Peter Ruffner, II

Peter Ruffner ~ the first Ruffner of our family to come to America was born about 1713, probably in Switzerland.

A version of the family story says Peter was the third son of a landed Baron. About 1732, as he was attending an agricultural college, he made a monumental decision. Without declaring his intentions, he made his departure and came to America as a young man of 19 years.

Nobility or not, during that time as the third son he would have inherited little more than his name. His prospects would have been limited by his vocational preparation and how well this would provide him his own livelihood. It is not known exactly what prompted his decision or whether he announced his intentions, but during this period there were many factors to possibly influence the young man. There was much dissention and fighting between the various religious factions, there were the customs concerning rights of inheritance, and there were many written accounts being circulated about the abundance of land in America. Any one of these could have been a strong enough persuasion, especially for a young man having little or no prospect for either land or inheritance. Peter might have thought it would be best for him to practice his vocation where there was a plentiful amount of available land.

By 1739, Peter had made his way to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania where he met and in that year was married to Mary Steinman. Where he had been and what he had been doing for those years between 1732 and 1739, we do not yet know.

Peter died in 1778 and was buried at the Ruffner Homestead in Luray, Page County, Virginia.