Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Ruttinger, Frank 1838 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 8, 2008, 4:24 pm Author: Ed Blair Frank Ruttinger has been a resident of Johnson county for forty-six years. He is a native of Harrison township, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and was born January 13, 1838. His parents were Michael and Anna Catherine (Wyant) Ruttinger, natives of Germany. They were married in the Fatherland and came to America in 1835. They landed in Baltimore, Md., and drove from there to Bedford county, Pennsylvania; where they bought a farm and made their home there until the time of their deaths. Frank Ruttinger was one of a family of thirteen. He was one of the oldest of the boys of the family and when young was compelled to work out. He helped drovers drive cattle and such other odd jobs as he could get to do in the vicinity of his home. When he was eighteen years old he went to Indiana and worked at blacksmithing and cooperage, and in 1864 enlisted in Company G, Sixty-seventh regiment, Indiana infantry. He had tried to enlist in the early part of the war but was rejected. However, he persisted until he finally broke into the army. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac, he was at the battle of Hatches Run, Siege of Petersburg, Sailors Creek and Farmsville. He was stationed at Richmond and Alexander for a time after Lee's surrender and then marched through to Washington from Richmond. He never was seriously wounded but received a gunshot wound in the arm, which he did not consider of a very serious nature. He was mustered out at Bailey's Crossroads, Va., and four weeks later received his honorable discharge at Philadelphia, Pa., by reason of the general order from the War Department on account of the close of the war. He then returned to Indiana and resumed his work at the cooper's trade. About six months later he went to work in the oil industry and ran an engine in connection with drilling and dressed oil tools. He bought property at Anna, Ind., and lived there until 1869, when he came to Johnson county, Kansas. When he came to this county he went south of Olathe as far as where Ocheltree now is, on the first train that ever went any farther south than Olathe on that road. He got off at a place the trainmen called "Billy Scott's House." This was about where the Ocheltree depot is now located. The conductor told Mr. Ruttinger that that was the first trip and that he would stop at "Billy Scott's house" and let him and another passenger off, because, that was about the best place to get off that there was along the line in that vicinity. After a few months, Mr. Ruttinger bought eighty acres of land on the "Black Bob" about a mile north and three miles east of Ocheltree and engaged in farming and stockraising. He bought additional land, when the opportunity offered and now owns 320 acres and is one of the successful farmers and stock men of Johnson county. He moved to Olathe in 1896, where he has a fine residence and is taking life easy. He rents his lands and looks after his various interests. Mr. Ruttinger was married, January 7, 1863, to Miss Mary Ann Dill, a native of Indiana county, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of George and Eliabeth (Conrad) Dill, both natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Kansas at an early day and spent the remainder of their lives in this State. They died at Clay Center, Kan. To Mr. and Mrs. Ruttinger have been born six children, as follows: Alma Grace, married John Butler. She died, leaving two children, Harry and Frank B., and these two boys were reared by their grandparents and are known by the name of Ruttinger. Harry resides in Kansas City and Frank B. is a construction engineer and makes Chicago his home. When sixteen years of age he enlisted in the Navy and served five years and one month, from 1901 to 1906. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Ruttinger are, Cora Ellen, a trained nurse and served as an army nurse in the Spanish-American war; Georgie Ann was the wife of C. H. Schellhammer and is now deceased; Mary Elizabeth was the wife of Benjamin F. Hakes, now deceased; Frances Amanda resides in Olathe, and Warren J., Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Ruttinger is a Republican and has taken an active part in political matters for years and in the old days of the political convention he rarely ever missed one. He has served on the school board and was one of the organizers of school district No. 88. He has been justice of the peace and has held various other local offices. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Franklin Post, No. 68. He is a member of the Grange and a stockholder in the Grange store. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas BY ED BLAIR AUTHOR OF Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1915 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/ruttinge194nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb