He and his wife also reared a nephew, Adison Ritter who's mother died at
birth. Capt Ritter was Captain in the Home Guard during the Civil War. before the
war ended he guarded the Federal Arsenal at Fayetteville until Sherman's
Army captured the town and the arsenal.

Capt. John was a devoted father and almost a family physician. He set
broken bones and extrated teeth.

For several years he held a celebration on the 4th of July for his
relatives, at which time he displayed the flag with thirty stripes and
forty-five stars.

He was an expert gunsmith, blacksmith and carpenter. He made each of his
sons a gun and his daughters beautiful china cabinets, dressers and high
chests. He also build his own house. The old log kitchen with large rock
fireplace has been torn down and a new one built, but the other part of the
house still stands as a memorial to him and his expert work.

The house is inlcluded in the Historic Archives of North Carolina and many
of the guns and cabinets are still in the descendant's families.

The home is located six miles above Robbins about two miles from Smyrna
Church and is in the possession of Arlene Clark Sanders, a
great-great-grand-daughter of Capt. John.

Much of the above is extraced from a letter written by
Geneva Williamson of Robbins.

Our Ritter Newsletter is available at no charge (email only) by writing to
me 73051.2312@compuserve.com.
Please include your name and city.

Previous editions of the letter can be viewed at
http://www.netxroad.com/antone/RFN.htm.

Most of the Ritter family members (back to Jesse Ritter Sr. b.~1735) can be
found at : http://www.pflash.com/users/lwr/index.htm