John Adam Rittinger

1855 - 1915  (60 years)

• Name	John Adam Rittinger
  Born	16 Feb 1855	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Interesting	story, news
  Residence	1861	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Lutheran
  Residence	1871	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Lutheran
  Occupation	1875	Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	the editor of The Walkerton Glocke
  Occupation	1876	Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	co-publisher of the "Bell and Telescope"
  Occupation	1897	Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada   [6]
  	publisher of "The Glocke"
  Residence	1904	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Occupation	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Printer
  Residence	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Lutheran
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-140549
  Died	29 Jul 1915	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Buried	Walkerton Protestant Cemetery, Walkerton, Bruce Co., Ontario
  Person ID	I140549	Generations
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2024

  
  

  Father	Friedrich "Frederick" Rittinger,   b. 6 Dec 1833, Michelbach, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany ,   d. 12 Oct 1897, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 63 years)
  Mother	Elizabeth Geiger,   b. 23 Mar 1829, Sinsheim, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany ,   d. 9 Jul 1919, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 90 years)
  Married	14 May 1854	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [7, 8]
  Family ID	F32271	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mary Jane Rogerson,   b. 11 Jul 1855, Owen Sound, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	22 Jan 1877	Owen Sound, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada   [5]
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2024
  Family ID	F185348	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		John Adam Rittinger from Waterloo Region Hall of Fame
  		John Adam Rittinger in 1912 From: Berlin, Canada A Self-portrait of Kitchener, Ontario before World War One [1912]

  
  

• Notes

  John A. Rittinger, born in Berlin, Ont., February 16, 1855, died here July 29th. For 29 years, 1875 to 1904, he was active on and became proprietor of the German weekly paper, the Walkerton "Glocke," and was well known throughout the Counties of Bruce and Grey as the " Glockemann. " In 1904 the "Glocke" was combined with the Berliner Journal when Mr. Rittinger returned here and became member, as was his father before him, of the firm of Rittinger and Motz, and was active, until his untimely death, as editor of the Journal. Mr. Rittinger took keen interest in the formation of this Society. His accumulated volumes of the ' ' Glocke ' ' have passed into possession of the Society. Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, 1915 __________________________ RITTINGER, JOHN ADAM, editor, publisher, and humorist; b. 16 Feb. 1855 in Berlin (Kitchener), Upper Canada, son of Friedrich Rittinger and Elisabeth Geiger; m. 22 Jan. 1877 Mary Jane Rogerson (Rodgerson) in Owen Sound, Ont., and they had one son; d. 29 July 1915 in Kitchener. John Adam Rittinger was educated at the College of St Jerome in Berlin. After graduation he was apprenticed in his father's firm, Rittinger and Motz, publishers of the weekly Berliner Journal [see John Motz], and then obtained a journeyman's training in the newspaper and publishing business in Guelph, Toronto, Buffalo, New York, and Chicago. He returned to Ontario and in 1875, in partnership with Aaron Eby, acquired the weekly Walkerton Glocke. He became sole owner and editor of the paper in 1878 and changed its name in 1882. Friedrich Rittinger died in 1897 and John Adam succeeded him as a partner in Rittinger and Motz. In 1904 the Ontario Glocke amalgamated with the Berliner Journal, though an edition of the Journal continued to be published with the Ontario Glocke masthead; Rittinger moved to Berlin and became "political and responsible" editor of the Journal, which he now published with John Motz's son, William John. It prospered and by 1909, when it sold more than 5,000 copies every week, Rittinger and Motz had absorbed, with one exception, all other German-language newspapers in Ontario. As a journalist, Rittinger was keenly interested in public affairs. He argued that Canadian patriotism and the maintenance and promotion of the German language and culture were not only compatible but desirable. It was in the letters he wrote under the pseudonym Joe Klotzkopp from 1890 onwards in the Ontario Glocke and the Berliner Journal that he expressed his views most effectively. The publishing of texts in the Pennsylvania-German dialect common among German Canadians in southwestern Ontario was a tradition at the time for German-language newspapers, and letters were published under various noms de plume in almost all of them. Although Rittinger was not himself of Pennsylvania-German descent and acquired the dialect as an adult, the Klotzkopp letters, 120 in all, became the most favoured of these writings. The letters, which in their humour can be compared to writings by Thomas Chandler Haliburton* and Stephen Butler Leacock*, for the most part deal with matters of public concern. Less often, Rittinger wrote letters and poems of an occasional type, such as a description of his son's birthday party. Despite their thematic restrictions, the Klotzkopp letters, in their linguistic and stylistic treatment of themes and in their humoristic mode of narration, are outstanding examples of a specific literary genre and testimonials of 19th-century German Canadian thinking and affairs. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek AO, RG 80-5-0-64, no.2937. H. K. Kalbfleisch, "Joe Klotzkopp returns!" Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Kitchener, Ont.), 4 March 1966: 3-4. Ahornblätter: deutsche Dichtung aus Kanada, ed. Heinz Kloss and A. B. Dyck (Würzberg, [Germany], 1961). Canadian encyclopedia, 2: 895-96. Heiteres und Satirisches aus der deutschkanadischen Literatur . . . , ed. Hermann Boeschenstein (Toronto, 1980) [text in English]. H. K. Kalbfleisch, The history of the pioneer German language press of Ontario, 1835-1918 (Toronto, 1968); "John A. Rittinger," American-German Rev. (Philadelphia), 23 (1957-58), no.6: 18-20; "A word about Joe Klotzkopp," German-Canadian Rev. (Galt [Cambridge], Ont.), 10 (1957), no.1: 2-5; 11 (1958), no.1: 2-7. K. K. Klein, Literaturgeschichte des Deutschtums im Ausland (new ed., with biblio. by Alexander Ritter, Hildesheim, [Germany], and New York, 1979). Gottlieb Leibbrandt, Little paradise: aus Geschichte und Leben der Deutschkanadier in der County Waterloo, Ontario, 1800-1975 (Kitchener, 1977; also issued in English as Little paradise: the saga of the German Canadians of Waterloo County, Ontario, 1800-1975, Kitchener, 1980). "Literary works by German-speaking Canadians and their critical appraisal: a selected and annotated bibliography with an introduction," comp. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek, Canadian Rev. of Comparative Lit. (Edmonton), 16 (1989): 669-86. J. E. Middleton and Fred Landon, The province of Ontario: a history, 1615-1927 (5v., Toronto, 1927-[28]), 4: 438-39. L. E. Richardson, "A facile pen: John Motz and the Berliner Journal, 1859-1911" (ma thesis, Univ. of Waterloo, Ont., 1991). G. K. Weissenborn, "John Adam Rittinger: the 'Glockemann' (1855-1915)," German-Canadian yearbook (Toronto), 8 (1984): 221-24. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval

  
  

• Sources

  [S229] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1871, Div. 1, Pg. 58. [S712] Book - Third Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, pg 11 - Biographical Sketch of John A. Rittinger. [S123] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1861, Div. 3 Page 22. [S340] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1911, Div. 38 Page 1. [S7] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berliner Journal (1859-1917), 25 Jan 1876. 22 Jan 1877 John A. Rittinger, co-publisher of the "Bell" and "Telescope", married Mary Rogerson, both of Walkerton. [S1118] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berlin Daily News (1878-1897), Obituary of Friedrich Rittinger - October 14th, 1897. [S6] Church Records - ON, Waterloo - Bindeman, F. W. - Card Index Kitchener Public Library. Friederich Rittinger, painter of Berlin married 14 May 1854 in Berlin by license to Elisabeth Geiger of Berlin, wit: John Friederich of Berlin & Maria Hess of Berlin [S244] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Deutsche Canadier (1841-1865) - Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages Announced in the Deutsche Canadier, Berlin, Canada West. originally indexed by Simone Nieuwolt and Sylvie Kuppek..organised by Rosemary Ambrose, 18 May 1854:20. GEIGER. Elisabeth married 14 May 1854 To Friedrich RITTINGER. Both from Berlin. minister F.W. Bindemann

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 16 Feb 1855 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Lutheran - 1861 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Lutheran - 1871 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - the editor of The Walkerton Glocke - 1875 - Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada Occupation - co-publisher of the "Bell and Telescope" - 1876 - Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada Married - 22 Jan 1877 - Owen Sound, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada Occupation - publisher of "The Glocke" - 1897 - Walkerton, Brant Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada Residence - 1904 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Printer - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Lutheran - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 29 Jul 1915 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Walkerton Protestant Cemetery, Walkerton, Bruce Co., Ontario  = Link to Google Earth