Part of the American History & Genealogy Project

Mrs. John Ritchie

Mrs. Ritchie was elected at the Congress of 1895 state regent of Maryland. She is the widow of the late Honorable John Ritchie, of Frederick City, Maryland, and is the daughter of the late Judge William Pinkney Maulsby, of Maryland, and his wife, Emily Contee Nelson, daughter of Roger Nelson, from whom she derives her eligibility to the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is descended from the legal profession on every side.

Her grandfather, General Israel David Maulsby, was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day, an eloquent and polished orator and a tried public servant, having represented his country in the state legislature twenty-nine times. He was one of the volunteer defenders of the city of Baltimore when it was besieged by the British in 1814, and was one of those who made it possible for the "Patriot Poet" to see the Star-Spangled Banner still waving "in the dawn's early light." His wife was the daughter of John Hall, an officer of the Revolution.

Mrs. Ritchie's maternal ancestors came to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth century, locating first in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and later coming up into western Maryland. The first patent issued to John Nelson was for several thousand acres of land and bears the date of 1725.

Mrs. Ritchie was commissioned by the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison, regent of the Frederick Chapter. Entering upon the work of its organization with enthusiasm, her efforts were crowned with success. In 1894 she was elected vice-president-general of the society, and in 1895 regent for the state of Maryland. She was a member of the State Committee on Women's Work for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and did good service in that cause. She was a member of the Academy of Political and Social Science and an active member of the Frederick Historical Society, to whose annals she contributed several papers.

She is one of the founders and one of the board of management of the Key Monument Association. She was commissioned by Governor Brown a member of the Maryland Committee for the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, and was also appointed a member of the Colonial Relic Committee. In her character Mrs. Ritchie manifests the traits to be expected from her inheritance. Courageous, gracious and courtly, she represents the typical Maryland woman. She is distinguished for her patriotic spirit and her zeal has resulted in the establishment of a most prosperous chapter in Frederick. Mrs. Ritchie resides in the old colonial mansion built by her uncle. Honorable John Nelson, the eminent jurist.

Women of America

Source: The Part Taken by Women in American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.