Pleasants County, West Virginia Biography of Charles Franklin RUTTENCUTTER ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 72-73 CHARLES FRANKLIN RUTTENCUTTER was born and reared in Pleasants County, and since early manhood has been a man among men, efficient in his private business, known for his integrity and wholesome personality, and it was largely on the score of his individual character and fitness that he was chosen to the office of sheriff, which he is now filling. Daniel Ruttencutter, his grandfather, was a native of Germany. When he came to America as a young man he settled in Tyler County, West Virginia, and after reaching there he married a young woman who had come with him from Germany on the same ship. From Tyler County he moved to Middle Island Creek in Pleasants County. While he owned a farm, he was by trade a cabinet maker and one of the old time artistic masters of that trade He made a great deal of hand made furniture, some examples of which are still in existence, showing not only sturdiness but artistic lines. This old couple reared a family of eight children, and their descendants comprise the only Ruttencutters in the United States. Abraham Burkhart Ruttencutter, father of the sheriff, was born in Tyler County June 8, 1834, was reared there and in Pleasants County, was married in the latter county, and since his marriage his home has been at St. Mary's. For a number of years he owned and operated a water grist mill at Sylvan Mills, for thirty years was proprietor and land- lord of the leading hotel of St. Mary's, and eventually con- fined his attention to the ownership of a livery business. He has been retired since 1901, and now, at the age of eighty- seven, makes his home with his son Charles F. He served a number of terms on the City Council, is a democrat, and since boyhood has been an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church. He has for forty years been a member of St. Marys Lodge No. 41, A. F. and A. M., and for twenty years has affiliated with St. Marys Lodge No. 22, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Abraham B. Ruttencutter married Christine Watson, who was born on Middle Island Creek in Pleasants County in 1841 and died at St. Marys in 1896. She was the mother of the following children: Belle, wife of George W. Hutchinson, of Parkersburg,West Virginia, Mr. Hutchinson being a sub-divisional manager for the International Harvester Company, having charge of the agencies of this corporation in a number of counties; Mary, who died at Covington, Kentucky, in November, 1920, wife of John C. Watts, a locomotive engineer with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; John Daniel, superintendent of oil leases for a corporation at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Joseph A, a Louisville & Nashville Railway conductor at Covington, Kentucky; Blanche, wife of John M. Brightwell, a loco- motive engineer with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, with home at Louisville; Bessie, who died in infancy; and Charles F., who is the youngest. Charles F. Ruttencutter who was born at St. Marys August 22, 1881, acquired a high school education in his native city, but at the age of seventeen left school and went to work in the St. Marys oil fields. For fifteen years he was in the oil district, turning his versatile talents to nearly every phase of oil production, and for a time had charge of prac- tically all the production in Pleasants County for the firm of Bennedum & Trees. Mr. Ruttencutter has been an individual oil producer for the past fifteen years and owns some of the productive wells in the St. Marys field. His chief business interests, however, is the St. Marys flouring mill, which he bought in 1913. This mill is on Washington Street and has a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day. He also owns an ice house near the depot, which supplies St. Marys and vicinity with ice for domestic purposes, and he also has a retail coal business. Mr. Ruttencutter is a stockholder and director in the Pleasants County Bank of St. Marys. For several terms he was a member of the City Council. He was elected high sheriff in November, 1920, and began his four year term January 1, 1921 His election was in the nature of a personal triumph. In that year even old time democratic strongholds went republican. Pleasants County gave the republican ticket an average majority of 225, but Mr. Ruttencutter was chosen sheriff by a margin of 125 votes. He is a member of the Baptist Church, assis- tant superintendent of the Sunday School, is affiliated with St. Marys Lodge No. 41, A. F. and A. M., Sistersville Chapter No. 27, R. A. M., Mountain State Commandery No. 14 K. T., West Virginia Consistory No. 1, Scottish Rite, at Wheeling, St. Marys Chapter No. 31 of the Eastern Star, and Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg. He also belongs to St. Marys Lodge No. 22, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and St. Marys Tent No. 20, Knights of the Maccabees. During the war Mr. Ruttencutter had charge of all the Red Cross drives in his district, and assumed the responsibility of seeing that these drives filled the quota and was equally interested in the success of the Liberty Loan and other campaigns. Mr. Ruttencutter owns one of the substantial homes of St. Mary's on Creel Street. He married in 1901 Miss Lida Walton, daughter of John and Lida (Le Bearon) Walton, the latter now deceased. Her father lives at Pittsburg, is a steamboat engineer, and well known among Ohio River men. Sheriff and Mrs. Ruttencutter have two children. Lucille, born in December, 1902, is a graduate of the St. Marys High School and now a sophomore in West Virginia University. Charles Abraham, born in July, 1907, is a junior in the high school.