WHITTON and RITCH -Surname Studies and people from the Island of GRAEMSAY, Orkney
Lewis Ritch
1776 - 1835 (59 years)
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Name Lewis Ritch Born 12 Feb 1776 Connecticut 
Gender Male Died 3 Sep 1835 Middle Island, Suffolk, New York, USA Person ID I6887 Ritch Last Modified 22 Jan 2019
Father John Ritch, b. 1748, Horseneck, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA , d. 12 Mar 1792, North Salem, Westchester, New York, USA (Age 44 years) Relationship natural Mother Molly Hyatt, b. Abt 1750 Relationship natural Married 1772 Family ID F2531 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 Charity Hulse, b. 11 Mar 1788, d. 3 Mar 1871, Middle Island, Suffolk, New York, USA (Age 82 years) Married 18 Dec 1810 Children 1. George Washington Ritch, b. 24 Jun 1825, Middle Island, Suffolk, New York, USA , d. 10 Nov 1899, Middle Island, Suffolk, New York, USA (Age 74 years) [natural]2. Isaac Wilson Ritch, b. 5 Feb 1816, Middle Island, NY , d. 18 Aug 1853, died in North Carolina buried Middle Island, Long Island (Age 37 years) [natural]3. Ulysses H Ritch, b. 14 Sep 1819, Middle island , d. 3 Sep 1856, North Carolina buried Middle Island, Long Island (Age 36 years) [natural]4. Thomas Jefferson Ritch, b. 20 Oct 1813, Middle Island, NY , d. 1900 (Age 86 years) [natural]5. Mary Elizabeth Ritch, b. 20 Jul 1821, Middle Island, Long Island , d. 4 Mar 1901, Middle Island, Long Island (Age 79 years) [natural]6. Simeon Hulse Ritch, b. 10 Dec 1811, Middle Island, NY , d. 10 Oct 1855, North Carolina buried Middle Island, Long Island (Age 43 years) [natural]Last Modified 22 Jan 2019 Family ID F2528 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 2 Elizabeth Wallace, b. Abt 1775, d. 1803, Connecticut (Age ~ 28 years) Married 1789 Connecticut Children 1. John Wallace Ritch, b. 1799, Connecticut [natural]2. Lewis Ritch, b. 1 May 1801, Coxsackie, Greene, NY , d. 14 Oct 1848, North Salem, NY (Age 47 years) [natural]3. Elizabeth Ritch, b. 1803, Connecticut [natural]4. Lucy Ann Ritch, b. 2 May 1803, Greene, NY , d. 6 Apr 1881, North Salem, Westchester, NY (Age 77 years) [natural]Last Modified 22 Jan 2019 Family ID F2530 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Notes - Little is known of Lewis Ritch's early life in Connecticut, but in 1789 he married Elizabeth Wallace and settled in North Salem, Westchester County, N. Y., where he worked as a hat maker. Lewis and Elizabeth Ritch had three children, John Wallace Ritch, born in 1799; Lewis Ritch, born in 1801; and Lucy Ritch, born in 1803. In that latter year Elizabeth Ritch died and Lewis, remaining in North Salem, continued to make hats and bring them to New York City where they were sold.
According to family tradition, it was on one of his annual trips to New York City, probably in 1809 or early in 1810, that he first met Charity Hulse. She was a daughter of Caleb M. and Jerusha Petty Hulse and lived with her parents at Middle Island, where she had been born on March 11, 1788. On December 18, 1810, she married Lewis Ritch who, leaving his three children to live with relatives at North Salem, moved to Middle Island.
In 1811, Lewis purchased ten acres of land at Middle Island from Charles Gerard and subsequently, in 1827 and 1831, purchased an additional one hundred and ninety acres. Sometime shortly after making his first land purchase Lewis Ritch built or had constructed this house, where he lived until his death on September 3, 1825. In addition to this house, he also had built a small store, which he probably used to manufacture and sell his hats. The fact that he remained in that business is evidenced by the 1820 census records which note that he was engaged in manufactures and hat making is the only trade he is known to have had. Also, it is unlikely that he could have been a farmer, as was his son George W. Ritch, as he owned only ten acres of land until 1827.
Beside his commercial activities Lewis Ritch, between the years 1813 and 1829, served the Town of Brookhaven in the positions of Town Trustee, Overseer of Highways, Commissioner of Highways, and Town Assessor. When Lewis Ritch died, on September 3, 1835, lie bequeathed all his personal property to his widow, Charity Hulse Ritch, and his real property was devised equally to the six children by his second marriage. A valuable record of the contents or furnishings of this house is the attached inventory of the household furniture and personal possessions of Charity Hulse Ritch. As was noted she inherited all of Lewis Ritch's personal property and continued to live in this house with her son, George W. Ritch, until her death on March 3, 1871. An inventory and appraisal of her effects was made for the purpose of dividing her estate and in all probability includes most of the furnishings which were in this house at the time that Lewis Ritch lived there.
- Little is known of Lewis Ritch's early life in Connecticut, but in 1789 he married Elizabeth Wallace and settled in North Salem, Westchester County, N. Y., where he worked as a hat maker. Lewis and Elizabeth Ritch had three children, John Wallace Ritch, born in 1799; Lewis Ritch, born in 1801; and Lucy Ritch, born in 1803. In that latter year Elizabeth Ritch died and Lewis, remaining in North Salem, continued to make hats and bring them to New York City where they were sold.