ID: I47366
Name: Stephen Ruddell
Sex: M
Birth: 19 SEP 1768 in Frederick County, Virginia Colony
Death: 17 OCT 1845 in Ursa, Adams, Illinois, USA
Note:
Tombstone-Providence Cemetery, Ursa, Adams County, Illinois
STEPHEN WAS CAPTURED BY INDIANS AT AGE 12 IN REV. WAR WHEN RUDDELL'S STATION, KY. WAS
ATTACKED BY THE BRITISH UNDER CAPT. BIRD. HAD ALL WHITE BLOOD WASHED OUT AND WAS
MADE A WARRIOR . HE MARRIED A SQUAW AND RETURNED TO KY. AFTER THE TREATY.
ORDAINED A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL 1810.
FOUNDED THE URSA CHRISTIAN CHURCH
OTHER WIVES: CATHERINE KINGREY 1797 SUSAN DAVID 1809 RACHEL NIGHTSMITH 1831
***Was captured with his parents at Ruddell's Fort in 1780 and lived with the Indians for 15 years
He was freed by General Anthony Wayne in 1795
TAUGHT TECEMSETH ENGLISH
***HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST IN MISSOURI - by R. S. Duncan- published 1882
Page 212.........Salt River Association - Ramsey Creek Church:
The first church formed in the bounds of the Salt River Association was the Ramsay's Creek Baptist Church, in a settlement of the same name, in the southeastern part of Pike County. Eld. John M. Peck visited and preached to this church in July, 1818. (Western Watchman, Vol VIII, No. 43.) He says that in 1816 - in the fall of that year - the Ramsay's Creek settlement was commenced, and the church above named was situated in this settlement; hence it must have been organized between the fall of 1816 and the summer of 1818, the time of Peck's visit. Major Watts and John McCune were two of the leading men of the settlement. McCune was a Baptist. The first pastor of Ramsay's Creek Church was a Mr. Ruddle (pronounced Riddle). Mr. Ruddle was taken prisoner by the Indians on their attack on Ruddle Station in Kentucky ; he was carried away to the northwest and adopted into the tribe; had his ears split and all the "white blood washed out" of him. After a lapse of many years he heard of his relatives in Kentucky, and with his Indian wife found his way back to his native state. His wife soon died, and professed religion, learned his native language (which he had about forgotten while among the Indians) and began preaching. When Eld. Peck visited Ramsay's Creek Church in 1818, Eld. Ruddle was then pastor, but subsequently removed into Adams County, Illinois.
***Stephen Ruddell, Founder of the Ursa Christian Church
Stephen Ruddell (born September 19, 1768; died October 17, 1845) was one of the few survivors of an Indian attack and massacre at Ruddell's Station in the territory of Kentucky in 1780. He was taken by his Indian captors to their native grounds in Michigan, near what is now Detroit. He was adopted by the father of the great Indian warrior Tecumseh, and was raised as a brother of Tecumseh. During the years of his early adulthood, Stephen Ruddell was met and befriended by a French-Canadian missionary, who taught Stephen to read and write, and converted him to the Christian faith. Soon afterward, Ruddell left the Indian tribe and went west as a part of the growth of the American frontier into the Mississippi valley.
Ruddell settled for a time in Clarksville, Missouri. His life-changing faith experience motivated him as a Christian witness and he is credited with starting the Ramsey Creek Baptist Church, in the Clarksville area, in 1815. It is still a worshipping congregation. While there, he crossed over the Mississippi River into Illinois and is credited with founding a Baptist church in Pittsfield, Illinois.
About 1829, Ruddell became a homesteader in Adams County, Illinois. He homesteaded the area north of the original town known as Old Ursa and the greater part of what is present-day Ursa sits on what what originally Ruddell's homestead.
Stephen Ruddell may properly be called founder of the Ursa Christian Church for at least three reasons. First, he, his wife, and their daughter were among the small group of about 10 who signed the original charter of the church. Second, the land upon which the original church was built and upon which the present facility stands belonged to him, and was only purchased by the congregation for a modest sum some years after the congregation had become a going concern. Third, Stephen Ruddell was the first preacher of the congregation.
A memorial stone has been purchased and cut with the appropiate information from Stephen Ruddell's life, including the fact that he was the founder of the Ursa Christian Church. The stone will be placed in the New Providence Cemetery, where Stephen's last wife, Rachel, is buried (he, along with his wife, Susan, who predeceased him, having been buried on the Ruddell family farm.) ~ Rev. Steve Allen (pastor) June 4, 1987
***Stephen Ruddell is best known in history circles as the companion of the great Indian Chief Tucumseh.
Many writers in trying to find out information about Tecumseh wrote to Stephen and his sons John Mulherin Ruddell and Stephen D. Ruddell. Alexander Thom in his book Panther in the Sky tells alot of the experiences of Tecumseh and Stephen. Columbia Pictures put out a film Brave Warrior in which Stephen Ruddell has a prominent role. He is a very fictionized story. Benjamin Drake wrote in 1841 about Tecumseh in which Stephen is often quoted.
Father: Isaac Ruddell
Mother: Elizabeth Bowman
Marriage 1 Susanna C. David b: 1780 in VA, USA
- Married: 06 JUL 1809 in Bourbon County, Kentucky, USA 1
- Note: Susannah David and Stephen Ruddell
Children
 John Mulherin Ruddell b: 28 SEP 1812 in Bourbon County, Kentucky, USA- Catherine Ruddell b: 28 SEP 1814 in KY, USA
- Stephen Duley Ruddell b: 16 JUN 1816 in Bourbon County, Kentucky, USA
- William David Ruddell b: 29 OCT 1817 in MO, USA
Sources:
- Title: Marriage Record
Text: Kentucky Marriages
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Ancestry Hints for Stephen Ruddell
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