The 8th Governor of Pennsylvania was a relative. He's Joseph Ritner.
How close a relative? That's the ancestral mystery.
Ask my Aunt and see the notes my Dad left and you'd believe he's my 4th great grandfather. That's not correct, though, by any data I can find. I have traced my great great grandfather with Ritenoeur as his middle name and make no grand parent connection at all.
Rely on the family bibles passed down in some families and a piece in one county history book and you'd believe he's a great grand uncle. Those sources claim he and my 3rd great grandmother Anna Katherine Ritenoeur Smith were siblings. I can't find anything that confirms that, though, and have many doubts.
A 1838 gubernatorial biography makes no mention of a sister Kate and every Census reference to Kate places her birth in New York and New Jersey, not Pennsylvania, where all the other siblings of Governor Ritner were born.
I have a distant cousin baiting me to debate her on it, but I'm believing the third option.
Still another county history source labels him "a distant relative." My research puts David Ritenoeur appearing more likely to be Kate's father, not Michael Ritenoeur who is Joseph's. Census records before 1850 didn't reveal any family members other then the head of a household, usually the father only.
I've used this last one for my family tree, but a conclusive connection from Kate to the Governor has not yet been made by my book.
Ritenoeur be a tough one to trace because of the different ways to spell the name. Be sure to search with the soundex option although that won't get all the possible spellings.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to look at probate records because they usually contain names of heirs (though not always). Probate records take more time to search because they are not readily available in an online searchable database. Family search.org has Pennsylvania Probate records starting in 1683. It is a time consuming process but when you finally locate what you want it can be exciting and rewarding. Call if you want some search tips.