Rebecca Ridenour

Susanna Ridenour

Barbara Ridenour

Peter Ridenour

Nicholas Reitenauer

Notes:

AFTER GENERAL BRADDOCKS DEFEAT IN 1755, NEAR FORT PITT, TH E WESTERN FRONTIER INCLUDING THE CONOCOCHEAGUE SETTLEMENTS WERE SUBJECT TO ATTACKS OF THE MAR AUDING SAVAGES. THE ATTACKS BECAME MORE FREQUENT AND A NUMBER OF BLOCKHOUSES WERE BUILT ON T HE FRONTIER TO WHICH THE SETTLERS COULD FLEE UPON THE RAISING OF AN ALARM. THESE PROVED TO B E INEFFECTIVE IN AFFORDING PROTECTION TO THE SETTLERS. FOR BETTER FRONTIER PROTECTION, FORT FREDERICK WAS ERECTED IN 1756, ON THE POTOMAC-SOUTH O F HANCOCK, MARYLAND. THIS FORT WAS ABOUT 9 MILES SOUTH OF THE CONCOCHEAGUE SETTLEMENT AND WA S THEIR REFUGE UNTIL THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR WAS ENDED 1758 AND INDIANS STOPPED THEIR RAID S IN 1763. DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR, FORT FREDERICK WAS AGAIN USED TO CONFINE CAPTURED BRI TISH SOLDIERS. ON JULY 1778 CAPTAIN JOHN KERSHNER WAS IN CHARGE OF THE GUARD HERE WITH JOH N OSTER AND JACOB REITENAUER SERVING, ALONG WITH ABOUT FIFTY OTHERS AS MEMBERS OF GUARD CONTI NGENT. ITIS UNFORTUNATE THAT WE HAVE LITTLE OF THE WRITTEN WORD OF THESE PIONEERS BUT REALLY THE Y HAD LITTLE NEED FOR WRITING AS THEIR WORLD WAS THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY LIVED AND PERHAP S AN OCCASIONAL LETTER BACK TO RELATIVES IN THE OLD WORLD WOULD BE THE EXTENT OF THEIR WRITIN G. THE GERMANS OF THE FRONTIER BECAME INVOLVED VERY LITTLE IN THE POLITICS OF THEIR AREA. THE Y LEFT THIS UP TO THE ENGLISH AND THE SCOTCH-IRISH. THEY DID, DURING THE AMERICA REVOLUTION , SERVE ON COMMITTEES OF OBSERVATION AND COMMITTEES OF SAFETY. THEY FURNISHED FOOD , GRAIN S AND BLANKETS FOR THE AMERICAN ARMY. . . AND ALTHOUGH THE OLDER ONES WERE AGAINST WAR, MAN Y OF THE THIRD GENERATION YOUTH JOINED THE RANKS OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. AT LEAST FOUR GRANDSONS OF NICHOLAS REITENOUR [ THE IMMIGRANT] SERVED IN THE REVOLUTION ARMY . YOUR FOREBEAR, JACOB REITENAUER WAS ONE OF THESE, FOUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND AN D GUARDED THE BRITISH PRISONERS AT FORT FREDERICK. JONATHAN HAGER WAS SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT THAN MOST OF THESE WESTERN MARYLAND GERMANS. HE WAS F ROM THE PROVINCE OF WESTPHALIA, AND PROBABLY NOT OF PEASANT STOCK. HISTORIANS CALL HIM AN AD VENTURER. YET HE WAS A MAN OF CONSIDERABLE SENSIBILITIES. IN 1745 HE MOVED TO HIS SECOND HO ME, NEAR BOSTETTER, SO HIS WIFE ELIZABETH, COULD BE NEAR HER KERSHNER FAMILY. THE ORIGINAL N AME OF HAGERSTOWN WAS ELIZABETHTOWN IN HONOR OF HIS WIFE. BEING ATTUNED TO THE SOIL THESE EARLY FRONTIERS PEOPLE HAD REVERENCE FOR LIFE WHICH WAS SOME TIMES EXPRESSED IN CHURCH ACTIVITIES. THE KERSHNERS GENERALLY AFFILIATED WITH THE REFORM CHU RCH AND THE REITENAUERS WERE LUTHERAN. THERE PROBABLY WAS AN EARLY LUTHERAN CHURCH ACROSS TH E CONCOCHEAGUE NEAR CLEAR SPRING AND THERE WAS ONE AT FREDERICK, MD. FOUNDED IN 1740. THE ST. JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH OF HAGERSTOWN WAS FOUNDED IN 1770 AND FOUR OF ITS FOUNDER S WERE REITENAUERS; NICHOLAS II, MATHIAS AND HENRY SONS OF THE IMMIGRANT AND DAVID A SON O F HENRY. MATHIAS TOOK CARE TO SEE THAT THE NAMES OF ALL OF HIS NINE CHILDREN WERE ENTERED UP ON THE ROLLS OF THE NEWLY ORGANIZED CHURCH. AN ASIDE . . . THE LAND HOLDINGS OF THESE EARLIER PIONEERS MEANT MORE TO THEM THAN JUST SO M ANY ACRES OF LAND. . AFTER ALL THEY PRODUCED THE WHERE WITH ALL TO SUSTAIN THEIR FAMILIES FRO M SEASON TO SEASON. THEY GAVE COLORFUL NAMES TO THESE FARMS; TROUBLE WITH CONTENTMENT---NICHOLAS REITENAUERS POND---THE WIDOWS LAST SHIFT---ONE ACRE MORE -- HAGERS DELIGHT---STONEY BARTER---LAND OF THE SWAMP OF EXPERIENCE---HOOKERS NEGLECT---ETE , ETC. ANOTHER ASIDE. . . PETER REITENAUER WAS OVERSEER OF ALL MAIN ROADS IN SALISBURY HUNDRED IN 1 755 AND HIS BROTHER MATHIAS WAS OVERSEER OF THESE SAME ROADS IN 1768. HUNDREDS WERE POLITICA L SUBDIVISIONS IN THE EARLY TIME. TO FORM SOME IDEA OF THE CHARACTER, LIFE AND ACTIVITIES OF THESE PIONEERS WE MUST RESORT T O WHAT LITTLE WE GLEAN FROM LEGAL AND CHURCH RECORDS;;;;; AND THIS IS SKETCHY. FROM SHIP LOGS AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS WE DO FIND THAT THE REITENAUERS COULD SIGN THEIR NAMES AN D THIS IS REMARKABLE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT ABOUT HALF OF THE NAMES FOUND IN THE SHIPS PASSEN GER LIST WERE WRITTEN IN BY THE CAPTAIN, USING AN X [FOUR REITENAUER NAMES IN DIFFERENT HANDWRITTING SHOWN] REALLY YOU CAN'T MAKE MUCH OUT OF THE ABOVE SIGNATURES, SINCE YOU NEED AN OLD ANTIQUATED GER MAN ALPHABET TO DECIPHER THEM. DEEDS AND WILLS GIVE US SOME INSIGHT INTO THE PIONEERS LIVES. PART OF MATHIAS REITENAUERS W ILL IN 1792, STATES IN PART; WIFE EVE- £40 CURRENT MONEY-1 SORREL HORSE, NAMED JACK, MY BED AND BEDDING THERE UNT O BELONGING; 2 COWS, ALL THE KITCHEN FURNITURE; AS MANY APPLES AND PEARS SHE MAY WANT, SADDL E AND BRIDLE, PRIVILEGE OF THE HOUSE AND KITCHEN AND THE BACK ROOM FOR HER TO LIVE IN, WITH H E CELLAR UNDER SAID ROOM, AND SUFFICIENT FIREWOOD AND PRIVILEGE OF THE SMALL GARDEN. SO MATHIAS REITENAUERS WIFE IS STILL ABLE TO RIDE THE HORSE JACK IN HER SIXTYS. . . REMARKAB LE. THE HOUSE THEY ARE LIVING IN [1792] MUST BE THE ONE MARKED W, [ NOT ABLE TO SHOW ON THI S REWRITTEN COPY] SINCE THE ROOM ARRANGEMENT, AS DESCRIBED IN THE WILL, STILL REMAINS. ALS O THE WILL ALSO ORDERS HIS SON JOHN TO DELIVER TO HIS MOTHER EVE, YEARLY AMONG FOOD STUFFS AN D OTHER THINGS, 1 BARREL OF APPLE BRANDY AND 15 GALLONS OF RYE WHISKEY. VERY INTERESTING

NOW WE ARE REALLY GOING TO DO SOME GENEALOGICAL BACKTRACKING AND DEAL WITH THE EUROPEAN FORE BEARS OF HANS NICHOLAS REITENAUER, THE IMMIGRANT, BORN IN 1695. THE PARENTS OF THE IMMIGRANT WAS ANOTHER NICHOLAS, WHO LEFT CONDISWILL SWITZERLAND, WHERE H E HAD BEEN BORN IN 1651. HE WENT TO NEAR TIEFFENBACH, ALSACE, WHERE HE MARRIED SUSANNA WINDST EIN. THIS MARRIED COUPLE HAD NINE KNOWN CHILDREN, INCLUDING THE TWO OTHER SONS JOHANNES AN D BALTHASAR WHO ALSO IMMIGRATED TO AMERICA. THE GRANDPARENTS OF THE IMMIGANT WERE HANS REITENAUER WHO MARRIED KATHERINA SCHAR, 10-02-163 4 IN CONDISWILL SWITZERLAND. THEY HAD EIGHT CHILDREN, INCLUDING NICHOLAS AND TWO BROTHERS WH O WENT TO THE AREA OF TIEFFENBACH, ALSACE. THE FATHER OF THE ABOVE HANS REITENAUER WAS MOST LIKELY ANTON REITNOWER WHO MARRIED MARGERE T CHRISTEN IN CONDISWILL, SWITZERLAND[ AARGAU CANTON] [2-4-1611] NOW WE BEGIN SOME INTERESTING SPECULATION. CHANCES ARE THAT ANTON REITENAUER CAME FROM TH E TOWN OF REITNAU ABOUT TEN MILES FROM CONDISWILL. THIS IS THE HAMLET FROM WHICH THE REITENA UER FAMILY TOOK ITS NAME. YOU SEE, ABOUT THE YEAR 1200, THE RULERS OF THIS AREA TOLD FAMILIE S TO TAKE A SURNAME. UP TO THIS TIME, IT HAD BEEN BIG JOE, LITTLE JOE OR CRAZY JOE FROM SO A ND SO. AND WITH THE POPULATION ON THE RISE IT WAS GETTING CONFUSING. A LARGE NUMBER OF FAMI LIES TOOK THEIR SURNAMES FROM THEIR TRADE OR PLACE OF ORGIN. OUR FAMILY IS FORTUNATE IN THI S RESPECT AS WE TOOK THE NAME OF REITENAU AND MAKES OUR LINE EASY TO TRACE. THE HAMLET OF RE ITENAU IN THE 1300S WAS A CLOSE KNIT ISOLATED COMMUNITY AND AM SURE MOST WERE RELATED. [ UNABLE TO SHOW A CLIPPING ABOUT VON REITENAU] TRANSLATES THUS; THE NOBLE FAMILY REITENAU, STOOD IN THE SERVIVE OF THE YOUNGER RULER OF KI BURG, CARRIED AS OF 1350, FREQUENTLY VON REITENAU.( LIBRARY BERN, SWITZ.) THERE IS A FAMILY LEGEND, THAT TELLS OF A GEORGES REITENAUER, A KNIGHT IN THE 1200S, SERVIN G BRAVELY IN THE SERVICE OF RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURG. HE WAS PROBABLY RESCUEING FAIR DAMSELS, GUA RDING THE MOATS AND SLAYING THE DRAGONS. BUT SERIOUSLY, THERE IS A CONNECTION HERE, SINCE RUDOLPH'S MOTHER WAS HEILWIC OF KIBURG. WHEN THE LEGEND DIES THE DREAM ENDS AND WHEN THE DREAM ENDS THERE IS NO GREATNESS. Page 271. "The said Nicholas signed his own name to the naturalizationroll in 1739 and spelle d it "Reitenauer," and this orthography is used byhis descendants in signatures to wills an d deeds until about 1780-1800,though the clerks in recording, not knowing the German script , followedthe varying ideas of the sound, but generally adopting that of"Ridenour," which spe lling became the accepted mode finally and is thatused at present by the family. Nicholas Reitenauer, the immigrant, was born in 1695, and was forty-fouryears old when he too k the oath of allegiance at Philadelphia."

Anna Magdelena Arnet

Heinrich Arnet

Nicholas "Claus" Reitenauer

Susannah Lufidach

Notes:

George Reitenauer

Michael Reitenauer

Anna Eva Reitenauer

Ludwig Reitenauer

Catherina Margaretha Reitenauer

Arva Jewell Chandler

Norris House

Anna Christina Reitenauer

Mathias Reitenauer

Balthasar Reitenauer

Hans Reitenauer