Gen. James B. Ruple and Sarah A. Mayes
Husband Gen. James B. Ruple 1 2
Born: 3 Jun 1812 - Washington, Washington Co, PA 2 3 Christened: Died: Aft Mar 1893 Buried:
Father: Col. James Ruple (1788-1855) 1 4 Mother: Diana Goodrich (Abt 1799-1875/1885) 1 2
Marriage: 24 Sep 1839 3 5
Wife Sarah A. Mayes 3 5
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Charles Mayes ( - ) 3 5 Mother:
Children
1 M Charles M. Ruple 3 5
Born: 14 Jun 1840 - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA 6 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Lide J. Moore ( - ) 6 Marr: Apr 1877 6
2 M James Goodrich Ruple 3 5
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
3 F Virginia A. Ruple 3 5
Born: Christened: Died: Aft 1910 Buried:Spouse: Rev. J. J. Jones ( -Bef 1893) 3 5
4 F Anna M. Ruple 5 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
5 M Frank W. Ruple 5 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
6 F Katharine Ruple 6
AKA: Catherine Ruple 5 Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: William M. Thompson ( - ) 5 6
7 F Etta M. Ruple 6 7
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Dr. Alexander J. Culbertson, D.D.S. ( - ) 7 8 9 Marr: Jun 1891 10
General Notes: Husband - Gen. James B. Ruple
When a boy he had to do his share of work at times when not attending the subscription schools of what was then the village of Washington, Pennsylvania. At the age of twelve he commenced to assist his father in the shop, who in addition to his regular business was making fanning mills. The times were then, and had been for many years, very dull, money scarce and all kinds of business depressed. The woven-wire screens for the mills required the cash to purchase them in Pittsburgh, which was a very heavy draft upon a small business, and he determined to try its manufacture at home. The apparatus he constructed for that purpose proved a success, and he aided his father in weaving the wire for the mills. In 1826, after years of depression, business revived generally, and money began to circulate rather freely. The wire manufacturing increased by the making of rolling screens for flouring mills, sieves, riddles, and to which he added the making of wire rat and mouse traps, fenders for fireplaces and other articles, and it became a fairly remunerative business. In fact, he earned while a boy, nearly a man's wages. But "there is no rose without its thorn" and when fourteen years of age he became afflicted with a disease which left him partially crippled for several years.
When more advanced in years he became a clerk in one of the county offices, in which capacity he served for a time. In 1832 he went to Greenbrier County, Virginia, where he engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills. After closing that business early in the winter of 1835-36, at the request of Mr. John A. North, clerk of the court of appeals of the Western District of Virginia, he took a situation in his office for a few months, and returned to Washington in the spring. Upon his return he accepted a clerkship in the postoffice, which was at that time one of the heaviest distributing offices in the country. The long hours of labor and the close confinement induced him to leave it in the summer and engage in carpentering, which he followed until the ensuing winter. Shortly after, he went south, to Louisiana, where he was much pleased with his prospects, but in the summer he was seized with the malaria, so prevalent in that section, and was compelled to return to the north. In the fall of that year (1837), in company with T. B. Bryson, he engaged in cabinet making; in the summer of 1838, the disease he contracted in the south still affecting him, he was obliged to withdraw from the business on account of his health. Having been appointed to a clerkship in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, he proceeded to Harrisburg in January, 1839, and served under Gov. David R. Porter until 1845.
Prior to the expiration of his term of clerkship he had bought a one-half interest in the Washington Examiner, a weekly newspaper, and for four years was connected with that journal as partner of T. W. Grayson. In 1852 he was appointed deputy sheriff by John McAlister, sheriff of the county, doing most of the business of the office for three years, after which he was for two years acting prothonotary of the court of common pleas for W. S. Moore, during the latter's illness; in 1857 he was elected to the office, was re-elected in 1860, serving, in all, eight years.
Gen. Ruple was originally a Democrat, but in 1854 he left the ranks of that party and identified himself with the Republicans. In February, 1867, he was appointed, by President Andrew Johnson, Assessor of Internal Revenue for his District (24th Pennsylvania), in which incumbency he served four years, after which he lived retired, except in local municipal positions, wearing his well-earned laurels with dignified modesty.
In his military connections, the General was, in 1836, elected captain of a volunteer company, and in 1846 was appointed, by Gov. Shunk, one of his aids with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, a position he filled during the latter's governorship. In 1855 he was elected and commissioned a general in the militia.
He became a member of the I. O. O. F. in 1841, and in 1852 was elected grand representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States, being the first representative in that body from the western part of Pennsylvania. In 1843-44 he was D. D. G. M. of the Harrisburg district, and of the Washington district in 1845-46-47-48.
In 1848 he was made a Mason and in 1841 he became an Odd Fellow and with this organization he was prominently connected for years. In 1852 he was chosen grand representative to the Grand Lodge of the order in the United States, being the first representative sent from western Pennsylvania. In 1843-44 he was district deputy grand master of the Harrisburg District, and in 1845, 1846, 1847 and 1848, of the Washington District.
1 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 19.
2 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 889.
3 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 20.
4 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 596, 889.
5 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 890.
6 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 21.
7 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 890, 1013.
8 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 21, 893.
9 Lewis R. Culbertson, M.D., Genealogy of the Culbertson and Culberson Families (Zanesville, OH: The Courier Co., 1923), Pg 305.
10
—, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 893.
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