Person:Ruth Perrington (1)

Her grandfather, Johnathan Upson was a Connecticut Yankee. He married Lydia Baldwin of the same Connecticut stock. She was supposed to be in some way related to the Brewster family. (Col. Brewster, pushing the ice floes away from the boat in which George Washington is shown crossing the Delaware, is known to be from Connecticut, and is supposed to be related.) Their daughter, Lydia Upson, is known to have married a man from Maine by the name of John Perrington, and they drove in an ox cart to the Western Reserve before the War of 1812. They settled near Rootstown, OH, and during the war John hauled supplies by sled to the Army, in what are now Sandusky and Seneca Counties.

When Ruth was a small child, a man by the name of Campbell came through that part of the country preaching the need to be immersed if one wanted to be saved. You may recognize him as the founder of the Campbellite Church. He was a powerful speaker and told Lydia, who was in ill health, that she should be immersed at once. Apparently her illness was of a terminal nature. Because of her weakened condition and the weather, immersion was impossible for her. She lost her mind and committed suicide.

Ruth was just 4 years of age at this time, and was sent to live with her Grandmother Upson, who lived in Mohoning CO about 7 miles NW of Youngstown, OH, on the banks of the Mohoning River. She had lived with her Grandmother about four years, when her Father married again. Ruth was then taken to her Father's home where she remained until she was 12 years old. Her father then bound her to a minister for 4 years as a servant girl. After serving the four years, she went to Akron, OH, and learned the milinery trade. Ruth decided to visit her sister who lived near Monroeville, OH, and later, opened her own shop in Huron Co. It was there she became acquainted with William Opperman and they were married after a short time. Ten children were born to this union, and all of them lived to attend her Golden Wedding Anniversary. She departed this life at the age of nearly 92 years. She had one sister, two brothers, and two half-brothers.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 State of Ohio, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Ohio Deaths 1908-1953. (Ohio, United States: Intellectual Reserve, Inc.).