Robert L. RIFE

  General Notes:

ROBERT L. RIFE, a leading citizen of York township, Sandusky county, has amassed one of the largest landed holdings for many miles around by his superior business sagacity and enterprise. He began his farming career in a small way, and added to his acres gradually from time to time, obeying the cardinal principle of success in life by keeping expenses within his income. He is yet a young man, and a native of York township, born April 27, 1846, son of Michael and Mary (Longwell) Rife.
It is a family of pioneer stock. Michael Rife was born in Frederick county, Md., February 15, 1814, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Zumbrund) Rife. Daniel Rife was the son of a German emigrant who had settled in Maryland. Like his father he was a member of the Lutheran Church. He continued to live in Maryland many years after his marriage to Elizabeth Zumbrund, but in 1832 he migrated with his wife and ten children\emdash three sons and seven daughters\emdash to Sandusky county. These children were as follows: Susan, who married Chester Kinney, of Green Spring; Michael, father of Robert L.; Daniel, a farmer of Clyde; Julia Ann, who married John Hamlin and moved to Steuben county, Ind.; Elizabeth, of Bellevue; Mary and Sarah (twins), the former of whom married Aaron Bartlett of Fulton county; Sophia; John, of York township; and Frances. The township was practically uncleared and largely unsettled when Daniel Rife became a resident in 1832, and he engaged in the serious work of making a home for himself in the wilderness. He met with success, and his descendants are among the most highly-respected citizens of the county. He died at the age of fifty-seven years, his wife surviving to the age of seventy-six.
Michael Rife, the eldest son, was eighteen when he came to Sandusky county, just the right age to be of most value to his father in the pioneer life. For seven years he labored at home. Then on New Year's Day, 1839, he married Mary Longwell, a young lady who had been orphaned from infancy, and whose parents were among the first victims of an unhealthy climate in York township in its early days. She was born in Berlin township, Delaware county, November 9, 1821, only daughter of Robert and Lucinda (Butler) Longwell. They were married February 2, 1821, and in 1823 journeyed to a new pioneer home. Mr. Longwell brought his goods .in an oxwagon, while his wife carried the child Mary in her arms and rode horseback. After one brief year of married life in the new land the family was destroyed. Mrs. Longwell died September 17, 1824, aged thirty-two years, her husband, who was a native of Kentucky, five days later, aged thirty years. The mother was one of a numerous family; she was born in Lenox township, Berkshire Co., Mass. Her brothers and sisters were: Sarah; Lydia, Rebecca, Persus, Thankful, Jethrone, Daniel, David, Levi, George, Cornelius and Mary. The orphaned child grew up among relatives in Sandusky and Delaware counties. After his marriage to her in 1839 Michael Rife began housekeeping in York township. Currency was scarce in those days, and to procure the small amount of money needed to pay taxes was a difficult matter. Mrs. Rife raised chickens and produce of various sorts, but the prices they commanded would in this day discourage any agriculturist. Michael Rife was in politics a Republican. He was industrious and economical, and accumulated a highly-improved farm of 400 acres upon which he lived in comfort during his declining years until his death, which occurred January 2, 1894. His widow is at this writing still living on the old homstead on the North Ridge, York township. Four children were born to Michael and Mary Rife. (1) Eudora Ann, born March 30, 1841, married October 16, 1862, to Robert Zuel, of Townsend township, who was born in New York State October 29, 1831; they have four children: Mary, born October 20, 1863, married to Robert Asher, and living in Kansas, near Kansas City; Sarah, born October 22, 1865, married to William Range, and the mother of five children\emdash Charles, Frank, Fred, Bessie and Harry; Hattie, born August 25, 1869, married to W. Gursuch, and living in Wallace county, Kans.; and George, born March 4, 1877, a farmer of Johnson county, Kans. (2) Sarah Fidelia, born September 7, 1842, is the wife of William L. Richards, of York township. (3) Robert L. is the subject of this sketch. (4) Charles, born February 20, 1848, died March 24, same year.
Robert L. Rife grew up in York township, and at the age of twenty-three, on September 1, 1869, married Miss Maria Dimock, who was born in Brownhelm township, Lorain county, August 4, 1849. After marriage they settled on a small place, and modestly began farming. It can be said that Mr. Rife has a genius for the noble art of husbandry, for he has prospered almost beyond measure, and he is to-day one of the most substantial farmers of Sandusky county. To Mr. and Mrs. Rife have been born five children: Charles, Fred, Emmet, Gertrude and Homer. Charles, the eldest, married Hattie Wyatt, and has two children\emdash Beatrice and Ellis. Fred married Miss Christena Knoblow, and has one child\emdash Helen.