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Margaret Armstrong was born 27 Jan 1788 in Kentucky. On 5 Mar 1807 in Barren county, KY, she married William Bridges. She and her husband moved to St. Clair county, IL ca 1813, settling in the Oak Hill section of O'Fallon township. She died at her home on 28 Jul 1852 and is buried in a small Bridges Family Cemetery on Hagemann Road between O'Fallon and Lebanon.
Margaret's father, Joshua Armstrong, a soldier of the American Revolution, was born in Lancaster co., PA on 1 Aug 1756. He followed the Bridges family to Illinois, eventually settling in Fieldon, Jersey, IL, where he died on 25 Sep 1844.
The Armstrong family has been traced back to James Armstrong, who was born in 1735 in from Fermanhauh, Ireland.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
The Rev. David Badgley was born 5 Nov 1749 in Westfield, Essex, NJ. He married Rhoda Valentine (b 7 Oct 1752 in Essex co., NJ) on 20 Dec 1769 in Hardy county, VA (now West Virginia). Around 1795 or 96, David Badgley and Leonard Carr came by horseback from Hardy county to explore Illinois. Liking what they discovered, they returned home to their settlement in Virginia. The following year, 154 friends, neighbors, and family members emigrated to New Design (near Kaskaskia), Illinois. David organized the first Baptist church in Illinois in 1796 in New Design.
In 1804, David purchased 400 acres of land north of Belleville. He and his family moved there where they farmed for many years. He died on 16 Dec 1824 and is buried on a Badgley family plot in Fairview Heights, St. Clair, IL.
The Badgley family can be traced back to Anthony Badgley, who is listed in a 1698 census of Flushing, New York. Descendants of the Rev. David Badgley continue to live in St. Clair County, IL.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Jacob Baer, the son of Jacob Barr and a Miss Staufer, was born in Germany in January of 1794. He married Margaretha Gerlap on 16 Oct 1819 in Germany. The family emigrated from Obersulzen to America in 1845, bringing their five children with them. They located for a time in Pennsylvania, but they soon moved to Ridge Prairie, St. Clair, IL. On 14 Oct 1848, Jacob bought 138.2 acres of land for $1300 in T2N R7W. During the cholera epidemic of 1852, Jacob's wife, son Johannes, and son-in-law Jacob Langenwalter all died, and a cemetery was started on the Baer farm. Unfortunately, this cemetery no longer exists.
The first Mennonite Church services held within St. Clair county were held on the Jacob Baer farm in Ridge Prairie, in the home of Jacob's son, Christian Baer, on 27 Apr 1856. Christian Detwiler from Bavaria served as the minister.
Church services were held alternately after that, every two weeks, in the Baer home and in the home of Barbara Strohm Ruth and her second husband John Kraemer, four miles southeast of Summerfield, St. Clair, IL. In 1858, a Mennonite church building was begun in Summerfield.
Descendants of Jacob Baer continue to farm in the Summerfield area.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Samuel Berger, b. 8 Apr 1792 in Warteburg, Germany, married Elizabeth Kinkel, b. 1807 in Palatinate, Germany. Two of their children departed for America on 26 Jun 1851. Katherine and Johannes Berger arrived at the Port of New York on 4 Aug 1851. They traveled to Buffalo, and then proceeded onto Franklin Prairie, IA.
Another daughter, Maria, emigrated to America on 1 Sep 1855 with a group of friends. They also settled in Iowa.
On 26 Jun 1856, Samuel and his wife Elizabeth, accompanied by their remaining children, emigrated to America and settled near Summerfield, St. Clair, IL. Elizabeth died on 17 Aug 1856, almost two months after emigrating, and she was buried in the Baer family cemetery, near the home of her daughter Katherine, who had married Christian Baer.
Descendants of Samuel Berger continue to live in St. Clair county, IL as of 1996.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Not much is known about this branch of the Bonham family.
According to the book The Bonham Family, compiled by E. B. Hazie in 1973, a copy of which can be found at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Malakiah Bonham was born in Cumberland county, NJ, the son of Zachariah Boham and Patience Ayars. Other data in the Bonham book suggest that Malakiah's great grandfather was Edward Fuller, who emigrated from London upon the Mayflower. As of 1996, however, this connection has not been proven by the author of this web page.
Malakiah married Sophia in 1779. His probate records in St. Clair co., IL are dated 15 Apr 1822. His third child, Rachel Bonham, was married in St. Clair co., IL on 20 Jul 1812 to Abraham Badgley.
Three other children of Malakiah are known: Emily, who married Robert Nelson before 1810 in Beaver co., PA; William who married Rachel, both of whom may have died in AR; and Samuel, a veteran of the War of 1812, who married Bersheba and died in IL in 1826.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
George Benjamin Bridges was born in 1762 on the Cape Fear River, near Elizabethtown, Bladen, North Carolina. After serving several tours in the Revolutionary Army as a drummer boy, he married Nancy Edwards in Newberry co., South Carolina in 1788. Around 1798, the young family moved to Kentucky, where they stayed until around 1813, when they relocated to IL.
In 1814, George purchased 160 acres of land from the federal government, T3N R7W, SE section, in Jarvis Township, Madison, IL. Two of his sons, William and George, lived not too far down the road from him in O'Fallon township, St. Clair, IL. Three other sons (Allen, Charles, and Joseph) lived in various counties throughout IL, including Sangamon, McLean, and Madison, before eventually moving to and settling in Harrison co., MO. A database of all of George's descendants, when found, is being maintained by Jim Bridges, the author of this webpage.
Six generations of Bridges, beginning with George's son William, have lived in St. Clair co., IL. As of 1995, however, the last descendant remaining in St. Clair county, Ralph Richard Bridges of Lebanon, passed away.
The Bridges family has been traced back to Charles Bridges, a portrait painter, b 1670 in England, several of whose paintings hang in William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Albert Ebert was born in the Kingdom of Hannover on 22 Dec 1837. (Although his tombstone states he was born in 1834, his death certificate, an Ebert family bible, and a newspaper memorial state 1837.) At approximately the age of eight, he emigrated to America. Some accounts state that he joined his parents in St. Louis, MO, who died at an early age, but other accounts state that he emigrated on his own.
He married Calista Rettinghouse on 12 Oct 1859 in St. Clair co., IL. The family initially farmed in Caseyville, St. Clair, IL, but in later years they purchased a farm in O'Fallon township, St. Clair, IL. A great grandson of Albert currently farms the O'Fallon homesite land.
Albert and Calista are buried in the historic Oak Hill Cemetery in O'Fallon twp., St. Clair, IL
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Abraham Eyman, of St. Clair/Belleville may have been the first of Eymans to
move to the Illinois Territory. He seems to have visited in 1796, staked out
land at American Bottom, and returned with his young family the next year. There
are several engaging tales regarding happenings on the trail. He bought lands in
New Design, and subsequently moved up to the prairie near what would become
Belleville. He was one of the first settlers near Turkey Hill, along with his
brother-in-law Stookey, neighbors Teter, Primm, and Millers. Abraham is listed
in many St. Clair historical records and in 1824 was elected as a farmer to the
second House of Representatives for the new state of Illinois, most likely as an
anti-slavery candidate. He died a very old man, likely pleased with the
attention of being one of the last surviving founders of the Belleville area.
There's a great deal of confusion in family circles about where Abraham came
from, though it's my hunch that he was a country boy from Upper Paxtang. The old
German must have had some cross-cultural gifts, for he gave most of his kids in
marriage to off-spring of the flinty Joseph McClintock. Other Eymans are said to
have been involved in the ill-fated Badgley migration from Hardy County of West
Virginia to New Design before the turn of the century, but no names of
participants have been identified.
The names of Christopher Eyman, (St.
Clair/Belleville) and Henry Eyman, (St. Clair/Belleville) also appear in various
early records for the area, including census accountings for 1820. Illinois
Trails, (http://iltrails.org/monroe/hist002.htm) citing "The History of
Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties", lists a Henry and a Christopher Iman as
early owners of stock 1815-20. This change of names shouldn't be too disturbing
to todays readers who are generally more sensitive about such identity markers.
Abraham appears as Iman in a number of records, and his children were often
described as Eyemans. (The chap who I take as his most likely father declared
himself an Eiman as he signed the boat manifest on his arrival to the new land!)
Both of these names (Henry and Christopher) also appeared in the two censuses
(county & federal) taken for 1820 as well, though it appears that these may be
the same household (record #213 in county census records)? That two similarly
structured households provided different names of the "head of household" is
suggested by a census audit which seems to have resolved the issue toward
defining this as the household of a Henry Eyman.
It's possible that both
of these names were in the same 1820 household. A Henry, thought to have been
born 1790 in Hardy, would not have been one of the elderly couple reported to be
in the household, though Henry's father and mother, Christian and Catherine,
thought to have left Hardy by 1815 or so, may have been among the 264 males and
165 females over the age of 45 in St. Clair that year. The son Henry, born near
1790 , married a Catherine Elizabeth Sites in Hardy in 1811. I believe that it's
this same Henry Eyman who showed in the 1850 census for Mordock precinct of
Monroe, but by 1860 had migrated toward Bond County.
Sorting out and
clarifying this secondary Eyman household in the St. Clair, and/or Monroe County
area is a personal preoccuption since I believe my own ancestry arose from this
household. A Christian Iman, born 1799 or so in Hardy is though to have migrated
from there with his father of the same name. Christian the younger married a
Mary Whiteside in 1828. This poor couple died of a cholera episode in 1850, with
fragments of the family left to be raised in the Henry Eyman and Clark
households. In my own line, it seems that Felix Grundy Iman, after putting his
folks in the ground as the eldest son at about 20 years, surveyed the job scene
in Chicago and couldn't find work that paid more than $8 a week, so he headed
west with one of the wagon trains streaming through the area. He didn't head for
gold, as some seem to have thought, but walked without an Ox to the Pacific
Northwest and got involved in building steamships, sawmills, and log cabin
schools.
Before 1820 there may have been other Eymans and Imans in the
area. Several citations have been found which are not fully understood. Cahokia
Court Records 2082 & 2083 p. 54 for 1812 show a Joseph Iman providing sworn
testimony to work events 22-23 years before (1790 or so?) in the area, Joseph is
described here as serving as a laborer to build a lean-to structure formed by a
large fallen tree. (If we trust this account, we might assume that the laborer
might be 20 years of age and thus born perhaps 1770?). Apparently the testimony
was in support of a land claim by a French neighbor who was appealing for land
rights based on previous inhabitation. Courts in those days were apparently full
of fraudulent claims of the sort. There is no other pointer to a person of this
name.
In addition to this unknown Iman, a Charles Eyman is listed in St.
Clair Couty Board of Minutes Index (p.,27) 1817-1821. So far we have no other
information about this person.
By 1830, new Eyman names appear in St.
Clair census records - primarily the children of Abraham, including Daniel,
Abraham Jr., and Jacob Eyeman. By this year, new migrants to the Missouri area
(St. Charles MO) put relatives Daniel and James Iman in the neighborhood. A
number of Eymans and Imans by then were migrating northwards in Illinois, or
were heading over into Missouri. Old store records from the Monroe area are
repleat with charges to the accounts of good father Henry by sons Samuel and
Absalom.
RELATED NAMES:
Abraham Eyman had married Susannah Whetstone,
a daughter of Susannah Stookey, in Hardy, while his possible brother, Christian,
had married a Catherine (maiden name unknown), though often thought of as a
Landes or Landis. With Gemanic background and possible Dunker roots, Abraham and
Susannah's children tended to marry Scots-Irish: McClintock, McGuire, Lacey,
Stout, and Weir. Abraham's likely brother's line married Hyre, Whetstone,
Rohrbach, Sites, and Alkire; and in Illinois, Clark, Morgonthaler, O'Shepherd,
Pate, Cruse, Uhls, Staltzman, Root, Kidd, Satterlee, Gibbons, and Windsor.
Early Land Purchases
We have been permitted to copy some old papers, now in possession of our
friend and long time subscriber William McClintock, Esq., which are in
themselves a history. About the year 1800 Abraham Eyman settled on a tract of
land in "Turkey Hill township, St. Clair county," containing 320 acres, made
claim to the same in accordance with usage in those days, and paid taxes
thereon. One of his tax receipts reads as follows:
"Received of Abraham
Eyman one Dollar and Seventy cents his Tax for 1806. John Hays, Shrr."
Next in order we find the permit granted Mr. Eyman from the U.S. Land office as
follows:
No. 143 Land Office Kaskaskia, January 8th, 1808
In
Conformity with the Act of Congress, entitled "An act to prevent Settlements
being made on Lands ceded to the United States until authorized by law,"
Permission is hereby given to Abraham Eyman new settled on a certain Tract of
Land belonging to the United States situate in Turkey Hill Township, in St.
Clair County, within three miles of Forbisher's Prairie, on the dividing ridge
between Rich Land and Prairie du Pont Creek, bounded on all sides by vacant Land
and containing three hundred and twenty acres, to remain thereon as Tenant at
will, on the Condition of doing no waste or Damage on the Land, and on the other
Conditions expressed in the Act above Mentioned. Michl. Jones, Regr."
Two
year thereafter we find an increase in taxation of about 33 per cent which Mr.
Eyman paid, as is witnessed by the following paper which we copy from the
original:
"Received of Abraham Eyman two Dollars and Forty cents the
amount of his tax for 1810. John Primm, Dep. Shff."
Some trouble in
perfecting title to this tract caused the owner to allow it to be sold for
taxes, and then he himself bought it at the sale by the sheriff, in 1816, and we
copy the tax deed executed by the sheriff therefore, in full:
By John
Hans [Hays], Sherrif of St. Clair County, in the Illinois Territory.
To
all people to whom these presents shall come, I, the said Sheriff send greeting:
`Know ye that pursuant to the several laws of the Said Territory for levying
and collecting a tax on land, I the Said Sheriff of hereby Certify that I did
advertise according to the Said Laws, the Tract of Land herein after mentioned
and Described as the property of Abraham Eyman owner or proprietor and entered
with the assessor of Said County of St. Clair for taxation for the year 1816, in
a public newspaper printed as Kaskaskia in the Illinois Territory Called the
Illinois Herald and Missoury Advertiser; and that I did accordingly on this the
thirteenth day of May in the year one thousand Eight hundred and Sixteen Sell
according to said Laws at the Dorr of the House in which Court is Usually held
at Belleville in the County of St. Clair aforesaid at 10 of the Clock A. M. of
this day (having given Notice as aforesaid by advertising on the Court House
door and three Successive weeks in the Newspaper aforesaid) the Said Tract of
Land herein after Mentioned and described for the Tax and Costs due theron for
the Said Year 1815 the same being due and unpaid and that Abraham Eyman of St.
Clair County Illinois Territory became purchaser thereof for the price and sum
hereinafter mentioned that it to say to wit, the Southwest quarter of Section
No. 86, and the South half of Section No. 85(?) in Township No. 1 North and
Range No. 9 West of the third principal Meridian which was sold for the Sum of
three dollars and seventy-five cents Tax & cost said due thereon which Said sum
I acknowledge to have Received from the said Abraham Eyman in consideration of
which I hereby certi9fy that all the right, title, and Interest of the aforesaid
Tractcs of Land herin Certified, and sold is hereby Vested in him the Said
Abraham Eyman and his heirs, Subject only to the provision of Redemption
Contained in the aforesaid Laws.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set
my hand and seal at Belleville the 16 day of May 1816 John Hays, (Seal) Sherrif
and Collector of St. Clair County Ill. T. Witness Wm. Kinney'
Since this
sale the land has mostly remained in the hands of the Eyman family. The heirs of
Isaac Eyman paid for taxes of 1874 on some 350 [?] acres of the above described,
$152.95, which is a fair percentage higher than the $1.70 paid by their ancestor
on the whole tract in 1806; but the land is worth more than $1.25 per acre now.
--"Old Times in St. Clair," [Belleville, Ills.] Weekly Advocate, Vol. 36, No. 38, June 18, 1875
Contributed by Steve Iman
John Henry Hartman was born 15 Feb 1888 in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois, to parents Henry and Lizzie (Bistake) Hartman. He married Stella Malone (b Aug 1891, Franklin County IL) 31 Oct 1909 in Franklin County IL. The couple had 5 children: Lawrence (1910-1999), Helen Marie (1912-1999), Carl (1914-1977), John Henry Jr (1917-before1920), and Marie Evelyn (1918-2008). He died Sep 1964 and she followed about 1969. John Sr. died Sep 1964 and Lizzie followed about 1969.
The Hirstein surname is first seen in the Mennonite congregation in Obersulzen, Germany around 1640, appearing a little later in the Mennonite congregation in Erpolzheim. Ancestor Peter Hirstein, b 1749 in Battenberg, Germany, married Magdalena Eichacker. Peter died in 1817 in Germany, while his wife preceded him in death on 3 Aug 1812.
Their daughter, Elizabeth Hirstein, born 3 Nov 1788 in Battenberg, married Heinrich Conrad Schrag. Heinrich and Elizabeth emigrated to the United States about 1834, settling in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair, IL.
A son of Peter and Magdalena, Johannes Hirstein, remained in Germany, but four of Johannes' children, Samuel, Abraham, Katharina, and Elizabeth Hirstein, also emigrated to America, Samuel arriving in 1836, while Abraham coming over as late as 1855. Johannes' two remaining children, Maria and Jakob, continued to live in Germany.
The Hirstein surname is apparently quite rare in America and in Germany, and because of its rarity, a database is being maintained of all Hirstein descendants worldwide by Jim Bridges, author of these pages. In a 1994 check of the CD ROM disks for telephone numbers in the United States, only 70 entries for Hirstein appeared, and all except five of them could be directly tied to ancestor Peter Hirstein of Battenberg.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Anna Langenwalter was born 7 Jan 1831 in Obersulzen, Germany. She married Jacob Baer on 28 Mar 1849 in St. Clair co., IL. She died 6 May 1904 in Summerfield, St. Clair, IL, and she is buried in the Summerfield cemetery.
Her father, Andreas Langenwalter, was born 30 Oct 1791, and married Anna Maria Witticus 25 Mar 1822 in Germany. The family emigrated to America, settling near Black Jack, Jarvis township, Madison co., IL. He and his wife are buried in the Langenwalter cemetery in Jarvis township, Madison co., IL.
The surname is quite rare in America, being limited exclusively to descendants of Andreas.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Captain Joseph Ogle was born 17 Jun 1737 in Owens Creek, Frederick, Maryland. He served in the Revolutionary War. He settled in Monroe Co., IL in 1785. In 1802 he moved outside of Belleville, near O'Fallon and Shiloh, in St. Clair co. He helped found the Shiloh Methodist Church and had the reputation of being the earliest convert to Methodism in IL. He was selected by his neighbors to lead them in their skirmishes with the Indians, perhaps because of his military background. Ogle County, IL was named after him. He died at his home in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair, IL on 24 Feb 1821. According to his grandson, he was buried in the Shiloh Methodist Church yard, although no tombstone exists today.
According to the "Combined History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties, Illinois," (1883), p. 330, "Captain Joseph Ogle was one of the pioneers of New Design. He was born in Virginia. . . . He commanded a company of Virginia troops during the Revolutionary war, holding a commission as captain from Patrick Henry, then Governor or [sic] Virginia. He came to Illinois from the neighborhood of Wheeling, Virginia, in 1785. . . . He was a man of untiring energy, and strong will power, in his honor one of the counties of the State received its name. He professed religion under the preaching of the Rev. James Smith, at New Design in 1787, and was appointed leader, by the Rev. Joseph Lillard, in 1793, of the first Methodist class ever formed in Illinois. Members of the Ogle family removed from New Design, and in 1796 made a settlement in the American Bottom, near where the road from Bellefontaine to Cahokia descended the bluff."
"In 1802 Captain Ogle made one of the pioneer locations in the Ridge Prairie, near the present town of O'Fallon, in St. Clair county, where he resided till his death. . . His descendants reside in St. Clair county."
According to "Pioneers of Old Monocracy," Joseph and Prudence settled on Buffalo Creek in what is today Brooke County, West Virginia. Their land was next to that of Silas and Joseph Hedges. Order Book 1:2, January 7, 1777, maintained in the court house of Wheeling, West Virginia, contains the order from Patrick Henry making Joseph a captain.
Joseph's ancestry has been traced by other researchers back to John Ogle, who came over from England in 1664 with Col. Nicholls' expedition to free New Amsterdam from the Dutch. For his efforts, John Ogle was awarded 800 acres on White Clay Creek near New Castle, DE. John, in turn is descended from a long line of English ancestors, and he is presumably related to the family who built the extant Ogle Castle in England.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
It is believed that the first American ancestor of this branch of the Peach family, John Peach, emigrated ca 1639 from England, settling in Marblehead, Essex, MA. His great, great, great, grandson, William Peach, was born 3 May 1776 in Marblehead, Essex, MA. William's father, also named William, was a Revolutionary War soldier. William Jr. married Sarah Pearce on 22 Jan 1800 in Newbury, Orange, VT. Around 1814, William and Sarah moved to Ohio for four years, and then settled in Randolph county, Illinois on the Horse Prairie four miles west of Red Bud. He died 11 Dec 1822 on the Horse Prairie. It is believed that he had ten children, nearly all of whom eventually moved to St. Clair co., IL. A number of Peach descendants still reside in the county.
Because of the New England roots of both William and his wife Sarah, much information is known about their ancestry. Indeed, his father's home, which was sold in 1788, is still privately owned in Marblehead, MA. Various surnames from which William and Sarah are descended include the following: Bowden, Dennis, Devereux, Elkins, Fortune, Grove, Laskin, Merritt, Purchase, Sandin, Trefrey, Twisden, and Webber.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
The Rittenhouse family settled in the Turkey Hill section of St. Clair county ca 1806. Elijah Rittenhouse and some members of his family moved to the county from Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, he had been a member of Stokely's Rangers in Pennsylvania. He was born about 1745 in Amwell Township, Hunterdon co., NJ. Numerous descendants of Elijah Rittenhouse continue to live in St. Clair county today.
Many people with the surname Rittenhouse, Rettinghouse, and other variant spellings in America can trace their ancestry back to Wilhelm Rittenhouse, who settled in William Penn's colony of Germantown (presently part of Philadelphia) in 1688. Wilhelm is recognized as the first Mennonite minister to the New World, as well as being the first paper maker in America. His house and mill still exist and are a historic landmark in what is called Rittenhouse Town in Germantown, PA. Wilhelm's grandson, David Rittenhouse, was a friend of Thomas Jefferson and a noted astronomer.
A database of those Rittenhouse family members who moved to St. Clair county, IL, along with their descendants, is being maintained by the author of this web page, and anyone descended from them is urged to write to Jim Bridges.
This article was originally written by E. Mark Haacke, Ph.D., past president of the Rittenhouse Family Association. It appeared in "Mennonite Family History," vol. 1, No. 2, 1982. Material in brackets [ ] is information contained in footnotes in the original article. It provides some sound secondary source references regarding Cassel's genealogy.
In 1976 an article about the Rittenhouse family appeared in the "Huguenot Trails." This review article contained information about the "noble" ancestors of Wilhelm Rittenhouse and was extracted from the work of Daniel K. Cassel ["A Genea-Biographical History of the Rittenhouse Family." The Rittenhouse Memorial Association, 1893.]
The suggestion that the Rittenhouses were related to the Hapsburg Royal Family or the Rittershausen family is completely erroneous. The evidence against this is well documented. The information on the nobility of the Rittenhouse family from Cassel's book should be completely disregarded.
Although primary sources were available in 1893, they were not consulted. Several faulty conclusions ensued and, as a result, for eighty-five years or more, members of the Rittenhouse family have believed that they were related to the Hapsburg Royal House.
The first attack against Cassel's claims were made by Dr. A. N. McGee over seventy years ago. [I have not seen these notes but they are referred to by Milton Rubincam in his article "Wilhelm Rittenhouse" written for the "Pennsylvania German Magazine," vol. 58, 1960.] In 1938, an article by Col. C. I. Kephart entitled "The Rittenhouse Genealogy Debunked" was published ["National Genealogical Society Quarterly," 26:3, 1938.] In 1960, Milton Rubincam wrote an article about William Rittenhouse [cited above]. In this excellent expose of William Rittenhouse, he begins with a thorough review of the Rittenhouse name and the possible heritage of the Rittenhouse family in Europe.
In 1977, I became interested in the Hapsburg connection after reading the article in the "Huguenot Trails." My interest lay in both the Rittenhouse and Cassel lines, and I had read the Cassel books. I, too, researched the early records, and found two references [Nicholas Rittershausen. "Genealogiae Imperatorum Regum, 1664. Available at the Rare Book Library at the University of Michigan] [J. J. Fugger, "Spiegel der Ehren." Nurenberg, 1668. Available at the Rare Book Library of the University of Toronto.] which showed beyond a doubt that Maximillian II did not father any ancestor of the Rittenhouse family. Only later did I discover the above mentioned works [Kephart and Rubincam] which also exposed the mistake.
It is a hard lesson to learn, for those of us who tend to believe such assertions, but we must insist upon checking primary sources whenever possible. The dissemination of false information will only lead our descendants astray and reek endless confusion upon them. We must remember that just because an article appears in print, that it does not mean it is true. Of course, there comes a point when you do not wish to, nor have the time to, check every reference. However, if the premise of a book resets on a single major assumption, then the material must be well-documented and easy to verify upon independent investigation.
I would like to close by stressing the fact that any work we do should be as accurate and well-documented as possible. The satisfaction that we receive from producing a believable, and what we know to be correct, family history is the main goal behind all our efforts.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Carl Runkwitz, the progenitor of the American Runkwitz family, was born in Altenburg, Germany on 24 Aug 1800. He married Sophia Dorothea Drescher 5 Jun 1827 in Altenburg. In 1834, he brought his family to America, landing in Baltimore, Maryland.
The family crossed the Appalachian Mountains to Wheeling, West Virginia, and then took a steamboat along the Ohio River and up the Mississippi, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. They lived there for several years, finally purchasing a farm in the Rock Springs section of St. Clair county, Illinois, on the boundary between Lebanon and O'Fallon townships. The family farm is still extant, being farmed by a present-day Runkwitz family member.
While still in Germany as a lad, Carl learned the bookbinding trade, a trade which he practiced both in Germany and in America. Perhaps because of his interest in books, Carl was one of the founders of the Deutsche Biblioteks Gesselshaft, which later was to become the Belleville Illinois Public Library.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Clarence Gregory Schaefer was born 01 Sep 1909 in Illinois. He married Aleda Ann Horcher (1908-1990) They had one son Kenneth R. Schaefer, who was born 01 Aug 1940 in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois. Kenneth married Ida, and they had three children. He died 04 Mar 2009 in Smithton, St. Clair County, Illinois.
Heinrich Conrad Schrag was born 14 Jul 1787 in Leistadt, Rhein-Phalz, Germany. On 25 Apr 1813 he married Elizabeth Hirstein in Bobbenheim am Berg, Germany. The family then emigrated to America, perhaps around 1834, settling in the Ridge Prairie section of St. Clair county, Illinois, where they farmed. A letter to Germany from Elizabeth's nephew, Samuel Hirstein, has been transcribed which describes his visit to the Schrag family in 1836.
The surname has been variously spelled Schrag, Schrau, Schrock, Schrack, Schragg, among others in America, while in Germany it has included Schrah and Schrag.
Heinrich's daughters married into Aul, Wittmer, and Kraemer families in St. Clair and Clinton counties
Contributed by Jim Bridges
William M. Sissom was born 2 Jun 1818 in Jackson co., Alabama. On 5 Dec 1845 he married Rebecca Jane Ogle in St. Clair co., Illinois. To this marriage were born seven children. William and Rebecca, along with a group of St. Clair county residents, eventually moved to Wilson county, Kansas. A number of descendants continue to live in St. Clair county, however, reflecting the fact that several of his children married in St. Clair county and raised their families there.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Clyde Arlando Weston was born 05 Aug 1914 in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois, to parents Clyde Arlando and Hazel (Wilson) Weston, Sr. He married Audrey Marie Groves 02 Jan 1936 in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois. She was born 06 Sep 1911 in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois. The couple did not have children. Audrey died 20 Jan 1997 in St. Louis, Missouri. Clyde died 20 Sep 1999 in Sullivan, Franklin County, Missouri.
John Wittmer was born 16 Oct 1803 in Hofstetten, Germany. About 1833 he married Barbara Schrag, a daughter of Heinrich Conrad Schrag and Elizabeth Hirstein. They then emigrated to America, settling first in Missouri, then in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair, IL. The family moved again to Mascoutah, St. Clair, IL, finally settling southeast of Summerfield, St. Clair, IL. He was active with several others in the founding of the Mennonite Church in St. Clair county. He died 1 Jun 1858 as the result of a farm accident. He is buried in a small Wittmer family cemetery east of Summerfield. Descendants of John continue to exist in the St. Clair county area.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
Georg Witticus and Anna Kathrina Hausam were married in Germany. Two of their known children emigrated to America, Anna Maria Witticus and Johann Jacob Widicus. Anna married Andreas Langenwalter, while her brother Johann married Maria Catharina Kreiselmaier. Both children are buried in their respective family cemeteries, i.e., Anna is buried in the Langenwalter cemetery, while Johann is buried in the Widicus cemetery, both located within Jarvis township, Madison, IL.
A number of their descendants continue to live in the St. Clair and Madison counties area.
The surname of Widicus is quite rare in America, being limited to descendants of Georg Witticus.
Contributed by Jim Bridges
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