RUGGLES, Ogden 1838-1907

RUGGLES, KELSO, VANETTEN

Posted By: Diane M Scott (email)
Date: 7/29/2012 at 11:31:46

Ogden M Ruggles – April 23, 1838 – January 7, 1907

#1

Ogden M. Ruggles, Son Of Garry and Almira Ruggles , was born in Colesville, Broome Co. New York on 23 April 1838 and died in Rockford, IA, Jan.1907.

At the age of sixteen he went to Wisconsin, probably with his parents, and attended school in Ripon for 8 yrs., afterward reading and practicing law in Minnesota. In 1864 he enlisted in the 16th Wisconsin Infantry, and served until the close of the Civil War. He was with Sherman in the march to the sea, was at the Battle of Wipple Swamp and the taking of Columbia, S. C.

After the war he returned to Wisconsin and taught school, eventually securing the position of principle of the school at Prairie Du Chen. While there he met one of the teachers, Elizabeth Kelso, whom he married on 5 March 1867. Elizabeth Arminda Kelso was born in Cherry Valley , Otsego Co. N.Y. on 7 Oct. 1843, and died in Rockford, IA on 16 May 1933. She was the oldest daughter of Thomas Spencer Kelso and Lorana Van Etten, who settled in Prairie du Chien in 1857.

In the spring of 1868 Ogden went to Rockford, IA, where he bought a farm west of town. Elizabeth and their first baby (Almira) joined him in October of that year. She went by train to Calmar, which was as far as the railroad extended at that time. Ogden met them there and took them to their new home in a lumbar wagon. The weather was unusually cold, the ground frozen hard, and the long ride over rough, rutted roads was anything but pleasant. To make matters worse, their fur robe had been stolen from the wagon. They began their pioneer life in a log cabin, and endured the usual hardships of life in a new country. They lived on the farm for 35 years, raising their family of 8 children there.

Because of Ogden's failing health, he and Elizabeth moved to Rockford in 1902, where he died in 1907.

#2
Riverside Cemetery, Rockford, Floyd, Iowa
Ogden Ruggles – April 23, 1838 – January 7, 1907