Research Notes:
1757 Michael Rinter/Riter was taxed in Cocalico Twp, Lancaster County. [1]
We are researching Joseph Rittner (1720 - 1794). Joseph was born about 1720, based on his age at death. John Abraham Rittner, an early resident of Reading, Pennsylvania, may have been about the same age as Joseph. We have no evidence that Joseph and Abraham were brothers, other than concidence of time and place. Joseph Ritner was Catholic, while Abraham Ritner was Hugenot. Both families were weavers. We seek further information about their possible relationship, or lack thereof. These Research Notes concern any families that might be related to Joseph Rittner or John Abraham Rittner.
A biosketch of Joseph Ritner (1780 - 1869), governor of Pennsylvania and son of Michael, reported [2] [3]:
Joseph Ritner, ex-governor of Pennsylvania, was born where the city of Reading, Berks Co, Penn now stands, March 25, 1780. His grand-father, John Ritner, a descendant of one of the noble families of Silesia, located for some time in Alsace, then a part of France, but afterward came to America and settled in Berks County, Penn. His son Michael, who was a soldier of distinction in the Revolution, serving until its close, swam Long Island sound, being one of the very few that escaped by that route, and he was in the service at the time of the birth of his illustrious son. He followed the trade of weaver, locating in turn at Lancaster, Carlise, and York where he died.
Not yet found: Jane Hunter Hodgson, The Ridenour Family from Rosenthal, Alsace, France to Hagerstown, Maryland, Fairfield County, Ohio, and Allen County, Ohio
1690 John Reidenour, born 1690, arrived 1739 from Rosenthal, Alsace, died 1755, left a large family, according to the Oley Hills Church records. [4] [5]
1739 Hans Michael Reitenauer may have arrived at Philadelphia on the ship Robert & Alice from Rotterdam, on September 3. [6]. However, other sources report his name as Nicholas Reitenhower. [7] [8]
1747 Catharina Barbara Ritner married Andreas Frey. They were parents of son John Mattheus who was baptized in 1747 at Mosolem Lutheran Church, Berks County. Perhaps Catharina is a sister of John Abraham Ritner. [9]
1787 Dame Margaret Ridner baptized a child on January 28, at St Mary's Catholic Church in Lancaster City, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [10]
1795 Margaret Ritner baptized a child on February 22, at St Mary's Catholic Church in Lancaster City, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [11]
1752-1756 John Ridenour was taxed in Hereford District, Berks County. [12]
1790 John and Daniel Reidenouer lived in East District, Berks County, Pennsylvania. [13]
1800 John Reidnayer lived in East District Twp, Berks County, Pennsylvania in a household with males: 1 (26 thru 44) and 1 (45 and over); and females: 1 (16 thru 25) and 1 (45 and over). [14]
Alternative spellings have been used in documents: Ritner, Rittner, Rütner, Reitner, Retner, Ritter, Rittener, and Reidenour.
A Family sketch reports the following [15] [16]:
This family has branches in RITENOUR Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio, who employ various spellings, Ritenour, Ridenour, Wrightnour and Redenaur. They all are believed to descend from the family of Reitenauer, seated in Rosenthal, Alsace (now again a part of the German Empire), who under Louis XIV. of France suffered such persecution that representative members fled to America for asylum. They were German by birth and Protestant in religion. Much investigation has been made and the result, as collected by Rev. John S. Wrightnour, has been published in pamphlet form by John S. Ritenour, a native of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, for private distribution. While he has gathered together many scattered threads and established many facts, there are still many gaps to fill and relationships proven. The best evidence establishes the following line from the emigrant to Dr. Joseph P. Ritenour, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
(I) Nicholas Reitenauer, of Rosenthal, Alsace (then France, now Germany), was of the reformed (German) faith. Like all Huguenots or Reformers of France, he endured cruel persecution under Louis XIV. of France. His wife Susan bore him a family, two of whom are known to have come to America in 1739-Nicholas (2), and Johannes. Dr. Ritehour, previously mentioned, descends through Nicholas (2), the Uniontown family through Johannes.
(II) Johannes (John), son of Nicholas Reitenauer, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany) in the village of Rosenthal, in 1690. He married there, in 1716, Mary Catharine They came to the American colonies in 1739, settling at the Oley Hills, Berks county, Pennsylvania. Nicholas (2), his brother, settled near Hagerstown, Maryland, at Ridenour's Pond. John's home at Oley Hills was not far from the site of the present town of Reading. He died in 1755, and his tombstone is to be seen in the graveyard of the Oley Hills church, a large well preserved sandstone. He is the ancestor of the Reidenauers of Easton, Pennsylvania.
(III) George, son of John Reitenauer, was born in Rosenthal, Alsace, in 1718. He came to Pennsylvania with his father and uncle in 1739, and settled at Oley Hills, Berks county. Before 1756 he left Oley and settled at Clear Spring, near Hagerstown, Maryland. He married Elizabeth Kipplinger, and had issue.
(IV) John (2), son of George Reitenauer, was a farmer of Maryland until 1780, when he sold his land in Maryland and moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, settling near Brownsville. He appears in the tax list of Washington county in 1781 as the owner of four hundred acres of land. An Indian outbreak led to his abandoning his home and moving to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, where many Germans from Pennsylvania had preceded him. He married, and had sons, all of whom remained in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, except Henry.
(V) Henry, son of John Ritenour (as the name was now written), was born near Newtown, in the Shenandoah Valley. After arriving at manhood he crossed to the west of the Blue Ridge mountains, settling near Gains cross roads, in Rappahannock county, Virginia. He married Catharine Boyer.
(VI) Joseph, son of Henry Ritenour, was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, four miles from Washington, and died in Brandonville, West Virginia. He married Elizabeth Meller Glendenning, daughter of George Glendenning, who moved from Fauquier county, Virginia, to Kentucky, where he died. He had fourteen children who after the death of their father moved to Missouri, excepting those married in Virginia. Joseph Ritenour left issue: 1. John Henry, married, December 11, 1845, Mary, daughter of John Rudasill, of Rappahannock county, Virginia. Children: Romulus V., Lillian V., Mary E., Susan E., Anna B., John M., Joseph E., George I., Lulu B. and Elfreda C. William Mandeville, of whom further. Thomas Randolph, married and settled in Industry, Illinois; he died in the Union army during the civil war, and is buried in Georgia; he left sons, Charles and Thomas Edwin. 4. Emily Somerville, died in Brandonville, West Virginia, in February, 1853, unmarried. Virginia Llewelyn, married Alpheus Michaels. 6. Missouri Eliza, married William H. McGibbons, of Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, and died four months later, September 29, 1857, aged twenty-five years. 7. A son died in infancy, unnamed.
…
[1] Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Tax Records, column 2, bottom, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[2] Samuel P. Bates, P. A. Durant, and J. Fraise Richard, History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania [Cumberland] (Warner, Beers:1886), 586, [GoogleBooks].
[3] A. Stapleton, Memorials of the Huguenots in America (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Huguenot Publishing Co, 1901), 74, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].
[4] James Hadden, Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County Pennsylvania, Volume 3 (New York: Lewis, 1912), 658, [GoogleBooks].
[5] Amon Stapleton, "The Huguenot Element in the Settlement of Berks County" Historical Society of Berks County, Vol. 2 1905-1909 (1910) 386-401 at 397-98, [HathiTrust].
[6] I. Daniel Rupp, A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776, 2nd ed. (1875), 135, right column, line 11, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].
[7] John B. Linn and William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Volume 17. (Oath of Allegiance 1727-1775) (1890), 189, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].
[8] Ralph B. Strassburger, William J. Hinke, ed., Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Vol. 1 (1934, Pennsylvania German Society), 264, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[9] Annette Kunselman Burgert, Eighteenth Century Emigrants From German-Speaking Lands to North America, Vol. 1: The Northern Kraichgau (1983), 114.
[10] Pennsylvania Church Records, Adams, Berks and Lancaster Counties, 1729-1881, [AncestryRecord].
[11] Pennsylvania Church Records, Adams, Berks and Lancaster Counties, 1729-1881, [AncestryRecord].
[12] Morton Luther Montgomery, Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Beers, 1909), 12, [InternetArchive].
[13] United States Federal Census, 1790, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[14] United States Federal Census, 1800, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[15] James Hadden, Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County Pennsylvania, Volume 3 (New York: Lewis, 1912), 658, [GoogleBooks].
[16] John W. Jordan and James Hadden, Genealogical and personal history of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].