III. Evidence of Connections between the Ritter Families.

The descendants of the Tuscarawas County John Ritter senior (John Ritter junior and the children of George Ritter) make up one family group. There is a strong possibility that the remaining Ritters who came to Kosciusko (David, Isaac, Catherine Ritter Hamman, and Elias, as well as Caroline and Lovina Ritter Stamets) may have all been related to each other. Since this was originally written, y-chromosome tests by a descendant of Elias Ritter junior and a descendant of John Ritter have determined that the two Ritter families did not share a common Ritter ancestor. Thus, we have at least two separate Ritter families in Kosciusko, and it is likely that there are only two, the Stark County Ritters and the Tuscarawas County Ritters. Since we have limited direct evidence of connections among the hypothesized Stark County Ritters--mainly from circumstantial, family account and y-chromosome evidence--some of what follows must be considered speculative.

There are two main types of circumstantial evidence here. One is evidence by elimination. If there are several possibilities and some can be shown to be unlikely or impossible, then the possibilities that remain become more likely. The other suggestive evidence is propinquity. Families who chose to live together or to migrate together tended to be related to each other, especially when they shared a surname. Neither of these two kinds of evidence can be considered proof in the genealogical sense, but merely add weight to our speculative hypotheses. A third kind of evidence is family stories or statements of connections, but without specifics about the relationship these also are not proof. Finally a stronger kind of evidence from y-chromosome testing has been added recently.

Possible link between Catherine Ritter and Elias Ritter. The strongest circumstantial case for a connection would be between Catherine Ritter Hamman and the Elias Ritter family. As we noted above, Peter Hamman's biography mentions that Catherine came from Stark County, but had been born in PA. Also, Peter Himes' probate records demonstrate the Elias Ritter senior had contact with the Himes and Hamman families of Tuscarawas County (recall that Peter Hamman was the son of Mary Himes and Peter's father Jacob was closely associated with Peter Himes, and it is highly likley that Peter Himes was Peter Hamman's maternal grandfather). Elias lived in Bethlehem Township, which is just across the border from Lawrence Township in Tuscarawas County, where Peter Hamman was born and grew up. Elias moved to Stark Co., OH between 1820 and 1830 and had a daughter in his household who was the appropriate age to be Catherine. There were other Ritter families in Stark with daughters in 1830, but as far as I can tell, none of them could have been Catherine. Most of the other Ritters in Stark were descendants of a John Ritter who came from PA with eight sons and died in Stark in 1811. But although the sons were born in PA, unless they returned to marry, their children would have been born in OH. Although other possibilities cannot be ruled out, the simplest one is that Catherine was a child of Elias senior (click here to read the more detailed discussion of the census evidence). This is given further plausibility by the fact than in the 1910 WI census, John B. Ritter, a son of Elias jr., was enumerated two households from Dave Hamman (son of Catherine Ritter Hamman) and three households from William Ritter (son of Abraham and grandson of Catherine Ritter Hamman). The Kosciusko Brethren who settled in Wisconsin were spread over four near-by communities in three counties. John B. came to WI from MO, where he had been in 1900, and choose to stay with the two Hamman-Ritter descendants in Wilson, Eau Claire County rather than, for example, with the Mocks, Kuhns and Berrys in Edson in Chippewa County or the Maniers, Kuhns and Shocks in Worden in Clark County, even though his wife was a Kuhn descendant. This makes sense if John B.'s father Elias jr. and David Hamman's mother Catherine Ritter were siblings. Finally, the Kuhn family history referred to above specifically states that William Ritter was a cousin of John B. Ritter, although the authors may have been unaware that John B.'s Ritters came from Stark and William's from Tuscarawas and were not the same immediate Ritter families. It is also worth noting that Elias jr. named his oldest son Haman, (while still in Stark County), and it is might even be possible that Haman Ritter was named after the Hamman family if Catherine Ritter Hamman was an older sister of Elias junior, and Peter Hamman thus was Elias junior's brother-in-law.

Possible link between Catherine Ritter and David Ritter. Nona Lewallen Phillippi and her sister Frances, granddaughters of Elizabeth Ritter (the oldest child of Nancy Mock and David Ritter) were told by their father while growing up in WI that they were related to William Ritter, my grandfather and the son of Abraham and grandson of Catherine Ritter Hamman. Shortly before she died in 1998, Francis Lewallen Syverson gave my Aunt Dorothy a copy of her grandmother Elizabeth Ritter Lewallen's obituary with the intent of providing evidence of the relationship, although it actually only demonstrates that Francis's grandmother's maiden name had been Ritter. The youngest child, Nona Lewallen Phillippi (age 90 in 1999, and then the only living child of William Lewallen), was close to my father's family when growing up and also claimed that her family and mine are related.

William Rittter and Elizabeth Ritter were not related through the George Ritter line, since descendants of William Ritter and Elias Ritter junior do not share the same y-chromsome. But if David Ritter (Elizabeth's father) and Catherine Ritter (William Ritter's grandmother) were siblings (both the children of Elias senior), then William Lewallen and William Ritter were 2nd cousins. If Catherine Ritter Hamman and David Ritter were siblings then it makes sense that they both arrived in Kosciusko County at the same time (the fall of 1842). Perhaps the unmarried David joined his sister and brother-in-law Peter Hamman on the trip to Kosciusko and there married a daughter of Michael Mock, the latter being Peter Hamman's old neighbor and cousin of Peter's step-mother. Peter states that he first settled in Washington Township, but soon moved to Tippecanoe, where David had married and was living with the Michael Mock family.

Link between Elias Ritter Jr. and David Ritter. In 1900, Elias' son Alfred and sister Alice Wright are enumerated next to Quill (Aquilla) Lewallen, the son of David Ritter's daughter Elizabeth. Quill is also next to a Grindle family on the other side. In the 1850 census, a Grindle family was enumerated two households from David Ritter in Tippecanoe Township. Since Elias Ritter senior's wife was a Grindle, these could be relatives of David Ritter's mother if David were a son of Elias and Christena. Haman Ritter, son of Elias, jr., provided an affidavit for Nancy Mock Ritter's application for a Civil War Pension for her son John Ritter in the 1880's. Such affidavits were often provided by relatives (as noted above, three affidavits were provided by David and Nancy Ritter's son-in-laws). At the least it makes clear that the families were familiar with each other and the possibility that this familiarity was based on kinship cannot be ruled out.

The strongest and conclusive evidence of a link comes from y-chromosome markers. In 2006, tests by a descedant of David Ritter were compared to the earlier results from a descendant of Elias Ritter junior and the comparison conclusively shows that the two share a common paternal ancestor, with a 62% likelihood that it was within 4 generations, and 85% within 8 generations. The two descendants are five and four generations, respectively, removed from Elias Ritter senior, the apparent father of both Elias junior and David.

Possible link between Elias Ritter Jr. and Isaac Ritter. The 1905 marriage application of Isaac Ritter's grandson Elmer (son of Hiram B.) and Elias Ritter's granddaughter Opal Wright strongly points to a link between Isaac and Elias. First the application gives Hiram B.'s birthplace as Stark Co., OH. The census records always show Hiram was born in Indiana (in 1853, eight years after his parents Isaac Ritter and Elizabeth Mock had married in Kosciusko). But this can be taken as indication that Elmer or the informant Alice Ritter Wright (daughter of Elias junior) believed that the family had come from Stark County, which of course is where Elias Ritter senior had lived. Second, in the blank asking if the couple are closer than 2nd cousins, it is written "No--third cousin." This is a clear indication that Elias and Isaac were related. If they are siblings as I suspect, then Elmer Ritter and his bride Opal Wright were actually second cousins, but the statement that they were third cousins may not have been exact. There are no known other connections (through the Wrights, Mocks, Riders or Thorns), so it is clear that Elias jr and Isaac were at least 1st cousins if not siblings and were part of the same Ritter family. Finally, in the 1900 census, Milt Baker, son of Caroline Ritter Baker and sister of Elias Ritter jr., was enumerated next to Hiram Ritter, son of Isaac.

Possible Link between David Ritter and Isaac Ritter. The links of propinquity between Isaac and David provide little evidence of a connection since they could all be explained by the fact that the two were married to sisters. However, it seems quite probable that David and Isaac Ritter were siblings or otherwise close relatives. They were both born in PA and married two sisters less than three years apart. There is no sign of a possible natal family for either of them in Kosciusko, unless we count the Stark County Elias Ritters who came a few years later (Christena and her children, Elias, Lorina, and Caroline). Nor is there a likely source for either of them in Tuscarawas County, where the Mocks had originated (all the children of the Ritter families in Sandy and Lawrence are accounted for). It would seem implausible that two unrelated Ritters would have each wandered separately into Kosciusko County in the early 1840's and each found daughters of Michael Mock to marry. Finally stronger evidence comes from a family account provided by a descendant of David Ritter's in 2006. He states that David and Isaac were brothers and that they and a third unnamed brother came from Ohio to Kosciusko (the brother would have been Elias junior). The relevant section of a typewritten account reads, "The Ritter family can be traced back to Germany, coming to America thru Switzerland. They originally lived in Somerset County Pennsylvania where they are listed on Amish church records. At some point they broke off from the Amish church and joined the Brethren Church. Around this same time they moved to Stark County Ohio where several went on to be deacons and bishops in the church. From Ohio David and Isaac Ritter were the first to move to Kosciukso County, Indiana where the two brothers married two sisters by the name of Mock. Some other Ritters followed later" (typescript supplied by Edwin Ritter).

Possible link between Catherine Ritter Hamman and Isaac Ritter. We have no direct evidence pointing to any links between Isaac Ritter and Catherine Ritter Hamman, although the evidence mentioned above provide indirect evidence of links. For example, there is evidence of links between Catherine and Elias and of links between Elias and Isaac.

Summary. Although we do not have absolute proof, there is strong evidence the Catherine, David, Isaac, Elias junior, and Caroline were all siblings, as well as William, Susan, Lovina and Sarah Ritter. Y-chromosome testing has established that at least David and Elias junior share a common ancestor and that they do not share a common ancestor with the descendants of the Tuscarawas, Ohio John Ritter. Thus the Ritters of northeast Kosciusko County appear to consist of two family groups: the Tuscarawas Co. descendants of John Ritter, senior, and the Stark Co. descendants of Elias Ritter, senior. Those of us who are descendants of Abraham Ritter and Mariah Hamman are the descendants of both Ritter families.

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Copyright 2000, updated 2006, Philip Ritter, philr@stanford.edu