The Murrins And Rittenberry & Brennan Families
Barney Moran - Click to Enlarge
Rittenberrys and the Civil War
The following notation seems accurate from a genealogical point of view. This family is not directly related to us, but is directly related to Kate Moran's children.
"baxter rottenberry was born in 1803in va. his father was John writtenbury. married to nancy wood in warren county,n.c.on17 dec1829.Daughter elizabeth francis (1837). had 5 sons nathanial b-1831,Issac b-1833,john william b-1834,dee witt b-1841 . all five sons were killed at raymond,ms. during the cival war .daughter elizabeth frances married david crockett campbell in giles county, tn she was found in 1870 census living with david and elizabeth campbell in tn."
The Confederate Cemetery has 140 graves of soldiers mortally wounded in the Battle of Raymond, May 12, 1863. The Civil War soldiers, mostly from Tennessee and Texas, died in private residences around the town that served as hospitals. A few probably died of of wounds from various local skirmishes or nearby battles such as Champion's Hill.
There is one Rittenberry buried here - Lt. Dewitt M., Co I, 3rd Tennessee (Battle of Raymond).
Unlike the John Rittenberry family losing all his sons during the War, James Rittenberry's children appeared to have survived their Civil War experience. One of James Rittenberry's sons was Isaac, or Captain Rittenberry as he was commonly called throughout his life. Isaac was the father of Baxter M, the husband of Kate Moran. We also know that his brother Nathanial probably survived the war, as his progeny continue to live in the Selma, Alabama, area. James also married into the Campbell family.
Any cousins still alive?
Of course, here is one family line that traces itself to one of Kate and Baxter M's son:
· Name: Baxter Bernard Rittenberry , Sr.
· Sex: M
· Birth: ABT. 1910
· Reference Number: 39683
Marriage 1
Anna Estes b: 14 NOV 1912 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama
- Married: ABT. 1932 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama
Children
The Rittenberrys
Dr. and Mrs. Baxter Rittenberry came to Belvidere with Barney Murrin (Moran's) body. This family traces their origins to Virginia, and was also regarded as one of the more prominent families of Birmingham, Alabama.
The following is one of Baxter's sisters who made a name for herself in creating a national road system.
Alma Rittenberry
The origins of U.S. 231, however, go back a few years to one of the few women to make an impact on the Good Roads Movement of the early auto days. In era when government support for roads was limited, private individuals and groups promoted the cause of good roads by identifying long-distance routes, giving them a colorful name, and promoting their improvement and use. Miss Alma Rittenberry (as she was known) of Birmingham, Alabama, originated the Jackson Highway, one of the earliest named trails to be proposed by a woman. A member of the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association, the Poetry Society of Alabama, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Miss Rittenberry conceived the route in 1911 to honor General and President Andrew Jackson. Her linked Chicago and New Orleans. Although she promoted the route tirelessly through the Jackson Highway Association, she gradually lost control of the route, which was shifted to run through eastern Mississippi, with a branch to Montgomery and Selma.
The final break came in January 1917 when the organization came under the control of men who supported a routing of the branch between Birmingham and Nashville via Gadsden and Huntsville instead of the "bee-line" route via Decatur advocated by Miss Rittenberry. Feeling betrayed by the men who had "played thunder" with her association, she resigned, saying, "If Andrew Jackson knew the unchivalrous act of you men, he would turn in his grave; he was at least courteous to women." A week later, she formed a rival association to support a new route, initially called the North-South National Bee-Line Highway. It shared termini with the Jackson Highway, but followed her preferred routing south of Nashville, including her bee-line routing in Alabama from Montgomery to Mobile. At the insistence of interests in Dothan, she agreed to a southeastern branch to Florida.
When the U.S. system was approved in 1926, it incorporated much of her new trail (U.S. 31 from Montgomery to Nashville, U.S. 41 from Nashville to Chicago). The branch from Montgomery to Florida was numbered U.S. 231. When Miss Rittenberry died in 1930, her sister Mary said:
To her, life was a rainbow of hope with the proverbial pot of gold at the end. She was impulsive and quick tempered, but ever true to her better self. Capable and honest, she hated sham and to the end she remained the Captain of her own soul.
Her good roads work reflect this eulogy.
(Meanwhile, the Jackson Highway Association failed to follow through on its plans. By 1923, when a good roads booster from Indianapolis decided to follow the route, she reported, "it had fallen into almost complete obscurity and disuse.")
This is one of the Selma, Alabama, Rittenberrys. It is either one of Isaac Rittenberry's decendents, which would make him a distant relative. The alternative is that his family traces to Nathanial, a brother to Baxter M.
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Miss Alice Moran Obituary - click to enlarge
The Brennan's establishment in Belvidere. Click to Enlarge
The Brennans followed the McGonigles out to Leadville, Colorado. Some other references on this site include:
The Isaac Rittenberry family line
· Name: Isaac James (Capt.) RITTENBERRY
· Birth: 1832 in Virginia (Prince Edward County)
· Death: 1905 in Pb. Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama
· Occupation: Wagon maker 1880
Marriage 1 Mary "Mollie" Eliza CAMPBELL b: 14 APR 1838 in Campbellsville, Giles, Tennessee
- Married: 28 JAN 1858 in Pb. Giles Co., Tennessee
Children
Alma
RITTENBERRY b: 26 NOV 1858 in Campbellsville, Giles, Tennessee
John
Campbell RITTENBERRY b: 17 AUG 1860 in Pb. Giles Co., Tennessee- James
Robert "Bob" RITTENBERRY b: 06 OCT 1863 in Giles Co., Tennessee
- McDonald
"Mack" RITTENBERRY b: 03 MAY 1867 in Pb. Giles Co., Tennessee
- Mary
Edward RITTENBERRY b: 08 DEC 1869 in Maury Co., Tennessee
- Baxter
Mitchell (Dr.) RITTENBERRY b: 15 FEB 1873 in Maury Co.,
Tennessee
- Crockett
Campbell (Dr.) RITTENBERRY b: 25 AUG 1876 in Maury Co.,
Tennessee
- Alexander
"Alec" West RITTENBERRY b: 07 MAY 1880 in Maury Co., Tennessee
Note: This was a highly educated family. In addition to a few of the family working in their carriage manufacturing business, there were several doctors, educators and businessmen.
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