This page was last updated on 12 March 2001 -- rak.
We have seen no speculation as to James' parents or siblings. Since he arrived in the same place, at virtually the same time, my working hypothesis is that he was brother to John (10000) and William (20000).
James and his descendants are covered in Steve Ruggles' Home Page, www.scans.edu/~ruggless/gendex, and are the subjects of FTW9, Tree 2997 [however, this tree mistakenly appropriates one of William(20000)'s sons, George Clancy Ruggles as a son of this James].
James is believed to have married Elizabeth Hardin (or Harding) and to have had ten children. They were: Michael (1785,MD?), Hardin (1796, Mason Co, KY), James L (1797, Mason Co, KY), Elizabeth Jane (1798, Mason Co, KY), Mary Ann (1799, Mason or Montgomery Co, KY), John (1800, Montgomery or Fleming Co, KY), William (1801, Fleming Co, KY), Sally (1802, Fleming Co, KY), Jane (1804, Montgomery Co, KY), Priscilla (1805, Montgomery or Mason Co, KY). So far we have seen no speculation that James had an earlier marriage, however, if son Michael was indeed born as early as 1785, he surely was of a different mother than Elizabeth whose children seem to begin over a decade later. So my best guess is that James married first in 1784 or 1785, that his first wife died following the birth of Michael, and that he married Elizabeth in about 1795 just a couple of years before the move into Kentucky.
Son Hardin's birth year seems to have come from his gravestone, the rest apparently were derived from census reports, as were most birth states. Localities are based on where the family seems to have been living during the year in question. Although these children are generally accepted as James', we have so far discovered no bible, probate or other proof of parentage.
In this study James is identified by the number 30000. For the first two generations of his descendants, click on them.
To get back to the other First Siblings, click on them.
To get back to the story of the move Into Kentucky, click on it.
To get back to the Southern Ruggles Home Page, click on it.