Rittscher Family Website

History

Rittscher was not always spelled "Rittscher". Over time the name has changed. Our family tree shows that, according to church records, the first "Rittschers" had "Ritzer" as the last name. Our line was traced to three brothers, Hinrich, Hans and Marten Ritzer whose dates of death, but not birth, were on record. The names of their children during the next generation were spelled as "Ritzer, Ritscher, and Ritzscher" and the spelling of "Rittscher" only began in the early 1700s. We believe this was because in the 1600s and 1700s most people could neither read nor write, and names became somewhat hybridized when rendered phonetically by church registrars.

Thus people born today with the name Ritzer, Ritzcher, Ritscher, Ritcher or even Zittscher, most likely share a common ancestry due to spelling anomolies over the centuries. To make matters more complicated, some family members who moved to North America anglicized their last name from Rittscher to Richards.

As far as is known, the family tree dates back to as early as 1618. This information originally came from Franz Rittscher of Marne, Germany to this website through family connections. Franz built an extensive map of the family tree of which I received a copy in about 2000. However, in time I had lost that original copy. I am currently in the process of trying to get another copy for this website.

If anyone has information about the family tree I would really appreciate your help. Please see the contribution page.

My plan is to build a hyperlinked graphic of the family tree in 2009