Captain James B Ruffin, Sr.

DAR Ancestor #: A099668

James was one of seven children born to Col. Robert (1720-1777) and Mary "Molly" Clack (1724-abt 1807) at "Mayfield". This brick structure is the oldest surviving building in Dinwiddie County, Virginia and was probably constructed around 1750. About 1769, Robert Ruffin moved his family to King William County where they inhabited a former Claiborne home, "Sweet Hall" which consisted of about 400 acres on the Pamunky River at a place where a ferry took people across the river to the nearby courthouse. Nearby was an "ordinary" (like a tavern or inn) called Windsor Shades, about 8 miles from Sweet Hall where travelers could take their rest. The Marquis d'Lafayette wrote at least five letters from this home-turned-tavern at "Ruffin's Ferry", and George Washington was also known to have stayed there.

James Ruffin was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and was a trustee for the Pamunkey Indians. He served as a Captain of Cavalry in Major Thomas Nelson's Virginia Light Dragoons during the Revolutionary War. Following his father's death in 1777, he inherited the family lands and home at Sweet Hall, which had grown in size to several thousand acres. He married Mary "Molly" Roane, daughter of John and Susannah Jones Roane, on March 16, 1782. They became parents to seven children, the three of whom ended up "moving west" to Tennessee and Mississippi following their parents' deaths: James, Lucy, and William Ruffin.

The exact location of James and Molly Roane Ruffin's graves are unknown, but it is believed by most researchers that they are located somewhere in the vicinity of Sweet Hall in King William County, Virginia.

Family links: Children:

James Ruffin (1787 - 1847)*

Lucy J. Ruffin Kenney (1789 - 1861)*
William Ruffin (1797 - 1857

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James was one of seven children born to Col. Robert (1720-1777) and Mary "Molly" Clack (1724-abt 1807) at "Mayfield". This brick structure is the oldest surviving building in Dinwiddie County, Virginia and was probably constructed around 1750. About 1769, Robert Ruffin moved his family to King William County where they inhabited a former Claiborne home, "Sweet Hall" which consisted of about 400 acres on the Pamunky River at a place where a ferry took people across the river to the nearby courthouse. Nearby was an "ordinary" (like a tavern or inn) called Windsor Shades, about 8 miles from Sweet Hall where travelers could take their rest. The Marquis d'Lafayette wrote at least five letters from this home-turned-tavern at "Ruffin's Ferry", and George Washington was also known to have stayed there.

James Ruffin was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and was a trustee for the Pamunkey Indians. He served as a Captain of Cavalry in Major Thomas Nelson's Virginia Light Dragoons during the Revolutionary War. Following his father's death in 1777, he inherited the family lands and home at Sweet Hall, which had grown in size to several thousand acres. He married Mary "Molly" Roane, daughter of John and Susannah Jones Roane, on March 16, 1782. They became parents to seven children, three of whom ended up "moving west" to Tennessee and Mississippi following their parents' deaths: James, Lucy, and William Ruffin.

The exact location of James and Molly Roane Ruffin's graves are unknown, but it is believed by most researchers that they are located somewhere in the vicinity of Sweet Hall in King William County, Virginia.

Source:: [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74961357]