Ritter family

By Mona Taggart
Pioneers flocked to the area 100 years ago in search of a new beginning in uncharted lands near Gregory, otherwise known as the Rosebud Reservation. Oscar Ritter, was one of
thirteen children born to Joseph and Mary Ritter near St. Joseph, MO., on January 7, 1868. It is believed that he is of German descent. Oscar grew to manhood on a farm, while he attended a
few years of rural school. His desire for a better education at the age of twenty-one, drove him to enter college. He worked his way through four years of college, receiving degrees in both
teaching and commercial courses. Oscar taught in rural schools for a number of years, before joining one of his younger brothers in a general merchandise business. He worked with him for
five years before venturing to Gregory County.

Rosa Mary (Kunz) Ritter, was one of a family of six children born about fifteen miles northeast of St. Joseph, MO. on July 21, 1876. Her parents were Mr. & Mrs. Christian Kunz, immigrants
from Switzerland. They were married in the late 1860¹s, in St. Joseph, MO. Rosa¹s parents left the city and moved to a farm just before she was born. Rosa was the next to the youngest child
born to the Kunz¹s. While she was very young, her father passed away, and her mother was unable to provide for all of them. Some of the children were sent to live with neighbors until they
were old enough to provide for themselves. The children had very little education, only receiving a few short terms of rural school.

On October 12, 1902 Oscar and Rosa were united in marriage. During that period, Oscar was operating a small country store. Neither of them had much, but they lived happily together in a
small house, where on February 13,1904 their first son was born.

In the summer of 1904, when Gregory County was being opened to homesteaders, Oscar journeyed to Yankton, to register for a claim. As soon as the registering was finished, the
numbers, (2400 in all) were thrown into a box and the drawing was soon underway.

On the fourth day, Oscar and his wife, Rosa learned that he had drawn number 394. When this news arrived, Rosa sat down and wept. She did not want to go to this newly opened
country of blizzards, coyotes, and rattlesnakes, to make a new home for themselves and their new son. Filing the claims began on August 8, 1904. One hundred numbers were drawn each
day. Their number was 394, so Oscar had to be in Bonesteel on August 11, 1904 to file or lose his chance for a claim. Oscar came to the new country a few days before the drawing to look
over the country and make a record of some of the better land that would be made available to the claim holders. His name was called toward evening on August 11, 1904, but most of his
choices were taken by earlier numbers, so he just made a guess. Their claim was a bit rolling, but not bad. Their homestead was located 3 1/2 miles northeast of Gregory. The couple was to
be located on the homestead within six months after the filing date. That meant that they would have to be on the site by February 11, 1905.

On January 30, 1905, Oscar left St. Joseph, MO, by train at 1:00 o¹clock in the morning in a rainstorm. He arrived in Bonesteel the same day at 5:00 p.m. in a snowstorm. The next day,
Oscar and several other homesteaders who had drawn claims near Gregory, were driven to Burke on a bobsled. Severe cold weather continued and the group remained in Burke for several
days where they were lodged in a sod house. By February 8, 1905, Oscar had lumber, stove and other necessities freighted to the homestead site. In a matter of just a few days, he put up
their home, an 8 by 12 shiplap shack, papered on the inside with heavy building paper. A well for water supply was also dug.

Mail service was extremely slow and Rosa began to worry when she did not hear from Oscar in a week¹s time. Oscar batched on the homestead claim for a short time and then returned to
Missouri. He had received word from Washington, D.C., that because of the severe winter weather, time was extended on the proving-up of the claims. The family waited until March when the three of them came to South Dakota.

Their few pieces of furniture arrived a few days later. Their first table was a large wooden box and their first bed, the floor. The couple had a two hole laundry stove that served for both
cooking and heating purposes. Oscar later made a trip to Bonesteel, where he purchased horses, a wagon, lumber and a walking plow. The trip took several days, during which Rosa and
her small son were left at the shanty. This took all the courage Rosa could muster. As soon as Oscar returned, he added another room to their home, a 10 by 12 addition. Their home was now
a two room 12 by 18 structure. These purchases were made from the $300.00 or $400.00 he had borrowed in Missouri to come to the Rosebud country. During the summer months, with the
assistance of their neighbors, they put twenty-eight inches of sod around the house and two layers of forty-four inch sod over the roof. This was not beautiful, but proved to be warm in the
winter and cool in the summer months.

Chores were completed in the early mornings and late evenings with the aid of kerosene lanterns. The couple lived in the sod house for eleven years. This was the birthplace of two more
sons, Alfred in 1906 and Lester in 1910. They enjoyed their home, everyone was neighborly and they all worked together. In the beginning, the couple was off to a slow start. When Oscar
was busy in the fields, Rosa performed all of the chores; milking as many as eight cows, feeding the pigs and chickens, separating the milk, planting the garden, cooking the meals and
watching the children. Rosa¹s worst fear was that they would stray too far from the house and get in contact with a rattler. One day, Rosa stepped outside the door and there laid a large
rattler. She did not have time to be frightened, but instead ran for a long handled garden hoe and with the first lick, off came the snake¹s head. One evening, Rosa was headed out to milk and
fell and broke open one of her elbows, it bled severely. A neighbor traveled to Gregory to beckon for a doctor. The family doctor was out of town, so the neighbor brought out another doctor to
their homestead, A Quack in Rosa's words. He jumped out of his car and looked at the bleeding, lacerated arm, and without cleaning the elbow of blood and dirt, put Rosa in an elbow splint.
He then muttered,That is the worst broken elbow I have ever seen. The so-called doctor returned at midnight and loosened the bandage, and still to Rosa's dismay, without washing and
cleaning the arm put the splint back on and left. Noon the following day, he returned once again and went through the same thing. Needless to say, the Ritter¹s made him clean the arm and put
on some clean bandages before putting the splint back on. They did not call him again.

The next day they traveled to Spencer, NE by train to see Drs. Bradley and Skeleton for x-rays. Dr. Skeleton took off the splint and felt the elbow and then handed Rosa the splint and said,
Take this back to the Quack, you don¹t need it anymore! Rosa's elbow was not broken, but by the time they had sought proper medical attention, it was festered, swollen and in a decayed
condition. She had to remain in the hospital for some time to continue taking treatments for the wound. His bill for setting an elbow that was not broken came to $50.00.

Sunday was a busy day for the Ritters as they like to attend both Sunday school and church services in Gregory. They traveled to Gregory with a team of horses. Farming at the time
was done by horses and mules. Crops of corn, wheat,oats, hay and barley were produced on the Ritters farm, before adding cattle, hogs, sheep and chickens. And with a large garden, their
life became quite independent.

In 1916, the couple built a modern frame house. Rosa did much of the painting inside and all of the papering. The house had running water and electricity. Water was piped from the well
into a tank that was located on a hill near the homestead. The gravity would cause the water to flow down the hill to the house. Electricity was provided by a 12 volt powered wind charger. A
large cave was also dug to store potatoes and other produce. A grove of apple trees was planted and served for many years.

In 1918, the Ritter family purchased their first vehicle which was a Ford Model T for $1,000.00. By the early twenties, a rural telephone was installed. It was a party line, but it was also a
fun line as everyone listened. At the time there quite a few Bohemians and they would talk in> their native language making it impossible for others to understand them.

By 1928, they had purchased their first tractor, an International with steel wheels was purchased. And a Ford Model A was purchased in 1929 for $800.00. Things were looking good for
the couple until the early thirties, when drought, grasshoppers and dust storms hit Gregory County with a vengeance. The Ritters were able to secure seed and feed loans and managed to
save their farm and home during the time of uncertainty.

In later years, as the Ritters acquired more land. Rosa would do her washings early in the morning on an old washboard, then venture out to shock grain and return to the house and have
dinner prepared by noon. During the threshing season, she would prepare dinner for a dozen or so men. Rosa also helped with the picking of potatoes and corn husking.

Alfred and Jeanetta remembered when their parents would take a wagon load of wheat to the flour mill. Wheat prices were about 25 cents a bushel in the1930's. After the wagon of
wheat was processed, it would be enough flour to sustain a family for a full year. It was in 1932 that another 80 acres were added by Oscar. At the time he paid $40.00 per acre. Years
later they purchased a quarter and an additional 80 acres from Ed Lapour for $100.00 per acre. The original 160 acres through the years grew to another 480 acres. Progress in those
frontier days was slow, but as the years went by, and a lot of hard work and long hours were invested, Oscar continued to improve the homestead.

In 1944, after living through the ups and downs of pioneer life, Oscar and Rosa left the homestead and moved into Gregory. The couple had invested thirty-nine years of their life farming
while leaving a legacy for generations to come.

After moving to Gregory, Oscar, being a lover of God¹s great outdoors, was always busy during the summer months in keeping a beautiful garden with all kinds of berries, vegetables and
flowers. Oscar was honest and dependable, a hard worker, of quiet disposition who was willing to help in any worthwhile project. Rosa kept busy with their home, church affairs and yard
work upon moving into Gregory. As a child, Oscar was baptized in the Catholic faith, but at the age of sixteen, he was confirmed and united with the German Reformed church near
his home in Missouri. He was an active member of the same church until coming to South Dakota, when he joined with the Methodist church in 1931, of which he was an active member until
his death on January 21, 1962 at the age of 94. Rosa joined Oscar on November 25, 1966 at the age of 90.

Jeanetta's father gave her $100.00 to attend teacher¹s college in Springfield and two
summers in Spearfish. In her five or six years of teaching rural schools she received $30.00 per month, then $80.00 per month and the last few years a little over $200.00 per month.

Alfred and Jeanetta reminisced about the grasshopper plague in 1933 that destroyed the county farm economy. The grasshoppers would eat the curtains in your homes. The ground and
fields were bare,² stated Jeanetta. Alfred added, ³We would kill the grasshoppers, but that many more would come to their funeral. The only thing left were thistles. The dust storms followed in
1934, after the grasshoppers had depleted everything in their path. We planted grain but nothing ever came up, remembered Alfred.

Alfred and Jeanetta (Spickall) were united in marriage in 1937. Jeanetta taught school at the Gilbert School for two or three years before the couple were wed. Alfred and his wife,
Jeanetta, moved onto the homestead in 1944, along with their children, Janice, Elaine and Marty. In 1947, Larry joined the family. Alfred and Jeanetta recalled that they would take a case of
eggs into town.

In the 1940¹s and it would buy their groceries for a week. It was usually on Saturday nights when they would go to town. The couple also sold cream. It was the one night a week that
Alfred would quit farming early and on Sundays he never worked, stated Jeanetta. Saturday nights was a big night in Gregory, added Alfred. In 1948 a kerosene refrigerator came into the
home of the Ritters. A couple of times the kerosene refrigerator almost caused fires that could have led to a disaster. The couple also had a wind charger with 12 volt power that supplied the
home with electricity and a coal range.

We welcomed electricity, which changed our lives, the refrigerator that worked, lights, stove and the wonderful electric appliances were put to use. Eventually the picking of corn with
horses, shocking and threshing was taken over by modern equipment and farming became easier, stated Alfred. Alfred and Jeanetta reminisced about the OBlizzard of 1951. Alfred, Janetta
and their son, Larry, were coming home from Burke, when their vehicle became stuck in a snowdrift. They carried their young son to the John Englemeyer farm where they remained stranded for three days. Theyspent their days playing cards with the Englemeyers. The rest of their children were rescued from the schoolhouse along with their teacher and taken to the Vic Rajewich home where they stayed until their parents arrived home safely.

The family kept busy with farming, tending to the livestock and activities, such as Jobs Daughters, 4-H, Demolay and church outings. Each child also had their own chores that needed to be
done. Jeanetta and Alfred served as Sunday school teachers. Jeanetta also belonged to the United Methodist choir and worked with the Methodist youth group. The whole family was very
dedicated to the church, said Jeanetta. Alfred is a past master of the Masons and Jeanetta past Worthy Matron of Eastern Star, Bethel Guardian of Jobs Daughters and 4-H leader for the
Clover Girls. 4-H was a big part of our lives. We took many trips to the state fair where projects were shown with great honor, stated Jeanetta. One by one, the children left the homestead
and pursued careers. The children were each given a quarter of land by their parents. Larry received the quarter in which the homestead house is located.

In 1981, Alfred and Jeanetta retired from the farm life and moved to town. Today the couple enjoys attending functions at the senior citizens center in Gregory where Alfred is ready to play a game of pinochle at any time. The biggest change in technology for Jeanetta, was electricity, and for Alfred, Tractors of all kinds.We had the grandest neighborhood. We had card parties, picnics, and all of the kids would get together. There were approximately 20 couples, stated Jeanetta. The couple's family has grown to include eleven grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Larry decided in 2002 to bring the homestead back to life. The big barn and the garage received new roofs, the house was raised and set on a new foundation, the house received new
windows, paint, doors as well as other improvements, to give the homestead a fresh new appearance. Susan Johnston, granddaughter, completely renovated the inside, with repairs, painting, and decorating. With the renovation on the farm and the house, inside and out, it is now once again a great place, as nice as the original and better, stated Jeanetta. Larry has decided to make this his new home. He will keep his job for Farmland and as a relief pharmacist while being
able to be based on the original homestead. His sons, Jonathan and Matthew, are excited about the homestead and hope to keep the Ritter homestead in top shape for many years to come, for
family gathering and the usual hunting reunions.