Ralph Ryder, an early settler in the town of Dunn, where he started a good farm, now being operated by his son George john, was born in England, where he grew up and married Mary Shepardson. In 1844 he came alone to the United States , being joined by his wife and five children in New York in the following year. They settled in the town of Marcey, Oneida County, N, Y., where they remained until 1861, in which year they came to Dunn County, Wisconsin, locating in the town of Dunn and engaging in agriculture. For three years Mr. Ryder operated rented farms; then he bought 40 acres of government land in section 30 and took a railroad claim of 80 acres adjoining. This was all wild land and there were no buildings, but it had one advantage in that the land was mostly open and not encumbered with timber, so that much labor was thereby saved. Mr. Ryder built a frame house and log barns and began the work of improvement. The greatest handicap of the family at first was the lack of domestic water, which had to be hauled a distance of three miles until Mr. Ryder dug a 90-foot well. In May 1871, Mrs. Mary Ryder died and 17 years later, in May 1888, Ralph Ryder himself passed away after an active career as a farmer in the town of Dunn of some 27 years. They were the parents of ten children, namely : Jane, Ann, Eunice, Charlotte, Eliza, Ralph, Mary, Alice, Martha and George John. All of them except the last mentioned are now deceased, and it is curious to note that they died either quite young or in comparatively early life, none of them reaching the age of 40 years. George john, now 75 years old, is the owner of the parental farm and homestead.

from The History of Dunn County, 1925. page 433