March 17th, 1861- May 23rd, 1920 Reuchlin married Lulu Billheimer on April 27, 1886 in Westerville, Ohio. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, thirteen months later. Finding his young family’s financial situation to be difficult, Reuchlin left Dayton in February of 1889. He found work as a bookkeeper with the South Missouri Lumber Company in Kansas City, where Lulu and their daughter joined him. Reuchlin and Lulu had four children, three of whom survived to adulthood. During his family’s thirteen-year stay in Kansas City, Reuchlin also worked for the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad. In 1901, he and his family moved to an 80-acre farm near Tonganoxie, Kansas, where they raised cattle and seed corn. As an adult, Reuchlin grew distant from his father, brothers, and sister in Dayton, who did not get along with Lulu. It is possible that Reuchlin felt inferior to his more famous brothers; he believed that he did not deserve all of the $50,000 he inherited from Wilbur in 1912 and attempted to return $1,000 to his father. Milton, Orville, and Katharine refused to accept the money. Reuchlin died of a stroke in Kansas City in 1920 and is buried there. |
Last updated: February 5, 2018