The Doug Rixstine Family Home Page

Krafft Richstein, his wife Justina, and their children, Johann Jost, Johannes Christian, Anna Catharina, and Maria Elisabeth fled from Wittsgenstein Germany in the early 1700's. Johannes Christian is listed on the manifest of the Ship Lydia from Rottersdam to Pennsylvania in September 1743.
The Richstein's and their descendants lived in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland areas. Several spellings of the name show up in the 1800's including Richstein, Ristine, Rixtine, and Rixstine.

My line of the family went west sometime after 1870 and settled in Ft Scott, Kansas. Ambrose Rixstine was a druggist in Ft Scott and his brother Livingston was a druggist in New Jersey.
In 1886 Ambrose and his wife Jennie Hutchinson moved to Des Moines, Iowa. He founded a Nursery in the area that was sold to Henry Field in 1900. Ambrose headed west by train. He died in Lincoln, Nebraska. Arthur, his 15 year old son, became a cowboy on the Chism Trail to support his mother. Later, he attended the University of Nebraska. He then became a very succesful jeweler in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Surnames being researched: RIXSTINE, RICHSTEIN, RISTINE, RIXTINE, HUZZARD, YEAGER, BAUM, QUIGG, TRUNK, ANDREWS, PIERCE, HALDERMAN

Areas being researched: Germany, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois