A Guide to the Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1930) Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1930) 42942

A Guide to the Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1930)

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 42942


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© 2006 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Processed by: Renee M. Savits

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Accession Number
42942
Title
Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1930)
Extent
7.8 cubic feet (18 boxes).
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner. Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1930). Accession 42942. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Devon Archer Schreiner, 2 November 2006.

Biographical Information

Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner (1893-1966) was the daughter of Mary Theresa Klipstein (1866-1931) and Dr. Harry Gaunt Harryman (1865-1928) of Alexandria, Virginia. She married Richard Laidley Ruffner (1894-1965) in 1926, son of Joel Henry Ruffner (1859-1917) and Dorcas Blaine Laidley (1865-1927) of Charleston, West Virginia, and had two children: Richard Laidley Ruffner II (1927-1996) and Rebecca Mary Ruffner (1931-1934). Richard Laidley Ruffner II married Patricia Mary Ellen Karig (b. 1921) in 1954. Their children included: Richard Laidley Ruffner III (b. 1955) and Mary Keith Ruffner (b. 1962).

Ruffner Line

David Ruffner (1767-1843) was born in Luray, Virginia, and married Lydia Anne Brumbach (1766-1852) in 1788. He moved the family to Charleston, West Virginia in 1796, where he opened the first coal mine and salt works in the area. His son, Henry Ruffner (1790-1861), was an ordained minister in Charleston, West Virginia, and married Saray Montgomery Lyle (1787-1849), daughter of Captain William Lyle of Rockbridge County, Virginia. He moved the family to Lexington, Virginia, where he became a professor and then president of Washington College. Their children included: William Henry (1824-1908), David Lewis (1829-1896), Julia (1822-1864), and Anne (b. 1825). After his first wife died in 1849 Henry married Laura Kirby.

William Henry Ruffner married Harriet Ann Gray in 1850. Julia Ruffner never married. Anne Ruffner married Arthur H. Howell (1818-1877).

David Lewis Ruffner married his second cousin, Frances Eleanor Ruffner (1830-1909), in 1853 and was a laywer and civil engineer in Charleston, West Virginia. Their children included: Sallie Lyle (1854-1933), David Lewis (1860-1904), Ethel Marye (1869-1949), and Joel Henry (1859-1917). Frances Eleanor Ruffner was the daughter of Diana Marye (1809-1881) and Joel Ruffner (1802-1882). Diana Marye was the daughter of William Staige Marye (1775-1837) and Mary Elizabeth Ruffner (1785-1852). William Staige Marye was the son of Eleanor Green (d. 1822) and Peter Marye (b. 1737). Eleanor Green was the daughter of William Green (d. 1770) and Anne Coleman of Culpeper County, Virginia.

Joel Henry Ruffner married Dorcas Blaine Laidley (1865-1927) in 1886 in Charleston, West Virginia. Their children included: Diana Laidley (b. 1889), Lydia Fontaine (b. 1891), Richard Laidley (1894-1965), David Lewis (b. 1896), Percy Laidley (b. 1899), Dorcas Lyle (b. 1901), and Margaret Keith (1909-1926).

Klipstein-Harryman Line

William Ball Klipstein (1817-1881) was born in Fauqier County, Virginia, to Sarah Ransdell Ball (1796-1849) and Philip Augustus Klipstein II (1791-1855). He studied at the University of New York, receiving a medical degree in 1844, and established medical offices in Alexandria, Virginia. He married Mary Ann Taylor (1820-1904) on 10 July 1851. Their children included: Rebecca (Mittie) Taylor Klipstein (1852-1933), George Taylor Klipstein (1854-1928), and Mary (Mamie) Theresa Klipstein (1866-1931). Rebecca Taylor Klipstein never married. George Taylor Klipstein married Naomi Simmons (1874-1902) in 1915. Mary Klipstein married Harry Gaunt Harryman (1865-1928) in 1892 and their children included: William Klipstein Harryman (1895-1959) and Mary Ellen Harryman (1893-1966). William Klipstein Harryman married Vivien C. Decker in 1919. Mary Ellen Harryman married Richard Laidley Ruffner in 1926.

Taylor Line

Rebecca Marll of Alexandria, Virginia, was married to Captain William Lawrence, who died at sea. She remarried to Evan Phillips Taylor (1784-1824) of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1813. Evan Phillips Taylor was the son of George Taylor and Hannah Phillips Taylor. George Taylor was the son of Joseph and Mary Maris Taylor (1700-1747). Mary Maris was the grandaughter of George Maris (1632-1699) of Pennsylvania.

Rebecca and Evan Taylor had four children: Charles Marll Taylor (1813-1873), George Richard Taylor (1818-1880), Hannah Elizabeth Taylor (1815-1849), and Mary Ann Taylor (1820-1904). Mary Ann Taylor married William Ball Klipstein in 1851 and resided in Alexandria, Virginia. Hannah Elizabeth Taylor married James Clark in 1842 and resided in Alexandria, Virginia. Their children included Esther (1845-1900) who married James Morrison (d. 1892) and settled in Maryland; Mary who married Ludwick Reicher in 1883 and resided in Alexandria, Virginia; Frances Ann (d. 1932) who remained unmarried; and Charles who married Kate Gilmore and lived in Missouri. George Richard Taylor married Theresa de Paul, had eight children, served as president of the Pacific Railroad, and resided in Missouri. Charles Marll Taylor married first Esther Clark and second Sally Hendry and produced no heirs.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1795-1976 (bulk 1855-1910) of Mary Ellen Harryman Ruffner of Alexandria, Virginia, and the allied Clark, Gaunt, Harryman, Klipstein, and Taylor families of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Included are agreements and deeds, Bible records, clippings, correspondence, genealogical notes and charts, invitations, ledgers, notebooks, obituaries, photographs, publications, receipts, and wills.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series:

Series I. Papers, 1795-1959 (bulk 1855-1930). Series II: Photographs, ca. 1850-1976 (bulk 1880-1920).

Contents List

Series I: Papers , 1795-1959 (bulk 1855-1930) .
Boxes 1-10, 17-18
Extent: 12 boxes.

This series includes advertisements and circulars, agreements and deeds, Bible records, clippings, correspondence, genealogical notes and charts, invitations, ledgers, notebooks, obituaries, publications, receipts, and wills of the Clark, Gaunt, Harryman, Klipstein, and Taylor families of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Included are agreements and deeds for slaves in Culpeper County, Virginia; land in Fauquier, Prince William, and Shendandoah Counties and Alexandria, Virginia, and Kanawha County and Charleston, West Virginia; cemetery lots in Baltimore, Maryland; Circuit Court judgements in Washington, DC; and agreements for the firm of C.M. and F. Taylor in Alexandria, Virginia. Also included are notes, receipts, and report cards for Rebecca Taylor Klipstein while attending the Alexandria Female Seminary and a constitution, correspondence, resolutions, and history of the Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. Clippings are included on the Klipstein, Ruffner, and Taylor families.

The correspondence, 1795-1952, includes topics relating to social and family life, division of estates, sale of slaves, local politics in Virginia and West Virginia, national politics, business ventures, weather observations, farms in Page and Shenandoah Counties, Virginia, and Charleston, West Virginia. Also noted are family health, births and deaths, and wedding announcements. Correspondents include Charles T. Clark, Lewis Cooper, William Klipstein, Eleanor Marye, George T. Marye, William Marye, David Ruffner, Joel Ruffner, John Sibert, Charles M. Taylor, George R. Taylor, Mary Ann Taylor, and Rebecca Taylor.

Of note are letters, 1832 and 1834, regarding cholorea outbreaks in Fredericksburg and Norfolk, Virginia. Also of note are letters, 21 and 25 February 1836, from William M. Robertson, Richmond, to William Marye, Page County, Virginia, regarding issues before the Virginia House of Delegates, national politics, and tension between northern and southern states. Included is a letter, 5 May 1867, from William Tecumseh Sherman, Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri, to George R. Taylor, President of the Pacific Railroad, regarding a rail pass for a group. Includes letters, 1872-1881, from David Joel Ruffner, in Kentucky, to and from his wife, Frances Ruffner, in Kanawha County, West Virginia, while he was surveying land in Kentucky. Also included are numerous cards and postcards.

Included are several in-depth genealogical charts and notes on the Ball, Gaunt, Harryman, Klipstein, Lyle, Maris, Marll, Marye, Morrison, Ruffner, and Taylor families. Also included is a catalogue and lecture tickets for Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended by George T. Klipstein, and numerous invitations for dinner parties, graduations, social gatherings, and weddings addressed to Charles M. Taylor and the Ruffner family. The ledgers include family accounts of the Klipstein and Taylor families, along with medical ledgers of Dr. George T. Klipstein, 1917-1918; household expense account of Mary Ann Taylor Klipstein, 1900-1908; school notebook and ledger, 1840-1844, of William B. Klipstein; and various ledgers, 1850-1883, of Charles M. Taylor, including rent account books for property owned by Taylor. Included are memoirs written by various Ruffner family members and a memoir of Sampson Sanders Simmons, father of Naomi Simmons Klipstein. Also included are obituaries, arranged alphabetically by last name and a patient log and prescriptions, 1898-1918, written by Dr. George T. Klipstein.

The publications include a book on Alexandria Houses, Gardening and MCV magazines, Historical Guide to Albemarle County, a history of Charleston, West Virginia, medical and religious pamphlets, and genealogical books on the Lyle and Maris families. Publications that duplicate copies that exist in the Library holdings were not filmed. The receipts include mostly receipts but also accounts and promissory notes for the Klipstein, Marye, Reiche, Ruffner, and Taylor families. Included are receipts for goods purchased, taxes, medical services of Dr. George and William Klipstein, estate accounts, house repairs, and educational expenses. Included are receipts relating to the Grove property (called both Aspen or Peyton Grove), a house in Alexandria owned by James B. McNair and Charles M. Taylor. They purchased the lot together at auction 1 May 1850. Includes letter, 1862 August 17, from George R. Taylor, Pacific Rail Road, to Brigadier General Sturgis, Alexandria, Virginia, asking the Army to compensate Taylor for damage caused to the house by the occupation of troops. Also included are an inventory of house, insurance papers, accounts and account books, work specifications and agreements, taxes paid, correpondence, and receipts.

The collection also includes report cards from the Wentworth Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, Jefferson Medical College, and Charleston Female School in West Virginia; signature book, 1834-1850, of Mary Ann Taylor Klipstein, and class tickets of William B. Klipstein, while attending University of New York and the New York Hospital, 1842-1844; and wedding announcements and wills.

Arranged alphabetically by folder title. For multiple folders collection is further arranged alphabetically by last name.

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Series II: Photographs , ca. 1850-1976 (bulk 1880-1920) .
Boxes 11-16
Extent: 6 boxes.

This series includes photographs, ca. 1850-1976 (bulk 1880-1920), of the Clark, Gaunt, Harryman, Klipstein, Morrison, Ruffner, and Taylor families. A number of the photographs, ca. 1850-1900, were taken in studios in Alexandria, Lynchburg, and Richmond, Virginia; and Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Included are images depicting social gatherings, family, church, and school events, vacations, parks, and houses.Of note is an album from Rebecca Taylor Klipstein's automobile trip to California, 1920, from Alexandria, Virginia. Also included are numerous photographs of the Ruffner family, including Richard Laidley Ruffner I, in soldier's uniform World War I, with family, friends, vacations in Europe, and electrical breakers and transformers, possibly in West Virginia, ca. 1895-1960. Also included are photographs of Richard Laidley Ruffner, II, family and school life, and with his sister, Rebecca Mary Ruffner. The collection also includes a number of daugerrotypes.

Arranged alphabetically by family name with unidenitified photographs arranged to the rear.

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