Lizzie Rutt
An aging portrait of a young woman, hair parted down the middle, leaning on her right palm looking longingly past the camera.
This is Lizzie Rutt in the late 1890s. She was born in West Donegal Township, a community northwest of Lancaster, to Peter N. Rutt and Mary K. Stoner. Peter was a farmer: a typical profession for inhabitants of West Donegal.
When this photo was taken, Lizzie was in her late teens, having been born in 1880, and she and her elder sister Minerva (or Minnie, as she preferred to go by) who was 9 years Lizzie's senior, worked as servants. In this photo, Lizzie is also nearing her wedding day.
On November 29th, 1900, Lizzie will marry a man 5 years her senior: Joseph N. Risser (though he went by Joe). After their marriage, Joe would take up a career in concrete laying for the streets and houses of Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., where they would live out their days.
Joe and Lizzie would go on to have two children: Ethel, born 1909, and Raymond, born 1921, and they spent out the rest of their days in Elizabethtown where they lived in a charming craftsman-style home and attended the Elizabethtown Mennonite Church.
Lizzie, the once young middle-parted girl in our photo, died from a heart condition on December 12th, 1950. She was 70 years old. Her husband Joe preceded her in death, dying on June 28th that same year.
Her daughter, Ethel, married Amos Newcomer and settled in Elizabethtown with two children: J Ronald Newcomer and Audra Mae Newcomer, to whose families we will attempt to return Lizzie's photo.
While it appears Lizzie's story ends there, her family history is much more interesting.
Lizzie's father, Peter N. Rutt, was the son of Jacob Rutt and Elizabeth Nissley - that's right: Nissley as in the Nissley family of Lancaster, PA. In fact, Elizabeth Nissley was the sister of Christian Nissley, who was the grandfather to Martin and Alvin Nissley!
Did you get that?
Here's a family tree:
That would make Lizzie Rutt a 2nd cousin to Martin and Alvin Nissley, as they share great-grandparents. And, fun fact for all you chocolate lovers out there: the matriarch, Elizabeth Hershey, hails from the America's favorite chocolate family.
While researching Lizzie and the Nissleys, I really began to see a lot of intermingling between the Mennonite families of Lancaster County, including the Hess family. It seems everyone is related to everyone else: something that will be detailed in the posts to come.
Stay tuned, because this family tree is about to get a lot bigger.
When this photo was taken, Lizzie was in her late teens, having been born in 1880, and she and her elder sister Minerva (or Minnie, as she preferred to go by) who was 9 years Lizzie's senior, worked as servants. In this photo, Lizzie is also nearing her wedding day.
On November 29th, 1900, Lizzie will marry a man 5 years her senior: Joseph N. Risser (though he went by Joe). After their marriage, Joe would take up a career in concrete laying for the streets and houses of Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., where they would live out their days.
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| Joe and Lizzie's Elizabethtown House |
Lizzie, the once young middle-parted girl in our photo, died from a heart condition on December 12th, 1950. She was 70 years old. Her husband Joe preceded her in death, dying on June 28th that same year.
Her daughter, Ethel, married Amos Newcomer and settled in Elizabethtown with two children: J Ronald Newcomer and Audra Mae Newcomer, to whose families we will attempt to return Lizzie's photo.
While it appears Lizzie's story ends there, her family history is much more interesting.
Lizzie's father, Peter N. Rutt, was the son of Jacob Rutt and Elizabeth Nissley - that's right: Nissley as in the Nissley family of Lancaster, PA. In fact, Elizabeth Nissley was the sister of Christian Nissley, who was the grandfather to Martin and Alvin Nissley!
Did you get that?
Here's a family tree:
That would make Lizzie Rutt a 2nd cousin to Martin and Alvin Nissley, as they share great-grandparents. And, fun fact for all you chocolate lovers out there: the matriarch, Elizabeth Hershey, hails from the America's favorite chocolate family.
While researching Lizzie and the Nissleys, I really began to see a lot of intermingling between the Mennonite families of Lancaster County, including the Hess family. It seems everyone is related to everyone else: something that will be detailed in the posts to come.
Stay tuned, because this family tree is about to get a lot bigger.
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