IV. Census Data for the Elias Ritter family.

Having at least shown the possibility that all of these Ritters might be connected, it remains to examine the census records of Elias Ritter senior to determine if he had children of the correct sex and age range to be David, Isaac, or Catherine. The short answer is yes, but there are complications because of discrepancies in the ages and birth dates reported at different times.

There is no Elias Ritter in OH in the 1820 census. However there is an Eli Ritter listed in Somerset Co., PA in 1820:

1820 Somerset Co., PA, Jenner Twp. p.149:
1 male age 26-45 (born 1775-1794) [Eli]
3 males, under 10 (b. 1810-1820) [could be Isaac, David and William]
1 female, 26-45 (1775-1794) [probably Christena, b. ca. 1792]
3 females, under 10 (1810-1820) [one could be Catherine]

This is the only Eli or Elias in the PA index for 1820 and is the right age to be our Elias. Two of the three males could easily be Isaac and David and one of the females could be Catherine. The other male is probably William Ritter, and the other two females are so far unknown.

I also looked for Elias Ritter in 1810 in PA in case he had married and formed a household by then. I wasn't successful in finding our Elias, but I did find another Elias Ritter in Westmoreland Co., Unity Township. (p. 118). This Elias Ritter and his wife were both over 45 (e.g. born before 1765) and thus too old to be our Elias and Christena. There were 2 daughters in the family, aged 10 to 16 (born 1796-1900). One possibility to explore would be that this might be the father of our Elias sr. Westmoreland County is adjacent to Somerset. Records of two baptism at a Lutheran church in Somerset County also list an Elias Ritter and Margaret as the sponsors. Our Elias senior would be too young to be this Elias, but it could be the Westmoreland County Elias. There are no Elias Ritters listed in the 1800 PA census. [note added July 2002: I have been sent an abstract of the will of Elias Ritter of Westmoreland Co., PA (proved in Richland, VA) in 1812. It states that he had a wife Margaret and child (among others) Elias. This increases the likelihood this is the father of our Elias Ritter]

In 1830, we find our Elias is in Stark Co., OH

1830 Stark Co., OH, Sugar Creek Twp, p. 323:
1 male age 30-40 (born 1790-1800) [Elias]
1 male, 10-15 (b. 1815-1820) [could be David or William]
2 males, 5-10 (1820-1825) [one could be David, one Elias b. 1821]
1 male, 0-5 (1825-1830) [?]
1 female, 20-30 (1800-1810) [probably Christena]
1 female, 10-15 (1815-1820) [Catherine? Or Susan?]
3 females, 5-10 (1820-1825) [?]
2 females 0-5 (1825-1830) [Lorina and ?]

There is a discrepancy for Elias' wife's age. Assuming Christena's tombstone age is relatively correct, the wife should be age 30-40 (born 1790-1800), and the age of the wife in the 1820 PA census implies she was born before 1794 (i.e. at least 36 in 1830). Most likely the age category for the wife in the census has been misstated. But even though there are no records of an Elias marrying in Stark County before the son Elias junior married Anna Rider, there is always a slight possibility that Elias senior was married more than once. The female born 1815-1820 could be Catherine. Although Catherine's tombstone says she was born in 1813, her census ages in 1850 through 1870 imply she was born 1816 or 1817. Whichever year she was actually born, the 1830 census age of Elias Ritter's oldest daughter in the household is consistent with Catherine Ritter's later census ages. The male born 1815-1820 could be David, whose birth year has been reported both as 1820-1821 and 1819. However there is no appropriately aged male to be Isaac. But if Isaac were born in 1811 (as his later censuses imply) he would have been 19 by 1830 and might have been out of the household working on his own. There are at least two males and one female missing in 1830 from the 1820 census. Although these children may have died, it is also possible that they were now old enough to be working on their own (or even married). Since Elias senior must have moved from PA to Stark County, OH after 1820, his older children would all have been born in PA, as were Isaac, David, and Catherine Ritter.

By 1840 Elias has moved to Bethlehem Twp.

1840 Stark Co., OH, Bethlehem Two (p. 210):
1 male 40-50 (1790-1800 ["Elia"]
2 males 20-30 (1810-1820) [David, Isaac or William?]
1 male 15-20 (1820-1825) [Elias jr.?]
1 female 30-40 (1800-1810) [Christena]
2 females 10-15 (1825-1830) [Lovina and ?]
2 females 5-10 (1830-1835) [Caroline and Rebecca?]
2 females 0-5 (1835-1840) [Sarah and ?]

It appears the family may have been somewhat sloppy about the ages of the children--it looks like at least one of the males born 1820-1825 according to the 1830 census may have been born 1810-1820 according to the 1840 census. But relatively sloppy reporting of ages is not uncommon in censuses and the ages must be considered approximations. Once again the wife's age is too young to agree with Christena's having been born ca. 1792, but since Caroline, the daughter who lists her parents as Elias Ritter and Christena Grindle, was born ca. 1832, this wife is almost certainly Christena. The two males born 1810-1820 could be Isaac and David, but at least some males appear to have left the family over the 1820-1840 period, either through death or going out. There were 3 males in 1820, 3 in 1830 and 3 in 1840, but at least 2 males and probably 3 were born after 1820. Because of the sloppiness with the ages, it is difficult to determine exactly how many sons Elias Ritter senior had, but there would have to be at least 5. Similarly, one would have to estimate at least 8 daughters and probably 10. By 1840, Catherine Ritter had married Peter Hamman and was enumerated in Peter's household as being age 20-30 (born ca. 1810-1820). Certainly there is nothing in the census data to disprove the hypotheses that Catherine, Isaac and David might be children of Elias senior.

Since we have shown from the censuses that Catherine Ritter Hamman could have been one of Elias senior's children, it is also worth looking at other Ritters in Stark County censuses to determine if there were any other possible natal families. There were three Ritter families listed in Stark County in the 1820 census. Only one had a daughter the appropriate age to be Catherine ("under 10"), and that is Daniel Ritter in Perry Township. But from Perrin's History of Stark County (1881) we learn that Daniel Ritter came to Stark as a child with his father John Ritter and was married in Stark County to Catherine Slussser (4 Feb 1816). Thus his children would have been born in Ohio, not in Pennsylvania, and we know that his oldest daughter (the one in the 1820 census) was named Elizabeth (from the biographical sketch of Daniel Ritter's son-in-law Jacob Umbenhower, p. 814).

However since Catherine was born in PA in 1813-1816, she may not have come to Stark until after the 1820 census. In the 1830 census, we find five Ritter families. Two have no daughters of the appropriate age, one is Elias Ritter who we have already shown to have a daughter of the appropriate age, and one is the aforementioned Daniel Ritter. This leaves David Ritter in Tuscarawas Township. Tuscarawas Twp is to the northeast of Bethlehem and, while not adjacent to Tuscarawas County, is not so far that the family could not have come into contact with Peter Hamman of Lawrence Twp, Tuscarawas County. However it appears that this David was the David who was the brother of Daniel. Thus like Daniel, his children would also have all been born in Stark (David Ritter married Elizabeth Roofner in Stark 2 Feb 1819, which is after Catherine was born ). David was listed in the 1820 census with no daughters under 10, but with one daughter 10-15 in 1830, which could happen if he had a daughter in 1820 after the census, and she was listed as age 10 in the 1830 census. At any rate his oldest daughter would have been too young to have been Catherine.

It is still possible that a family of Ritters came to Stark after the 1830 census but before Catherine married Peter Hamman in 1837 (so she could be considered "from Stark County"). There are three additional Ritter families in the 1840 census: Solomon in Bethlehem, Jacob in Tuscarawas, and Elizabeth in Nimishillen Township. The Jacob in Tuscarawas was, based on the ages of his children, probably the same Jacob Ritter who married Rebecca Augustine in Stark on 1 Mar 1827, much too late to be the father of Catherine. This Jacob was also probably the Jacob who was the son of John and brother of Daniel, and since he also came to OH as a child would be very unlikely to have had a daughter born in PA, even if he had been married before his marriage to Rebecca. He was also 40-50 in 1840, meaning he could have been at most about 16 when Catherine was born. Similarly Solomon Ritter of Bethlehem was only age 30-40 and too young to have been the father of Catherine. Finally the Elizabeth Ritter in Nimishillen, who lived alone, was only 40-50 and like Jacob could not have been older than 16 when Catherine was born. Since there is no evidence that this Elizabeth had any children, or even had ever been married, she is not a very likely candidate to be Catherine's mother. In addition, Nimishillen is relatively far from Lawrence Twp, Tuscarawas County. Although we cannot rule out the distant possibility that Elizabeth was the mother of Catherine and brought her from PA to Stark Co., it is very unlikely. In general the census data provides no evidence of a possible natal family for Catherine Ritter other than Elias Ritter of Bethlehem Twp. It is still possible that Catherine came with a family before 1837 and that family had moved on or died out by 1840 and thus never appear in the Stark County censuses. Consequently we have no proof, but the census data strongly point to the Elias Ritter family as the most likely candidate to be Catherine Ritter Hamman's natal family.

I haven't been able to find Elias senior or Christena in the 1850 census in either Stark or Indiana. By then Isaac and David were both married and in Kosciusko, as was Catherine. Elias Ritter junior had married Anna Rider in Stark on 13 Oct 1844 and was in Bethlehem Twp, Stark Co., OH in 1850 with his wife and two young children.

In the same township was a William Ritter, who we've mentioned above. This is clearly the same William Ritter who married Elizabeth Blaugh on 3 Apr 1845 in Stark. William was born in PA ca 1815, and could easily be the third male child of Eli Ritter born 1810-1820. In his household are three unmarried Ritters: Susan age 33, Lovina age 22 and Sarah age 12, These three are too old to be William's children (except possibly Sarah, who could only be a child of William if he had been married previously). A more likely explanation is that Susan, Lovina and Sarah might be William's siblings and thus might be some of the other unknown children of Elias senior. Among William's children is a Josiah age 2 (i.e. born 1847-48). I've mentioned that this is probably the Josiah Ritter buried next to Christena (Grindle) Ritter in the North Webster Cemetery (birth date Feb 1847 according to his stone). William Ritter died in 1853 and is buried in Stark County in the Blaugh Cemetery. Perhaps some or all of his children went to live with their grandmother in Kosciusko, and Josiah died there. The other two children were Lydia age 4 and Sarah age 3 months. There is also a child buried with William who apparently was born after William died and lived 6 months. Lovina married Peter Stametz in Stark on 23 May 1854. In the 1860 census, she can be found in the household of Benjamin Johnson in Tippecanoe Township next to Caroline Ritter Baker on one side (including Elias Ritter Sr.'s wife Christena) and Elias Ritter jr. on the other. Benjamin Johnson was the father of Isaac Johnson who was married to one of Michael Mocks daughters in 1850. Lovina is with a daughter Nancy, born ca. 1856 in IN, but there is no sign of Peter (by 1870, Lovina, Peter and Nancy were living together in Plain Twp). This is a pretty good indicator that Lorina Ritter must have been one of Christena and Elias Sr.'s children. And this in turn makes it even more likely that William, Susan and Sarah are some of the other missing children of Elias senior and his wife Christena.

A lot more work needs to be done to try to determine the other children of Elias senior and what happened to them. This will require further study of all the Stark County Ritters in order to eliminate other possible candidates to be children of the family.