David Rettiger, for a number of years a prominent business man and an influential citizen of Strong City, Kan., was born in Germany, Nov. 9, 1849, son of Nicholas Rettiger, also a native of the Fatherland, who brought his family to America, in 1853, and to Kansas, in 1873. Nicholas Rettiger, who died in 1886, and his nine children, were all communicants of the Roman Catholic church. David Rettiger inherited those German characteristics of thrift and industry and was a man of unusual business intelligence. After coming to Kansas, in Chase county, he acquired large and valuable tracts of land, on which were found valuable deposits of building stone. He invented a stone cutting machine and engaged in stone contracting on a large scale. He built many of the stone buildings at Cottonwood Falls, Strong City, and numerous other Kansas towns, and among his largest contracts were those for furnishing building stone for the Santa Fe Railway Company.

In 1886, at Strong City, David Rettiger and Rose L. Harvey were united in marriage. She was born in Scotland, in 1869, and came to America early in her life, with her parents—Hugh Harvey and his wife—who settled in Morris county, Kansas, but later removed to Chase county and located at Strong City, where Mr. Harvey was a successful druggist and business man.

To Mr. and Mrs. Rettiger were born four children—Hubert E., Charles D., Ervin J., and Esther Mary—all of whom are the subjects of Mrs. Rettiger's special love and care, and to whom she is giving excellent educational advantages.

Upon the death of Mr. Rettiger, Sept. 22, 1899, Mrs. Rettiger assumed the management of his large estate and has proved to be the possessor of unusual executive ability and business discernment. She has added to the estate left to her charge, largely by additional land purchases, and the realty now in her possession, in Chase county, is valued at approximately $200,000.