Joseph Ritchey (1811 - 1882)

Born 7 Apr 1811 in Washington County, Pennsylvania, USA

Husband of Catherine (Stewart) Ritchey — married 11 Aug 1836 in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, USA

Descendants

Died 26 Dec 1882 at age 71 in Dunham Township, Washington County, Ohio, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bren Barker [send private message]

Name, birth place, birth date (Military Pension...)

Biography

1845: Moved to Newport Township, Washington County, Ohio, USA.^[1]

1847: Listed in the 1847 Enumeration of Newport Township.

1850: Resided in Newport Township, Washington County, Ohio, USA. Occupation is cooper. (US Census, 1850).

Joseph is listed in th 1855 Newport Township enumeration; he moved his family from Newport Township to Dunham Township by the time their daughter Eliza Jane was married in 1857.

1860: Resided in Scipio Township, Meigs County, Ohio, USA. He is again listed as a cooper (US Census, 1860).

1862-1865: He enlisted in Company H, 77th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on November 6, 1862 in Marietta, Ohio. (Military Pension ...) He enter the service as a Private. Company H 77th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was consolidated into Company F 77th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on Jan 17, 1865. An interesting affidavit written evidently for Joseph's pension claim is included in his Civil War pension records which reads (the following is as best as I could read and transcribe): "State of Ohio Monroe County SS -- Before me Jacob T. Morrill a Notary Public in and for Aforesaid County and State personally came Oliphant E. Buskirk whom I certify to be a regular practicing physician and audited to credit who being duly sworn according to law deposes as follows: "Joseph Richy a private of Co. H - 77th Regt O.V.I. when passing from guard to quarters it being dark fell in a coal hole in front of Flouring Mills at Alton, Illinois, and produced rupture of the right side disabling him very much at the time and still disables him about one half. He was treated by Drs J. W. Warfield and P. Brook who gave him a truss and it proved to be to small and he came back for another. He said Doctors being unfit for duty. I changed the truss for him. I was acting as Hospital Steward. The above occurred about the 1st of February A.D. 1863 at Alton Mills, Illinois. I have no interest in this claim or it's prosecution." -- Oliphant Buskirk M.D. -- Sworn to before me by said Oliphant Buskirk M.D. and by him subscribed in my presence this 10th day January A.D. 1880 and I certify that I have no interest in this claim or its prosecution. Jacob T. Morrill Notary Public Monroe Co. O." Here is an excerpt from from a history book concerning the 77th Ohio Volunteer infantry, "On the 22nd of April, 1864, the Seventy-Seventh, with the Forty-Third Indiana and the Thirty-Sixth Iowa, started from Camden to escort a large train to Pine Bluff after supplies, the whole commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Drake, of the Thirty-Sixth Iowa. General Fagan's Rebel division attacked these regiments in detail while were encumbered with the train, on the 25th, at Marks's Mills. Colonel Drake fought desperately with the Forty-Third and Thirty-Sixth, but being overpowered, was unable to hold out till the Seventy-Seventh could make a junction from the rear of the train, some four mile away. The Seventy-Seventh, under Captain McCormick, came onto the field at the moment Colonel Drake was overwhelmed. They went into the fight at once, but no effort of their's could rescue the train or their captured comrades, and after an unequal contest of two hours, being surrounded, they were compelled to accept the enemy's terms. The portion of the regiment captured, after marching until May 15th, reached the Rebel prison-pens known as Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, where they were kept ten months." Joseph was listed missing in action at Marks Mills, Arkansas on Apr 25 1864. Later it was learned that he had been taken as a prisoner of war. He was released on Feb 26 1865 at Red River Landing. He was discharged on November 5, 1865 in Brownsville, Texas. (Military Pension, Reid 1868)

After his discharge he moved his family to Warren Township sometime before 1866. According to U.S. census records, he was a laborer living in Warren Twp., Washington Co., Ohio in 1870. He moved back to Dunham Township near the town of Briggs sometime before 1875. According to Dunham Township Clerk's records Joseph served as Township Constable for the term beginning 1877, and Supervisor Of Road Districts for the 1875, 1877 and 1879 terms. According to U.S. census records, he was a farmer living in Dunham Twp., Washington Co., Ohio in 1880. He died on December 26, 1882 in Dunham Twp., Washington Co., Ohio.^[2] His obituary appeared in the Marietta Register and the Marietta Times on January 4, 1883 in Marietta, Ohio. The Marietta Register reported the following: "Mr. Joseph Ritchie, of Dunham, died quite suddenly. He was with his sons when he complained of not feeling well and said he believed that he would light his pipe. He sat down on a log and died almost instantly. He died of heart disease." The Marietta Times gave a slightly different story, "A little over two weeks ago as Mr. Joseph Ritchie, of Dunham Township, was riding to his home from Constitution, he fell from his horse in an insensible condition. He managed to get on again and ride home, but he never thoroughly recovered, and on Tuesday of last week while at work in the field husking corn, he fell dead. He was about 75 years old and had always been a hearty man." He was buried in Gravel Bank (Riverview) Cemetery near Constitution, Ohio.^[3] His original grave marker which is barely legible reads: JOSEPH RITCHEY -- BORN APR 7, 1811 -- DIED DEC 26, 1882 - AGED 71 Y, 8 M, 17 D. In 1995, through the Veterans Administration, I [Rick A. Ritchie, I assume] applied for and did receive a bronze government marker for his grave. Dad helped me placed it over his grave. It reads JOSEPH RITCHEY -- PVT CO H 77 OHIO VOL INF -- CIVIL WAR -- APR 7 1811 DEC 26 1882.

Sources

1. ↑ 1850 Federal Census. According to this census, Eliza J. age 13, Sarah Ann age 10, Alexander age 8, and Nancy age 5, where born in Pennsylvania. Barbary age 3, and Leander age 5 months, where born in Ohio. So the family had migrated to Ohio sometime between Nancy's birth on Dec 13, 1844 and Barbary's birth on May 13, 1847. According to Alexander's and Nancy's obituaries, they lived in Washington County, Pennsylvania before the family moved to Ohio. Tax Dept., Washington County Personal Property Tax Records (Washington County Courthouse, Marietta, Ohio), Joseph first shows up in the tax records in 1846.
2. ↑ Probate Dept., Washington Co. Death Records, Volume 1, No. 79.
3. ↑ Grave Marker, JOSEPH RITCHEY: 7 APR., 1811 - 26 DEC., 1882 - AGED 71 YRS., 8 M., 17 D.

• Military Pension Records (National Archives, Washington DC)

• Child's Death Certificate, Nancy's death certificate lists both of her parents place of birth as Washinton Co., PA.

• "Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6MN-TKH : accessed 6 August 2015), Joseph Richey in entry for Nancy Swords, 14 Apr 1924; citing Warren, Washington, Ohio, reference fn 25331; FHL microfilm 1,992,496.

• Rick A. Ritchie, Genealogy records, <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohioritchie/b1.htm#P1>, accessed 2015-08-09.

• Whitelaw Reid, "Ohio In The War" Volume II, The History Of Her Regiments (Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin, 1868).