James Monroe Ruggles, I

James was born before 1723. He passed away in 1778. He fathered seven other children besides John Brimmer Ruggles Sr two of which died in infancy and one in childhood. Sources

   Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775 

Name James Ruggles Sentence Date Oct 1744 Sentence Place Middlesex, England Title The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775

This James Rugles, aka. Roughless and Ruglass, was convicted with others in London for mugging a homosexual in a public park in London in 1744. Since no reference is made in the records of the proceedings to "youth", we guess that he was at least 21 in 1744. Although he was sentence "for life", we guess that his sentence was commuted to transportation to the colonies, that he was purchased for seven years, that he served his time, and that by 1751 or 1752 was free to marry. The earliest Kentucky Ruggleses we now know of seem to have been born in the period 1755-67, which would be the right time to have been the result of a marriage by James in 1753-54. He is now, more than ever, our prime candidate for progenitor of the Southern Ruggles.

The Hardesty information says James Rugless married [in Maryland] Mary Winfield whose parents came from Ireland. Wright, Inhabitants of Baltimore County 1692-1763, p. 24 reproduces a 1737 list of taxables in the Patapsco Lower Hundred showing Richard Wingfield as a taxable in the household of Jacob Rowles. Clements and Wright, The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, p.147, reproduce records for 1777 service by Jona and Richd. Winfield in the Calvert County militia.

Elsewhere we have speculated that this couple had at least five children: John B. (1755, VA or MD), Thomas (1756), William (1760, VA or MD), James (1761, MD) and Mary (1767). We suspect that there were more daughters who may have lived and married. If we have placed this family correctly, the children were all likely born somewhere in what was then Frederick Co, MD or in nearby areas of Virginia.

The Hardesty information indicates that James was a had moved west to the Cheat River [in what was then Monongalia County] when that area was raw wilderness, where he drowned in that river while trying to cross it with a load of goods he had brought from Baltimore. Cousin Roger Carr believes he can verify that James was a teamster and that this drowning happened while trying to ford the river at or near St. George (then known as Minear's Fort, now in Tucker County, WV). Roger has found James on a Monongalia tax list and believes that the Ruggles lived at the time of James' death in either St. George (aka the Horseshoe Settlement) itself or in the Hardin Cove Settlement (named for the family of Elizabeth Hardin) some 20 miles further west.

Profile manager: Pamela Kinder

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 22 2016, 0:06:35 UTC