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Note: BIOGRAPHY: OBITUARY OF JOHN SAEGER RINGER, SR. BIOGRAPHY: AT HIS LATE RESIDENCE IN LISBON, OF GENERAL DECLINE AND OLDAGE, ON MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1881, JOHN RINGER, SR., AGED 82 YEARS,5MONTHS AND 2 DAYS.
FATHER RINGER WAS ONE OF A FAMILY OF SEVEN CHILDREN, ALL BUT ONE OF WHOMARE NOW DEAD. THE SON OF GEORGE AND ELIZABETH RINGER WAS BORN AUGUST1,1798, IN WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP, NORTHAMPTON [NOW LEHIGH] COUNTY,PENNSYLVANIA.
AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN HE BEGAN LIFE'S BATTLES IN EARNEST, REMOVING TOBUTLER COUNTY, OHIO, WHERE HE LANDED WITH A LIMITED EDUCATION, PENNILESSAND NO TRADE; UNLIMITED INDUSTRY AND A SOUND BODY BEING HIS ONLYCAPITAL.HE AT ONCE APPRENTICED HIMSELF TO LEARN THE COOPER'S TRADE, THUS LAYINGTHE FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE PROSPERITY, FIRM AND LASTING.
IN MAY, 1823, HE MARRIED MARY MAGDALENA FAUST, A DAUGHTER OF GEORGE ANDCATHERINE FAUST. IN OCTOBER TWO YEARS LATER WITH HIS WIFE AND ONE CHILD,CONVEYED BY AN OX TEAM, HE REMOVED TO MONTGOMERY COUNTY, INDIANA, FOURMILES SOUTH OF CRAWFORDSVILLE, WHERE HE PITCHED HIS TENT, ENTERED240ACRES OF FOREST LAND, HOUSED IN HIS WAGON UNTIL HE BUILT A GOOD CABIN.BY DAY HE LABORED IN FELLING TREES AND CLEARING LAND, BU NIGHT WHILEOTHERS SLEPT HE TOILED AT HIS TRADE. THUS PASSED TWENTY-SIX YEARS, ATTHE END OF THAT TIME, MAINLY BY HIS OWN HANDS HE HAD CLEARED 220 ACRES OFDENSELY TIMBERED LAND; BUT FOR HIM WAS NO REST YET. HE HAD ACOMPETENCEFOR HIMSELF BUT NOT ENOUGH TO GIVE HIS CHILDREN IN WHOSEPROSPERITY HEHAD A PASSIONATE INTEREST.
HE NOW SOLD ALL HIS POSSESSIONS AND IN THE FALL OF 1851, WITH HIS EIGHTYOUNGEST CHILDREN HE CAME TO LINN TOWNSHIP, LINN COUNTY, IOWA; WHEREHEPURCHASED 90 ACRES OF LAND FOR EACH CHILD, SAVE ONE, FOR WHOM HE MADETHESAME PROVISION IN JONES COUNTY. IN THE SPRING OF 1852 HE PURCHASED OFHON. JOHN E. KURTZ, WHAT WAS TO BE FOR HIM THE HOME FARM OF 300 ACRES,AND LOCATED AT LISBON, ON IT, WHERE HIS LAST DAYS WERE SPENT.
ON THE 4TH OF DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1798, HE WAS BAPTIZED INTO THE LUTHERANCHURCH, WITH WHICH HE REMAINED UNTIL MOVING TO IOWA. FINDING NO CHURCHOF HIS OWN FAITH HE UNITED WITH THE U. B. CHURCH, WHERE HE REMAINEDUNTIL TRANSFERRED TO THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT. THE EARLY PART OF HISRELIGIOUS LIFE DID NOT BRING HIM THAT FULLNESS OF JOY WHICH SATISFIES THESOUL; BUT FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS HE HAS POSSESSED THAT PEACE WHICHPASSETH UNDERSTANDING, AND IT DID NOT FORSAKE HIM IN CROSSING THE JORDONOFDEATH, WHICH WAS TO HIM NOT DARK. RELIGIOUSLY HE WAS NOTDEMONSTRATIVE, BUT DAILY HE HIGHLY EXEMPLIFIED HIS LOVE FOR THE MASTER BYA CONSTANT WALK AND AN UPRIGHT LIFE. HIS LAST MEETING WITH HIS CHURCH INGOD'S HOUSE WAS ON THE SECOND SABBATH OF NOVEMBER LAST.
HE WAS THE FATHER OF ELEVEN CHILDREN, THREE HAVE GONE BEFORE, EIGHTREMAIN; OF GRAND-CHILDREN, HE HAD FIFTY-THREE, GREAT-GRAND-CHILDRENTWELVE. HIS BUSINESS JUDGEMENT WAS EXCEPTIONALLY SOUND AND REMAINED SOTO THE END. HE WAS POSSESSED OF GREAT PHYSICAL ENDURANCE, WHICHSUPPLEMENTED BY TEMPERATE HABITS ENABLED HIM TO PERFORM A VAST AMOUNT OFMANUAL LABOR, WHICH HE NEVER FULLY ABANDONED UNTIL HE PASSED HISFOUR-SCORE YEARS.
AT THE AGE OF 62 HE BRAVED IOWA'S WORST WINTER STORMS, PROMPTED BYTHESIMPLE LOVE OF DOING. IN HIS DEVOTION TO HIS CHILDREN HE WAS APATTERN, IN INDUSTRY AND ECONOMICAL HABITS A MODEL, AND IN HIS REGULARITYOF RELIGIOUS LIFE AN EXAMPLE.
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