.  Walls were built out of the sod removed in the digging, usually only rising about three feet (or less) above the ground.  Trees were scrounged from surrounding areas, sometimes miles away, to use for roofing timbers and then more sod was placed over them to make the roof.  With the roof and walls made of sod, when it rained, the mud dripped onto furniture and people below.  With few or no windows and only a small doorway, it was dark and dreary inside.

Woodward, Oklahoma in 1894

Persimmon Flats was located in Woodward County, about 20 miles southeast of the "bustling" town of Woodward, the county seat. Before the Civil War, the historic Plains tribes of the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne and Arapaho occupied this area. After construction of the railroad to the area, in 1887 settlers established Woodward at the junction of the Fort Reno Military Road and the Southern Kansas Railway (a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe).  It became one of the most important shipping points for shipping cattle east. The Santa Fe Railroad created an important resource for the early settlers getting their farm products to market and being able to purchase manufactured goods needed for the new homesteads being established there.



Oklahoma map showing location of Mutual in
Woodward County

George and Cora somehow made it through the first very cold winter living in their sod dugout.  Finally, the spring of 1895 arrived and they could begin the work of improving their living conditions and getting crops planted.  It was essential to get food started for the growing family.  According to family stories, Cora served as postmistress at the Mutual Post Office from 1895 to 1901.  When the post office was first established, names were solicited from individuals.  Cora recommended the name of Mutual which ended up being selected over Persimmon Flats.  Cora also worked with the local doctor, acting as a midwife and delivering babies.

Cora also soon had another baby of her own to be delivered.  Alma Beatrice Ritterhouse arrived on September 10th in 1896.  Beginning four years later, babies began arriving every two years:

     Cora Olive was born November 6, 1900.
     Feign Iris was born August 24, 1902.
     Edgar Harold was born September 5, 1904.
     Mary Ellen was born August 26, 1906.
     Oleta Rosena was born October 17, 1908.


Fortunately, George and Cora's farm was very productive since it had to support their large family.  According to the book Oklahoma Rural Settlers in Woodward County, 1893-1910 by Nadine Young Billingsley and Sandra Billingsley (on page 256):

    "George Ritterhouse owned a 160 acre fenced cultivated upland farm, 60 acres were alfalfa,
     4,000 forest and 250 fruit trees were planted.  Property had a four-room frame house, stable
     14 by 75 foot, granary 8 by 20 feet, hen house, cave and a well."



George (on right) with combine crew. Son Earl is
standing in wagon bed.

George and Cora worked hard in order to feed their family of 10 children.  Reportedly George and the older boys made frequent wagon trips from Mutual to Woodward to take the farm produce to the Woodward market and return with wagon loads of manufactured goods from the railroad.  He did this for hire similar to the truckers of today.  It took two days to make the twenty-mile round trip, necessitating an overnight stay in Woodward.  George also went from farm to farm with a steam-powered threshing machine and combine crew (complete with traveling kitchen) that would harvest the wheat for hire.  This is how they produced the income to build their frame house.



The Young Ritterhouse Children
From left to right, back row:  Cora Olive, Alma Beatrice, Lloyd George and Charles Earl.
Front row:  Oleta Rosena, Feign Iris, Edgar Harold and Mary Ellen

The Ritterhouse children, of course, continued to grow up, as can be seen in this photograph.  Although undated, it can be estimated to have been taken around 1915 based on the children's ages.  The children all look healthy and well-dressed.  That, along with other details in the photo such as the wall telephone and apparently a pet parakeet, imply a level of prosperity not easy to achieve in that time and place.  By this time, the Shipman boys most likely were out on their own since they would have been in their mid-to-late-20s.  The oldest Ritterhouse son, Charles Earl, served in World War I; most likely this photograph was taken a year or two before his service in the Army.





From left to right: Oleta, Mary Ellen, Feign, Alma, Olive, Charles Earl and Lloyd.
(Edgar was not available for the photo.)


 

George and Cora were charter members of the First Christian Church in Mutual.  It was originally organized in a log schoolhouse known as the Morgan School, which was located one mile north and one mile east of Mutual. 

"When the population peaked at 264 in 1910, Mutual residents could attend a Methodist or [the First] Christian Church and had access to the Farmers' Bank and later also to the First National Bank. A feed mill, a machine shop, and a dealer in poultry and dairy products served local farmers. For several decades the town supported a hotel and thirteen retail establishments. The Persimmon Valley Index and Oklahoma Enterprise newspapers were published in the early years. . .  Before World War I Mutual's population may have approached four hundred."  [Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture http:// digital. library. okstate. edu/ encyclopedia/ entries/M/ MU025.html] 


George led a hard but productive life.  After moving numerous times in his early life, around Tazewell County in central Illinois, then to northern Kansas and finally to western Oklahoma, he spent his last thirty years on the land he homesteaded in the Oklahoma Land Rush.  He died January 20, 1924 at the relatively young age of 61, from bronchial pneumonia.  He preceded his mother and all of his brothers and sisters in death.  After services in the First Christian Church of which he was a charter member, he was laid to rest in the Dunlap Cemetery in Mutual. [Note:  There are discrepancies between the information in this obituary, the information on George's headstone and the information on his death certificate which is not unusual.]

George's death left Cora a widow a second time.  She still had young daughters (14 and 16 years old) living at home.  About two years later, in May 1926, Cora married a local widower, George Washington Huffman.  Huffman owned a farm described as a "160 acre upland farm" with 150 cultivated acres, one acre of forest and three acres of orchards.  The property included a five-room frame house, a 30 by 32 ft barn, a granary, barn, hen house, milk house, smokehouse, hog shed, cellar, well and windmill, according to the book Oklahoma Rural Settlers in Woodward County, Oklahoma 1893 to 1910 (by Nadine Young Billingsley and Sandra Billingsley).

The George Ritterhouse children married local people.  Life became really tough during the Great Depression which was followed by the Dust Bowl in this area.  Charles Earl and Edgar stuck it out on farms near Mutual.  Lloyd had gone to work for one of the oil companies and eventually moved from Mooreland, Oklahoma to Kansas for employment.  During the late 1930's the married Ritterhouse daughters, with their husbands, went west to California, Oregon and Washington to find better opportunities.


Cora Tyner Shipman Ritterhouse Huffman with son Charles Earl Ritterhouse,
granddaughter Mary Ellen Ritterhouse Moser and great-granddaughter Elaine
Moser, taken in April 1945 in front of Charles Earl's house.

Once again Cora became a widow when George Huffman died on December 2, 1933.  She had at least had the time to finish raising her children within a family before his death.  After her last husband's death, Cora moved into the home of her son Edgar, in Mutual where she lived until her death on June 1, 1945.  Even though Cora's death certificate lists her as Cora Bell Huffman, she was buried beside her second husband, George Ritterhouse in the Dunlap Cemetery near Mutual, Oklahoma under the name of Ritterhouse.

 

[NOTE:  Some of the references Charles and I used in writing this post include: websites such as http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/landrush.htm, http://www.findagrave.com, and  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MU025.html and the reference books  Woodward County Family Histories Volume II (1907-1957) produced by Plains Indians and Pioneer Historical Foundation, Woodward, Oklahoma  and Oklahoma Rural Settlers in Woodward County, Oklahoma 1893-1910 by Nadine Young Billingsley and Sandra Billingsley.]

RITTERHOUSE TINTYPES

These tintypes of four of the Ritterhouse boys are the earliest Ritterhouse photographs I own. These are four of great-great-grandfather William Rittershaus' five sons (from top to bottom): Fred (born 1874), Lew (born 1867), Charles (born 1866) and George (born 1863).

Tintypes were photos with the image on a metal surface that was blackened. They were cheap, durable and instant (available a few minutes after taking the photo). The process was patented in the U.S. in 1856 and, by the end of the Civil War, they were the most common type of photos. They remained the preferred type of photo until the end of the 19th century. They were usually taken outside at fairs, carnivals, etc. by itinerant photographers, because the equipment was easily set up and the photographs were instantly available.

Judging by the ages of the boys in the Ritterhouse tintypes, I think these photos were taken about 1880. By 1880, the oldest Ritterhouse boy, William, who was 21, was already living in Kansas, working on a farm in Hiawatha County. George would have been 17, Charles (my great-grandfather) would have been 14, Lew 13 and Fred 6. It may have been a year or two sooner, but it was surely around then. At this time, they were living in Tazewell County, Illinois. It was shortly after their father's death (in June 1876) and their mother's marriage to Joseph Vandorn (in late 1877).

So, do we learn anything from these pictures? All of the boys were surely dressed in their "Sunday-go-to-meeting" clothes. They are all wearing jackets with vests. None of them look too comfortable, with poor Lew looking particularly uncomfortable, with all of his jacket buttons buttoned and the jacket appearing to be a bit small. While the photos may have been taken by an itinerant photographer, they surely must have planned to have them taken and dressed accordingly. They are all very solemn, but taking photographs were a much bigger deal back then. They had to remain still and I'm sure wanted to appear as dignified as possible. To me, it's obvious they are brothers, sharing traits like the shape of their heads, similar mouths, noses, and hair. Is there a Ritterhouse feature that continues in the family today? What do you think?

Ritterhouse Roots Ramblings: The Beginning

Researching my Ritterhouse roots has led me to meet and reconnect with family and to meet new friends, as well as to learn about the history and culture of my ancestors. In this blog I'm planning to share information I've learned and stories I've heard about the Ritterhouse/Rittershaus family. I'm hoping that some of my Ritterhouse/Rittershaus cousins will share and discuss along with me. Hopefully, about once a week, I plan to post a picture and "talk" about what I know or don't know about it. So, join me in my quest to learn everything there is to know about the Ritterhouse/Rittershaus family history!