52 HEREDITY AND SOCIAL FITNESS 



IX. LINE F. THE RIEL FAMILY. 



About the time Aaron Rufer settled here, three brothers, whom we 

 will call Riel, acquired tracts of land in an adjacent township of the 

 same county. They were of German extraction. All had large fam- 

 ilies, but while two of them lived to a good and honorable old age and 

 died in the fear of God, leaving to their descendants their large, well- 

 cultivated farms, the family Bible, the Confession of Faith, and many 

 careful injunctions as to the care of their widows, the third slipped 

 away one night for parts unknown and left his wife to run the farm and 

 bring up their twelve children as best she could. She was also of Ger- 

 man descent. 



She seems to have proved herself fairly equal to her responsibilities, 

 for she is yet remembered as a great, brawny woman, quite 6 feet in 

 height, active and aggressive, whose age almost reached the century 

 mark. She survived most of her children and seems to have become 

 a burden on the slender resources of those who remained in this part 

 of the country, for she lived at times at the county farm and finally died 

 there. She became bedridden at the last from paralysis which affected 

 her left side, but suffered little impairment of her mental powers. 



The children of this couple were all noted for their great strength 

 and stature. They had many oddities, and their good nature made it 

 possible to tease them almost beyond limit. This was especially true 

 of the boys, who were thus the butt of most of the jesting which was 

 current at the wood-chopping bees. If once aroused, however, any 

 one of them made short work "of clearing the woods of the whole 

 gang." Two daughters belonging to this family of twelve married 

 into strains already described and will be the only ones considered here. 

 They and their descendants form Lines F and G in Chart B. 



Let us take up Line F, with Molly Riel (II-2), who was one of its 

 progenitors. She was born about 1810, died about 1875, of pulmonary 

 tuberculosis. Is described as a large, powerful woman, superior to 

 her husband in energy, will-power, and common sense. All that was 

 attempted in bringing up their large family and raising crops on their 

 scanty acres was accomplished by her; still, inference as to her mental 

 capacity can be drawn from the following story: When the census 

 taker learned she had twenty-one children, he exclaimed, "twenty- 

 one children! — and are they all bright?" to which she nonchalantly 

 responded, "yes, quite bright, considering how many there is of them." 

 She married Matthew Rode (II-l), born about 1800. He died about 

 1860. He is remembered as a lazy, shiftless man, capable at rough 

 work when he cared to do it, but having no education or sense in con- 

 ducting his affairs. His father was an ignorant preacher who was 

 guilty of incest with his daughter. The character of his mother is 

 unknown. One sister has been traced and found to be "not so odd" 

 or incapable as Matthew and to have died without children. 



