Ruppenthal, J. C. (Jacob Christian), 1869-1964

Russell County, Kansas was first settled by Euro-Americans on March 3, 1868 and included nine hundred square miles of upland, rolling prairie, bottoms, bluffs, and deep canyons. Passing through Russell County are the Saline and Smokey Hill Rivers. This county was named for Captain Avra P. Russell, Company K, 2nd Kansas Cavalry, who died of wounds received in battle on December 7, 1862 at Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

Jacob Christian Ruppenthal was born within a mile of old Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pa., on January 16, 1869. He moved with his parents to Wilson (Ellsworth County), Kansas on August 4, 1877 where they homesteaded. Jacob attended rural schools until 1888 when he went to Salina Normal University. He received both a B.A. and a LL. B. degree from the University of Kansas. Jacob served as Russell City attorney in both 1897 and 1903 serving two terms. He then became Judge of the 23rd Judicial District serving for twenty years from 1907 to 1919 and 1923 to 1930. Jacob served as a Judge Advocate for the United States Army from 1918 to 1919. He then taught law at the University of Kansas in 1919 and 1920. He served as secretary of the State Judicial Council from 1927 to 1941.