FAMILY STORIES

productive. Grain storage to hold several years of grain was built and filled. It was a busy time and the years went by quickly.

   Saunders County has been a good place to live, work, play and raise one's children. We'd do it all again! Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   Keith Lee, son of Herbert and Mae Angee (Carstensen) Ritthaler, was born September 5, 1940 at Dodge County Hospital in Fremont, Nebraska. He went to District #105, a country school in Saunders County, one-half mile north of his home for 8 years. He then graduated from Fremont, Nebr. Senior High school in 1958. He attended Arizona College at Flagstaff, Ariz. for one semester when he decided to join the First Force Recon. Co. of the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959.

Left to Right: Kent and Ashlie, Keith, Lou.

   After his 4-year Marine hitch, he worked at numerous jobs while proceeding to pursue his college education in California, including offshore Oil Drilling, International Investments, and as a pilot for Aviation Services Inc., where he flew many customers to many interesting places in California and Mexico.

   Keith married Wanda Louise Wilkinson of Oxnard, California, December 29, 1971, the daughter of Frank and Louise (Russell) Wilkinson of Amarillo, Texas, where she was born July 29, 1945. "Lou," as Wanda is usually called, went to school and graduated from Texas Christian University in 1966 BFA. She was a speech therapist in the Oxnard when Keith met her. She now has her Real Estate Brokers License.

   Keith and "Lou" have two children: Kent Lee, born March 15, 1975 and Ashlie Louise, born August 14, 1977.

   Keith is now the owner of Blackhawk Sales, and a partner in Lenders Services Co. They live in Pleasant Hill, California, a lovely area away from the coastal fog but still close to all the advantages of the area. Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   Kent Douglas Ritthaler was born August 4, 1943, the son of Herbert William and Mae Angee (Carstensen) Ritthaler. He went to District #105, a Saunders County country school, a short distance from his home and then graduated from Fremont Senior High School in 1961. "Douglas" was active in sports and played guard on the high school football team. He went to the University of Nebr. at Lincoln for a time when he decided to get married and move back to the farm. He and Mary Ann Ingold were married in the Sinai Lutheran Church in Fremont, Nebr., Nov. 27, 1963.

Kent and Mary Ann Ritthaler. Children: Brent, Robyn, and Bryan.

   Douglas and Mary Ann are the parents of three children; Brent Douglas, born June 10, 1964; Robyn Lynn, born Dec. 10, 1967; and Bryan Kent, born August 13, 1969.

   Douglas has been very active in the farming operation with his father, Herbert. He is the owner of "Ritthaler Irrigation," and has a dealership for irrigation systems and equipment, etc. He also has a seed dealership, besides raising seed for the Foundation Seed Div. of the Univ. of Nebr. He finds time to belong to a gun club and is very competitive. Antique guns are his hobby. The family enjoys skiing and fishing together, and taking trips to various places.

   Mary Ann, though raised in the city, loves the country and all that goes with it. Her garden produces many vegetables to be canned or frozen. Many fruit trees are the basis of her delicious jellies and jams. She finds time in her busy schedule to work with their three horses, and since Bryan and Robyn belong to 4-H, to chauffeur them to their clubs and shows. Robyn is very competitive and has many trophies.

   Bryan enjoys his three-wheeler and anything on wheels and just might be the farmer in the family.

   Brent is going to the University of Nebr. at Lincoln, and is interested in many things, electronics, farming. He loves the outdoors so he hunts, fishes, and traps in the winter.

   The First Baptist Church in Fremont is their place of worship.

   So -- there are many things that keep the family busy as they work and play together. Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   Michael and Harriet Ritthaler and their children were a part of the migration to the Midwest, one of the many families who passed thru this life, experiencing the joys and happiness, enduring the many hardships, disappointments and dreams of the pioneers of Nebraska and the Midwest. With courage and perseverance thru cold, damp, rainy, bone-chilling winds and hot, dusty days in the spring of 1874 -- their covered wagon rolled slowly to Nebraska from Tazewell County, Ill. Michael, Harriet and three children: William, age 6, born August 4, 1868, Margaret, 4, born May 1, 1870, and Ruben, 1, born May 28, 1873, were encouraged by dreams of better times for their children and themselves in a new place far-away from their family and friends. They arrived in Saline County at Dorchester, Nebr. and bought an 80-acre farm for $950. Two years later, Elizabeth was born.

Michael and Henrietta Ritthaler

   In 1883 after nine years in Saline County, they sold the farm for $1800. The family moved to Saunders County, where they bought by State Deed, school land in 1888 for $960, another 80-acre farm, 5 miles southeast of the town of Fremont, Ne. They lived and filed on this land after five years, Dec. 30, 1902. (N½ N¼ 16-16-8).

   Twins were born here and were buried on the farm. This homestead is where they stayed, raised their family, went to the Pohocco Baptist Church, prospered, and had many friends.

   Michael Ritthaler was born in the village of Izenhausen, Bavaria, Germany on 4 Feb. 1839. At the age of 17, he migrated to America to seek religious freedom, and freedom from mandatory drafting into the army, and, I'm sure, to seek his fortune.

   Arriving in the Pekin, Ill. area where other immigrants from the homeland had settled, he worked on a farm. At the age of 23, on August 24, 1863, he joined the 82nd Ill. Volunteer Infantry Co., made up mostly of Germans from Peoria and surrounding area. He served in the Civil War, including Sherman's march to the sea, until June 9, 1865, when he was mustered out in Washington D.C.

   It was on Oct. 29, 1865, he married Harriet Zipprich who had been born near Pekin, Ill. February 3, 1848. She was the daughter of Lorenz Zipprich and Phillipiana (Harth) Zipprich. Lorenz was born September 26, 1819 at Dieteghium, Gross Hergthum Von Baden, Germany, and had come to America in 1842, first locating in Wogd, N.Y.; then moving to Chicago, and on to Pekin where he married (no date) Phillipiana Harth who had been born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany Sept., 1823. She died in Pekin, Ill., March, 1857. Lorenz died in Pekin, Ill., 1892. Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   Steve Ritthaler was born in the Dodge County Hospital in Fremont, Nebr., January 22, 1954. He is the son of Herbert and Mae Angee (Carstensen) Ritthaler. He attended District #105, a country school in Saunders Co. near his home, and after 8 years, went to Fremont High School where he graduated in 1972.

Steve Ritthaler

   Steve worked with his father on the farm and also farmed for himself for about 3 years when he decided he would do something else and moved to Kansas City, Mo. where he is associated with the entertainment business, designing and making costumes for entertainment people. He is seeing much of the country as he travels extensively. Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   Saunders County was the home of William Ritthaler from the age of 16, when he came with his father and mother, Michael and Harriet (Zipprich) Ritthaler with his brother Reuben, sisters Margaret and

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Mr. and Mrs. William Ritthaler

Elizabeth from Dorchester in Saline County, Ne. to the farm about 6 miles south of Fremont. He grew to manhood here, attending country school Dist. 105. He then attended, and graduated from Fremont Normal College with the class of 1893.

   William married Dorothea Mohrman March 12, 1902 from Shell Creek area, Platte County, about 9 miles north of Columbus, Nebr. To this union four children were born: Henry Michael, born 30 Dec. 1904; Edna Harriet, born 2 Nov. 1905; Irvin Peter, born 29 Oct. 1907; and Herbert William born 26 May, 1916.

   Dorothea Mohrman came to America with her parents, Hans Peter and Wilhelmine (Buchholz) Mohrman, when she was about three years old from Hanover, Germany in about the year 1883. She was born 12 May 1880. Dorothea was one of twelve children. Her twin sister, Mary, died shortly after they arrived in America. Minnie, Emma and Leana were all born in Germany while Herman, Henry, Gus, Hulda, John, Emil and Martha were born on the farm near the Shell Creek Church.

   These, Dorthea and William, were children of immigrant, pioneer families. They had learned well the lesson that hard work was rewarded, and to waste neither time nor money.

   They raised chickens, had a large kitchen garden and canned or dried the fruits and vegetables that they raised. They butchered and preserved their own meat, and sold the extra butter and eggs, berries, vegetables, and fruit to buy coffee, sugar, yard goods and such things they could not raise.

   William, Dorothea and family attended the Pohocco Baptist church where William taught Sunday School as his father before him had done.

   William Ritthaler was born August 4, 1868 in Pekin, Ill. He died June 4, 1928, in Saunders County. Dorothea died October 12, 1954. They are both buried in the Pohocco Baptist Cemetery. Submitted by Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   This family history begins with John Robb, who came to America from Scotland, and settled in Saunders County, probably between 1870 and 1880. He was the great, great, great-grandfather of the youngest members of the family, Wesley and Stephen Bevans and Heath Smith.

   His son, Alexander, known to many as Pete, married Emelia Dodson. Emelia had a brother, Clarence. Her father was killed in the Civil War, and her mother, Esther, married John O'Kane. Emelia had three half-sisters and two half-brothers -- Esther was the great, great, great-grandmother of Wesley, Stephen and Heath.

   The four children of Alexander and Emelia were all born in Saunders County. The oldest, Jessie, married Nels Youngstrom, Edna married Cleon Dech, Melva never married, and Lyle married Libby Shandera. Her family were also early settlers in Eastern Nebraska. Lyle is still living. He and his second wife, Mildred, have lived in Laramie, Wyoming many years. He is now 81 years old.

   Alexander and Emelia lived in the area south of Wahoo, in Ithaca, and later, on a farm two miles east of Ithaca. Alexander died in 1929, and when the Mead Ordnance Plant took over the farm home, Emelia, Melva, and Jessie, now a widow, moved to Wahoo. Jessie and Nels had no children. Edna and Cleon's four daughters were Norma, who married Luis West, and later John Smith; Nita, who married Clarence Schwartz; Naomi, who married Byron Bevans; and Faith who married Leo Smith. Naomi and Byron have a son, Ronald. Ronald has two boys, Wesley and Stephen. Faith and Leo have three sons, Alan, the oldest; Kenneth, who married Roma Swanson; and Steven, who married Bonnie Anderson. Ken and Roma have a son, Heath, and live on a farm near Ithaca which has been in the Smith family several generations.

    Lyle and Libbie had two children: Dorothy, who married to Howard McMaster, and has two sons; and Ross, whose wife is Marian. They have a son and daughter.

   Six generations of the family of John Robb have lived in Saunders County. Many of them were born here and lived most of their lives in this part of Nebraska.

   On Apr. 4, 1934, Earl Willard Robbins, born in Wahoo, Neb., Feb. 21, 1910, eldest son of Henry N. Robbins and Martha E.J. Beuelke, and Mildred Irene Hanson, Wahoo, Neb., born on Jan 12, 1911, eldest daughter of Elmer R. Hanson and Lizzie Mays Hanson, were united in marriage and took up residence east of Ithaca, Neb. and farmed in the community until Nov. 1955 when they moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa. In 1975, Earl retired from 20 years of service to the Cedar Falls Community School system. Mildred worked five and one-half years as Caretaker of Riverview Park, maybe known as Bible Conference Grounds, six years as cook and ward attendant in the Black Hawk County Care Facility, and three years as part-time evening meal cook in Lutheran Home and retired in Sept. 1970 from work outside the home.

   Three sons, and one daughter were born to this family. Son Royal Ervin Robbins, born Mar. 28, 1937, died at the age of 38, on Sept. 28, 1975 of cancer in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He had served twenty years of his short life as Communications Craftsman with the Telephone and Telegraph Co. He was an active pilot twenty-two years and was survived by his wife, Neva Shewmon Robbins, two sons, Mark David and Matthew Aaron, and two daughters, Cheryl Lynn and Amy Louise.

   Son Dr. Vernon Kay Robbins, born Mar. 13, 1939, married Deanna Moritz, and had two children. Rick Allen Robbins, born Dec. 11, 1961, is attending McMurray College, Edwardsville, Ill. and Chimene Alise Robbins, born Sept. 20, 1964, is attending Knox College at Galesburg, Ill.

   Dr. Robbins, the past fourteen years is teaching and has been head of the department of religious studies and literature at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

   Son Dr. Lanny Arnold Robbins, born Apr. 3, 1940, married Connie Polich, and has two children. James Allen Robbins, Nov. 15, 1963, is attending Purdue University and Debra Renee, born Feb. 28, 1966, is in high school.

   Dr. Lanny Robbins' occupation is Senior Research Specialist, Chemical engineer, as listed in 1976 "Notable Americans of the Bicentennial Era" Volume I published by American Biographical Institute.

   Daughter Martha Mildred Robbins Kramer, born June 1, 1948, married Wm. G. Kramer and has two children, Robyn Louise, born Oct. 11, 1973, and Gordon Frederick, born Dec. 2, 1975. Martha was a music major in college, and now is a teacher and homemaker.

   At this writing, Jan. 15, 1983, Earl and Mildred are both active and looking forward to a Golden Anniversary in 1984. Submitted by Mildred Hanson Robbins

   Henry N. Robbins, born in Saunders County on April 27, 1880, died on January 11, 1957. He was the son of Benjamin Jackson Robbins, who was born in Indiana in 1846 and died in 1916, and of Emelia Beyer Robbins, born in 1854 in Germany. She died October 30, 1934. Henry had five brothers and sisters.

   Sister Dora Mae Robbins Knipple (Mrs. Philemon) was born July 16, 1875. Her children are: Charles; Maude Otto, Sylvia; (all deceased); and Goldie, who died in infancy. Dora (Knipple) Byerley died Dec. 26, 1950.

   Sister Lillie Robbins Wagner (Mrs. Grant) was born Oct. 30, 1876 and died June 17, 1973. Lillie's children are: Elvera Olson; Inez Crinklaw; Ralph, deceased; and Elmer.

   Brother Albert A. Robbins was born May 1, 1878 and died Mar. 25, 1971. His wife, Mable Carr Robbins, was born July 31, 1881 and died July 6, 1940. Albert's daughter, Gladius Christensen, was born Febr. 11, 1904.

   Brother Chas. L. Robbins, Louie, born Aug. 19, 1882, died July 16, 1957. His wife, Eva M. Carr Robbins was born Dec. 29, 1885 and died Sept. 25, 1955. Chas. (Louie's) children, were Theodore, deceased, Glenn, deceased, Orville, deceased, Leta, deceased, and Jack in Chicago, Illinois.

   Sister Edith Robbins Lee is buried in Indian Mound Cemetery, Ithaca, Nebraska.

   Henry N. Robbins was married April 28, 1909 to Martha Emelia Johanna Beuelke who was born July 7, 1889 and died Aug. 14, 1943. To this union were born three sons.

   Son Earl Willard Robbins was born Febr. 21, 1910. He was married to Mildred Irene Hanson on April 4, 1934. The children were Royal, deceased, Vernon, Lanny, and Martha Robbins Kramer.

   Son Ross Ray Robbins was born Jan. 6, 1916. He was married to LaVerne Olson in 1940. She died in 1945. There were no children. Ross married Florence Miller in 1946. Their children were Sharon Stevens, Dale, and Kathie.

   Son Harold Jackson Robbins was born Jan. 2, 1918 and died Nov. 12, 1971. He was married to Violet Wilson on Sept. 14, 1940. The children are Mardith Anderson, Beth Cowgill, Dennis, and Lynn Charles, known as Charles.

   Henry Robbins lived on the eighty-acre farm he purchased from his father, Benjamin Jackson Robbins, southeast of Ithaca, Nebraska until 1942 when he and his wife purchased a property and moved into Ithaca where they resided until their deaths. Submitted by Daughter-in-Law Mildred Hanson Robbins

   Although the Roberts family has never lived in Saunders County, Mrs. Roberts feels very close to the area around Cedar Bluffs because her roots are there. Both sides of her family, all being farmers,

Gary and Terilee Roberts, Rachael, Paul, and Nathan

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