Dear Friends of Ruggles House:
We hope that your summer was pleasant. It would seem that Maine's June and July were a bit cooler than ordinary with an unusual amount of rainfall but August and September have been an endless summer.
The spring newsletter usually has the membership envelope in it but got a different one instead. So for those who may want to pay membership and haven't done so, the right envelope is included in this newsletter. Thank you to those who have become members.
At the July annual meeting of the Ruggles House Society, several new folks were added to our roster. Two directors were elected. They are Ora Aselton of Milbridge, retired teacher from Narraguagus High School and the wife of Dr. Carl Aselton. Ora brings an art background to our board which will be greatly appreciated. The second director is Nancy McGinnis of Hallowell and Harrington. Nancy works in journalism and is a professional photographer. She has volunteered her services to the Ruggles House for several years. We welcome them to the board.
The following officers were elected: Larry D. Smith as President, Patricia Iley as Vice-President, Rod Harrington as Vice-President, Ellen Tenan as Secretary/Historian, Nancy Herr as Treasurer and Linda Long as Clerk.
This has been a busy and slightly hectic summer. While visitation has been down as was expected, projects have been going on at a steady pace. A new walkway with steps has been built to access the basement area, where Bill Brundage has been organizing other displays, and a new brick walk to the handicapped ramp was installed. A rock garden has been improved by Ellen Tenan and Nicole Farley, a Career Center helper. The new herb garden, under the supervision of Les Harrington and her two Narraguagus students, Grace Avakian and Danielle Eaton, funded through a grant from the EDGE Program and Maine Community Foundation, is taking shape. And the Ruggles House has had its first college intern this summer. Jill Sawyer of Milbridge, a senior this fall at Wells College in Aurora, NY, contacted us in the spring and asked if we would be interested in an internship for free hours of work in exchange for her to get college credits for museum studies. We were very willing to have the extra time to spend in several areas, including archives, collections, docent work, etc. It served us very well and a sincere thank you to Jill for her time with us.
We've hosted two affairs at the House this season. Betsy Mills brought her friends from the Garden Club of Mt. Desert to visit us. The ladies of Ruggles House served a luncheon under tents on the lawn and showed the guests through the House. It brought enthusiasm from all who attended. The second event was a presentation by Maine Coast Memorial Hospital of their new emergency wing, being constructed at the present time. A fundraising campaign is ongoing for this new addition. The public was invited to hear the hospital officials explain the details of the building and the need of these services.
In the recent past we have mentioned that Ruggles House and six other museums have been collaborating in order to develop an Eastern Maine Historic Museum Tour. We are six museums of different focus and time yet we have much in common - accessible to U.S.Route #1, each has a compelling story, tourists will enjoy the unhurried area and we are open all summer, some of longer duration. Maine's Historic Bold Coast is the chosen name. A summer meeting of the group was held at Campobello International Park with our group joining with Fundy Culture, the group from New Brunswick. Good things happen when we do co-operative ventures. Thanks to our hosts at Campobello.
Again we remind you of our delightful web site ruggleshouse.org where you can visit the house often and see items offered in the gift area. Nancy Herr has never-ending orders for note cards and Christmas cards which she has created, using Elizabeth and Emily Ruggles' drawings. Framed prints are also available. If you have any interest in ordering Christmas cards, do so soon as orders are made as received. The Shop has other handmade items and a small history brochure of the House. We have on sale a new book on historic houses in Maine, authored by Christopher Glass and Brian Vanden Brink that features the famous Ruggles House "Flying Staircase" on the cover. We are very proud of that photo by Mr. Vanden Brink. A call to the House before Oct. 15th and later to Ellen at 546-7903 will get one.
Notes from Ruggles Society Historian, Ellen Tenan:
There are printed in many places two stories about the Ruggles Family that are not factual. Visitors to the House often repeat them. It is time to correct these fabrications.
The first one says, "Thomas Ruggles locked an Englishman woodcarver in the parlor of the house for three years to decorate this room" or "pen knife was guided by an angel".
Someone had a vivid imagination and wanted to sell their writings. Slavery was not practiced in Washington County by anyone's knowledge. According to history of early Ruggles family members, they would not have condoned this. We do not know that Thomas had contact with angels or that Alvah Peterson, who did the woodcarving, had any either. Someone thought it was a nice story. We'd like to retire these yarns.
The second myth is "Frederick Ruggles, the son who lived in the house after his mother died, squandered the family fortune". Ruggles family archival records show that it is highly unlikely that Frederick got any fortune from the family to squander. Thomas Ruggles made his money in lumber and merchant shipping. At the height of his business affairs, he owned many large parcels of land, both timber and farming, a store, many sailing vessels, partially or wholly owned, and held numerous mortgages for many things. At the time of his death in December of 1820 at age 50, his estate did not consist of many of those things. The original inventory of his estate is in the Ruggles archives. Of the ships, it lists only the schooner Spruce still left, which he had owned outright. The Spruce was sold by the family two years or so after his death. It had been built in Columbia by Thomas in the late 1700's, so was an old ship and probably not worth much. Much of the land was obviously also gone. The store is not listed. Thomas died very suddenly in court in Machias where he was Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions. Had he been in ill health and disposed of much of his business ventures? Or had he simply decided to reinvest his holdings in other ways? He left his widow, Ruth, and seven children. The oldest child was William, age 22, and the youngest was Sophie, age 5. He had no will. The Court was petitioned to divide his estate. It was divided seven ways and no mention of his wife's share. The house and adjacent land was not including in this division and no mention is made of any mortgage holdings. Ruth continued to live in the house and presumably controlled any funds from her husband. She continued to lose family members to death. In 1831, son Benjamin died of tuberculosis, age 27, unmarried and probably in ill health for several years so did not bring any income into the family. In 1832, daughter Sophie died of the same disease, age 17. Son George married in 1829 and left home. Daughter Ruth had married Joseph Crandon Sr. (1828) and moved out of the house. She died, at age 30, from kidney failure with the birth of a sixth child in 1839. She left four young children that her mother, Ruth, probably helped care for as she lived across the street from the Crandon family. Mr. Crandon married again several years later. In 1841, son William, the oldest of her children, died at age 43, apparently suddenly. This must have been a big blow because William had been the family member who appeared the most successful in business. He has extensive papers in the archives. Daughter Lucy married in 1842 and left the area at that time. In 1847, son Frederick married Carolyn Bucknam, when he was 46. Subsequently, two daughters were born to this couple and they lived in the house with his mother, as he was the only child left at home; Ruth could not have lived reasonably by herself. Frederick's papers of business affairs are not in existence. He is listed as a farmer in one census and did receive some farm land in the division of his father's estate. No one got wealthy farming, even in those days. Lucy was widowed early with two fairly young children. She came back to Columbia at some time; no date available and likely lived with her mother and Frederick. When Ruth Ruggles died in 1859 at age 82, she had lived in the Ruggles House for 39 years as a widow. It had obviously taken much of her husband's estate to support her and many children through their growing years, illnesses and deaths. She had probably inherited son William's estate as she was his closest relative. That certainly helped but did not compensate for his loss of income to the household. On her death, the court again was asked to divide the last of the Ruggles' estate. There were just three living children, Frederick, George and Lucy and the children of daughter Ruth Crandon. Land was given to George and Ruth's children, with the House and small parcel of land split in half between Frederick and Lucy. We don't know if Lucy lived for a time in her half of the house but Frederick had to buy her share at a later date to secure ownership. She still held a mortgage on that half, which is not clear what arrangement occurred between brother and sister. Lucy apparently went to live with her daughter, Annie, when Annie married. When she died in 1888, Frederick became sole owner. The house was not repaired because neither Frederick nor Lucy had money or ownership. Frederick died in 1890, age 89. He was ill and bedridden for two years prior to his death. He certainly had no family fortune to squander. He didn't even own the house for most of that time. This information is all available in the Ruggles House Archives.
Be sure to think about attending the annual Christmas Tea on Dec. 6th and see the House in its Christmas finery and partake of "tea and crumpets" with us.
We wish you a pleasant winter season.
House phone: 207-483-4637 winter: 207-546-7903 email:
etenan@ruggleshouse.org
