Sullivan County PA Archives Biographies.....RITCHLEN, Henry  
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  File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
  Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 24, 2007, 7:42 pm
  
  Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899)
  
      HENRY RITCHLEN. - One of the most popular and faithful officers of Forks
  township, Sullivan county, is Henry Ritchlen, who is now serving as tax
  collector, to which position he was elected in 1897 for a three-years term. He
  is numbered among the progressive and enterprising citizens of the community,
  and is a wide-awake and practical farmer who owes his success in life to his own
  well directed efforts and careful management of business interests.
  
      Mr. Ritchlen represents one of the old and prominent families of the county.
  His father, Charles F. Ritchlen, was widely and favorably known in Forks
  township and took an active part in public affairs. He was born in Baden,
  Germany, where he acquired a good education and afterward served as a soldier in
  the German army. When a young man he crossed the Atlantic to the new world and
  located in Sullivan county, Pennsylvania. There he married Miss Mary M. Tahl,
  who was born in that locality, and was a representative of a prominent German
  family. Mr. and Mrs. Ritchlen began their domestic life in Forks township, where
  the father of our subject improved a farm which he afterwards sold to John Kane.
  He then removed to the farm upon which our subject now resides - then a tract of
  wild land covered with a growth of native forest trees. These he at once began
  to clear away in order to prepare the land for the plow, and in course of time
  he transformed the undeveloped tract into a finely cultivated farm of
  ninety-three acres. There he engaged in raising both grain and stock, planted a
  good orchard, built a substantial residence and made many other excellent
  improvements. He was a stanch Democrat in his political views, and for
  twenty-eight years served as tax collector, while for thirty-two years he was
  justice of the peace, and during all that time not a case which he tried was
  ever taken to the higher courts - a fact which stands in unmistakable evidence
  of the soundness and justice of his decisions. In his family were sixteen
  children, but the greater number died in infancy or childhood. Only four are now
  living: Joseph, a resident of Forks township; Frank, a resident of Laporte,
  Pennsylvania; Henry; and Mary, wife of Bernard Hanck, of Sullivan county. The
  father died at the age of sixty-seven years, and the community thereby lost one
  of its most valued citizens - a man whom to know was to respect and honor.
  
      Henry Ritchlen was reared to manhood on his father's farm, trained to habits
  of industry and honesty, early becoming familiar with all the duties that fall
  to the lot of the agriculturist, and acquired a good education in the public
  schools. He spent one season in the lumber woods near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and
  for a number of winters worked in the lumber woods of Sullivan county, but has
  given the greater part of his time and attention to farming, and has now a
  valuable and productive tract of land, much of which is under a high state of
  cultivation. He manages his business interests with system and energy, and in
  addition to the cultivation of grain he raises horses and cattle of a high grade.
  
      In 1884 Mr. Ritchlen was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Hostler, who was
  born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Henry F. Hostler and Sarah
  (Solinburg) Hostler. The latter is now deceased. Four children have been born of
  this union: Alice M., William Henry, James Morton and Carl Francis, aged
  respectively thirteen, ten, six and two years. Mr. Ritchlen is one of the most
  active supporters of the Democratic party in his township and does all in his
  power to promote its growth and insure its success. He is now serving as
  township tax collector, and discharges his duties in a most prompt and faithful
  manner. He is one of the intelligent and progressive citizens of the community,
  frank and genial in manner, and his genuine worth has won him the high regard of
  many friends.
  
  
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