John Ruggles Genealogy

John⁵ Ruggles, son of John⁴ and Barbara was the only child to live. He was born in 1633, in England; was two years old when he came with the others in 1635, in the ship Hopewell. He married in 1655 and lived until 1713, and had 58 years of active life after his first marriage. He was often a selectman; was one of the trustees of the "Roxbury Free School." He took an active part, in making known, and the purchase of the Indian Territory in Conn., which is now Woodstock and Pomfret. He was one of four persons sent in Oct., 1684, with Indian guides to view the wilderness and report; which resulted in the purchase of Woodstock, first called New Roxbury. These four persons were Lieut. Samuel 6 Ruggles, son of Samuel⁵ Ruggles ; John⁵ Ruggles, son of John⁴, cousins; John Curtis belonging to a family in Scituate, Mass., and Isaac Morris. Their report was accepted by the town, and May 6, 1686, a committee of twelve was authorized to purchase the Mashamoquet territory, which afterwards was the town of Pomfret, of persons in Connecticut, who were ,claimants. This is briefly stated, for there were numerous meetings, and committees set at work before the towns were finally settled. Six of the names of this committee were silent or "implored"; though the purchase was immediately concluded, the country was not settled until 1707. May 8, 1707, after three of the six known men had died, the three remaining, Benjamin Sabin, Samuel⁶ Ruggles, Jr., and Joseph Griffin, acting for the whole committee, made known and acknowledge the names of the six silent members. This acknowledgment is recorded in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds (Boston), of date May 8, 1707. The names of the six originally known were : in the order, Samuel Ruggles, deceased; John Chandler, deceased; Benjamin Sabin, John Grosvenor, deceased; Samuel⁶ Ruggles, Jr., and Joseph Griffin. The six whose names were revealed were : John Pierpoint, John White. John Ruggles Cordwainer, John Gore, Samuel Gore, and Thomas Morey.

John⁵ Ruggles died in 1713, but neither he or his son John ever occupied any of this territory. In 1719, Wm. Sharp of Roxbury had purchased John's right of his heirs.

Johns Ruggles married 1st, April 3, 1655, Mary Gibson of Cambridge, daughter of _____ born ______, who died Dec. 6, 1674; he married 2d, March 15, 1675, Sarah Dyer of Weymouth, who died 1657, and he married 3d, Ruth _____ by whom he had no children. She died April 11, 1710. He died Feb. 25, 1713.

His children were:

1. MARY, b. March 15, 1656, d. 1682, who m. John Searle of Roxbury, who was appointed administrator of the estate of John, the father, in 1713.
2. JOHN RUGGLES, b. May 19, 1657; he m. 1st, May 1, 1679, Hannah, daughter of Edward Devotion, the first of that name, of Brookline, Mass., then "Muddy River."
3. REBECCA RUGGLES, b. Sept. 2, 1662.
4. JOSEPH RUGGLES, b. Dec. 25, 1669.
   
   By his 2d wife, Sarah (Dyer) Ruggles, John had:
    
5. BENJAMIN, b. Aug. 11, 1676.

Benjamin graduated at Harvard College and removed to Suffield, Conn, in 1695, and was ordained and settled as minister over the church there before his 22d year. He died Sept. 5, 1708, aged 32. He married Nov. 19, 1796, Mercy Woodbridge of Wethersfield, Conn., daughter of John and Abigail (Leete) Woodbridge. Mercy, his wife, was a niece of Martha Woodbridge, who married Capt. Samuel6 Ruggles, the second cousin of Benjamin.

NOTE.- John Woodbridge was of Newbury, 1635. He was at first a farmer, or " husbandman." About 1642, Thomas Dudley, his father-in-law. advised him to become a teacher, or minister, which advice he followed, He was a Deputy to the General Court 1639-4o-41. In 164J he kept school in Boston; was ordained over the church in Andover, Oct. 24, 1645. He went to England in 1647, where, among other situations, he became a minister at Andover, Haunts and Bedford, St. Martins Wilts, from which place he was ejected at the Restoration. In 1662 he was driven from a school in Newbury (Eng.) by the "Bartholomew Act," and in 1663 he returned to New England. He became assistant to his uncle Parker, whose sister Sarah his father had married; but was dismissed Nov. 21, 1670, because of church dissensions. He died in Newbury, Mass., March 18, 1694, aged 84.

NOTE, Ruggles Geneal. (E 7.R 8351 p.23-5. The death of John² Ruggles (John ) is given as Feb. 25, 1713 and it may be right but the only death of a John of that period, as given in Roxbury V.R. II, 627, is of "Sergt. John, Feb. 28, 1711-2 (a. abt. 55y. G.R.1)" which would pertain to his son, John³ b. May 19, 1657.