by Charles L. Ketchum, Jr.
This is my story of Charles Rueffer I and his descendants, primarily emphasizing the lineage which has led to my family.
Charles Rueffer I was born February 2, 1807 in Bavaria, Germany and married Elizabeth. The couple came to United States in 1853 with their four children. The 1855 New York State Census showed the family living in Fremont, Sullivan County, NY. The 1860 Federal Census listed Charles as a farmer with real estate worth $600.00 and his personal worth $700.00.
Charles Rueffer I was my mother's great grand-father. She never told me of Charles, so I had no idea who her ancestors were, other than, that they came from Germany. The only information she had told me was that she had twin sisters, who had died shortly after their birth, but did not know where they were buried.
In 1998, Arletta and I went to visit my mother's 91 year old sister-in-law Pansy. In talking with her she mentioned that the family had come from a town which she thought was named Hale Eddy. I looked at a map and located the town, so my wife and I decided to take a ride. On the map it showed a cemetery, so that is where we headed for. When we got to the area, we found that we would have to cross over the Delaware River, but the bridge was out. The workers on the bridge told us to take the detour, about 20 miles, but the roads were poorly marked and we could not find our way around. I looked at the map once more and found that we were not far from a town by the name of Long Eddy. I told Arletta that we might as well take a look there, as it was starting to get late in the afternoon. When we came into the town of Long Eddy we came upon a cemetery, so we stopped and looked for Rueffer. Right in the middle of the cemetery was a heart shaped tombstone, so I walked over to it and found the names Lurena and Luretta Rueffer born on June 16, 1909 and that they died the same year. These girls were my mother's twin sisters.
As it was getting late we decided to look for a place to stay, but this town was in the wilds of Sullivan County, NY, and no place was available, in the area, so we traveled many miles to Monticello, NY. The next morning we returned and visited the Basket Historical Society, in Long Eddy. A very old woman was sitting on the porch and I began to talk with her. She explained that she had known my mother's family and even was enthralled "puppy love" with my mother's older brother Raymond. She remembered that the family moved to Binghamton, NY in 1912, and the following year, the family brought Raymond back to Long Eddy for his funeral in the church on the hill.
This was not the end of the story. She pointed me in the direction of the Town Clerk who lived in the next town over. His office was in the Texaco gas station and garage, which he owned and operated. We looked through his records and was able to find several bits of information, including the location of the Mileses Cemetery, where many Rueffer's were buried. The cemetery was located on the side of a hill, and had not been taken care of for quite a time, as the weeds had grown waist high. We plowed through the cemetery and found several graves including Charles Rueffer I and his wife Elisabeth.
2nd Generation - John Rueffer
My great grand-father John Rueffer was born July 24, 1837 in Bavaria, Germany. He married Anna (Eliza) Rhiega born 1840 in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. John came to United States with his parents, in 1853 and was naturalized in 1960.
The couples first child was Charles J., born on May 28, 1864 and died on January 8, 1865. The couple ended up with a total of eight children. His wife Anna died between April 1881, the date of their last child's birth and June 1, 1900 the date of the 1900 Federal Census, which listed John as a widower.
When Arletta and I were looking through the Mileses Cemetery for family, we located several tombstones including John's, his son's and other family members.
When we were in the New York State Library in Albany, NY we searched through the many Federal and NY State Census' and found a considerable amount of information about the Rueffer's in Fremont, Sullivan County, NY. John lived and died a farmer and owned his own farm, but by 1910, when his family members had died or moved away, his son Charles P., came with his family and took over the farm, and his father lived with them until his death on May 3,1924.
3rd Generation - Jacob J. Rueffer
My grand-father Jacob J. Rueffer was born in February 1873 at Fremont, Sullivan County, NY, and married Lurena Hamlin in 1901 in Sullivan County, NY.
On our visit to the Basket Historical Society of the Upper Delaware Valley in Long Eddy, Sullivan County,
NY, I saw a picture of the town band from around the 1900's, on the wall and as I walked over to the picture I saw my grand-father Jake "as he was called throughout his life" with his b-flat cornet. The President of the Society, John Niflot went to their archives and found that the picture of the band and a list of the members, had been put in the Societies Fall 1980 publication, which is named "The Echo". He then went in his office and brought a copy to put in my personal records.
In talking with John Niflot, he said that, just a short way down the road from where the Society is located and close to the river, was a building used as a blacksmith shop in the early 1900's, which he surmised was my grand-father's. The shop was small, but Mr. Niflot said, when he went down to look, all the tools that a blacksmith might require was there, including many that were home made. With the larger blacksmith shop several miles up the mountain, Jake's shop would have been very handy, as travel was difficult in those days.
Jake and Lurena lived in Long Eddy in 1901, where all of their six children were born, but by 1912 he was looking for greener pastures and moved to Binghamton, Broome County, NY, where he opened a new blacksmith shop. Business not being quite what he had hoped, went to work for a davenport factory. Jake was a very ambitious man, and by 1926 he had started his own hauling business, ending up driving to Pennsylvania coal mines and delivering to the Binghamton area. He bought his home on the east side of town, which included a five car garage with two stalls built extra high for his coal trucks. As the years past, he bought a home for each one of his living children.
I can remember as a young boy, my grand-father taking me on his trip to the coal mines. Always thinking of making an extra dollar, he would have the truck weighed with me inside, but after loading the truck with the coal, he would have me stand outside during the weighing.
I also remember that my mother didn't care for me going with her father, because I most naturally would get my clothes dirty, but, he would still put me in the truck, let me get dirty, then stop on the way home, and buy me new ones. He also stopped at the gas station to fill up, then take me inside for a soda pop. I always had a choice, and would always take the same, "pepsi" as it was the largest bottle that was used for soda in those days, "16 oz." Even to this day I always order "pepsi", which is my favorite soda. I assume most who might read my story, probably called soft drink by another name, but back then we called it a "bottle of soda", and when we went anyplace, "it was down the road a piece."
My uncle Harold also took me with him on his bakery truck. His route was a country run which was long and a lot of riding, but it was always worth it because I had sweets all day and he would leave a chocolate cake with me for the family dinner.
Those were the days!!!
When my grand-father wasn't hauling and delivering coal, you might find him on the corner talking to anyone who might listen, about how bad "Roosevelt's New Deal" was or on the subject of "Sin", his favorite subject. My grand-parents Lurena and Jake taught Sunday school at their Baptist Church, were very religious and very well liked, especially my grand-mother. All the children loved her.
She never complained about anything, even during the time when she had to go to Buffalo, Erie County, NY for cancer treatments. My grand-mother was one of the first patients at the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases, the predecessor of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. After she died on February 22, 1943, Jake never was the same, as he missed her very much. He died on December 21, 1955, almost totally blind, living with his son Harold and daughter-in-law Pansy.
4th Generation - Gladys Margaret Rueffer
My mother was Gladys Margaret Rueffer and was born September 28, 1907 in Long Eddy, Sullivan County, NY. She married my father Charles Lawrence Ketchum, Sr. in 1927, at Binghamton, Broome County, NY. My father loved his wife until the day he died, even though they were divorced around 1948.
In 1931 my father found a job in Buffalo, NY, and in 1932 when my mother came with the family to live, she complained that she could not get used to this new place and wanted to return to her home in Binghamton.
During these early years my dad would take my sister and I, to visit my mother and grand-parents, but finally after a few years his travels to Binghamton ceased, as my mother did not treat him very nice. We would then make the trip with my dad's mother on the D. L & W. railroad, which was fun, but we missed having dad make the trip with us.
My mother married Theodore Smith about 1948 and she moved to Greene, Chenango County, NY. She sold her home in Binghamton, and helped pay for Ted's Radio, TV and Electrical Co. My mother spent most of her time taking care of the business' records and sold crafts in their store, especially knitted items she made as an expert knitter, taught to her by her mother. She also became secretary for the lawyer next door.
Between 1932 and when I went into the Navy, my visits to Binghamton were very happy times. Even though my mother worked days, during the week, I enjoyed being able to walk along the creek bed, with my uncle Clifford, catching small crabs and shiners (minnows), on the way to the Susquehanna River to fish, most of the time off an old railroad trestle (a large concrete pier, not used by the railroad.) We caught many black bass, rock bass and sun fish which we took home for my grand-mother to fry. Clifford usually had the job of cleaning the fish.
My mother spent the weekends taking us to the movies, amusement parks and picnic areas. In the evenings we would walk to the ice cream parlor for our nightly treat.
When I returned from WW II, my visit to see my mother included a trip to my favorite restaurant in Binghamton, for speedies (lamb, veal &/or beef with vegetables broiled on a skewer) and as my step-father and my mother enjoyed limburger & onions, we would have a couple night of that, which I found tasted great, but smelled terrible. We also spent time at the American Legion Post, where Ted was the bartender and my mother took care of the food. When my step-father developed Lou Gehrig disease, the legion allowed him to bartend as long as he was able, even if he did break many glasses.
My mother died on December 28, 1971 and my dad died a month and half later, on Valentine Day February 14, 1972. I have always felt my dad died of a broken heart even though they were separated for most of his life.
This ends the Rueffer part of my family.
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