One of the great joys of researching family history is running across a scoundrel (we have some) or a "character" in the family tree.  US Senator from Virginia, Harrison Holt Riddleberger (1844-1890) is truly a character! My second cousin four times removed, Senator Riddleberger was affectionately known by his constituents as Senator "Harry."  (Click here: Harrison H. Riddleberger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Senator Riddleberger had been a Captain in the Confederate calvary and was at Gettysburg, serving in Lee's headquarters guard. An attorney by trade, Harry became editor of a controversial newspaper in the Shenandoah, and was later author of the "Riddleberger Bill" which dealt with reparations to the State of Virginia when West Virginia was formed after the Civil War. He was also one of the founders of the Re-Adjuster party (composed mostly of freed blacks and Republicans in a region of Democrats), a short-lived political party in the years of Reconstruction. He served one term in the US Senate (1883-1889).

Senator Harry was certainly an enigma. One newspaper report describes him angrily protesting the US Senate holding a session on a Sunday--something as a Christian man he whole-heartedly opposed.  To express his disgust with his fellow senators, Harry showed up to vote completely inebriated and was forcibly escorted out of the Senate chamber by the sergeant of arms.

But his most "illustrious" moment was probably the day he arranged two duels with political opponents shortly before before becoming Senator.  Harry didn't like being called a "liar and a scoundrel" in an editorial.  So, he sought a little frontier justice . . .

The following appeared in the NY Times (October 16, 1881):

__________________________________ 

Riddleberger’s Two Duels

Exchanging harmless shots with Wise –

An unfought duel with Mr. Beirne.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 15 – A hostile meeting took place this afternoon, at 4 o’clock, about 10 miles from Richmond Station, between Capt. H.H. Riddleberger and the Hon. G.D. Wise. Four rounds were fired without either being hurt. Mutual explanations and amicable adjustment followed.

In yesterday’s first edition of the State there appeared an editorial, written by Richard f. Beirne, junior editor, in reference to the alleged confession of W. Leigh Wilson about the Blair letters, in the course of which Mr. Beirne denounced Capt. H.H. Riddleberger as being unworthy of belief. In the later edition of the same paper there appeared the card of the H. George D. Wise, telegraphed last night, also denouncing Capt. Riddleberger as a liar and a scoundrel. Since that time the public has been much excited, in anticipation of hostile meeting between the men named, and during today there has been much anxiety to hear news from them. At about 6 o’clock this evening Capt. Riddleberger and two friends were seen to alight from a carriage at the office of the Whig, and soon thereafter it became generally reported that he had had a meeting with both. From the best information now obtainable the following particulars are given:

Immediately upon the appearance of the paper containing Mr. Beirne’s editorial Capt. Riddleberger sent that gentleman a challenge to mortal combat, and only a short time after the second edition, with Capt. Wise’s card, made its appearance, the latter gentleman received a similar invitation from Capt. Riddleberger. All the men left the city last evening to avoid arrest, and all the arrangements were speedily made for the two affairs. Messrs. Beirne and Riddleberger, accompanied by their respective friends, met at 8 o’clock this morning, near Ashland, in Hanover County. But when everything was in readiness and the seconds proceeded to load the weapons it was found that, by an oversight of Mr. Beirne’s friends, no caps had been provided for the pistols. The result was that hostilities were, for the time, suspended, as it was impossible to obtain the necessary ammunition within any short time. Capt. Riddleberger would wait no longer and left the ground in order to fulfill the engagement he had with Capt. Wise. The place chosen for the second meeting was near the Henry County turnpike, about 10 miles from Richmond. Both men were promptly on the ground at 4 o’clock this evening. In this case nothing had been left undone or unprovided, and in a few moments the principals were placed opposite each other at a distance of 10 paces, armed with regular smooth-bore dueling pistols and prepared for deadly work. Upon the first fir Capt. Wise’s weapon snapped, but he remained unhurt by his opponent’s fire. This was followed by two other rounds, without either of the combatants being hurt. It is reported that Capt. Wise’s hat was perforated by a ball, while Capt. Riddleberger’s coat was pierced by a ball. At the end of the third round the friends of both stepped forward and declared the vindication had been ample, and that hostilities should cease. A mutual explanation was then made, and an amicable adjustment reached. Both gentlemen are reported to have behaved bravely, holding their positions without change during the whole time occupied by the three rounds. Capt. Wise was accompanied by Mr. Richard Dunlop as second and Dr. George B. Johnston as surgeon. Capt. Riddleberger’s second was Capt. A. Rogers, and his surgeon Dr. J.A. Wheat. Col. A. W. Jones, of Georgia, was with the party as referee. All the persons concerned, except Capt. Riddleberger and Col. Jones, are of this city. Capt. Riddleberger had been previously announced to address a Readjuster meeting here tonight, and he reached the city in ample time and fulfilled his engagement.

Later information is to the effect that Mr. Beirne and his second, Mr. Ryan, of the State staff, having replaced the caps which had been lost, made an attempt to have another meeting with Capt. Riddleberger, but failed. They were arrested about 3 p.m. at a point three miles from the scene of the Wise-Riddleberger encounter, where they were awaiting its result. They were each placed under $1,000 bonds to keep the peace. Capt. Wise was arrested after his fight with Riddleberger. The latter has not yet been arrested.

The New York Times

Published: October 16, 1881

Copyright The New York Times

Those of you who know me, know that I've always considered myself a proud German.  I sure have a Germanic temperament.  I've long thought of myself as one of the few Germans in a federation of men, most of whom are of Dutch ancestry (the URCNA).

Ten years or so, ago I became interested in family history.  Over time, doubt started creeping in about my German ancestry as the evidence began to point away from Germany (even the Palatinate, i.e., the region around Heidelberg) toward Switzerland and those Reformed families, who, as refuges from Roman Catholic persecution, relocated to the Alsace along the Rhine in the 1680's.  I could live with that.  My family might have lived in France, but they were not French, they didn't even speak French at first, and they liked France so much that within a generation at least one of them had emigrated to America.

In genealogical research, the creed is document, document, document.  Here's what I know for sure.  The first of my kin in America was one Christian Redelsberger, who arrived in Philadelphia on September 29, 1733 (Click here: Riddleblog - Old Family Photos and Documents - chrrsig.bmp).  The vessel which brought him sailed from Rotterdam six weeks before. 

I also know that Christian Redelsberger moved to South Carolina in 1742 and that he was one of the founders of the "Dissenting Protestant Church" (whose confessional documents were the Walloon [Belgic] Confession, the First Helvetic Confession and the Augsburg Confession of 1540).  The founders of the Dissenting Protestant Church didn't much like the pietists among the Swiss Reformed, nor did they like the very anti-Reformed Lutherans, who happened to live just to south (across the Savannah River, in Georgia, of all places).

It always troubled me that Christian would choose the Walloon confession.  If he were a Palatine, he'd be a Heidelberger.  If he were Swiss Reformed, he'd be a Helvetic man.  One of the other founders of the Dissenting Protestant Church was Swiss, which explains the use of the First Helvetic Confession.  The fact that they lived among mostly Swiss and Germans (in the Saxe-Gotha region of South Carolina!), probably explains the use of the Augsburg Confession.

Then there's the surname.  People often stumble over "Riddlebarger," but that is the highly anglicized version!  To date, I have found 51 different spellings for Christian's surname in PA and SC.  Many have a "Rhetels," "Rhedels" or "Ricktels" variant.  Since people recorded Christian's surname phonetically in public documents, we don't know what it was originally.  We just know how it sounded to the English ear.

That leads to my identity crisis.  In a moment of writer's block, I did a quick google search for "Riddelsperger" (the way Christian's son John spelled his name) and to my amazement got a hit for a Christian "Retlispergh" (and a number of other obvious family members) in a European church register in 1703.  I'm not yet sure this is our guy or not--it needs to be documented, which means looking through rolls of microfilm of church registers and going blind in the process--but for a whole bunch of reasons I won't bore you with, this is the first time I have ever had a concrete lead on my ancestors in Europe.  This may well be the real deal.  We'll see . . . document, document, document.

Here's the catch.  The name appears in a church register (Catholic) in Broekhuizen.  Broekhuizen is in the province of Limburg in what is now the Netherlands . . .  OK, you can stop laughing!

The problem is that if this is where Christian's ancestors lived before he set sail to the New World from Rotterdam in 1733, the region was not under control of the Dutch at the time, but a mixture of German, Walloon, French and who knows what else.  Broekhuizen is but a couple of miles from the modern border with Germany.  Between 1600-1800, the region was ruled at various times by Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

To add to the difficulty of documentation, Limburg even has its own dialect ("Limburgish" and no, I am not kidding) which is recognized by the EU as an official European dialect!  Some combination of German and Limburgish might explain the odd spelling of our surname (it is probably not German), as well as Christian's otherwise strange allegiance to the Walloon Confession.

Now comes the crisis--how am I to behave if I am a Limburger?  I know what Germans do, but what about Limburgers?  Will I have to learn Limburgish?  I have never even met another Limburger . . .  Have you?

I feel lost and confused . . . but I will find some way to carry on . . .