Person:Sarah Ruddell (1)

Notes

From "Along the Licking", by Tatum Este'l:

Little Sarah Ruddle, only twelve, niece of Isaac Ruddle, had come to visit her brother James. While there, she was often seen with a boy her age, Thomas Davis, whose family came in near the same time as the Goodnights, Conways and Longs. (Note: time frame appears to be abt. 1780).

Disputed Parentage

This Sarah Ruddle has sometimes been placed as a daughter of Isaac Ruddle, but Isaac did not name a daughter Sarah in his will (Note: Isaac Ruddell's will is very detailed and appears to name all of his children). Other researchers place her as a daughter of Archibald Ruddle, who did have a daughter, Mary (named in his will) and other un-named daughters, as follows (excerpt from Archibald's will):

unto my daughters ...Mary excepted......"

The following taken from a Bourbon Co., KY History Book:

A daughter of Isaac RUDDLE (Sarah) was carried away captive when RUDDLE's Fort was destroyed and remained among the Shawnee Indians for a number of years, Later she married a man named DAVIS and settled in Fayette, Missouri. Her daughter married Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist Minister who founded the old Shawnee mission in what is now Johnson Co. Kansas. When Sarah went to live with her daughter she found many Indians (Shawnee's) that she had known in Ohio when in captivity. They remembered each other and were greatly pleased to have her with them again. Sarah knew the Shawnee language and spent several hours talking with the Shawnee acquaintances...

(2)* Sarah RUDDLE, b abt 1768, she is the one later returned to the family - and there is a story about her - she was not named in Isaac RUDDLEL's will of 1812. Sarah RUDDLE married a Thomas DAVIS.

[Source: http://genforum.genealogy.com/ruddell/messages/66.html].

Possible circumstantial evidence of Sarah being a daughter of Archibald Ruddell is contained in the Revolutionary Pension file of Archibald Ruddell's son (and Sarah's probable brother), James Ruddell, whose story mirrors that of Sarah's:

Ruddeel, James - born August 1758; entered service 1777 in Shenandoah County, Virginia in Virginia regiment; moved to Kentucky where entered service 1780 in Virginia unit, captured by Indians, taken to Canada for 2.5 years, thence back to Virginia, thence 1783 to Kentucky, where settled in Fayette County; moved in 1814 to Boone County, Kentucky, where received Pension in 1833. F-S4172, R2096. [Source: “Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records”, Vol. 4, compiled by Patrick G. Wardell, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret., pg. 272].

Another key piece of evidence (and perhaps the most conclusive) to help place Sarah is her marriage bond to Thomas Davis in Shenandoah County, Virginia, showing her mother as "Elizabeth" (probably indicating that her father was not alive in 1791):

21 February 1790, Thomas Davis and Sarah Ruddle -- d/o Eliz. {Source: Shenandoah County marriage bonds, 1772-1850, by Vogt, John & Kethley, T. William).

This provides perhaps the best evidence for Sarah as a daughter of Archibald, who had died in 1787. Isaac did not die until 1811, so in Sarah's marriage bond to Thomas Davis, Isaac would have likely been named instead of Elizabeth (both Isaac and Archibald married Elizabeth's), making it more likely for her as a daughter of Archibald, then of Isaac.

1.   Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky. (Chicago, IL, USA: O. L. Baskin, 1882)
   460.

   ... Thomas Davis, the grandfather of our subject, lived for sometime at Ruddel's Fort, upon his first coming to Kentucky, he married Sarah Ruddell, who died at the age of ninety-seven, in Pike County, Mo., where he removed in 1825; eight children were born to him, of whom was George M. ...