Heinrich Nicholas Rittenhausen

The lineage of the RETTINGHAUSEN family has not been proven. It has been a controversial issue for over 100 years. In the Daniel Kolb Cassel book published in 1893 on the Rittenhouse Family History, he made a link to the Royal Hapsburg Families. This was accepted for many years until Calvin Kephart, President of the National Genealogical Society of the U.S.A. wrote an article for their Quarterly Publication. It appeared in Volume 26 Number 4 December 1939. He "debunked" the statements of Daniel K. Cassel linking the Rittenhouse ancestry to royalty. He came up with an alternate possibility, connecting them to a baronial family in the general area, named VON RÖDINGHAUSEN. Here again his views were accepted until more recently when more information came to light.

Dr. Mark Haacke, Ph.D, has been the researcher spending time on site in Europe, trying to solve these ancient mysteries. He spent many years reviewing and researching the early works of these genealogical pioneers from Milton Rubincam to Calvin Kephart and Daniel Cassel. He has published a number of papers regarding the early families in Germany and researched extensively in Germany himself. This work includes research into extant Rittinghausen, Rittinghaus, Rettinghausen, and Rettinghaus families. He has not only found church records back to the early 1700s but met members of each of these families. Other records such as mayoral records and maps go back to the 1500s and 1600s. All point toward this area in Westphalia as having been the home to many Rettinghaus families.

From our own families perspective, he has more recently discovered (and published in the Rittenhouse Family Newsletter) a large Rettinghaus clan whose origins spring from Speldorf a small area right beside Broich. Part of this family ended up in Duisburg near Mulheim. The "en" added to the name usually occurs when the religion is Catholic as that is an added latinization of the name. The earliest hints of the presence of the family in this area is a map from about 1600 from Angermund showing a Rettinghaus Strasse. So we need look no further than the surrounding countryside to find possible interesting origins.

A most interesting experiment is going on at the present time using modern technology to try and solve this ancient mystery. Dr. Mark Haacke, Ph.D, has instigated a program to test Rittenhouse family members for their DNA. He has taken DNA samples from a number of people with the Rittenhouse name in the United States. After 360 years from the birth of William Rittenhouse these DNA markers are in excellent agreement with each other, some members of the family having in fact exactly the same 26 markers tested. He is now in the process of enlarging the testing base and will soon try and broach the European families with this name.

There has been new information found in 2002/3 by Berdine Rittenhouse. This was presented at the Rittenhouse Reunion in Lancaster, Pa. in October 2003. The President of the Rittenhouse Family Association, Mr. Robert Neitz, made a presentation on this new information. The documents located by Berdine Rittenhouse were some of the original hand written manuscripts that Daniel Kolb Cassel made when he was writing his book. This story now gets to sound like "cloak and dagger" stuff. There were some notes pencilled in this manuscript that lead present researchers to believe that Daniel Cassel did NOT wish to issue the information on the Hapsburg connections as actual fact. It appears that he was only going to offer it as one possibility. But something happened between those notes and publication and when it was printed those details were shown as actual facts. It looks now as if someone else tampered with the manuscript before it reached the printers. But who ?? A couple of theories have been developed but they are only speculation. Anyway it tends to soften the reactions against Daniel Kolb Cassel as it is recognized he was an excellent and dedicated genealogist at the time and produced several other family history books as well as the one on the Rittenhouse family.

SOURCE of INFORMATION

RITTENHOUSE FAMILY HISTORY by Daniel K. Cassel published in 1893. A copy of this book is held by the Conrad Grebel Library at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. I also have a copy in my library.

WILLIAM RITTENHOUSE and MOSES DISSINGER by Milton Rubincam published in 1959 by Pennsylvania German Society. This book discusses the Hagerhoff Families in the Mulheim-am-Ruhr area and their possible lineage. A copy of this rare book is in my library.

RITTENHOUSE GENEALOGY DEBUNKED by Calvin Kephart published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Volume 26 Number 4 December 1938. This article tries to straighten out the information about the Rittenhouse Family lineage. A copy is in my files.

RITTENHOUSE FAMILY ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER by Dr. Mark Haake, Ph.D, Articles European Rittenhouses and Rittinghausens and Carl Rettinghouse.