 R. CORNELIUS B. RUDDELL owns and occupies a fine farm of 240 acres on section 8, in Seven Hickory Township. He put up a handsome residence in the fall of 1881, taking possession of the place the following year, and since then has devoted the greater part of his time to the cultivation of his land and the embellishment of one of the finest homesteads in Coles County. He has also eighty acres within the limits of Fair Grange, which is well improved and quite valuable. The principal events in the life history of our subject are mainly as follows:
Dr. Ruddell first drew breath in Clark County,
Ind., June 23, 1830, and is the son of William and Rebecca (Tucker) Ruddell. His father, a native of Maryland, was born in 1794, and emigrated from his native State in about 1820, to Clark County, Ind., where he engaged in general merchandising and also carried on farming to a considerable extent until 1840, then removed to Jeffersonville. The mother was born in Kentucky in about 1800, and both parents were of Scottish ancestry. The record of their children is as follows: Alexander T. married Miss Catherine Haymaker, and is a resident of Clark County, Ind.; Sarah E. is the wife of M. W. Robertson, and resides in La Porte
County, Ind.; Rebecca is the wife of Jacob Harbison, of Clark County, that State; Stephen R. died when an interesting youth of sixteen years, and Charles B., when about three and one-half years of age.
The subject of this narrative was the second child of his parents and spent his early days after the manner of most country boys, pursuing his
studies in the winter season at the district school and making himself useful around the parental homestead. He came with his parents to Madison County, Ill., in 1842, where the latter died soon afterward, when he was but a boy twelve years of age. Two uncles then came and took the orphaned children back to Indiana, and our subject lived with his uncle Robertson until completing his ordinary school studies. He then decided to become a physician, and going to Louisville, entered the medical university where, after a course of two years, he was graduated in 1857. He commenced practice at Oregon, Ind., but continued, however, only eighteen months, finding that the profession neither accorded with his tastes nor his health. He then purchased a stock of goods and engaged in merchandising at the same place until 1862. In 1865 he located at Charleston, Ind., and sold goods there until 1881. Then, selling out, he purchased 240 acres of land in Seven Hickory Township, which constitutes his present homestead.
Dr. Ruddell was married in the spring of 1859, to Miss Julia A., the daughter of Jesse and Malinda (Drummond) Coombs, natives of Indiana, and the father a successful farmer and miller of Clark County. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. R. were: Sarah, who is now the wife of William Perris, and a resident of Clark County, Ind.; James, who died young; Madison R., telegraph operator and Station Agent at Memphis, Ind.; John Lee, who married Miss Lydia Deitz, and lives in Clark County; Thomas, who married Miss Hannah Carr, and lives in Kansas; David B., who married Miss Emma Gurnsey, and is a resident of Louisville, Ky.; Campbell H., who married Miss Clara Deitz, and is milling in Clark County, Ind.; and Mahlon, who married Miss Susan Bower.
The wedding of our subject and his wife was celebrated at the home of the bride, Rev. Reason Hammond, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, officiating. Of this marriage there have been the following children: William C. died April 11, 1863, in infancy; Sallie M., was born Jan. 29, 1862, and married O. L. Gurnsey, of Clark County, Ind., who is now in the employ of a railroad company in Texas; Charles M., born May 7, 1863, married Miss Estella Coombs, of Clark County, Ind., and is Station Agent at Fair Grange, being also engaged in general merchandising; Walter H. was born Nov. 28, 1865, and is a telegraph operator at Jeffersonville, Ind.; Albert, born Oct. 11, 1868; Jessie G., Oct. 18, 1870; Fannie L., Dec. 17, 1874, and Benson, Nov. 8, 1876.
The Doctor keeps himself well posted upon current events, and is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He is a strong Prohibitionist, and has watched with deep interest the success of the temperance movement. In 1876 he became identified with the A. O. U. W. at Charlestown, Ind., and still retains his connection with the order. He has contributed his full quota toward the building up of his county, and his beautiful farm, with its appurtenances, forms one of the most attractive features in the landscape.
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