John Ritter
John Ritter was born in the year _____ and died _____. He was married to Mary Glick in Fairfield County, Ohio probably about the year 1806 as their first child was born in 1809. I have searched the early marriage records of Fairfield County but have failed to find their marriage recorded. Many of the pioneers did not record their marriages. The Ritters and many settlers in the neighborhood did not even record their lands. From the earliest records I can find, which were obtained from the oldest people living in the county in 1875, John Ritter was here by 1802. He came from Pennsylvania, possibly Philadelphia. (Note – My grandmother said the Ritter family came to America by way of the port of Philadelphia. She also said the Ritters had the first German language newspaper in America. That the Ritters were publishers is partly born out by the Duke of Saxe Weimar when he visited Lancaster, Ohio in the year 1825. He was shown a dozen German language newspapers from various parts of the country and in his memoirs he says the best one of them was edited by “Mr. Ritter” of Philadelphia. My grandmother also stated that the Ritters were related to the Royal house of Saxony and that they lived in the city of Mannheim in the Rhine Valley before coming to America. But I do not remember her ever telling the date they came and neither have I encountered anyone who does.)
Mary Glick ( Maria), John Ritter’s wife, as born _____ and died _____. She was the only child of Peter Glick who was born in 1788 and died June 20, 1877. He was killed by a log that fell on him at a house (or barn) raising. His wife, Marie Barbary Glick, was born in 1767 and died in 1835. The Glicks came from Dauphin County, Penna., and were among the earliest settlers in Fairfield County, Ohio. They are buried under heavy sandstone tombstones of the bench type in the churchyard of the Old Glick church.
The Ritters were originally Lutherans. But the Lutherans were not putting out a satisfactory brand of religion in those days and when the Evangelical Association came to the vicinity in the year 1816 they became of that denomination. In 1851 the Ritters left Fairfield County and took up new land in Henry County, Ohio. As far as I can determine there were quite a number of people made that migration. Among them John Ritter and wife along with their children and the families of their children.
The children of John hitter are as follows:
1. Henry b. 5-25-1809 d. 9-9-1830 Single
2. Hannah b. 1811 d. 2-20-1873 Married David Hoy
3. John b. 1812 d. 12-21-1871 Married Elisabeth Shetterly
4. Joseph b. 1814 d. 1874 Married Frances Hoy
5. Mary b. 10-29-1814 d. 7-7-1816 Single
6. Mary M. b. 1819 d. 11-12-1874 Married Levi Sprangler
7. Peter b. 1819 d. 6-6-1886 Married Wilamena Higgens
There is the possibility Joseph Ritter was a twin. Henry and Mary (the first) are buried at the Click Church in Fairfield County, Ohio. All the others, including the parents, are buried at Napoleon.
Joseph Ritter 1814-1874
Joseph Ritter was born in Bloom Township. Fairfield County, Ohio in the year 1814 and died near Napoleon, Ohio in the year 1874. His wife, Frances Hoy, was born in Fairfield County in the year 1818 and died near Napoleon in 1895. They were married in Fairfield County but their marriage was not recorded and neither was their land. The German language was spoken by the Ritter family until about the year 1843 or 1850 when Joseph Ritter decided his family should speak English henceforth since they were living in an English speaking country. My grandmother never spoke anything but German until that time, and some say until she was nine which would be 1853. Joseph Ritter built a school house on his land so his children would not have so far to go to school. My grandmother started to school when she was three.
Joseph Ritter moved with his family and relatives to Napoleon, Ohio in the year 1851 and took out a section and a half of virgin land. He was land poor and sold various parts of his holdings from time to time to pay taxes. Such was the fate of a farmer that had too few sons.
The children of Joseph Ritter are as follows:
1. Sarah b. 1838 d. 1932 Single
2. Lydia b. 1839 d. 1924 Married Nathaniel Hartman
3. Frances b. 1814 d. 1928 Married Ezra W. Wolfe
4. Katharine b. ___ d. 5-4-1887 Married Joseph Grimm
5. John b. 1848 d. 1912 Married Nan Abbott
6. Samuel b. 1853 d. 1917 Married Hannah Travis
7. Cynthia b. ___ d. ___ Single
8. Mary b. ___ d. ___ 1902
9. Augusta b. 1855 d. 1932 Married Frank Mann
10. Clara b. 1857 d. 1928 Married John Albert Lowry
11. Jurya b. ___ d. ___ 1878 Single
Frances Hoy, wife of Joseph Ritter, was a daughter of Daniel Hoy who was born July 6, 1779 and died. Jan 24, 1871 and Mary Magdalena _____ who was born Feb. 15, 1779 and died Oct. 29, 1863. They were married in Pennsylvania and came to Fairfield County, Ohio about the year 1806. They took out two quarter sections of government land in Bloon Township, and erected a log cabin. Daniel Hoy, Philip Roy and Peter Woodring gave eight acres of land in 1807 for church and cemetery purposes and the Lutheran church was erected thereon. The original church house was a log structure. The third church house is standing on the same location today and is now occupied by the Evangelical Association. Jubert Hoy, a great grandson of Daniel Hoy is custodian of this church. Before 1816 Daniel Hoy erected his brick house which is still standing and is occupied by his grandson, Isaac Hoy, and his great grandson, Hubert Hoy. The bricks for this house were burned within a stone’s throw of the house. In this house the first sermon of the Evangelical Association was preached by Fred Showers, a missionary from Pennsylvania, in the year 1816. The early settlers were rough and uncultured people and it angered Granny Hoy, as she was known, that the men came to church in her new house in the early days with tobacco in their mouths. During the sermons, which were prolonged affairs, the men had no place to spit and so spit right out onto the new white plaster walls. This ran down the white plaster and looked awful. Daniel Hoy was a powerful man of a large build. The story is told that he went back to Pennsylvania with his team on various occasions and freighted things back to the community. On one trip a man and his team were hogging a mountain road and refused to allow Daniel Hoy to pass. Daniel Hoy got out of his wagon, took the other wagon by the boom pole and heaved it down over the side of the mountain. On another occasion at a house raising, four men were trying to throw a big log up onto a refuse pile for burning but were not succeeding. Daniel Hoy brushed the men aside, and single-handed put the log onto the pile. The early settlers burned much that would be considered good lumber today.
Granny Hoy was a famous doctor in her day. One side of a front room in her house was completely shelved and filled with medicine bottles. These shelves were still intact twenty years ago. She gathered herbs in the fields about and made her own remedies. She had a Balm of Gilead tree growing in front of her house from which various healing remedies were made with the aid of some good stout whiskey, etc. Much of the early medicines were so strong they did more damage than good, frequently. She carried her medicines in a pack saddle and rode horseback to call on her patients. Sometimes people came for her in the dead of night and she would be gone for days at a time. Frequently, in those days, doctors stayed with their patients until they either recovered or died. It was a saying in the neighborhood that nobody could heal like Granny Hoy. But the family said it came to be quite a nuisance. Daniel and Magdalena Hoy are buried at the Glick Church which is near their home.
Daniel and Magdalena Hoy had eleven children, one of them born when they were fifty. Of these children only five are known today:
1. David b. 1808 d. 1897 Married Hannah Ritter.
2. Frances b. 1818 d. 1895 Married Joseph Ritter.
3, Catharine b. ___ d. ___ Married Bishop Joseph C Long
4. Isaac b. ___ d. ___ Inherited his father’s farm.
5. Mary b. ___ d. ___ Married Charles Glick
It might be added that Bishop Joseph C Long was the most powerful preacher the church ever had. He read and prayed with his Bible for hours at a time. He achieved greater concentration in reading his Bible by doing so on his knees. After marrying Catharine Hoy he lived for some time in the Hoy home. Much of his preaching was a long way from the house and he frequently returned to the house late at night. But he never wanted anyone to wait up for him. He preferred to put his horse away himself and hoist a window and gain entrance to the house. One night he returned after all the others in the household were asleep. He hoisted a kitchen window and managed to fall into the slop barrel which happened to be under that window. He was a very powerful figure and a most loved one in the church.
Note that the husband of Katherine Grim was known as Joe Grim to all his acquaintances around Napoleon. Her inscription states “Wife of J. Grim”. I also checked records of transfer of real estate once owned by “Uncle Joe” in which records the name is given as”Joseph Grim”. They had three sons, Elmer, Nathaniel, and Earl. It is my recollection that Ezra Wolfe once upon a time sold a steamboat to Nate (Nathaniel) Grim. Perhaps this may clear up the confusion in your records of the name of Katherine’s husband.
Note also that the inscription of monument of Peter Ritter’s wife reads “Wilamena”. I also knew this woman who was commonly called “Minnie”.
Have had several long visits with Mrs. Sturdavant and it really would do your heart good to talk with her. Although her memory is a bit hazy, with a little judicious questioning, she remembers quite wall. She says that she was five years old when her family came to Henry County. She remembers where her grandfather (the original John Ritter) lived near Shunk, but does not remember where he is buried.. Says he died a long time before her grandmother. She remembers her grandmother well as she was married before her grandmother died. She thinks that in all probability her grandparents lie side by side in the Shunk cemetery although there is no marker for him.
I forgot that the inscription on the monument of the grandmother reads “Marye” Ritter, probably for the same name as is now spilled “Marie”. Mrs. Sturdavant told me that her grandmother’s name was “Mary” or sometimes called ”Marie”.
My penmanship is so poor that I thought I would write on the typewriter so you could read it with less effort. However I don’t know that I have gained much advantage thereby.
If we can be of any further assistance in this or any other matter please do not hesitate to call on us as we are only too willing to do all we can to help in any way. With best wishes for a Happy New year to yourself, Royal and the whole family, I am, Yours truly, D. P. Woodward
JOHN RITTER AND MARY GLICK RITTER
JOSEPH RITTER
JOSEPH RITTER AND FRANCES HOY RITTER
SAMUEL ALFRED RITTER
SAMUEL ALFRED RITTER AND HANNAH TRAVIS RITTER
FRANCES (MARRIED ORAL PLUMMER)
LOTTIE (MARRIED DORR WOODWARD)
OLLIE (MARRIED ENNO KNIPP)
MAY EDITH (MARRIED JOHN O’DELL)
NELLIE BLANCHE (MARRIED JACOB SHAFER & CHARLES KUHLMAN)
CHARLES RAY (MARRIED LULU KNIPP)
FREDERICK
LOTTIE RITTER AND DORR WOODWARD
DOROTHY WOODWARD
DOROTHY WOOD WARD AND WILLIAM J. RENNECKAR
LINDA L. RENNECKAR
LINDA RENNECKAR AND BARRY LEMON
