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Edwards Cemetery ~ Missouri Ann Edwards ~ part of the Polk County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Edwards, Missouri Ann
LAST NAME: Edwards FIRST NAME: Missouri MIDDLE NAME: Ann NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME: Ritner AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
GENDER: F TITLE: 
BORN: 17 May 1842 DIED: 21 Sep 1918 BURIED:  (Edwards Cemetery)
OCCUPATION:  
BIRTH PLACE:  Missouri
DEATH PLACE: 
NOTES: 
Name of father John Ritner
Maiden name of mother Sarah Woodling
1850 MO CENSUS - Missouri Ritner (8y, b MO) enumerated with John Ritner (44y, b Switz, millwright), Sarah (30y, b PA), Mary (10y, b MO) and Julia (3y, b MO)
MARRIAGE - "Joseph Edwards & Missouri Ann Ritner md 18 Jan 1855; James Taylor, Judge. Wit: Sebastian & Mary Ritner pg 35a" 
1870 OR CENSUS - Missouri Edwards, age 27, b. Missouri, is enumerated with Jos. Edwards, age 40, occupation farmer, b. Michigan, along with Charles, age 15, b. Oregon, William, age 12, b. Oregon, Martha, age 11, b. Oregon, Esther, age 8, b. Oregon, Richard, age 4, b. Oregon, and John, age 1, b. Oregon.
1900 OR CENSUS - Missouri Edwards, age 60, mother of 13 children 10 of whom are living at the time of the census, b. May 1840 in Missouri, is enumnerated with her husband of 45 years  Joseph, age 72, occupation farmer, b. Oct 1827 in Michigan along with Lewis L., age 23, married 2 years, occupation farm laborer, b. Jul 1876 in Oregon,  Henry, age 20, single, b. Jun 1879 in Oregon, Allen A., age 17, b. Dec 1882 in Oregon, Lafayette, age 14, b. Jul 1885 in Oregon, Eva, identified as daughter-in-law [of Joseph], age 21, married 2 years with 1 child, b. Jan 1879 in Oregon, and Samuel, identified as grandson [of Joseph], age 1, b. Oregon.

BIOGRAPHICAL - (Source - Polk County Historical Society, Historically Speaking, Vol. 5,  (1981) "John, Sebastian and Sarah Ritner", by Charlotte Wirfs, pp 5-7):
"The decision Sarah Ritner had to make in the late summer of 1852 was simple. Her husband, John was dead. She could either take her four young daughters back to Missouri over the uninhabited territory she'd just traveled through or she could remain with the Oregon-bound emigrants and expect to arrive at a place called Polk County in the fall. She knew what was behind her and a brother-in-law and a land claim were waiting for her ahead. She chose to stay within the security and protection of the wagon train. At least together the emigrants had a chance to withstand the marauding bands of Indians who may have been responsible for her husband's death. As the wagons moved through the last half of their journey they were frequently harassed by small groups of starving Indians. Too weak to actually attack the caravans, the Indians would deliberately stampede the stock so that they might pick up an occasional stray critter in the confusion. That might have been what happened the day John and Sarah's wagon was pulled out of control by two frenzied oxen. In an aftort to calm the hysterical animals, John climbed out on the wagon tongue to whip his team in the faces with his hat, but he lost his footing and was crushed to death under the wheels of his own wagon. Using boards removed from the beds of wagons for coffin material, his family buried John Ritner July 5, 1852 in an unmarked grave near Scott's Bluff on the Platte River. John and Sebastian Ritner were brothers born in 1804 and 1815 in Helsetic Confederacy, Prince Potentate Power or Sovereignty of Switzerland. They had found their way to Missouri by the midpart of the century. In 1845 Sebastian Ritner left Missouri for the Oregon country. It was a long journey and made even farther when he and several hundred others took an ill-fated "cut-off" from the Oregon Trail across the Malheur Mountains and desert, led by Stephen Meek. Sebastian Ritner brought cattle with him to Oregon, but he had a difficult time getting a start in farming. In 1848 he left his farm to serve in the Cayuse Indian War in the 4th Regiment, Company C. Afterwards the gold fields of California gave him the stake he needed and he took up a donation land claim, No. 4582, in Polk County settling it in August of 1850. He picked land far enough back so that , it wouldn't be settled for many years. The hills of the area reminded him of his homeland. It was good range for cattle and settlement would only cause him problems. He then wrote to his brother, John and asked him to join him. They would be neighbors and partners in the cattle business. John Ritner, like his brother, was a mechanic and a farmer and he first had to sell his Missouri farm and small business. His wife, Sarah, born August 5, 1817 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, was the daughter of Englishmen, Peter and Mary Houghner Woodling. Sarah had married John at Easton, Pennsylvania in 1833 and they had four daughters: Missouri Ann, Mary Elizabeth, Julia Ann and Flora Ann. In the sprir:Jg of 1852 the family packed their belongings and set out to join Sebastian in Polk County, Oregon.
Only Sarah and her daughters found their way to Sebastian Ritner's cabin as he was returning from
the gold fields. As a widow with a family Sarah was entitled to a donation land claim also, which
she settled September 15, 1853 (No. 4728) next to Sebastian's claim. Soon this couple were married, October 20, 1854, in Benton County Oregon.
Family history states that they built a cabin on both claims with Sarah's room on her side of the
line. Gradually the Ritners added more land to their claims so that they once owned over 1,000 acres. Sebastian found markets for his cattle in Portland and in the mines of eastern and southern Oregon. He once sold grain and hay to nearby Fort Hoskins for the company's mules.
Sebastian and Sarah Ritner had a family of four children: John, Lewis, Sophronia and Frank. They
remembered their father spoke English with a thick accent and he was never able to master
English as a written language. The children attended Pedee School and one of their amusements was horse racing. In 1938 Ollie Alcorn, daughter of Julia Ritner Allen, spoke of her grandmother, Sarah. "Grandmother Ritner always kept a large flock of geese. The soldiers from Fort Hoskins when riding that way would often take advantage of a living target and shoot one of grandmother's geese. As they always paid for what they killed, grandmother was not greatly
putout."
Sebastian had filed an intent to become a citizen of the United States in Platte County, Missouri in 1841. Fourteen years later his citizenship was awarded, April 23, 1855, in Polk
County, Oregon Territory. The Ritners had been members of the Lutheran Church and interdenominational services were often held in their Polk County home.
III health forced Sebastian Ritner to turn management of his large farm over to his sons.
About 1875 John left to begin his own farm, leaving his 18-year-old brother, Lewis, to handle
the family farm. The farm then changed from stock raising to wheat production. In' 1903 Lewis
reported farming 500 acres and raising. “…fine stock including thoroughbred horses (Red and Roan Shires),Cotswold sheep and dairy cattle." Additional revenue was gained in the logging business where he worked part time. There were also 16 acres under hops and considerable fruit was being farmed. Lewis still owned and managed the farm in 1938.
The Ritner Children married into Polk and Benton County families. Missouri Ann married Joseph C. Edwards of Pedee January 18, 1855. Mary Elizabeth became the wife of Lewis Hannum of Lewisville November 16, 1857. Julia Ann, born in 1848, married Joseph Allen, son of Lincoln Allen of Kings Valley, on New Year's Day 1864. Later she may have been the wife of Richard Dunn. Flora Ann, born about 1851, married J. Waters of McTimmonds Valley June 19, 1868. John (1855-1929) married Sarah Morrison, daughter of J. and Ellen Baker Morrison, November 1, 1877. Lewis (1856-1943) married Clarinda Edelman, daughter of James Edelman of Benton County, in 1883. Sophronia (1860-1942) married James Grant and lived in Corvallis. Sophronia and her brother, John were married on the same day at the home of and by Isaac Staats, each acting as the other's witness. Frank, born about 1864, was dead before 1903.
Sebastian Ritner died at his home near Pedee in October of 1887 and is buried in the Edwards' side of the Womer Cemetery at Pedee. His wife, Sarah, died in 1905 at the age of 88 years."
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 

Not found in Oregon Death Index

OBITUARY: 
INSCRIPTION: 
Edwards
Missouri
1840 - 1918
[shares marker with Joseph]
SOURCES: 
Saucy Survey & Photographs
Polk County Oregon Marriage Records 1849 - 1879, pg 8 
1850 MO CENSUS (Platte Co, Platte City, FA #51)
1870 OR CENSUS (Polk Co., Luckiamute, FA #622)
1900 OR CENSUS (Polk Co., Luckiamute, ED 176, sheet 5B)
Historically Speaking, Vol. 5, pp 5-7
CONTACTS: 
ROW:   
IMAGES:
     

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