The holidays are a wonderful time of the year where you can’t help but think of family traditions. I often wonder if any of the things I do were the same things that my family did. I can only assume that they were. But what traditions were unknowingly handed down? I wasn’t smart enough to ask such questions when the women in the know were still around. Maybe I’ll ask my dad if he knows of anything. He often surprises me with the stuff he knows. I think he surprises himself as well.
I’ve recently finished up doing most of the decorating of my house. I have a table to move up into my room as the Christmas tree stands where this end table does the rest of the year. It becomes a night stand on the other side of my bed in the month of December (it blocks the heater and I have it in my head it doesn’t spread the air around as nice when it’s not there). I also need to put my battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine out. This often takes turns between being underneath the tree and on my coffee table – it just depends on where I feel like placing it. It went under the tree for years but then we got a new tree and the base is much wider than the previous tree.
My tree
But all the thoughts of family have gotten me back into a groove of wanting to work on my family tree. This is improvement as it seems like I haven’t been in that mood for a while. I began setting up a research plan on my great-grandfather today, one I know I’ve written about here and there in the past but haven’t really focused a lot of research on him. Today that will change.
Anyhow, I hope you all get through the holidays and maybe find out a little bit about past holidays in the process. If you have lost someone special, my thoughts go out to you. This is my first Christmas without my sister and I’ve really had a much harder time processing her death than I ever would have thought. You see we never really got along much, but I never realized how much I sought her out for advice until she was gone.
Over a year ago I began a bit of focused research on my 3rd-great-grandfather, George Ritchey. I still have a few bits of information to figure out, one being to finalize that his parents are Heinrich Ritchey and Catherine Strickler, and who are all his siblings, but for most everything else, I think I’ve been able to gather a lot of information about him.
One thing that surprised me was a photo that is listed on FamilySearch.org of him. I shall post it here – I have no idea if this is truly him, but it’s exciting to think this is what he looked like. I love photos so much!
George Ritchey was born 15 July 1810 in Providence, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. This date was eluded to in his obituary with the statement of “88 years, 4 months, and 4 days” (taken from the Everett Press). I believe this to be accurate because the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses all seem to back up his year of birth as well.
Who Are His Parents?
As previously mentioned, confirming that Heinrich “Henry” Ritchey and Catherine Strickler are his parents is something I have not yet proven. I believe I must have noted that they were his parents from the big tree on FamilySearch.org. Just about every tree on Ancestry.com notes the same parents, but I really don’t see them having any proof either. George’s obituary does not mention anything about his parents. It only mentioned his wife, children, and brothers.
I did try to do a search through Newspapers.com to see if there were any articles in reference to Henry Ritchey but did not get any hits. I have searched both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com to see if I could find a will for Heinrich “Henry” Ritchey that could note his children, but came up short so far. I reached out to Bedford County for a Will from 1856 for a Henry Ritchey, hoping that maybe it was for mine, that it just took 7 years to get through everything, but it did not seem to be my Henry Ritchey.
My next plan is to begin with the (4) children of Heinrich and Catherine that I am aware of and work from there. FamilySearch.org has 9 children listed for them so I have a lot of work to do on this couple.
I, George, Take Thee, Anna
George Ritchey married the former Anna Cypher on 30 August 1838 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The reference of his marriage is one of my favorite parts of George’s lengthy obituary, I’ve placed a snippet from the Everett Press write-up below, but I’ll only transcribe a portion here. “On the 30 of August, 1838, at Cypher, Pennsylvania, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Cypher, who as a most devoted and cheerful companion, filled his life with sunshine…”. Isn’t that just one of the most wonderful things anyone could have written about her? What a remarkable way to be remembered.
This snippet was taken from George Ritchey’s obituary from the Everett Press on Newspapers.com
Eleven Kids?
As the Everett Press snippet above states, George and Anna had 11 kids who all lived into adulthood.
Catherine Ritchey Bessor
Elizabeth Ritchey Grove
Rachel Ritchey Eshelman
Sarah Ritchey Smith
William Cypher Ritchey
Mary Ann Ritchey Morgart Hughes*
Daniel Edward Ritchey
Amanda Jane Ritchey McGraw
Alice Emma Ritchey Barton
George Grant Ritchey
David Theodore Ritchey
They were a blessed couple to have such a large family. Anna was aged 19-47 (only having been 47 for a week with David) when she had her children. Most were clockwork every 2-years except the last few which were closer to 3-4 years apart. I placed an asterisk next to Mary Ann Ritchey as she is who I descend from.
They raised this family in East Providence, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 Censuses all list them as dwelling in East Providence. I believe that both George and Anna lived in Bedford County their entire lives.
His Work & Interests
According to all (4) censuses, George was a farmer. When I did a quick search of the types of crops grown in Bedford County between 1850-1895, it appeared they could have grown a variety of staple crops including grains, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. Livestock was also bred in this area of the country which would provide both dairy and meat for this large family. I still need to look up tax records and maybe this will detail this information.
George belonged to the Knights of the Golden Eagle, which was a fraternal organization that began in 1873 whose rituals were based on those of the Crusaders. George was a member of the Everett Castle and had been installed as an officer the year he passed away. He was the W.C. or Worthy Chief, which was the presiding officer of the local chapter.
This article was taken from the Everett Press from 7 January 1898
He was known to host huge picnics on his property where people could fish in the nearby stream.
In another article from the newspaper, he lost his wallet, or in this case his “pocket book” which makes so much sense. I found it interesting the reward.
This article was found on Newspaper.com in the Bedford Inquirer on 12 April 1861
His Death
George passed away on 19 November 1898. His family provided an outstanding obituary that detailed his life (everything but his parents) and helped me quite a bit as I have attempted to research him.
This is the entire obituary found on Newspapers.com from the Everett Press
Helping History Come Alive 