John (Long John) was born 1785 - 1790 in Botetourt County, VA, he was
the son of James Ritchie born 1755 - 1757 in Scotland and Mary Keith
born 1755 in Va, the daughter of Samuel Keith & Catherine Ring, Samuel
Keith was killed by Indians before Mary was born and she is remembered
for her hatred of Indians.
The story is that Samuel Keith and his wife Catherine and two children
were alone in their cabin when the indians attacked, Samuel Keith was
struck by an arrow and killed, his wife defended herself and her
children with a rifle until the Indians fled away. She then lifted her
dead husband unto the bed, closed his eyes and folded his hands on his
breast and took the children four miles through the  Indian filled
forest to the nearest neighbors for help. Her baby daughter Mary"Polly"
Keith was born within the next few days and it was this child who grew
up to marry James Ritchie.
James Ritchie fought in the battle of Yorktown where Lord Cornwallis
(British) was captured, he told a story abut this battle, that before his regiment
went into action, the officers had their men to ix whisky with gunpowder and
drink the mixture to make them nervy, James Ritchie passed this story
down to his son Alexander Crocket Ritchie, brother of John Ritchie.
James Ritchie had a brother also called John (Long John ) Ritchie who
settled on Cranesnest in Virginia, a Rev War Soldier.
The Ritchie family all left Va and moved to Buncombe Co, NC, they are
all on the 1800 Buncombe Co Census, Mary (Keith ) Ritchies two brothers
Gabriel & Reuben Keith are on the 1800 Census there.
Sometime after 1800 and 1810, they all moved to Kentucky, but while they
were crossing Carrs Creek, the river was swollen and James Ritchie the
father drown there sometime before 1810, they buried him along the
river, but no one knows exactly where. After awhile John (Long John )
Ritchie and his wife Nancy (Hutchinson) Ritchie, born ca 1790, the
daughter of Peter Hutchinson & Nancy Green and John Ritchie's mother
Mary Ritchie moved back to  Russell Co, Virginia.
John  Ritchie & Nancy Hutchinson  moved from Scott Co to Russell Co
around 1831 - 1832. This is the part of Russell Co that is now Wise
Co,Va. They are on the 1840 Land tax list for Russell Co, Va, age 50 to
60 years of age.
It s said that they settled on Sandy Ridge, however their son John
Ritchie lived directly behind the little settlement of Cranesnest at
Fullers Gap on Cranesnest River. In 1860, we find Nancy living with her
daughter Nancy who married Jeremiah Powers, 81 yrs old, in Wise Co.
Children of John Ritchie & Nancy Hutchinson:
1.James Ritchie born 1804, married Bathsheba Hillman, April 13, 1831.
2.Sarah Ritchie born ca 1806, married Thomas Hillman. 
3.Nancy Ritchie born 1809, married Jeremiah Powers.
4. Naomi Ritchie born 1810 - 1811, married Reuben H Powers.
5. John Ritchie born 1815, married Keziah (Cassie) Hill.
They all moved to Wise County, when it was formed, John Ritchie was a
farmer and Nancy (Hutchinson) Ritchie was a midwife. 

(1.)James Ritchie was born 1804, the son of John Ritchie & Nancy Hutchinson,
James married Bathsheba "Barasheba" Hillman the daughter of Willam
Hillman & Margaret Burton, they were married in Scott County, Va by
Robert Kilgore.
They moved to Russell Co, Va, now Wise Co and lived near his brother
John Ritchie and his family. Their children were:
1, Rachel Ritchie b, 1831, Scott C, VA.
2. John H Ritchie b, 1832, Scott Co, Va,  married Louvina Logan,
daughter of  William Logan.
3. William H Ritchie b,1834, Scott Co, Va.
4. Gabriel K Ritchie b,1836 married Jane 
    Riggs, daughter of John & Eleanor  Riggs. 
5. Samuel C Ritchie b,1839, Russell Co, Va.
6.James Ritchie b,1840, Russell Co, VA, married Barkley Logan,
daughter of  William Logan.
7. Thomas Ritchie b,1842, Russell Co, VA.
8. Margaret Ritchie b,1844, Russell Co,VA.
9. Polly Ritchie b, 1847, Russell Co,Va.
10. Alexander Ritchie b, 1848, russell Co, VA.
11. Charles Ritchie b, 1851, Russell Co Va, married Josephine
Enox, daughter of Elizabeth Enox, they were married Feb 15,1869.
12. Sarah Jane Ritchie b, 1856.
 

(2.) Sarah (Sallie) Ritchie was born ca 1806, the daughter of John Ritchie &
Nancy Hutchinson, she married Thomas Hillman on Jan 17, 1825, Thomas was
born 1800 in Scott Co, VA, the son of William Hillman & Margaret Burton.
They moved to Russell Co, VA and lived near her brother James Ritchie
and Thomas's sister Bathsheba, this was later, Wise County.
Their Children were:
1. Mary "Polly" Hillman.
2. John Wesley Hillman, b, Sept 20, 1825, married Sarah Dotson. Also was
married to Ellen V Robertson.
 3. James Monroe Hillman b,1852, married Elizabeth Stallard.
4. Louisa "Eliza" Hillman b, 1837, married John Tipton.
Thomas Hillman married a second time to Margaret, (last name unknown) and
had several more children, they lived in Hurricane section of Wise County.

(3.) See the Powers Bio

(4.) Naomi Ritchie was born 1810 - 1811 in Russell Co, VA, the daughter of
John Ritchie & Nancy Hutchinson, she married REuben H Powers, the son of
Joas & Lucy Powers. Reuben H Powers was a Corporal in the 39th Kentucky
Regiment in the Federal Army during the Civil War, Their children were:
1, Sallie Powers married Elbert Henderson.
2. Nancy Powers.
3.Eunice Powers married Lot Wellman.
4.Polly Powers married John Cee.
5. Emily Powers married Al Roberts.
6. Lucy Powers married Harmon Powers.
7. Jane Powers. 

(5). John Ritchie born 1815 in Scott County, Va, the son of John Ritchie Sr and
Nancy Hutchinson. John married Keziah (Cassie) Hill about 1835, she was
born 1818, the daughter of William Hill & Nancy Lyons. William Hill born
1780 in Va., was the son of Swinfield Hill born in 1758 in Franklin Co.,
VA. His wife's first name was Martha.
Swinfield was the son of Robert Hill born 1778 in Dublin, Ireland, he
married Violet Linus, The family of John & Cassie (Hill) Ritchie is found in
the 1850/60/70 census of Russell Co and Wise Counties in Virginia.
John & Keziah lived near Fullers Gap on Cranesnest in Wise County, Va.
A deed for 456 acres was made by John Ritchie to John W Powers on the
waters of the Steele's fork of Cranesnest in 1867. John W Powers was the son
of Jeremiah Powers & Nancy (Ritchie) Powers and a grandson to John Ritchie &
Nancy Hutchinson. Three daughters of John & Cassie
Ritchie married into the Rueben Powers & Katherine Estep Powers and
Katherine and John Lane  family.
Sarah Jane Ritchie, their first daughter married General Jackson Lane, a son
of Katherine Estep Lane, a stepson of Reuben Powers.
Martha 'Patsy' Ritchie married their son Oliver Powers and Alice "Ollie"
Ritchie married Hiram Powers, a third son.
The Ritchies and Powers were neighbors and lived on the road between
Coeburn and Clintwood, Va, near Cranesnest River, probably about five
miles apart.
John Ritchie voted in 1856 when Wise Co, was formed in the President
election in the American or "no nothing" party.
Children of John Ritchie & Keziah (Cassie) Hill were:
 1.Sarah Jane Ritchie b, 1836 married
General Jackson Lane.
 2.Nancy Ritchie b, 1838, died Oct 15, 1860 of Quinsey.
 3. Polly Ritchie b,1841.
4.Martha Eveline Ritchie "Patsy" Ritchie b,1842, married Oliver Powers.
 5.Sanders Ritchie b, 1845, d, July 22,1861 of Calaymarleius.
6. John Ritchie b. 1847.
 7.Alice "Ollie" Ritchie b. June 1849, married Hiram Powers.
 8. Jackson Andrew Ritchie b, 1851, married Elmira Powers.
9. James S Ritchie b,1855, died Oct 10,1860 of Quinsey.
 10, Eliza Ritchie b, 1857.
11. Louise Ritchie b, May 12,1861, d, July 1861, 5 months old of head
disease.
 
 

The Ritchie family name was very first 
recorded in Perthshire, which islocated in Scotland.
The Ritchie family name traces their Ancestral roots back to the Pictish
origin before 1100, the Picts were a fierce clan in Scotland, the Roman
Emperor Hadrian, had a wall built in England that stretched  the whole
width of England from the West coast to the East coast, to keep out the
Picts and the Scots, some of the ruins are still there today.
The Ritchie's have their own clan and a tartan.
The name Ritchie (Richey, Ritchey, Etc) seems to share a common origin
with Richards and Richardson, 
according to Micheal Bell in the "Book of
the Ulster Surnames"
Richard in its various forms, was one of the most popular of all the
Norman names that came with 
William the Conqueror's overthrow of Saxon England in 1066.
In old German, which descended from the Frankish dominions in Gaul
(France) , the name Ricard denoted a powerful and brave chief or ruler.
A large number of Richardsons began to appear in records of Scotland
about a century after the conquest.
The Ritchie families apparently grew from from the same origin as
another form of Richards and they were a sept of the clan MACKINTOSH of
the area of Dalmunzie, Scotland, where Richards was an equally common
name, There were also MacRitchies (by the year 1571) associated with the
Macktintosh clan, but this name seems to have lost the Mac with most of
the families who came to America. There were considerable numbers of
Ritchies in the plantation period that came especially into the Ulster
Counties, Antrim & Down, as well as Richardsons. 

by Susan Fahnstrom ©2001