Several comments - this family connects to the Elder Jacob Miller family (David was his youngest son) -and I have information on them at The Virginia Settlement - Four Mile Church (Union Co Library web site, Liberty IN). I had long wondered how this Jacob Ritter connected to another Jacob Ritter - who went to St Joseph Co IN in 1832. Elder Aaron Miller (wife Elizabeth Hardman) and Elder David Miller (wife Sarah Hardman) were two brothers, who married two sisters. Aaron had been to the Four Mile (Wayne Co IN/Franklin Co IN - south east corner on the Ohio State Line), then returned to his father, Montgomery Co OH. Both brothers moved to the Nettle Creek Church (Hagerstown IN Wayne Co IN - northwest corner). They became involved in the migration to the Portage Prairie Church, northwest of South Bend -went up with others, to investigate the area, then moved up a year or two later. This John Ritter family was at Nettle Creek -and now I see the connection -from its origin. [I have not done much to trace the Nettle Creek families -although my mother was raised there (orphan - raised by the Elder John Miller, of the Nettle Creek Church) - and I have always considered that Miller/Brenneman family to be cousins.] I was interested in the comment that Jacob Ritter was born 3 miles west of Dayton - since Elder Jacob Miller's property is about that distance west, on the west side of the Great Miami River - just north of the trace that runs from Dayton west to Eaton OH -west to Boston IN (where I live) then angles SW to Conner's Trading Post (now Connersville IN). It crossed the Delaware Indian Road near Brownsville IN - near the "Buffalo Ford" - the "Fiant's Ford" - over the Whitewater River [at Clifton, north of Brownsville]. Fiant's Ford is named for Daniel Fiant, a squatter there in 1802, whose wife was Susannah Gaby, youngest daughter of Elder Martin Gaby of the Oley Church in Pennsylvania. The Nettle Creek Church was on the Delaware Indian Road (about 1900 - some Indians were found walking through the Stout Farm -north edge of the Nettle Creek Church lands/cemetery - "what are you doing?" - "oh, we're following our old road!"). The trace from Dayton was Elder Jacob Miller's path from his home to those of his children here on the Four Mile (south from Boston). Elder Jacob Miller's third daughter, Eve, married first a John Ritter (6 Aug 1787). He died in Franklin Co Va in December of 1793. They had four children: Jacob (1788-1838 -married Sarah Witter), Samuel (1789-1838 -married a Margaret), Catherine (married John Moss), John (1793-1829 -married Sarah Lybrook). After John Ritter's death, Eve married Joseph Kingery (1794 -well after all -4 tiny children!). The family is identified in the Miami River Valley -south of Dayton before 1800 ("Gingrich", with John Miller, her brother - so they soon came west). They settled on the Four Mile Creek on the Ohio side of the state line by 1803. Their farm is just west of the now Huston Woods State Park -northeast of College Corner OH/IN. The family cemetery is on the creek, in the corner of their property. We have made a possible identification of the father of John Ritter as a Jacob Ritter, of Franklin Co VA -but I do not know more about them. Jacob Ritter and Samuel Ritter, children of John and Eve, moved to Portage Prairie, St Joe County, and both died in 1838. (What happened there that year?) The other two Ritter children, Catherine (who married John Moss) and John (who married Sarah Lybrook) followed Sarah's family (Henry Lybrook) to near Niles Michigan, probably about this same time. (The 7 children of Joseph Kingery and Eve all seem to have stayed in the local Four Mile area.) SO - now - do I find a reason why the Ritter children all moved north? -even though they grew up in the same home with the Kingery Children on the Four Mile? Also, it needs to be added - Jacob Witter (1791-1851 -wife Agnes Huston), son of Christopher Witter, of the Four Mile church (living directly ON the Delaware Indian Road) -went to the Portage Prairie area in 1823, with Squire Thompson (son of William Thompson and Eva Toney - living then on the Ohio side of the line). Jacob stopped in St Joe County, died there. Squire went on north on the St Joseph River, to the French Fort at Niles MI - as first settler there (made whiskey out of his corn crop -sold it to the Indians) -then moved over to Cass Co MI - where Henry Lybrook lived. [The Four Mile was a Brethren Settlement, but I do not know the religious affiliation of all the family members.] OH - Squire was a '49er, went to California by wagon train - died of Cholera at Sacramento on arrival. His sons with him prospered there (restaurant - and river steamerj - no record of them as miners!) A letter from Benjamin Miller to his brother-in-law, Senator William Miller, of South Bend, identifies Elder David Miller as a believer in Eternal Restoration (the Brethren Pietist belief that frequently became Universlism). Benjamin was a Universalist. William's father, Tobias Miller (son of Elder Jacob Miller), is identified as the first Universalist Preacher at LaPort IN. He had moved north in the large migration of 1833, following the Cholera Epidemic of 1831-32. Eternal Restoration stated that God so loved his creation that he would not leave men in Hell for eternity - but would "restore" them. Annual Meeting condemned it in the 1790s -and lost all the Brethren Churches of the Carolinas! (Elder John Hendricks, from there, moved to western Kentucky [very quickly records say], Drakes Creek, and his family moved to Cape Girardeau Co MO following his death. The Whitewater Church there went Univeralist. -many of the Limbaugh family there is of Hendricks descent -John Hendricks is probably the "John H" placed on the ban by Annual Meeting in 1796). I do recognize the name Ritter as one of the earliest families baptized at Germantown PA, in 1723, and many of the Carolina families -including Franklin County VA, were Brethren who came south from eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland - a Ritter family at Mt Eden KY - that is why I wish to know of the Ritters in Kentucky! - including Nashville TN (the end of the "Traders Path" -which went west from the Wilderness Road - there were other Brethren there -some going down from the Drakes Creek Church! [on the Traders Path]) I wonder where John Ritter lived in Kentucky? Merle C Rummel ***************** > Merle, this may help with the Ritter family. > > Elizabeth Miller's husband Jacob Ritter had made a trip on horseback > the spring of 1829 in company with other men locating land open for > settlement in the then Northwest territory. > > Jacob & Elizabeth changed from German Baptist to the Universalist Church. > Bio. from 1907, "Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs Elkhart and St. Joseph > Counties" , (IN), pgs. 187, 198. > Jacob Ritter, of South Bend, Indiana and one of the pioneers of St. Joseph > Co., is a Montgomery Co., Ohioan, born about three miles west of Dayton, on > the 1st of January, 1806, a son of John and Barbara (Garber) Ritter. John > Ritter was born in NC, April 1777, and there grew to manhood. When a young man > he learned the cooper's trade and for some time made that his chief > occupation. He afterward resided near Nashville, TN, for a short time and later was a > resident of KY. As he was married in Montgomery Co., OH in 1805, he was > probably a settler of that locality about the year 1803. At the time he crossed > the Ohio River at Cincinnati there was only a block house and a few cabins > where that city now stands, the principal inhabitants at that point being > soldiers. His wife was born in VA, a daughter of John and Barbara Garber. About > the year 1818 the Ritter family removed to Wayne Co., IN being among the > pioneers of that county, where Mr. Ritter became the owner of 160 acres of land. > Here Mr. Ritter lived for several years. He afterward disposed of his > property there and settled in St. Joseph Co., a portion of his land being in > Portage and a portion in German Twp. He afterward settled on the Michigan road in > German Twp., where he lived until his death in Feb. 1867. His wife > survived him several years, her death occurring at the home of her daughter in Floyd > Co., IA, at the advanced age of one hundred and two years. Mr. and Mrs. > Ritter were the parents of the following children: Jacob, Michael, John, > Benjamin, David, Samuel, Martin, Sarah and Susan, all of whom are living but John, > who served three years as cavalryman in the late war under Gen. Custer. > Jacob Ritter, whose name is at the head of this sketch, was about twelve > yrs. of age when his parents settled in Wayne Co., (IN), and there in his native > county he succeeded in obtaining a practical education in the common > schools, which were held in the old-time log cabin. He was reared on a farm, and > has always devoted his attention to that occupation. In Wayne Co. he united > his fortunes with those of Elizabeth Miller, Oct. 26, 1826, her birth having > occurred in Montgomery Co., OH, June 5, 1809. She being a daughter of David > and Sarah (HARDMAN) Miller, who also became pioneers of St. Joseph Co., IN. In > the spring of 1830 Mr. Ritter came to this county also, and found himself in > Portage Prairie on April 5 of that year, and located on a farm of eighty > acres in Sec. 32, which he had previously selected in the fall of 1829, at which > time he also became the owner of eighty acres of timber land. A number of > other families came at the same time and that year they all raised quite good > crops of corn. Several of these settlers combined work and in 1830 seeded > about 200 acres to corn, which Mr. Ritter says became the finest crop of sod > corn he has ever seen produced in any county. That years they also raised some > magnificent melons and turnips, but he refuses to disclose their exact size > and weight for fear people of the present day would be inclined to doubt his > veracity. He erected a log cabin on his property in German Twp., Sec. 29, in > the fall of 1831, where he lived for many years, and which he still owns. > In 1866 he retired from active labor and purchased property in South Bend, > where is now residing. He also owns 342 acres of land, and is nicely situated > to enjoy life. He and his worthy wife became the parents of fourteen > children: Lucinda (deceased), Barbara, Sarah A. (deceased), Amanda E., Martha E., > Aaron M., William H. H., David M., John N., Benjamin F., Theodore (deceased), > Lorinda and Clarinda (twins) and Elizabeth M. Of these children, Amanda E., > Martha E., William H. H. and Elizabeth M. are residents of this county; > Barbara, now wife of Joseph Hardman, is living at Prairie City, Grant Co., OR; > Aaron M. and David M. are farmers near Springfield, MO; John N. is engaged in > the practice of law and in banking at Columbus, KS; Benjamin F., a farmer > and dealer in agricultural implements, resides in Castleton, Cass Co., ND. > Lorinda, wife of Q. A. Bulla, lives near St. Edward, Boone Co., NV and Clarinda, > who married J. F. Buchtel, is living in Kansas City, MO. Two sons, William > H. H. and David, served three years during the war in the 23rd IN Battery, > under command of Capt. Andrews. Mrs. Ritter died Feb. 20, 1867, and in 1872 > Mr. Ritter took for his second wife Ellen Lentz, born Feb. 26, 1831, in PA, > daughter of Christopher and Hannah (Davis) Lentz, who were of Scot. descent. > Christopher Lentz was a soldier in the War of 1812 and for many years was a > resident of German Twp., where he lived until his death, which occurred Aug. 14, > 1838. His widow survived him until Oct. 27, 1869. Mr. Ritter is a member > of the I.O.O.F., having joined that order about the year 1850. He has always > been a great reader, and possesses a well-stored mind. He rather favors the > Universalist doctrine in his religious views, and in politics has always been > an ardent Democrat. His record as an honorable man of affairs has remained > untarnished, and as a citizen he has always been public spirited and law > abiding. > > John Ritter born 1777 in NC going from Tennessee to Kentucky to the (Dayton > Ohio area now.) About 1803 > married 1805 Barbara Garber born in Rockingham County, Virginia. > She was Brethren but John was in the war of 1812 under William Henry > Harrison so I don't think he was. > They moved to Wayne County, Indiana and then to St Joseph County, Indiana. > >