We are the descendants of John Augustine Rittgers 12/2/1767 - 2/27/1848 who came to America from the Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany) in 1795. He married Catherine Comer (4/29/1775 - 5/9/1834) May 2, of 1797. They bore nine (and possibly ten) children, four boys and five girls. All Rittgers descendants in America come from one of these nine children.
Joseph (1799-1860/70) (Married Anna ?); Jacob B (2/9/1800 - 12/17/1879) (Married Hester Patterson 1822 and Catherine Anne Schleigh 1856); John Jr. (1/1/1802 - 4/6/1880) (Married Catherine ? 1824?, Lydia 1831 and Catherine Hockman 1859); Magdalene (6/8/1804 - 6/12/1862) (Married John Root 1825); Molly? (Possibly born 1805/6?, possibly died in infancy); Katherine (11/2/1807 - 4/13/1871) (Married John Amspaugh 1825, and Peter Wagoner 1854); Daniel R (9/10/1810 - 6/9/1859) (Married Eve Foght 1836 and Christina Magdalene Smith 1848); Elizabeth (Born 1815) (Married John Strohl); Mary B (Born 1816) (Married Eli Deel); Susanne (10/10/1818 - 10/27/1884) (Married Peter Daubenmire 1836)
The Rittgers Cemetery is located on the southwest side of NW Beaver Dr about 1/4 mile west (and north) of the "home place" on the land purchased by Jacob Rittgers in 1852/3? He brought his family to the area from Ohio in 1854? to live on this land. More than 70 acres was purchased and most was sold to son Johnston on October 21, 1901. Jacob's first wife Hester may be the first burial in the area that became the cemetery when she died on January 19, 1856. On January 21, 1871 Jacob deeds the land to nephew Reuben Rittgers as trustee "for the express use of the Rittgers family and their connections for the burial of the dead of their respective families." Jacob died December 17, 1879 and is the first official burial in the newly established Rittgers Cemetery. Jacob's second wife Catherine Anne died April, 5 1913. Her stone in the Rittgers Cemetery reads simply "Catherine Anne"
Information garnered from Those Roving Rittgers, Volume One by Joyce Rorabaugh. Photography by Dana Ries