Snyder Community
Hale County, Texas

Mennonite Colony Families

Ferdinand (1873-1956) and Amanda (Hartman) (1885-1961) Rastetter

(These are the basic facts I have for this family, listed here to help guide the research process. As photos, family stories, and other data are submitted, I hope to develop a narrative.)

    Ferdinand Rastetter's family is listed on the Snyder Community historical marker as "among the first Mennonites to settle this farming community."

    In two articles in Hale County History, Gladys Rastetter Mason indicates that Amanda Hartman Rastetter was Emanuel Hartman's sister. Their father Elias Hartman had bought "an acreage" for each of them in the Snyder Community and their families had both moved to Hale County in 1908.^{1, 2}

Cemetery records submitted by a volunteer researcher indicate Ferdinand was born Nov. 23, 1873, in Karlsruhle, Germany. On Feb. 18, 1903, he married Amanda Hartmann [sic]. He died on Sept. 17, 1956, and is buried in Plainview Cemetery.

Cemetery records submitted by a volunteer researcher indicate Amanda Hartmann [sic] was born Feb. 13, 1885, in Cullmon [sic], Illinois and died on Feb. 10, 1961. She is buried in Plainview Cemetery.

1900 Federal census - Washington Township Excl. of Washington City, Tazewell County, Illinois
    Bloomenshine, Charles W. - aged 41, farmer
      --, Catherine
      --, Martha
      --, Mary
      --, [son]
    Rastetter, Ferdinand - 26-year-old single farm laborer, born Nov. 1873 in Germany, father born in Germany, mother born in Austria, year of immigration to the United States: 1882, number of years in the United States: 17

1900 Federal Census - Sullivan Township, Livingston County, Illinois, p. 281
    Hartman, Elias - aged 47, born July 1852 in Illinois, father born in Germany, mother born in Germany, farmer
        Sarah - aged 47, born July 1852 in Pennsylvania, mother of 11 living children, father born in Pennsylvania, mother born in Germany
        Jno. - 20-year-old son
        Emanuel - 19-year-old son, born Feb. 1881 in Illinois, farm laborer
        Levi - 17-year-old son
        Amanda - 15-year-old daughter
        Harvey - 13-year-old son
        Reuben - 11-year-old son
        Lewis - 7-year-old son

1910 Federal census - Justice Precinct 1, Hale County, Texas [same page as Emanuel Hartman and Peter B. Snyder]
    Ferdinand - aged 37, married 7 years, born in Germany, father born in Germany, mother born in Austria [?], immigration year 1885, farmer
    Amanda - 25, mother of 3 children, 2 children living, born in Illinois, father born in Illinois, mother born in Pennsylvania
    Vernon - 6-year-old son, born in Illinois
    Gladis - 1/12-year-old daughter, born in Texas

1920 Federal census - Precinct 1  Part of, Hale County, Texas - same page as John McGarr
    Fred [Ferd] - aged 46, born in Germany, both parents born in Germany, year of immigration to the United States: 1882, naturalized, farmer
    Amanda - aged 34, born in Illinois, father born in Illinois, mother born in Pennsylvania
    Vernon W. - 15-year-old son, born in Illinois
    Gladys R. - 9-year-old daughter, born in Texas
    Carl W. - 3-2/12-year-old son, born in Texas 

Footnotes

1. Gladys Rastetter Mason, "My Family: Ferdinand and Amanda Rastetter," Hale County History Volume VII (February 1977): p. 22.

2. Gladys Rastetter Mason, "Early Settlers of the Snyder Community," Hale County History Volume VII (February 1977): p. 16.

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