16 Facts About Joseph Ritner

Joseph Ritner was the eighth governor of Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Anti-Masonic Party.

In 1856, Governor Ritner served as a delegate to the first Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Joseph Ritner's parents were of German heritage, and Ritner was primarily self-educated, including learning to read and write in English, while acquiring a working knowledge of German.

Joseph Ritner moved to Cumberland County as a teenager, where he worked as a farm hand and laborer until he purchased a farm of his own in Washington County.

In 1801, Joseph Ritner married Susan Alter, and they were the parents of 10 children.

Joseph Ritner later served as a private with his regiment in western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In 1820, Joseph Ritner was elected road supervisor in Washington County.

Joseph Ritner was reelected five times, and was Speaker in his final two terms.

Joseph Ritner became involved with the Anti-Masonic movement in the late 1820s, and after two defeats by George Wolf in his bids to become governor, he was finally successful during the 1835 election.

An ardent opponent of slavery, Joseph Ritner was the inspiration for an abolitionist poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1836's Joseph Ritner, in which Whittier praised the anti-slavery sentiment of the governor's annual message to the state legislature.

Joseph Ritner's reputation was negatively affected by Anti-Masonic efforts to gerrymander state legislative districts for their benefit.

Joseph Ritner suffered from cataracts, and surgery in 1839 restored the sight in his right eye, though he remained blind in his left.

Taylor died before the nomination was acted on, so Joseph Ritner was never confirmed.

Joseph Ritner joined the Republican Party when it was founded in the mid-1850s, and was a delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention.

Joseph Ritner died on October 16,1869, and was buried at Mount Rock Cemetery in Mount Rock, Pennsylvania.

Governor Joseph Ritner has a residence hall named in his honor on the University Park campus of Penn State.