Jacob Lee Ritchie

Biographical Sketch of Jacob Lee Ritchie, 1864-1937 and Addie Belle Raines, 1864-1920.

Compiled July 1969 by David Victor Barth

Jacob Lee Ritchie married Addie Belle Raines about 1885 when they were both about twenty-one years of age. Addie Belle never had the opportunity to go to school and never learned to read or write.

They had seven children, the first six of whom were born in Cooper County, Missouri. Jacob Lee, called "J.L." by his friends, moved the family to Russelville, Missouri in 1896 when their sixth child, Leoda, was almost three years old. It was raining the night the family brought the horse-drawn furniture wagon into Russelville. Addie Belle counted the children and was missing one. A thorough search of the new house yielded negative results. Finally, little six year old Dora was discovered asleep in the wagon, warm and dry.

Jacob Lee was wealthy due to the income from his flour mill in Russelville. Addie Belle always had hired help to take care of the house, but she made certain that the children learned to do housework.

In the Spring of 1904, the Ritchies moved to Eugene, Missouri, into a large home on a hillside overlooking the town. Jacob owned the mill in Eugene and, later, acquired a dry goods store.

One weekend when he was on a business trip to St. Louis, Jacob invited a young St. Louis streetcar motorman, Clyde Dessie Bell, to dinner at the Ritchie home. Clyde's parents lived near Eugene and they were acquainted with the Ritchies. Clyde was twenty-two and Jacob's second eldest daughter, Hattie Elizabeth, was nineteen. Two years later Clyde and Hattie were married.

By the time of the 1929 stock market crash, all of the Ritchie children were married. Jacob lost most of his fortune as bad times prevented the small farmers and businessmen in the area to pay their debts. Jacob decided that foreclosure on their farms wouldn't help the situation, so he let the debts go uncollected. Jacob was very religious, and he participated in the church as a deacon. He made church an important part of the family life.

After a long battle with cancer, Addie Belle died March 9, 1920, much thinner than she was in pictures taken of her around 1910. Around 1923, Jacob married Mrs. Pratter of Edinburg, Illinois.