Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



LYMAN BROWN RUGGLES
 
was born in Pennsylvania, April 3, 1828, and comes of old New England stock.  
The family record runs back to one Joseph Ruggles, who landed in Massachusetts 
in 1635.  His son, Timothy, was a member of the Connecticut Legislature when 
that body voted on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and he with 
one other member voted against the measure, thus proving their loyalty to the 
king.  His brother Joseph�s grandson, Eden Ruggles, was the father of Joseph 
Ruggles, both natives of Connecticut.  The latter married Silva Brown, a native 
of New York and, on the maternal side, a relative of Colonel Ethan Allen of 
Revolutionary fame.  To them were born seven sons and three daughters, the 
subject of this sketch being the middle son.  Of this family one son and one 
daughter are deceased.
            When only a few months old, Lyman B. was taken by his parents to 
Ohio, where they resided eleven years.  At the expiration of that time they 
removed to Michigan and settled on a farm in Van Buren County.  There Mr. 
Ruggles remained until 1850, when he came to California.  For two years he mined 
in El Dorado and Nevada Counties, and during that time saved nearly $1,000.  In 
1852 he went to Yolo County and took up a piece of Government land, which he 
improved and on which he was engaged in farming for twenty-one years.  In 1873 
he sold out and engaged in the lumber business at Woodland, and two years later, 
in 1875, came to Tulare County and settled on 160 acres of land half way between 
Hanford and Traver.  This farm he cultivated and also purchased other lands in 
the vicinity of Dinuba.  In 1888 he removed to Traver and took an interest in 
the Traver Warehouse Association, and engaged in the handling of wheat and 
agricultural implements.  He was president of the corporation for two years, but 
at this writing is retired from active business.  He owns a home in Traver, 
where he lives, and has 400 acres of grain land that he is having farmed to 
wheat.  
            In 1857 Mr. Ruggles was united in marriage with Miss Martha Ann 
Dexter, a native of Illinois, who bore him five children.  Of these children we 
state that Mattie M. became the wife of Peter Mull, and is now deceased; 
Gertrude M. is the wife of George Farmer; the sons are John, Charles and 
Clarence, all except the last having reached maturity.  After thirty-one years 
of happy married life Mrs. Ruggles passed away.  She was a devoted wife and 
loving mother, and in her the death the family and many friends sustained a 
heavy loss.  April 28, 1889, Mr. Ruggles wedded Mrs. Emma (Hackney) Robinson, a 
native of Tennessee.
            In politics Mr. Ruggles is a Republican, and while in Yolo County he 
was a  member of the Board of Supervisors. I n 1880 he was Republican candidate 
for the State Assembly, and ran 100 votes ahead of his ticket.  He is a member 
of the F.&A.M., and his church affiliations are with the Methodists, he being a 
trustee of the Methodist Church of Traver.  Mr. Ruggles is widely known in 
Tulare and several other counties of  the State, and wherever known highly 
respected and esteemed.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p 310-311
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler