Born:  Abt 1646  ? Isle of Wight County, VA
Married: Elizabeth PRIME WATKINS (widow of Capt George Watkins) ?1675
Died: Abt 1693 Surry County, VA
Parents: William and ? Ruffin

  
OLIVE RUFFIN, born 1676 at Richneck, Surry - died 1722. Married WILLIAM CHAMBERS, JR. b. abt 1676 and they had several children

Robert Ruffin3 
William Ruffin3 
Elizabeth
Jane

Robert died while his children were still young. His will was recorded in Surry County July 4, 1693, and we estimate that he would have been about 47 years old. He had made the will on May 8, 1693. We do not know where he was buried. There is evidence of burials at both the Lawnes Creek Church and the Ruffin "Richneck" burying ground....but no markers exist.

Another RUFFIN Page pertaining to this family has been created by Randy Regan.

I found the source, Virginia Davis, in an email from you, Virginia, that
mentions John Watkins as Elizabeth's husband. Ms Davis must have other
information since she also says that Elizabeth's mother is Elizabeth
Spencer Watkins. This is the excerpt:


CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 11)


=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:31:18 -0600 (CST)
From:  Crilley 
To: Gengirl19@aol.com
Cc: RUFFIN-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <199802091731.LAA27145@www.eramp.net>
Subject: Martha Ruffin who married William Andrews
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


......................BUT,  just to clarify... this Robert Ruffin's wife
was Elizabeth Watkins (?
married around 1705). She was the daughter of John Watkins and Elizabeth
Spencer Watkins (according to Ms. Davis)


The Robert Ruffin who married Elizabeth Prime (widow of George Watkins) is
the previous generation. With both Elizabeths having the name Watkins (one
as a married name and the other as a maiden name) it does get confusing!.........................


Virginia Crilley 
--------------------------------


I just went to the section on Ruffin, of Ms. Davis' book, that you sent
me and this is what she said:


"It is not known exactly when Robert married Elizabeth Watkins; however,
it is probable that he was married by 1705 since he had seven children
before his death in 1720. It is an interesting coincidence that the
father and son, Robert Ruffin, each married a woman named Elizabeth
Watkins. They were not kin, unless there was a relationship between the
first Elizabeth's husband and the second Elizabeth's father. They were
evidently not closely related. The father of Elizabeth Ruffin 11 was
John Watkins, whose family had owned land on College Run as early as
1638. Elizabeth's mother was Elizabeth Spencer." (She does not reference
the last statement about Elizabeth's mother) 


Here is the will of a John Watkins who died in 1708 (correct time
frame), that Virginia Davis references in her book:


CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 18)


=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 16:25:21 -0500
From:  Lucy Ruffin 
To: Ruffin List 
Message-ID: <34FF1841.402C6449@macs.net>
Subject: Elizabeth Watkins (Ruffin?)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit


Hi, everyone!


I went to the court house in Surry yesterday and copied John Watkins will.
This will is the source that Virginia Davis uses in her book Tidewater
Virginia Families for saying Elizabeth's father was John Watkins. I believe
this is incorrect. At least this will does not offer proof. 


Surry County Will Book 5, p.407


Will of John Watkins - 5 Nov 1708


In the name of God amen. I John Watkins of Surry Co. being sick and weak in
body but in perfect sense and memory thanks be given to Almighty God therefore
do make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and form as
follows: _________ and principally I bequeath my soul unto the hands of
Almighty God my creator and Jesus Christ my Redeamer fully everything in his
_______ ____ ____ ________ of all my sins and for that small estate that it
hath pleased God to ________ me _______ In this life I do dispose of as in
hereafter __________ secondly I give and bequeath unto my son Robert my
plantation whereon I now live and my plantation at Indian Field that he hath
now in his possession. To him and his heirs and assigns forever only reserving
for my loving Elizabeth shall ______ my plantation whereon I now live during
her natural life bounded as followeth. Bounded eastward to a line of marked
trees that divides _______ Cheshetts(?) his land and my land _____ and
up a
swamp whereon Mr. Tho. Collier by mill stands unto the mouth of a branch and
____ ______ branch to ______ _______ leads to the plantation whereon _____
Davis did lately live thence a _________ a various line of marked trees
to the
main road and so(south?) up the road unto a line of marked trees that divides
Mr. _______ Edwards his land and my land and southerly along that line
to the
swamp called the Indian Field Swamp and so(south?) down the swamp to that
aforesaid line of marked trees that divides Cheshetts(?) his land and my land.
And I also give my son Robert my plantation whereon ____ ______ now
liveth and
all my land only Eastern most tree of a branch called by the name of
Colts(Cotts?) branch unto him his heirs and assigns forever. I also give unto
my son Robert my Negro man called by the name of George and my Negro boy
called by the name of  Tom and a new feather bed and boulster and covers(?)
and all of new Holland sheets and all of new ________ sheets and all of new
blankets and of _____ _______ and my silver tankard and a hoop(?) gold ring
and a _________ mortar and pestle and twelve new pewter dishes and
twelve new
pewter plates(?) and two new pewter ________ and one oval(?) table and six
leather chairs and one lookinglass and a new gun and a young horse
called by
the name of Dimond and a new bridle and saddle and all of cattle already known
to belong to him to witt: three cows and three calves and three three
year old
heifers and three two year old and one heifer at Lawrence Flemens and a steer
of two years old and three ewes and a _____ of fine new cloth and muslin to
make him two new ______ that is already in his house and a chafe(chase?) that
he hath already in his possession and my carbine pistols and sword and
all the
hoggs that are known to belong to him and are of his own proper marks
and as
much canvas that will make him a ________. I do give and bequeath unto
my son
John my plantation whereon _____ Cooke(?) now liveth and all the land
belonging to me Westward from a branch called Colts(Cotts) branch and my
plantation whereon _______ Davis did lately live and all the land
belonging to
me Westward from a branch called the Deep Bottom branch and ______
branch unto
the various marked trees to the road and along the road to Mr. Will. Edwards
his line and so(south?) along the line to the line that divides Mr. Tho.
Collier his land and my land unto him and his heirs and assigns forever
and I
give my said son Jno. my Negro boy called Roger to be delivered to my
said son
by my executor when he shall come to the age of twenty-one years and I give
him a feather bed and Boulster and _______ of sheets a blankett and a
rugg he
to have his choice after his mother and I give him two cows and two
three year
old heifers and a _______ steer of four years old and a two year old
heifer of
his own mark and a bull calf and two ewes and all the hoggs that are of his
own mark and a two year old heifer and a young mare of two years old my old
gun and a thousand and forty(?) pounds of tobacco to be paid him by my
executor when he shall come to the age of twenty-one years. And I give
to my
said son John all my linnen and wearing apparell. I give and bequeath
unto my
son Henry my plantation and land belonging to me ______ main Blackwater Swamp
that I bought of Robert Warren unto him and his heirs and assigns
forever. And
I give my said son my Negro boy called by the name of James to be
delivered to
my said son by my executor when he shall come of the age of twenty-one years
and if it should please God either my son John or my son Henry should dye
before they come to the age of twenty-one years then it is my will that the
survivor shall have both the aforesaid Negroes and I give to my son
Henry a
cow that is known to belong to him ___ _____ _____ my mare Colby(?). I give
and bequeath unto my son William my land on the south side of Cypress Swamp
beginning at mouth of _________ his branch to him and his heirs and assigns
forever and my Negro boy called Jack to be delivered unto my son by my
executor when he shall come to the age of twenty-one years. And I give and
bequeath unto my daughter Mary my Negro boy called Frank to be delivered
to my
said daughter when she shall come to the age of twenty-one years or married.
And I give to my daughter Eliza. one cow and one ewe and five hundred pounds
of tobacco to be paid the ______ _____ after my death and I lend the
labour of
my Negro boy James unto my daughter Eliza. until next Christmas come two
years. And I give and bequeath unto my loving wife Elizabeth a feather
bed and
boulster a pr. of new Holland sheets a blankett and a new rugg and a pr. of
curtains and _________and a _______. And I give her my Negro woman
called Cate
and I lend the labour of my Negro man Dick unto my loving wife Elizabeth
during her natural life and after her death I give him to my son Robert
and I
lend the labour of my Negro girl Jenny to my loving wife Elizabeth
during her
natural life and after her death I give her to my son Henry and that neither
of my two Negroes Dick nor Jenny be removed of my plantation until the death
of my wife and that the two girl children of my Negro Jenny shall bare
of her
body and live to the age of a year I do give to my son Jno. and the
second to
my son William. She to nurse them until ______age and if my son Henry should
dye before he comes to the age of twenty-one years then I give her to my son
Jno. and what estate I have not disposed of I do give it equally between my
loving wife Eliza. my son Jno. my son Henry and my son William and my daughter
Mary and the pewter and table linnen I have in my house I do give to my loving
wife Eliza. and the goods shall come from England for the tobacco I sent home.
I desire it may be equally divided between my wife my son Robert my son Henry
my son William and my daughter Mary and if any goods should come on
creditt I
desire that my son Robert should have it and that he ship tobacco home
to pay
for it. And my will is that all the rest of my estate that is not yet disposed
of after my _______debts are paid should be equally divided between my loving
wife Eliza. my son Henry my son William and my daughter Mary and that this
years crop of corne be disposed of for the familys life(?) and the new linnen
in the house and what cloth at the weavers shall go towards the familys
life(?). And I do will and appoint that my loving wife Eliza. and my son
Robert shall be my whole and sole executors and execute of this my last will
and revoking all former wills unto ______ I have hereunto let my hand
and seal
this 5th of Nov. 1708.


Signed Sealed in presence of                                    John
Watkins Sealed
                                                                        
               ________ wax
        Nich. Maget
        John Watkins Junr.
        Eliza. X Skelton
             her mark


                        At a Court Held at Southwark for the County of Surry


The written will was this day proved in court by the oath of Nich. Maget and
Elizabeth Skelton.
============================
I apologise for the blanks. They won't let anyone photocopy most of the books
and I had a difficult time deciphering the old writing.


As you can see the only Robert mentioned is John Watkins own son and if the
signature at the bottom is his daughter Elizabeth's, then she married a Skelton.


Does anyone have a different source of proof for Elizabeth's maiden name?
Please share it with the List. This has been a misconception for a long time
now and we really need to discover who Elizabeth was and not except something
just because it was printed in a book.


Thanks for taking the time to read this!


Lucy Ruffin
LRuffin@macs.net


___________________________


I have reread this and can still see no proof that his daughter married
Robert Ruffin, can you?


I found another email with a completely different John Watkins (married
to a Bridgette) connected to Robert Ruffin by way of William Oldis. Monk
has considered this William Oldis as a possible father of Elizabeth (1),
William Ruffin's wife.


(These are my messages and I feel like a complete idiot, because, I
can't remember this stuff!)


CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 88)


=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 20:45:20 -0500
From:  Lucy Ruffin 
To: David Gammon 
CC: RUFFIN-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <3453F230.49A7@macs.net>
Subject: Elizabeth Watkins
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit


David, I'm glad to see your comment about this and I also have a
question about another mention of Elizabeth Watkins in Davis' book. 


**********(Here is David Gammon's comment:


>From: HMJL49A@prodigy.com (MR DAVID B GAMMON)
>Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 07:25:41, -0500
>To: crilley@eramp.net
>Subject: Robert Ruffin's wife Elizabeth
>
>Virginia, I had the pleasure to meet Virginia Davis, author
>of "Tidewater Virginia Families," a mammoth book of eastern
>Virginia genealogies, and a Ruffin descendant herself.  I
>questioned her about her statement that Robert Ruffin (the
>third generation) married Elizabeth Watkins.  She said she
>only speculated this and never meant for it to be taken as a
>fact without proof.
>
>So this brings us back to square one!
>
Virginia Crilley********************


She said Elizabeth Ruffin II is the daughter of John Watkins. There is an
Elizabeth Watkins mentioned in Boddie's "Seventeenth Century Isle of
Wight", p. 561: 


"Wm. Oldis makes agreement with John Watkins and Bridgett his wife that
he Wm. Oldis has undertaken the keeping and maintenance of Elizabeth
Watkins, dau. to said John and Bridgett, being now at the age of ten
years, until sd. Eliz. is 21 years of age. She to be maintained and
educated in English. 10 June, 1672. Robt. Ruffin, Wm. (X) Ruffin."


Wouldn't this Elizabeth be too old to be Robert Ruffin's(3) wife. She
would have been about 19 years older.


There is something else curious about the Oldis, Ruffin, Watkins
relationship. There is an earlier entry, same book, p. 561 which says:


"John Bramston is indebted to Wm. Oldis payable at the house of Wm.
Ruffin. 23 Jan., 1670. Robt. Ruffin, Wm. Pickney."


I get the impression that Mr. Oldis is a tutor, possibly living at
William Ruffin's home. Maybe he was Robert's(2) tutor?? Could he have
been more than a tutor???


What do you make of all this? Sure would like to have your comments.


Lucy Ruffin
LRuffin@macs.net
______________________________


Here is David's comment on the above:


Subject: Elizabeth Watkins
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 07:09:19, -0500
From: HMJL49A@prodigy.com (MR DAVID B GAMMON)
To: LRuffin@macs.net


I have seen the records you are mentioning, but really
hadn't concluded anything from them.  It is probably
circumstantial at best.  There has apparently been some
confusion after my last posting about the conversation with
Mrs. Davis - and you may feel the need to clarify this.
Mrs. Davis wrote that both Robert Ruffin (generation 2) and
his son Robert Ruffin (generation 3) married ladies named
Elizabeth WAtkins.  Now Mrs. Davis says the younger Robert's
marriage was a speculation.  (although in the book it seems
to come across as fact)


Here is a second comment from David:


Subject: Elizabeth Watkins
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 15:09:49, -0500
From: HMJL49A@prodigy.com (MR DAVID B GAMMON)
To: LRuffin@macs.net


The Robert Ruffin (3) line is not my area of expertise.  In
the RUffin project we are working on, I was assigned the
North Carolina lines and left the Virginia lines to someone
else.


However, in going through the Surry County records, I never
found anything definite to prove the maiden name of this
Robert's wife Elizabeth.  It is certainly possible she may
have been a Watkins, but I believe we must be extremely
careful about saying so in print.  The power of the printed
word is tremendously strong.
=====================================


Since reading all of this, it is coming back. I don't know if I
forwarded these messages from David to you or not, but he did talk to
Virginia Davis and she said she had nothing conclusive.


So without documents to prove Elizabeth's parents, do you think we
should make a statement to that fact on the Homepage. That it is
possible, but not conclusive. 






(1)  See Va. Mag. of Hist. and Biography, Vol. II, p. 380,
where this paper containing the grievances of Isle of Wight
is published in full.


WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY
[CONTINUED FROM ISLE OF WIGHT - PAGE 229]


April 1677


"scandalous words" uttered before ye Worpfll Comrs (in accord-
ance with their order) April 9, 1677.

     Petition(1) of John JENNINGS to the Right honoble Herbert
Jeffreys, Esq., Governr and Capt Generall of Virga and the honble
Council of State; that your peticonr haveing reced sentence of ban-
ishmt and Transportation of this his Maties Colony asks for a
longer time for his departure since by reason of the late Rebellion
his estate has been so wasted that he has not the money to leave,
and because it would peril his life to undergo the said sentence in
his "aged, sick and weak condition," having the care also of a
poor wife and children incumbent upon him.

     Letter of Gov. Herbert Jeffreys dated Swann Point April ye
9th 1677, asking the opinion of his councillors Nathaniel Bacon,
Sen., and Col William Cole, as to the case of John Jennings.

     Endorsement of Nathaniel Bacon and William Cole approv-
ing the Governor's suggestion of a longer respite to JENNINGS.

     Endorsement by Jeffreys dated May 22, 1677, for a respite of
time for the departure of John JENNINGS until the month of Sep-
tember next.

     Robert RUFFIN (and Elizabeth his wife) of Surry county, ap-
parent heir and admr. of William Ruffin dec'd.  6 June, 1677.

     Power of John JENNINGS to his wife Mary to get in his debts,
and to let his plantation for three years, and sell either mares,
sheep &c. 5 Sept., 1677.


http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/wmmaryqtr/vol7-4.htm 



ELDRIDGE/ALDRIDGE NOTES 
(Part 2 of 3)

ALDRED Nicholas 1649 Isle of Wight Co., VA Will of Edward Chetwine 
(?Chetwood/Chatwood etc.) of Isle of Wight dated 7 Sep 1649. To James House; 
to Thomas Attwell. I give James House all my Bedding and what else of mine 
is at Mr. Aldred's...To Christopher Holms, John Young. I give Robert Watson, 
Henry Pitt, John Inglish (also English), Nicholas Aldred, Mrs. Anne Jones 
and all her children...And, for the performance of this my LWT, my debts 
being paid, I leave Mr. Robert Watson and Henry Pitt my executors. Wit: Tho. 
Brook and Gulelmi RUFFIN 27 Sep 1649. John Norseworthy m. Frances English 
d/o John in 1670. John Watts m. Alice English d/o John 1678. John Norsworth 
d. intestate in Isle of Wight in Apr 1670 naming his relict, Frances, admin. 
Security was posted by John Pitt and William Oldis.

====================
Genforum post  "ISLE OF WRIGHT COUNTY, VA by William Lindsay Hopkins, Deeds 
1647, Court Orders 1693-1695 and Guardian Accounts 1740-1767, p 90---22 
August 1711....John Fiveash and wife Kae Fiveash, of the upper parish to 
Roger Hodges of the same...16a in the upper parish (being 1/3 of 50A which 
descended to Kae Fiveash as one of three surviving sisters and coheirs of 
Timothy Fenn, decd.)  bounded by Robert Ruffin and said Roger Hodges."So John 
Fiveash was born by 1690 to be age 21+ in 1711. 

 Click here to send e-mail to
Virginia Crilley. 

Return to Ruffin Index Page

	
	
	This page hosted by
	
	Get your own Free Home Page