Ringle was born on October 16, 1814, in the region of Zweibrücken in what is today southwest Germany.
[1] At the time of his birth, this was part of the Rhine region which had just been transferred to the dominion of the Kingdom of Bavaria, after having been briefly under the rule of Napoleon's French Empire.
[note 1] As a resident of Bavaria, he received a common school education and became an attorney.
[2] He emigrated to the United States in 1846, coming directly to the Wisconsin Territory and settling in Germantown, in Washington County.
"[4] Bartholomew Ringle married Magdalena Amalia Pick in June 1834, while they were both living in the Kingdom of Bavaria.
He was also a publisher of two newspapers, the English-language Wisconsin River Pilot and the German-language Wausau Wochenblatt.