Joseph Ritner, governor of Pennsylvania, b. in Berks county, Pa., 25 March. 1780: d. in Carlisle, Pa., 16 Oct., 1869. His father came to this country from Alsace. The son attended school during only six months, but while working on a farm he had access to a good library of German books, by which he profited so much as to supply largely the deficiencies of his early education. In 1820 he was elected to the legislature, and he served there till 1827. He was the unsuccessful candidate of the anti-Masons for governor of Pennsylvania in 1829, but was elected to that office in 1835, and served four years. He was nominated again for governor by the anti-Masons in 1838, but was defeated. Gov. Ritner was one of the originators of the school system of Pennsylvania, and was an earnest opponent of slavery and intemperance. In 1849 he was for a short time director of the mint at Philadelphia, and he was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the National Republican convention that nominated John C. Fremont for president.
Source: Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. V, ed. by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1888, p. 262
Contributed by: Nancy.