Thursday, August 7, 2014

Great Grandfather James Ritcheson

 Good morning family and friends!  Below is a short biography for James Ritcheson, Daddy's grandfather, my great grandfather. 

After reading the bio on James Ritcheson's Find A Grave listing, I wondered where this information came from, and I contacted via email the lady and her husband who had added the information to the site, Tony and Cindy Lloyd.  She wrote back to me and suggested I contact Kathy Weaver who, along with her husband, is working on Civil War histories of those who lived in Iowa/Nebraska and fought in the Civil War. It is an exact copy from the entry in Part 11 of Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Adam's County.  The name of the little town is Ayr, in the Little Blue Precinct of Nebraska where James received his land patent from President Ruther B Hayes when, after the war, they moved from Iowa to Nebraska.

 JAMES RITCHESON, farmer and stock-raiser, P. O. Hastings, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1837, and resided there on a farm until twenty-two years of age, when he went to Henry County, Iowa, and farmed there until he enlisted in September, 1861, in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, serving three years and ten months, after which he returned to Henry County and conducted a farm of seventy-five acres for some nine years. He came to Nebraska February 3, 1874, homesteading 160 acres in Little Blue Precinct, on which he has since resided. In connection with his farming pursuits, is quite extensively engaged in breeding horses, cattle and hogs. He has been Treasurer of the District School since April, 1876. Mr. R. was married in Henry County, Iowa, April 3, 1864, to Mary A. Olinger, a native of Iowa. They have nine children--George W., Samuel L., Rosetta , Viola, Mary B., Martha, Frank, Leon and Guy.



This short bio also turned up additinal information on James' birthplace, Ohio, pin pointing it to Holmes County.  Another small piece of the puzzle found!  What a thrill it is to find each little bit of information.

Please note that in the biography above it states James served in the infantry, but according to Kathy that is incorrect.  He was in the calvary, not the infantry as listed in two seperate publishings of this same bio in two different books.  Kathy has a copy of James' service record and it says  4 IA Calvary Co K.

Additional information listed in James' bio on Find A Grave regarding his military service:  He enlisted at Mount Pleasant in Co K 4th Iowa Calvarly on 25 Nov 1861, re-enlisted and re-mustered 31 Dec 1863.  Wounded in action (slight wound on hand) on  15 Jul 1864 at Old Town Creek, Tupelo, Mississippi.  Mustered out with company on 8 August 1865 at Atlanta, Georgia. 









 

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