HON. HARRY J. RITTER, Tippecanoe City, Ohio, serving in the seventy- seventh and seventy-eighth General Assemblies, for many years has been one of the foremost citizens and business men of Miami County. He is general manager, secretary, and treasurer of the Tippecanoe Building and Manufacturing Company, a large concern with extensive interests, and is also identified with various enterprises in different parts of the county. Mr. Ritter was born near Reading, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1848, and is a son of Israel Ritter, his ancestors being of German nationality.

He was seven years old when his parents moved to the city of Reading, where he lived until he entered Pennsylvania State College at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He attended that institution until he was sixteen years old, when, in March, 1864, he entered the service of the Union army, joining the signal corps. He thus served until August 5, 1865, his duties calling him to Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. He was honorably discharged at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and at once returned to Reading, where he pursued a course in the business college. After graduating there from in 1866, he accepted a clerkship in a hardware store and continued thus occupied for a year. At the end of that time he went to Carroll County, Missouri, and, in company with a brother-in-law, was engaged in the stock business there for a year and a half. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and with headquarters at Reading, dealt extensively in horses, making a specialty of fast trotting stock.

In 1871 Mr. Ritter became identified with the development of oil fields near Titusville, and in the meantime continued dealing in horses. In 1874 he moved west to Miami County, Ohio, and took charge of Col. John R. Woodward's stock farm in Bethel Township, which he managed until the Colonel's death in 1876. He then conducted the farm himself, breeding and developing trotting horses until 1881. He then moved to Tippecanoe City, and in the following year went to Europe as purchasing agent for the prominent firm of Powell Brothers, of Shadeland, Pennsylvania. He continued in that capacity eight years, during which period he crossed the ocean sixteen times, traveling through England, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Shetland Islands, purchasing horses for export to the United States, about eight years of his life being thus spent in Europe.

In the spring of 1890 Mr. Ritter returned to Tippecanoe City, and four years later purchased the business of C. Trupp & Co., which he reorganized under the name of the Tippecanoe Building and Manufacturing Company, becoming its principal stockholder, as well as general manager and treasurer. This company does a large business in contracting and building, also operating lumber yards, a planing-mill and sawmill, and manufacturing furniture. Employment is given to a large force of men, and for years the plant has been kept running at its full capacity, its products being sold in many parts of the country. Mr. Ritter has served many years as president and manager of the Tippecanoe City Interurban Telephone Company. He is also president of the Tippecanoe Business Men's Club. He served twelve years on the Board of Education, most of the time as clerk and president. He is a man of keen business perception and through his own industry has won his own way to the front rank among the business men of the county.

Mr. Ritter was married October 14, 1879, to Miss Ada L. Woodward, a daughter of Col. John R. and Marcella (Bell) Woodward. The Colonel was born in Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, December 5, 1835, and was a son of William Woodward, who was a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and became a pioneer settler of Miami County.

In September, 1861, Col. John R. Woodward enlisted in military service and was made captain of Company C, Seventy-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until August, 1862, participating in a number of engagements, among them the battle of Shiloh. In 1864 he aided in organizing and raising the 147th Ohio Regiment for 100 days' service, and was chosen lieutenant colonel. Upon receiving an honorable discharge in 1865, he returned to the farm in Bethel Township, where he subsequently resided until his death in 1876. He and his wife had two children: William B., of Washington Court House, and Ada L.

Mr. and Mrs. Ritter have a son, Harry Woodward, who was born February 19, 1886, is a graduate of Yale College, admitted to the bar December, 1908. Religiously they are active members of the Lutheran Church. Politically Mr. Ritter has always taken an earnest interest in the success of the Republican party and the supremacy of its principles and as already partially intimated, has been frequently called upon to fill positions of honor and public trust. As representative in the State Legislature he has served his constitutes in an intelligent and conscientious manner and has gained the friendship of his former political opponents. At the first session of the seventy-seventh General Assembly he was appointed a member of a joint committee to investigate penitentiaries with a view of remodeling the Ohio penitentiary. He was also a member of the standing committees on Taxation, Insurance, Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home, and Fish and Game.

During the seventy-eighth General Assembly he was a member of the standing committees on Finance, Taxation, Public Works, and Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home. He was chairman of the Finance Committee, the most important in the House. He succeeded in getting out the General Appropriation Bill carrying $7,607,927 with it, in less than three weeks, and introduced it one day and the House passed it the next day without a single change. He was appointed and made chairman of a special Advisory Committee to the Board of Managers of the Ohio penitentiary.

Fraternally he is a member of Tippecanoe Lodge, No. 174, F.& A.M.; Franklin Chapter, R. A. M.; Coleman Commandery, K. T., of Troy; and of the Royal Arcanum, of which he is a past regent. He is also a member of D. M. Rouzer Post, G.A.R., of Tippecanoe City; Antioch Temple and Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite.