John Ruggles

Laurel Logan, Nov 2008

passenger list for the "Hopewell"

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/ships/hopewell.htm

includes: jo. ruggells (age 10), jo. ruggells (shoemaker, age 44), barbara ruggells (age 30), and jo. ruggells (age 2)

--Laurel Logan

Laurel Logan:

http://www.hodgesworld.net/main_site/families/ruggles.htm

(There is additional information on this site not included below.)

Here I have copied what references John Ruggles and his descendants.

The Ruggles are one of America's first families with our branch arriving in Massachusetts about 1635 from Nazeing, Essex, England.

According to George Norbury Mackenzie in "Colonial Familes of the United States of America", the Essex Ruggles trace back as follows:

"All the family legends point to the Staffordshire house of RUGGELEY, as the source of the RUGGLES family of Essex and of Suffolk, but in two migrations separated by a period of two hundred years. The first is claimed to trace from William DE RUGGELE of Stafford, thirteenth century, who having incurred the royal displeasure, and suffered banishment from the kingdom, was known to have established a new home in Flanders. Although, for service in the Wars, he had subsequently received the pardon of his sovereign, King Edward I, he never returned to the land of his birth. Three of his sons, however, are said to have crossed the Straits of Dover, and to have settled in the County of Essex and from them, it is alleged, the early generations in that and the adjoining counties, descended. Children of a fourth son went to Switzerland and the name (RUGGLE) is still perpetuated there. The later migration, according to John Sydney HAWKINS, the biographer in 1787 of George RUGGLES, a founder of Virginia and an eminent scholar of the reign of King James I, was from Warwick to Lincoln, and thence to Suffolk, being a branch from Nichohs RUGGELEY, Lord of the Manors of Hawkesbeard in Stafford and Downton-Ruggeley, in Warwick. It was this second migration which supplied later the Puritan emigrants to New England as well as the English RUGGLES family of Spains Hall, Essex. In support of the first claim, it has been pointed out that RIETSTAP discovered the family in Flanders and in his “Armorial Général” has recorded for that family the same arms as those given by English authorities as the bearings of the Staffordshire house. Though RIETSTAP’s work registers some English arms, he mentions no other RUGGELEY, than the branch in Flanders. The identity of coat-armor has always, been held to be confirmatory of a common origin, and Dr. BARBER in his work on British family names, edition 1903, cites such identity for RUGGELEY, of Stafford and RUGGLES of Essex. The name RUGGELEY, in England is now extinct, and only in those having the name of RUGGLES is the stock represented there."

The first Americans in our Ruggle family are John Ruggles, his wife Barbara Bridge and their son John. They were also accompanied by John's elder brother Thomas and his family. Many Internet sites have John and Thomas's parents as Thomas Ruggles and Margaret Dandridge (the elder Thomas was supposedly born about 1558 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England but later moved his family to Essex). These same sites back Thomas up four more generations to Rogyll Ruggles born about 1444 in England. We're not sure how valid that information is, but we present it here since so many others seem to be taking this as fact.

John and his family arrive in the New World in 1635 aboard the ship Hopewell and settle in Roxbury, Massachusetts where he worked as a shoemaker. In the records of the first church of Roxbury are the following entries from Rev. John Eliot:

"John Ruggles, he came to New England in the yeare 1635, and soon after his coming joined to the church ; he was a lively christian, known to many of the church in old England, where many' of the church injoyed society together; he brought his first born, John Ruggles, with him to N. E., and his second son. was still-borne in the 11th mo., 1636, of which his wife died." "Also, Barbara Ruggles, the wife of John Ruggles ;. she .was a Godly Christian woman, and joined to the church with her husband, she dyed the 11th mo., 1636."

John remarried a maid servant, Margaret Hammond, who had arrived in New England in 1632. Several sites list the couple as having a daughter, Dorcas. John Ruggles died in October 1663.

Our story continues with his son, John, who was only two when he came to America. He becamed a person of some importance to Roxbury Puritan community. He often served as a selectman and was a trustee of the "Roxbury Free School." Several sites refer to the younger John as Rev. John Ruggles. It is known that he took an active role in purchasing Indian territory in Connecticut for his community. He was one of four men (which included his cousin Samuel Ruggles, John Curtis and Isaac Morris) who traveled with Indian guides to scout land owned by the Mashamoquet Indians which would eventually become the Connecticut town of Pomfret. Although the purchase was authorized in 1686, the land was not settled until 1707 and John himself remained in Roxbury where he died in 1713. John had four children with Mary Gibson, who he married in 1655 but who died in 1674. Our direct descendent is from John's second marriage to Sarah Dyer who had one child, Benjamin. Sarah died in 1687 and John remarried again a woman named Ruth, although that union did not produce any offspring.

Benjamin was born in 1676 and graduated from Harvard College. He moved to Suffield, Connecticut in 1695 where he was ordained and became the church minister. In 1696 Benjamin marries Mercy Woodbridge, the daughter of John Woodbridge of Newbury who was also a minister who had returned to England in 1647 where he was subsequently driven from his position by the "Bartholomew Act" which required episcopal ordination of all ministers. Called the Great Ejection, the act resulted in 2,000 clergymen leaving the established church. Woodbridge returned to New England in 1663 but was relieved of his pastoral duties in 1670 due to dissension with the church and died in 1694. His daughter, Mercy, died in 1707 and Benjamin died the following year at age 32. The couple left behind seven small children, including our ancestor, Joseph.

We're not sure who raised Joseph after his parents died but at some point he moves to New Haven where he marries Rachel Tolls (or Tolles) in 1772. The couple moved to New Milford where Joseph became a partner in an iron works at Halfway Falls in what is now Brookfield. He bought a large tract of land and was a deacon at the Separate Congregational Church of New Haven and later at the Congregational Church of Brookfield. In the "History of the Towns of New Milford and Bridgewater, Connecticut, 1703-1882" is the following passage:

"Capt. Joseph, Ruggles, then of New Haven, bought a Right of land in New Milford for £200, in November, 1733, which he sold the next spring for £300, and bought another right for £325 (January 19, 1734). Upon this Right he had land laid out to him on the 18th of the next March: "Twenty acres, in several pieces, in Still River Neck." "May 27, 1735. Laid to Joseph Ruggles forty acres, in the Still River Neck, near to Newtown line, across Hop Brook; also three acres in Still River Swamp, near the mouth of Four Mile Brook."

Mr. Ruggles settled in New Milford at the Half-way Falls on Still River, in 1733 or 4, and was a partner in the enterprise at that place called the Iron Works, where he resided until about 1750, when he returned, with some of his family, to New Haven to reside, but leaving several of his sons and daughters and their families here. The Ruggles family was an influential one in the town for more than one hundred years, and are said to have been peculiar in this respect, that, if any one family was unfortunate, the other families and individuals of the name would join in supplying the loss, and enable the family to go on in the ways of prosperity, as if no calamity had happened. That is, instead of struggling to be independent of each other, they always clung together, each to help the others. It is impossible for a pen to pass on without commending this spirit, which is so great a contrast to what is often exhibited in the world. Capt. Joseph Ruggles was a stirring, intelligent business man, above the average, as indicated in several ways, especially in the matter of establishing schools at the South Farms, as the region where he resided was then called, and the matter of sustaining the Separate Church in its beginning

at New Milford against the disciplining effort "of the legal First Church; for, in about 1810, the old First Church became established on the foundations, almost precisely, in real fact, that Mr. Ruggles sustained in 1750.

Capt. Lazarus Ruggles, son of Capt. Joseph, Sen., remained in New Milford when his father returned to New Haven, and soon after married Hannah Bostwick, and became an influential and estimable citizen, and departed this life in 1797. Philo Ruggles, his son, became a lawyer of note in New Milford, removed to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where the family became very influential, and was much esteemed.

Benjamin Ruggles, eldest son of Captain Joseph, was a good citizen, remained in Brookfield, and died early.

Capt. Joseph Ruggles, Jr., son of Captain Joseph, died in 1802, aged 71 years. He was appointed by the Assembly, in 1761, captain, of the first military company organized in the society of Newbury, now Brookfield, and was for many years an influential business man.

Samuel Ruggles, another son of Captain Joseph, Sen., resided on his father's homestead, and his son Samuel and his daughter Lucia constituted an important part of the first company of missionaries that went to the Sandwich Islands."

Following the death of his wife Racheal with whom he had at least six children, Joseph married Elizabeth Sturdevant and sired another two daughters. Several references say he married a third time but we have no information about the third wife. Joseph died in Brookfield in 1791 at the age of 90. Our story continues with our ancestor Ensign Ashbel Ruggles, one of his younger sons with Racheal, born in 1739.

Ashbel served in the Continental Army in the 5th Regiment from New Milford commanded by Col. David Waterbury. He was the ensign in Capt. Joseph Smith's 8th Company. He participated in the successful siege of Fort St. Johns; served at Fort Ticonderoga and helped capture Montreal in November of 1775 before the regiment was mustered out of service in December. We believe he later served as lieutenant under his brother, Capt. Lazarus Ruggles, when the 5th Regiment was reformed. The 5th Regiment participated in the defense of the Highlands near West Point; spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge and fought at Yorktown where they were part of the last major infantry assault of the war on Redoubt Number 10.

Ashbel survived the war and lived with his wife Rebecca Bostwick in New Milford, Connecticut. The couple had at least six children, including twin boys Alfred and Almon who were born in 1771. Almon is the more notable of the two, working as a surveyor in Ohio and mapping the portion of the state referred to as the Fire Lands -- land that Congress granted to Connecticut residents whose homes were burned by the British during the Revolution. Almon moved to Vermilion, Ohio in 1810 and was that community's first postmaster and became a respected judge. Our direct ancestor is Almon's less famous brother, Alfred, who also relocated from Connecticut to Ohio, settling in Copley, Summit, Ohio with his wife, Rebecca. While little is known about Rebecca, some of the couple's twelve children were born in Hanover, Pennsylvania so at least some of their married life was spent there (several sites report they were married in Pennsylvania around 1789). Alfred married Elizabeth Hitchcock in 1813.

The next generation is headed by Leman Erastus Ruggles. According to one site, Leman's family were founders of the town of Franklin Mills which became Kent, Ohio. He and his wife, Harriett Haymaker, are buried in Pioneers Cemetery in Kent. The couple had at least nine children. Our direct ancestor is George Alfred Ruggles, born May 1846. According to the 1900 census, George was a farmer in Portage County who married Ellen Percilla Upson on 16 May 1868. The couple had seven children including a son, Frank L. Ruggles, born in 1869.

Frank moved to Canton, Ohio where he became a railroad brakeman. He married Katherine Weaver around 1893 and the couple had at least three children. Mary Ellen Ruggles was born 12 Jul 1899, married William C. Heacock and had two sons, Harold Thomas and Sheila's father Charles William. Mary Ellen then ran off with Charles Norman Kanagy, leaving her two young sons with their father. William kept the older boy, Harold, but gave his youngest to Mary Ellen's uncle, Alfred E. Ruggles and his wife Mary Lambert to raise. Family folklore says Charles William always thought he was a Ruggles until he went to enlist in World War II when he was told he was a Heacock. Mary Ellen went to live in Pittsburgh where she had three more children, Charles Norman, Robert Lee (called Pat because he was born on St. Patrick's Day) and Margie Ann. Mary Ann Ruggles died in Los Angeles, California on 17 May 1991.

--Laurel Logan

Laurel Logan

from http://www.cydrawls.com/ruggles.html

(Outline format alternates numerals and Roman numerals to show each subsequent generation.)

• 1. John Ruggles, b. ca 1632 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, m. Mary GIBSON, 3 Apr. 1655, m. Sarah DYER, 15 Mar. 1675 in Roxbury, Boston, Mass, d. 25 Feb. 1712 in Suffield, Hartford, Conn.

  I. Benjamin Ruggles Rev, b. 11 Aug. 1676 in Roxbury, Suffolk, MA, graduated HArvard college in 1693, began preahing in 1696 in Hartford, d. 5 Sept. 1708 in Suffield, Hartford, CT. Benjamin Ruggles History of Hartford m. Mercy WOODBRIDGE, 19 Nov. 1696 in Wethersfield, Suffield, CT, 

     1. Mercy Ruggles, b. 6 Nov. 1697 

     2. Benjamin Ruggles, b. 16 Aug. 1699, m. Elizabeth PARDEE, 5 Sept. 1727, d. 1782 

     3. Joseph Sr. (Captain) RUGGLES  , b. 7 Jan. 1701, m. Rachel TOLLS, 15 Nov. 1722, d. 1791 

        I. Samuel Ruggles Sr. b. 18 Sept. 1750, d. 17 Mar. 1795, Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut buried at Gallows Hills Cem, m. 1 June 1779 to Huldah Wakelee, b. 3 June 1758, d. 19 Nov. 1807 

           1. Thirza Ruggles- b. 31 Aug 1780, d. 1874, m. Ira Benoni Frisbie b. Farmington, Conn., May 21-1789. They had nine children: 

              I. Mary Peck Frisbie, b. Westford, VT, Feb-24-1813 married Thomas Smith Bates.

              II. Harriet Ruggles Frisbie, b. Westford, VT, Sept-14-1815

              III. Benjamin Franklin Frisbie, b. Westford, VT, Mar-17-1818

              IV. Susan Stowe Frisbie, b. Westford, VT, Oct-31-1821

              V. VanNess Ransom Frisbie, b. Westford, VT, Feb-8-1824

              VI. Denison Crane Frisbie, b. Milton, VT, Mar-16-1827

              VII. James Emerson Frisbie, b. Feb-23-1830

              VIII. Adna Landon Frisbie, b. Georgia, VT, Aug-14-1832

              VIIII. Louise Maria Frisbie, b. Mar-24-1834 

           2. Eli Ruggles- b. 9 Jun 1781, d. 1847 buried at Laurel Hill Cemetary, Brookfield, CT.

           3. Isaac Wakelee Ruggles- b.14 Jul 1783 ,Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut. m. Elisheba Dart in Oakland Co. MI abt. 1825. In 1850 census Oakland Co. MI with Daughter Elizabeth age 21. 

           4. Eldad Ruggles- b.11 Feb 1785 ,Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut.d.15 Jan 1874 m. Olive Sherman, b. 9 Jul 1792 d.15 Jan 1874 

Children:

              I. Sherman Booth Ruggles 

              II. Amy Ruggles 

              III. Harlow Ruggles 

              IV. Eldad Ruggles 

              V. William Ruggles 

              VI. Lucia Ruggles 

              VII. Salina Ruggles 

              VIII. Betsey Ruggles 

           5. Huldah Ruggles- b. 14 Dec 1786 ,Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut

           6. Lodema Ruggles- b.Aug 1788 , Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut

           7. Marcia Ruggles- 

           8. Lucia Ruggles- b. 1793 in Brookfield, Fairfield, CT,d. 1886 in New Milford, Litchfield, CT buried,Laurel Hill Cemetery, Brookfield, CT.m. 1819 to Dr. Thomas Holman. 

Children:

              I. Lucia Kamamalu Holman 

              II. Thomas Spencer Holman 

              III. Eli Holman 

           9. Samuel Ruggles- b. March 9, 1795 , Brookfield, Fairfield, CT- d. September 6, 1871, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. married September 22, 1819, East Windsor, Connecticut to Nancy Wells b: 12 Apr 1791 in East Windsor, CT, Died February 28, 1873, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.( Photo above) note: Samuel was listed as "blind "on the 1870 census... Their six Children: 

some date obtained from the IGI * other resources see below:

              I. Sarah Trumbull Ka'amuali'i Ruggles- b. 22 Dec 1820 Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii, d. 1899 ,m. Garry Peck 1847, m2nd George H. Stafford an attorney

              II. Huldah Agusta Ruggles- b. 12 Apr 1822, Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii, d.1872 m. John (Peter?) Stevens (see Stevens Family) ) / download PDF file for documentatio on Ruggles quilt made from the Hawai'ian royal families cast off clothing (See photo below) 

              III. Fannie Bartlett Ruggles- b.1825 ,Hilo, Hawaii, Hawaii, d.1827

              IV. Eli Samuel Ruggles- b. 1826 , Hilo, Hawaii, Hawaii, d. 1862

              V. Lucia Ruggles- b. 1829 , Hilo, Hawaii, Hawaii, d.1829

              VI. Cornelius Wisner Na'ihe Ruggles b.1835, d. 1889 in Milwaukee, WI 

     4. Abigail Ruggles, b. 6 Nov. 1702 

     5. Ruth Ruggles, b. 29 Jan. 1703, d. 29 Aug. 1752 

     6. Apphia Ruggles, b. 19 Nov. 1705 

     7. Tryphena Ruggles, b. 22 June 1707, d. 10 Jan. 1749 

  II. Mary Ruggles, b. 13 Feb. 1596

  III. Nathaniel Ruggles (2), b. 1600, d. 1601

  IV. Nathaniel Ruggles, b. Oct. 1602

  V. Florence Ruggles, b. Oct. 1603

  VI. Thomas Ruggles b. 1621, d. 1637

  VII. John, b. 1624

  VIII. Sarah Ruggles, b. 16 Feb. 1627/8

  IX. Samuel Ruggles, b. 14 Mar. 1628/9, m. Hannah Fowle, 10 Nov. 1645, d. 15 Aug. 1692 

Children

     1. Sarah RUGGLES, b. abt. 1728, Suffield, , Ct 

     2.Aashbel RUGGLES, b. bt. 1730, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut 

     3. Timothy RUGGLES, b. abt. 1732, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut 

     4. Benjamin RUGGLE, b.abt. 1734, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut 

     5. Joseph RUGGLES, b. 25 Feb 1728, Brookfield, Fairfield, Connecticut. Died: 8 Nov 1802 , Buried at Gallows Hill, Brookfield, Ct 

     6. Rachel RUGGLES, b. 7 Jul 1732, New Haven, , C. Died: 1800 Monkton, , Vt 

--Laurel Logan