This page was last updated 26 March 2001 -- rak.
We have found no source which gives any blood relationship for the earliest ten Ruggles or possible Ruggles we have identified: John, William, James, Thomas, Jonathan, Jean, Sarah, Mary Dean, Mrs. Lewman, and Mrs. Newkirk or Parker.
Someone some years ago evidently convinced Thomas' descendants that he was the son of Nathaniel of Massachusetts -- but Nathaniel's son Thomas is known to have married in Massachusetts and lived out his life in Maine, not Kentucky and Indiana.
Before this Project, several people had done considerable very good research on the early northeastern Kentucky Ruggles, but all of the best family trees they produced end (or begin?!) with one of the 5 male Ruggles who came to northeastern Kentucky. No parent for any first Kentucky male Ruggles is ever mentioned, although someone (person and date unknown) evidently made up evidence for John himself or for one of his daughters, saying her grandfather's name was James Ruggles. And no sibling of any of the five males is ever positively identified, although at least one grandchild of John thought he had a brother William and at least one great grandchild of William is recorded as thinking William had a brother named John.
However, with what we now know about the timing and place of their arrival in Kentucky, it seems highly unlikely that these 7 to 10 mostly-of-the-same-age-range Ruggles would all have moved to the same locality at the same time without being closely related -- at least first cousins if not siblings.
So, currently, our best guess, based on very little direct evidence, is that we have identified ten possible Ruggles siblings who migrated into northeastern Kentucky. Each has his or own page below.
Unless otherwise indicated, all birth dates provided in the "sibling" pages should be taken as approximate. So far hard data is missing, except for some gravestones. We have found no evidence of contemporary family bibles. Government or church vital records for the areas where these people were born seem no longer to existent, if they ever did. Most dates for those who lived beyond 1850 are derived from federal census records; for those who died earlier, inferences have been drawn from dated events in their lives and sometimes from the age ranges in pre-1850 censuses.
States where people were born are mostly taken from census reports. More local birth places and the state itself if we have no census report are derived from our best understanding, often informed by earlier researchers, as to where the family was during the year of birth.
For some months we thought that the "Mary Ruggle" who in 1787 married George Fultz(Foltz) in Shenandoah Co, VA was one of "our" Ruggles. However, it is now clear that she was a Rughel/Rugel (a German family on the VA frontier) whose ancestry is documented in WFT42, Tree 1149.
As of now, my prime suspect as a sibling to the other early Kentucky Ruggles "siblings" is Mary Dean, wife of Michael, mother of two daughters in whose marriages Jonathan (50000) played important roles (see the "Into Kentucky" page). I will try to find out more about Mary to see if she could have been a sibling or cousin. In this study she has been assigned the number 80000.
One earlier study says that Sarah Ruggles married John McNaughton in Scioto Co, OH on November 4, 1804 as recorded in Scioto Marriage Book 1, p.162. I did not have that precise reference when I visited the Scioto county court house in 2000, but I did go through their marriage books and did not note this marriage. I also have been unable to find it in two indexes to Scioto marriages. Nor can I find John and Sarah in the electronic index to the 1850 census. If the marriage is real, Sarah surely is a candidate to be a possible sibling of Jonathan (50000) and Jean (60000). Pending some affirmation of her existence, Sarah has been assigned the number B0000 in this study.
As was indicated in the "Into Kentucky" page, there seems strong evidence for a family connection between the early Kentucky Ruggles and Mrs. John Lewman whose son Aaron Lewman married Martha Osburn, daughter of Jane Osburn, in 1805, in Mason Co, KY. John Ruggles was bondsman. At the same time, both John Ruggles and Thomas Plummer witnessed Aaron Lewman's father John's permission for him to marry. I will also try to check to see if this woman may have been sibling or cousin to the early Kentucky Ruggles "siblings". In this study she has been assigned the number A0000.
Similarly, as was also noted in the "Into Kentucky" page, in 1805, Elias Newkirk married Lydia Parker in Mason Co, KY ... Jonathan Ruggles was bondsman. It may be that the mother of either Elias or Lydia was a Ruggles. I will try to find out more about these two women to see if either might have been a sibling or cousin to the other early Kentucky Ruggles "siblings". In this study she has been assigned the number 40000.
There are separate "sibling" pages for the six for whom the odds on "sibling" status seem to be to be better than 50-50: John, William, James, Thomas, Jonathan, and Jean. You are most welcome to visit them by clicking on them!
John 1755-1822 William 1760-1808
James 1761-1847 Thomas 1762-1818
Jonathan 1776-1856 Jean 1777-1822
For a list of these "siblings" and the first three generations of their descendants as now known or guessed, click here: Gen List.
For the story of first moving Into Kentucky, click it.