Michael Ryder (1828-1877)

For the descendants of Dorothy "Billie" Daggett Wild, granddaughter of Michael Ryder

By Janice Mattson Gallant, her granddaughter

Much of what we know about Michael Ryder comes from notes left by his grandson Paul Daggett. Paul was born in 1893, 16 years after Michael died.

Other information about Michael Ryder has recently come to light, most notably a series of newspaper articles from St. Catharines in Ontario, Canada, where he lived during the 1860's-70's. As it turns out, much of the new information is not as kind to Michael as Paul's account -- but it adds a great deal of insight into Michael Ryder's character -- and makes for a very interesting story.

Michael Ryder was born in 1828 in Newport, County Mayo, Ireland. According to Paul Daggett: "As a very young man he enlisted in the British Army, where he served in various parts of the world for twelve years...It well might be that this army service could have been motivated, at least in part, by the Famine which occurred in the period 1845 to 1849." Michael Ryder would have been about 17 years old when the Famine struck Ireland. County Mayo was hit very hard.

Years later, Michael refers to his service in the British Army (St. Catharines Daily Times, 14 Mar 1870):

"I've carried me knapsack all over the worlt, since the days I 'listed in the swate town av Nayna... Me ridgment was so long quathered in the West Indies, that every wan av us became natives av the sile... an' wouldn't I be there to-day, livin in me grate house an' ridin in me coach-an-four, if the haythens had something besides their dirty laygur beer to drink."

"The swate town av Nayna" where Michael enlisted is likely Nenagh in County Tipperary. Though Michael never mentions Newport in any of the newspaper articles, it is likely that he was indeed from Newport as stated by Paul Daggett. According to public records from the era, there were far more Ryder households in County Mayo than in County Tipperary.

It is unknown when Michael immigrated to the United States, but it was probably sometime between 1857 and 1861. While on ship, he met Rose Joyce from Swinford, County Mayo. Michael and Rose were married and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Michael's brother John owned a teaming outfit.

Michael enlisted in the Union Kentucky Volunteers in September 1861 -- and had deserted by June 1862. He served in the Fifth Kentucky Infantry, and though the records show that he deserted, they also include the note "Distinguished Service". Desertion was very common during the Civil War, especially on the Union side. In December 1862, 180,000 of the soldiers listed on the Union muster rolls were absent, with or without leave. Years later (St. Catharines Daily Times, 21 May 1870), Michael may have been referring to his Civil War service when he sang:

"Och, wanst I ne'er did think I'd be
In this dejected shate,
Like a poor phorlorn effigy
Bowed down by fwhiskey straight
The burds that flutter an the tree
Wid terror strike me hart,
Each sthar I see alarms me
Och, fwhy did I desart?"

According to another of Michael's grandchildren (Mary Ryder Erhard, born 14 years after Michael died), Michael was a "slave runner" in the underground railroad. There is probably no way to determine the truth of this charming story, but it is clear from the newspaper articles that Michael had a cordial relationship with the blacks of St. Catharines. According to Paul Daggett: "(Michael Ryder) was violently opposed to all forms of tyranny and oppression; this explains his motivation in helping slaves reach Canada and freedom of a sort. Possibly this experience may have prompted moving the family to St. Catharines, Ontario." It is interesting to note that St. Catharines was the final terminus on the underground railroad for hundreds of slaves, as well as home to Harriet Tubman from 1852 to 1857.

Michael and Rose moved to St. Catharines in 1862 or 1863. Michael appeared regularly in local court and jail records during the 1860's and 1870's:

• 25 Jun 1862 -- Assault. Fined $10.
• 15 Mar 1865 -- Drunk and disorderly. Fined $2.
• 4 Dec 1865 -- Beating his wife.
• Jan 1866 -- Released from jail after serving 30 days for assault and battery
• Jul 1866 -- Released from jail after serving 3 months for assault and battery
• Aug 1867 -- Released from jail after serving 21 days for assault and battery
• 21 Aug 1867 -- Charged by Nathaniel Patterson, with striking him. Fined $5 or 25 days jail.
• 30 Jun 1868 -- Charged by Daird Powers with using abusive language and calling him foul names. Fined $1 or 6 days.
• 18 Sep 1869 -- Abusive language. $2 fine.
• 20 Sep 1870 -- Convicted of "common assault" for beating his wife Rose. 2 months at hard labor.
• 6 Mar 1871 -- Drunk and disorderly. 2 months jail.
• 7 Mar 1871 -- Assaulting A. Montgomery. 2 months jail.
• 3 Dec 1874 -- Assaulting his neighbors. 2 months in Central Prison.

In the jail records, prisoners were classified as to their Moral Habits (Temperate or Intemperate), and whether they could read and write (Neither, Imperfectly, or Well). Not surprisingly, Michael was identified as Intemperate, as were most of the other prisoners. Like about half of the other prisoners, he could neither read nor write.

Some of the appearances in the newspaper were related to charges brought by the Ryders against others:

• 21 Feb 1867 -- Michael Ryder charged Mrs. Judge with demolishing his gate. "Michael ... testified to Mrs. Judge's appetite for ardent spirits, but failed to prove his accusation touching the gate."
• 1 Aug 1868 -- Rose Ryder charged William Barrett "with using obscene and abusive language towards her on the public streets." Barrett was fined $2.
• 7 Sep 1868 -- Michael Ryder charged Julia Barrett and her son James with setting fire to his house. The charges were dismissed.
• 20 Oct 1868 -- Michael Ryder charged John Courtney with assault and battery. The charge was dismissed, "which exasperated Ryder into using foul language, when he was fined $2."
• 27 Jan 1870 -- Michael Ryder charged James Freeman and Anthony Garrity "wid stealing me bottle uv whiskey". The case was dismissed.

Over the years, Michael and Rose's family grew to include five children: John, Michael, Agnes, Anne and Rose. (At least three other children -- James, Catherine, and Mary -- died in infancy.) During their early years in St. Catharines, the Ryders lived in a "shanty" on Division Street in an area known as "The Patch". This area was -- and still is -- in a rundown part of St. Catharines. Michael Ryder was a well known figure in The Patch, referred to in the newspaper as "Michael Ryder, the notorious" in 1868.

In 1870, the local newspapers start referring to him as "Baron von Ryder". The origin of this name is unknown, but there is a humorous and even affectionate quality to these references, for instance this item (St. Catharines Daily Times, 21 Feb 1870):

On Saturday evening last, the famous Baron Von Ryder went around Town practicing the fine art of paper-hanging on the dead-walls and fences, and having completed the job to his own satisfaction, rested from his labors in the enjoyment of a "noggin av speerits." Next morning, however, the citizens were amused to find all the bills turned upside down, but firmly stuck on to the walls. The Baron who has been writing poetry on the destruction of Sanacherib, avers that:

"The dimon av fun schwept by on the blast
And turn thim upside down as he passed."

He is repeating the work to-day, having first sharpened his vision by a copious inhalation of Paddy's eye-water. It is hoped that the antics of this mischief maker will not prevent a large attendance at the lecture to-morrow night which the bill announced.

During the spring of 1870, there is a wonderful series of articles in the St. Catharines Daily Times. Michael was a regular at Police Court proceedings, even when he wasn't directly involved. For instance, this item from 10 Mar 1870:

The noble Baron Von Ryder and his beloved Brudder Payne were early at the Justice Shop this morning. "Shure 'tis meself that loiks to be to the fore, fwhin the fun is goin' on," remarked the Baron. "Faix I'd rather see a naygur in the crib than go widout me bithurs av a mornin."

"Ise ob 'pinion dat de niggah is too ophten put in de fence," retorted Brudder Payne, with a dark frown of injured dignity mantling his noble brow. "'Spose dey'll soon be sayin dat niggahs ought to climb de pole, and showdar -- like de "Com'n Man' does."

The Baron was thunderstruck at the "impidence" of this speech, and was just beginning a terrific volley of Tipperary wild-fire, when the Beak was heard approaching, and silence reigned supreme. (ed note: "The Beak" was police magistrate Thomas Burns)

Things took a sad turn later that year, when Michael assaulted Rose (St. Catharines Daily Times, 7 Sep 1870):

Yesterday afternoon, the aristocratic neighborhood of Upper Division street (we mean the "Patch,") was disturbed considerably by a friendly discussion, "wid shticks," between Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ryder - said discussion having taken place on the lawn in front of their princely abode. During the progress of the discussion, Mr. Ryder merely intending to give emphasis to his remarks, accidentally allowed his "shtick" to fall rather too heavily on the well shaped head dress and auburn tresses of his lovely spouse. Soon, distressing to relate, the beautiful face, alabaster neck and costly attire, were stained by the crimson flood that poured from the wounds caused by the bit of timber already alluded to. Mr. Ryder, in an agony of remorse and dread at the unfortunate turn events had suddenly taken, exclaimed, in agonizing tones: --
"O willihoo! willihoo! -- wirra! wirra! Biddy, acushla, are ye kilt? Bad cess to the dirty shillela! Sorr a time will I ever touch it again." Then he cast the unlucky cause of the catastrophe to the ground, caught the fair partner of his joys and woes to his manly bosom, strained her in a fond and convulsive embrace, imprinted a kiss on her ruby lips, laid her tenderly on the sward, and then, in company with the Chief of Police, who in the interval had opportunely arrived on the spot, rushed frantically down towards the Lock-up, there to pass the time in gloomy reflections on his domestic sorrows. The faithful Chief, who took to him like a friend of his youth, poured into the ear of the disconsolate Ryder a plentiful stream of consolation for his afflictions. The surgeon who was speedily in attendance on the fair sufferer, has removed a heavy burden of anxiety from our heart by informing us that - thanks to her abstemious habits (she drinks nothing stronger than Stinson's best), fine constitution and (this spoken sotto voce) thick skull - Mrs. Ryder will probably recover.

Michael was found "guilty of common assault" and "sentenced to the common jail two months at hard labor". The following March, he was sentenced to 4 months in jail for being drunk, disorderly, and assaulting Police Chief Montgomery. But after that, he seems to have mended his ways, at least for a while. For the next three and a half years, there is no record of criminal charges against Michael Ryder. In January 1873, he was "repeatedly applauded" for his role as "Deacon Perry" in a local production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". He is occasionally cited in newspaper articles during this period, for instance (St. Catharines Daily Times, 6 Aug 1873):

"Fwhat with whate and mate so high," says the Baron Von Ryder, "a boy can't afford to drink nothing betther nor cider."

But all was not well in the Ryder household. Perhaps the saddest newspaper article appeared during this period (St. Catharines Evening Journal, 4 Dec 1873):

Rose Ryder was charged by P.C. O'Keefe, with being drunk and disorderly. He found her last night about 10 o'clock lying in the mud in rear of the Saw Works, with an infant about 3 months old in her arms. She was discharged owing to a flaw in the information. (ed note: infant likely Rose, born Aug 1873)

Sometime during this period, the Ryders moved from Division Street to a house on Cherry Street, today considered a swanky area of older homes. This house was probably a nice step up for the Ryder family. Unfortunately, the Cherry Street house burned down in 1875, as recorded in the following series of items from the St. Catharines Daily Times:

27 Jul 1875: Just as we were going to press an alarm of fire was given. The fire was found to be on Cherry street, corner of Trafalgar. The buildings burned up to this writing were a frame house occupied by Mike Ryder, and a number of out-buildings in the rear of J.V. Lepper's boarding house. The damage will not be very great. Fortunately the adjoining buildings were saved.

29 Jul 1875: Mr. Michael Ryder, who was burned out at the recent fire, says his losses were very heavy. He lost all his clothing, beds, and other things too numerous to mention, and hadn't a dollar insurance on them. Mike feels down in the mouth and says he has now to commence his life over again. He says $50 wouldn't cover his losses.

9 Aug 1875: Mr. Mike Ryder wishes to return his sincere thanks for the kindness he has received from the people of St. Catharines since he was burned out. He says he had no idea that so much generosity and kindness existed here.

A few months later, Michael had a close call (St. Catharines Daily Times, 1 Dec 1875):

An unfortunate man named Michael Ryder had a narrow escape from being frozen to death yesterday morning. He lay in the ditch on George street for about three hours, in a helpless state of intoxication and but for the compassionate assistance rendered by three or four kind-hearted men in that neighborhood, Michael would certainly have suffered the "extreme penalty" of his incurable appetite for whiskey.

Ironically, Michael had probably been celebrating the birth of his daughter Catherine on November 29. There is a gap in the availability of St. Catharines newspapers from 1875 until 1891, so this disturbing article is the last newspaper article about the Ryders. Michael died in 1877 in a drowning accident; he was 49 years old. Rose died in 1885 at the age of 48. The death record shows her occupation as Widow and cause of death as "found dead in bed". Michael and Rose, and infants James and Catherine, are buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines.

When Rose died, the eldest child John would have been about 22 years old. The youngest child, Rose, would have been about 12. John moved the family from St. Catharines to St. Paul, Minnesota. John married Wilhelmina Giese, and worked at newspapers for many years. Agnes married train brakeman John De Witt, and raised five children in Nebraska. Anne married William Daggett and raised five children in Minneapolis, including Dorothy "Billie" Daggett, future wife of Edward "Ted" Wild. Rose never married, and worked for many years as a domestic in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Michael may have been a nephew, not a son, of Michael and Rose. Young Michael made his own appearance in the St. Catharines newspapers in 1873 when at the tender age of eight, he was sentenced to two weeks at hard labor(!) for "stealing bottles from Giles & Helliwell's". Years later, he worked as a "hack driver" in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He died in 1914 of "Illuminating gas poisoning. Accidental turning on of gas jets in gas store."

---

John J. "Jack" Ryder (1863-194?)

For the descendants of Dorothy "Billie" Daggett Wild, niece of Jack Ryder

By Janice Mattson Gallant, her granddaughter

Michael Ryder's son John J. Ryder had a brief political career and his own interesting story. Born in Kentucky in about 1863, he moved to St. Catharines, Ontario as an infant. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in about 1886, and began working in newspapers, eventually becoming the political editor at The St. Paul Globe. In 1893, he moved to Luverne in southwest Minnesota, where he was part of a group that purchased the local newspaper. From "An Illustrated History of the Counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota" by Arthur P. Rose, published in 1911:

In the latter part of October, 1893, the News was purchased by a syndicate styled the Rock County News Publishing company and composed of John J. Ryder, Max H. Voelz and W.M. Cutcheon. The company was capitalized at $3000. Messrs. Ryder and Voelz, who had previously been connected with the St. Paul Globe, took the local management and published a democratic paper. Later Mr. Voelz became the sole editor.

By 1899, Ryder was married to Wilhelmina Giese and living in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, which he represented in the Minnesota State Senate from 1899-1902. East Grand Forks sits across the Red River from Grand Forks, North Dakota. North Dakota went dry in 1890, and East Grand Forks was a popular destination for many. From "Le Grandes Fourches", excerpt from the book "The Bushees and Enrights: A Family History" by Dale Voiss:

In an effort to get the people of Grand Forks to come across the bridge several saloons were built...This led to an influx of crime into the area, particularly prostitution. Prostitution thrived in the area throughout the 1890s and early 1900's and East Grand Forks gained a reputation as what today would be called a party town. Police would simply look the other way. The reasons for this were twofold. One, because the ladies brought the young town business it would not otherwise have, and two, occasionally arrests would be made and fines levied to sweeten the young towns coffers. The Madames simply accepted this as cost of doing business. Eventually as North Dakota dropped their prohibition order things began to settle down on the Minnesota side. By 1906 the prostitutes had been driven out of EGF by a police department which no longer looked the other way. The town was now more concerned about its reputation than it was about the business the ladies brought to town.

By 1908, Ryder and his wife and young son John J. (born in Minnesota, 1905) were in Nebraska, where Ryder regularly appeared in newspapers as the Deputy Commissioner of Labor, appointed by the governor. According to the Nebraska State Journal in 1908, "Mr. Ryder is a very pleasant speaker". A new governor took office in 1909, and John Ryder lost his position. The 1910 Omaha City Directory shows him as a reporter at "The Omaha Bee". During this period, he also served as the state president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles; Secretary-Treasurer of the Nebraska State Child Labor Committee; and President of the Central Republican Club. In 1910, he ran for Secretary of State in Nebraska, but lost.

In 1912, the city of Omaha adopted a commission form of government. Seven commissioners were elected to a three year term; John J. Ryder was among them. Each commissioner was given responsibility for certain city functions. From the Lincoln Daily News (11 May 1912):

J.J. Ryder, formerly deputy labor commissioner, is to have charge of the police and health department of this city under the commission plan of municipal government. "Actions speak louder than words" is to be his motto for conducting affairs in both departments, according to his own statement.

Ryder, who was selected for the police department by the other commissioners, will not make any forecasts, official or otherwise, until he assumes his office, and says he will let his orders speak for themselves.

The new police commissioner asserted that the people of Omaha could judge by his orders and by the way he had those orders enforced whether he was doing his duty or not.

Ryder intimated very strongly, however, that he contemplates running his own department without dictation from anyone. "Both of the departments will be conducted solely for the benefit of the people of Omaha, and everything I do will be in the open and above board. I am willing to stand by the record I make," said Ryder, and that's all he would say.

Ryder's department will probably be the most important in the new system of government. He will have entire charge of the police regulation and of the city health and sanitation."

In late 1913, Police Commissioner John J. Ryder came under fire for not enforcing laws against liquor and prostitution. Things came to a head after an Omaha brothel was robbed in early 1914. From "Omaha Memories: Recollections of Events, Men and Affairs in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1879 to 1917" by Edward Francis Morearty:

One of the most daring and brazen holdups that ever took place in Omaha was that at a place of residence of Hazel McVey, a resort of ill-repute at Fifteenth and Chicago Streets. Three bandits entered the house about 11 o'clock at night and cut the 'phone wires; one locked the landlady in the kitchen, robbed her of her diamonds, while the other two commanded all the inmates to throw up their hands and submit to a frisk. A young man named Nichols, failing to comply with orders, was shot and instantly killed. The bandits were all apprehended, having been located in different states, were brought back, tried and given sentences of imprisonment for life. In this place were some of Omaha's most prominent citizens who, by one pretense after another, managed not to have their identity known. As a result of the McVey robbery, John Ryder, who was in charge of the police department, offered his resignation, but a compromise was reached, whereby Commissioner Kugel was given the police department and Ryder that of street repairs.

Ryder's final official act as Police Commisioner was to issue "an order to arrest the keeper of every place in Omaha where liquor is sold illegally, and to rid the town of all known immoral women." In an editorial titled "A Change in Ideas", the Lincoln Daily News praised Ryder's departure and suggested that he was a throwback to a more "liberal" era which tolerated vice for financial reasons:

Commissioner Jack Ryder relinquished the job of being the real chief of police of Omaha without any regret. Under his administration, if we are to accept the testimony of the Commercial club and other civic bodies, vice was given a fairly free rein. Whenever the newspapers or individuals protested public announcement was made that the police knew of no such reports as had been asserted existed. The truth was that Ryder belongs to the passing era in municipal government, more especially that which has to do with vicious conditions. The resolutions passed by the Commercial club indicate the change in sentiment. It has not been so many years ago that the business interests of Omaha were to be found lined up with the liberal element. The theory frankly advanced was that the interests of trade demanded that visitors to the city be given ample opportunity to enjoy themselves in the way that city men think men from the country desire to disport themselves when they come to a big town. Apparently it has been discovered that the presence of opportunities for visitors to kick off the bedclothes of conventionality has been embraced by the younger generation of city residents to their moral and financial disadvantage, and that some of the female recruits of the disorderly places have been taken from Omaha homes to the sorrow and shame of good people. Furnishing the supply and most of the demand does not aid in building up a city.

Several months after his resignation as police chief, in an incident reminiscent of his father Michael, John J. Ryder physically attacked "Jap" Tamisea, telling him that he "must not laugh at city officials". Ryder did not choose his target wisely and was easily worsted by the more athletic Tamisea. Later that day, Ryder attacked Jack Wolf with a knife, declaring that he was going to "get" the man who had knocked him down. Apparently Wolf resembled Tamisea but was not otherwise connected with the situation. Ryder was subdued and taken home by friends. Six days later, Ryder broke several windows of his own house before being taken to the Keeley Institute in a straitjacket.

(Editor's note: The 1910 census shows that the Ryders had a son John J., born in Minnesota in 1905. I have not been able to find any other public record of young John J. Ryder, and the boy does not appear with his parents in the 1920 census. This suggests that he may have died sometime between 1910 and 1920, and I have wondered whether his father's erratic behavior in late 1914 could be related.)

Ryder served out the rest of his term as a city commissioner, but was dropped from the slate in 1915. According to Mayor Dahlman, "There is a general feeling that Ryder will not pull through at the election." John J. Ryder's political career was over.

He continued working in newspapers. The 1930 census shows him in Minneapolis as a proofreader. His death date is unknown, but he is named as a surviving spouse on the death certificate when his wife Minnie died in 1941.