Philipp Riedesel [note the standard German spelling of his first name] was born December 22, 1860 in Wunderthausen, the fourth and last child of Georg Gabriel (aka Ludwig) Riedesel and his second wife, Elisabeth Amalia Knoche. His parents lived in the new house known as Schreiners or Großeludwigs. Philipp’s father had two wives by the same name which confuses some researchers.
Philipp was only a boy of not quite seven when the family came to America, following in the footsteps of three older sons of Ludwig’s. They crossed the Atlantic on the ship Argonaut out of Bremen, arriving in New York on November 9, 1867. In the party were Philipp’s parents, a half-brother Henry D., and a sister Dina. Unlike the sons who had gone before to Wheatland, Iowa, the family settled in the area of Kansas City.
He spent his life in this area. In 1880, Philipp and his widowed mother were living on the Kansas side of the border. On August 7, 1881, he married Augusta Hainer. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri on December 14, 1862. They spent most of their married life near Quindaro, Kansas. He eventually farmed but was a day laborer as of the 1900 Census. By 1930 they were living in Vernon County, Missouri and still farming. Somewhere along the way he began using John as a middle name though he was not formally christened with any middle name.
They had a total of seven children but I have the names of only six. Augusta died May 14, 1940 near Moundville, Missouri. Philipp followed on December 13, 1940. Both are buried in the small Griffith Cemetery in Wyandotte County, Kansas.
Detailed Ancestry Report
Limited Descendant Report
