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Rutledge Ancestry

Robert "The Brick" Rutledge

Robert "The Brick" Rutledge
General Information
[Note: "The Brick" is a nickname granted by myself, the author, and has no historical basis. TR]

1825 Land: Free Grant 200 Acres: Lot 18, Concession 3 WHS, Mulmur Twp., Dufferin Co., Ontario.
1842 Land: Purchased multiple sections in Oregon Twp., Ogle Co., Illinois
1850 Census: Oregon, Ogle Co., Illinois. (With daughter Catherine and granddaughter Adaline.)
1860 Census: Oregon, Ogle Co., Illinois.

Robert is named as the main beneficiary in his brother John's will of February 1842. John's land is sold to cousin James, the proceeds sent to Robert in two "gales" that year and after. NOTE: James is not actually named as a cousin or relative. The will is good evidence for Robert's placement in the family of six children of William and Fanny, but it is not concrete evidence for James' relation as William's first cousin. It is highly likely, but needs further verification. [Apr 2015]

"Robert Rutledge was the fifth child of William and Fanny Elliott Rutledge. Of him I can find recorded no dates, but write what my mother remembers to have heard from her mother. He came to this country in his youth--a very handsome man. My grandmother idolized him. He married a dark complexioned, homely woman, whom my grandmother did not at all admire or consider his equal, but who afterwards proved a good wife. In 1878 they were both living in Northern Illinois, and had a large family of children. Previously to 1841 he lived in Canada. They were consistent members of the Methodist Church.
In 1880 we received several papers from Oregon, Ill., with complimentary and eulogistic memoirs and resolutions on the death of a grandson of Robert Rutledge, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Rutledge. His name was John. He served during the entire War of the Rebellion in Company G, Seventy-fourth Regiment Illinois Infantry, and his death was the result of the seeds of disease sown at that time."
"James Washington [Johnston], born Dec. 25, 1818, the second child, left Canada in 1839, and settled in Ogle County, Illinois, where he married Margaret J. Rutledge, his cousin, Robert Rutledge's familyi had removed from Canada and settled there some years previously." [Note: Robert's family hadn't moved until 1841, so J.W. may have come prior to Robert, but not married until later. TR]
"She [Frances] finally 'ran away' with Thomas Patterson, and was married without her father's knowledge. The news threw him into a violent passion, but, through the intercession of her younger brother Robert, he was induced to forgive and receive her again into his home. Robert, having notified her to come, watched with his ear to the ground. Finally he announced that he heard the hoofs of a horse, and knew from the sound that he 'carried double'. In those days it was customary for a woman to sit on a pillion, a second seat behind the saddle. They were soon at the door, and hastily dismounting, went immediately to the father, and kneeled before him."

--Three excerpts from The Chronicles of the Clark Family, Vol I. This is all that is mentioned about Robert.

Burial: Stinsonian Cemetery, Ogle Co., Illinois.

Immigrated to New York possibly about 1800. Married in New York in 1808, moved to Toronto area, Canada about 1819/1820. Moved to Oregon, Illinois about 1841, bought about 640 acres. Farmer, Republican and Methodist.

From The New England Historical & Genealogical Register 1847-2011:
"Robert Rutledge, marriage 1808, USA, to Mary Lurvery, father James Lurvey."
Page 169, Volume 155.
--I would really like to see a copy of this journal and perhaps find out how this information was obtained. We do not currently have any kind of marriage certificate, nor do we know where the marriage took place (probably NYC). [TR - Feb 2015]

Observation: After NYC, children are born in Caledonia, Avon, and Concord, New York, (until Toronto). These towns are all along the Genesee River. Perhaps he was working on canals and locks. This is a research point.

NW New York Notes:
Children Annie, Mary, and Alice were born in Caledonia 1813, Caledonia 1816, and Avon 1818 respectively.
Now, Mary Lurvey's brother Joseph was having children in Caledonia as early as 1806, and all may have been born there, through 1824. This would suggest a close connection between his and Robert's families, and he may have brought Robert out to the area.

Toronto--North Canada notes:
Catherine was born in Toronto in October 1825, Robert and Thomas received land grants in December of 1825, but John Horning wasn't born in Toronto until 1829. This may imply that Robert & Family remained in York until at least after John's birth, and may not have located on the land grants until after that time. It also supports the idea that Robert may have known a Lewis Horning, founder of the town of Horning's Mills, who blazed a trail to that location (adjacent to Robert & Thomas' land grants) about 1830. If that is true, our Rutledge family may have lived in that town, or gone to their land shortly after the blaze. This is, of course, speculation, but is a valuable research point. [TR 20 Aug 2015]
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