History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 669-670, Farmers' Township
Jacob Ritter, sec. 19; P. O., Table Grove. Mr. Ritter's early
educational advantages were very limited, his father having settled in
Wayne Co., O., among the heavy timber and where there were no schools.
He obtained a good business education by hard study and close attention
to his books, at such odd spells as he would find between the hours of
labor and at night. He was born in Union Co., Pa., Aug. 14, 1815, and
was reared in the woods, learning all about rolling logs, picking
brush, etc. His father, Jacob Ritter, was a native of Pennsylvania, and
died Sept. 8, 1847. His mother, Magdalene (Stump) Ritter, was also a
native of Pennsylvania, and died Feb. 15, 1833. Our subject came to
this county in 1837, and located in Canton, where he worked at his
trade, which is that of house-joiner and cabinet-maker. He pursued this
business until 1842, when he came to this township. He has since that
time been engaged in farming, and growing and feeding stock, in which
he has been eminently successful. When he began business for himself he
had five francs and a Mexican dollar. He now can estimate his property
by the thousands, besides giving a farm to each child. There still
remains standing in Lewistown a house that Mr. Ritter erected for Joel
Solomon in the year 1840 or '41. Mr. R. was married, Sept. 16, 1839, to
Matilda R. Opp, by whom he had 3 children: Mary J. and Hiram are
living. Mrs. Ritter died Jan. 10, 1850. He again married Aug. 25, 1850,
this time to Margaret Harris; they have had 5 children, of whom but one
is living, - Martha A.
