Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/198

 RUITIN

RUGER

ite hesids, Franklin. Goethe and Macaiilay form apart of the facade ; the equestrian statue of Brig.-diii. John F. Ilartntnft, Capitol Hill, Har- risburg. Pa. ; the colossjil marbles: Wisdorn and Force, New York Appellate Court, New York city; the bronze group u( Ghria Victis, for the Confed- erate monument, Baltimore, Md. ; the Quadriga for tiie dome of the government building. Buffalo exposition, and the group The Army, on the Dewey arch. Among his busts may bo men- tioned that of John Russell Y'oung.

RUFFIN, Thomas, jurist, was born in King a;id C^ueen county, Va., at the home of his mater- nal grandfather, Nov. 17, 1787; son of Sterling and Alice (Roane) Ruffin of Essex county, Va., and grandson of Thomas Roane of Newington, Va. He was prepared for college by Marcus George, principal of Warrenton (N.C.) Male academy, and was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1805. He was a law student under David Robertson in Petersburg, Va., 1806-07, and in 1807 removed with his parents to Rockingham county, N.C, where he continued his law studies under Judge Archibald D. Murphy (q.v.), and was admitted to the bar in 1808. He was mar- ried. Dec. 9, 1809, to Ann, daughter of William Kirkland of Hillsborough, and made that place his home. He was a representative from Hills- borough in the liouse of commons of North Carolina, 1813-15 and 1816, and was speaker in 1816 ; judge of the superior court, 1817, resigning in 1818 ; was reporter of the decisions of the supreme court for one or two terms, and practised law with eminent success, 1818-25. He was judge of the superior court. 1825-28, resigning in 1828, on being elected president of the State bank of North Carolina. In 1829 he removed to Raleigh, and was solicited to accept the candidacy for U.S. senator to complete the term of Senator John Branch, appointed secretary of the navy, but de- clined, and was elected judge of tlie state sup- reme court upon the death of Chief-Justice Taylor. In 1833, upon the death of Chief-Justice Henderson, he became chief justice, serving un- til 1852, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Frederick Nash. Upon the death of Cliief-Justice Nash, Dec. 5, 1858, Judge Ruffin was almost unan- imously re-elected chief justice by the legisla- ture of North Carolina, and served until the autumn of 1859, when failing health compelled his retirement to his estate on Haw river, in Alamance county. He opposed secession, but at the meeting of the state convention of 1861, voted for the measure when he found opjjosition useless. He wa.s a delegate to the Confederate States provisional congress that a.ssembled at Richmond, Va., July 20, 1861, having previously .served as a member of the Peace conference at Washington, in February, wliere his efforts on behalf of peace

were recorded by General Scott and President Buchanan. After the war, his estate having been desolated by an army encampment, he again took up his residence in Hillsborough. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1813-31 and 1842-68 ; president of tlie State xVgricultural society, 1854-60, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University in 1834. His opinions while on the bench were largely used by the bar of North Carolina, and even the U.S. supreme court, as authoritative. His son. Col. Thomas Ruffin, who occupied a seat on the supreme bench of North Carolina, died May 23, 1889. Judge Thomas Ruffin, Sr., died in Hillshorough. N.C, Jan. 15, 1870.

RUFFNER, Henry, educator, was born in the valley of Virginia, in the section which became Page county, Jan. 19, 1789 ; son of Col. David and Ann Ruffner. Colonel Ruffner removed to the Great Kanawha valley, and established the first salt manufactory in that region. Henry Ruffner was graduated from Washington college, Lexing- ton, Va., A.B., 1817, and was an instructor in Mer- cer academy, Charlestown, 1817-19. He became a professor in Washington college, 1819 ; studied theology with President George A. Baxter, and was licensed by the presbytery of Lexington. He was professor of languages in Washington col- lege, 1819-30 and 1835-37, and professor of math- ematics, 1830-35. He was president of the col- lege, professor of moral philosophy, and ex-officio rector of the board of trustees, 1836-48. During his administration of the college he also served as acting pastor at Timber Ridge, Fairfield and New Monmouth. After liis resignation in 1848. he retired to a mountain farm in Kanawha county, for the benefit of his health, preached to the mountaineers, and was subsequently made pastor of the church at Maiden, Va., serving until 1860. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the College of New Jersey, 1838, and that of LL.D. from Washington college, 1849. He is the author of : Discourse upon the Duration of Fntiire Punishment (1823); Inaugural Address (1837); Judith Bensaddi, a Romance (1840) ; Ruffner Pam- phlet, an anti-slavery address (1847); and Tlte Fathers of the Desert, or An Account of the Origin and Practice of Monkery (2 vols., 1850). He died in Maiden, Va., Dec. 17, 1861.

RUQER, Thomas Howard, soldier, was born in Lima, Livingston county. N.Y''., April 2, 1833; son of Thomas Jefferson and Maria (Hutchins) Ruger ; grandson of Francis and Jane (Jewell) Ruger, and of Benjamin and Jerusha (Bradley) Hutchins. He attended school at Janesville, Wis., 1844-50, and was graduated from the U.S. Military academy as brevet 2d lieutenant of the corps of engineers in 1854. He was assistant en- gineer upon the repairs and construction of the