The Anderson Report: Progress On Ruluf's Family?
From family researcher Laura Anderson:
I have been very interested in a "Jeheil" who is located in Rutland, Vermont. He could be Ruluff/Rufus' (Rufus comes from the 1800 Census) father or grandfather as he appears to be the only person left that we have not located DNA information on who was in Vermont early enough to be Ruluff/Rufus father. I know you have heard that Ruluff/Rufus was born in Hartford, Connecticut; that was reported to be what Milo said in a conference address. I have never seen the actual quote. What if Milo said my father’s family is from Hartford, Connecticut, my mother was born in Rutland, Vermont? Or just the families are from those places. He reportedly went on to say that his grandfather served in the Revolutionary War and his father in the War of 1812. All these things would be true of Jeheil's family other than Ruluff/Rufus was born in Connecticut and Ruluf served in the state military force in 1806-7 but is not reported in 1812.
The church research department was active from the 1920's to 1966. They did people's family history for them for a fee and reported to the family what they had accomplished; their files are available at the family history library or from the Vault. I recently stumbled onto them and ordered the Andrus' files in. There are files for Amy Walker Andrus, Newton L Andrus, Sarah Simmons (Munday Line), Milo Jr., George B. Andrus, and Elizabeth Ritchie (Miles Line), and I am not through all the files which are quite extensive. I know I am the first person to locate these files as they were still stored at the vault and once a person has looked at the film they stay at the library.
If you want to know what research your family has done, what temple work has been done, who preformed it, and why they thought what they thought, this is a wonderful resource. THIS IS NOT A RESOURCE FOR CURRENT INFORMATION!!!
There was a theory sent to Elizabeth Ritchie where in it was proposed that Jehile was the grandfather with John his son being Ruluff/Rufus' father. Amy W Andrus also mentions the theory. This theory was dismissed because it would not make Ruluff/Rufus born in Connecticut. When I started this project back in 2000, one of the first things I decided was that Almon (much older than Milo) and Harriett (who stayed home and helped her father at the hotel until the 1840's) both say in the 1880 census that Ruluff/Rufus was born in Vermont.
The first time we see the family of Jehiel in Rutland, Vermont was in October of 1773 when the church was formed, Jehiel, wife Sarah and daughter Mable being founding members. Rutland began settlement in 1770 but the big influx was in 1773. The church was formed 6 months too late to show Ruluff/Rufus' birth. He may have been born on the way to Rutland, but in Vermont, so did not receive credit for being the first white child born in Rutland. Ruluff fell through the cracks of history as his family was on the move at the time he was born, assuming this is his family and we have concentrated on Connecticut rather than Vermont.
John Andrews would only have been 21, so the research department was a little worried that John (and wife Mary) were too young to be Ruluff's parents so they went to the 1791 census of Rutland, Vermont. John is listed along with Jehiel (father) and Ebenezer(Brother) as being in Rutland. John has 3 males in the family over 16 showing presumably that he had sons old enough to be Ruluff. They could also be farm hands. We do not get a great deal of information from this census, but it would rule Ruluff out as being John's son and did not.
Our next step is to get one or more subjects to test for DNA from this line. There is a youngest son of John's named Jehiel who settled in Huron County, Ohio. If Ruluf is in this family this would be Ruluff's brother. I have been in contact with a researcher named Henry Timmin in Huron County to see if he can locate the sample needed. He has worked for the family on this problem since the 1960's and is excited about the possibility of finally proving the line back on Ruluff. If this is Ruluff's family we will tie back to the original settlement of Hartford, Connecticut, and from there into England. AT LONG LAST PROGRESS!!! Please wait for the DNA proof before adding this to your pedigree charts!
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