Timothy Dwight Ruggles (October 20, 1711 – August 4, 1795) was an American colonial military leader, jurist, and politician. He was a delegate to the

Stamp Act Congress The Stamp Act Congress (October 7 – 25, 1765), also known as the Continental Congress of 1765, was a meeting held in New York City in the colonial Province of New York. It included representatives from most of the British colonies in Nort ...

of 1765 and later a

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

Early life

Ruggles was born on October 20, 1711, to Rev. Timothy Ruggles. He was grandson of Capt. Samuel Ruggles of Roxbury and Martha Woodbridge, who was a granddaughter of Governor

Thomas Dudley Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...

. He graduated from Harvard in 1732; studied law, and established himself in practice in Rochester. In 1735, he married Mrs. Bathsheba Newcomb, widow of William Newcomb and the daughter of the Hon. Melatiah Bourne of

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. Histor ...

. He was a military officer during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 1758.

Stamp Act

He served multiple terms in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

and was its speaker from 1762 to 1764. He participated in the October 1765

as a representative of the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...

and was elected its president. Called to devise a common colonial response to the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

's 1765 Stamp Act, Ruggles refused to sign both the

Declaration of Rights and Grievances In response to the Stamp and Tea Acts, the Declaration of Rights and Grievances was a document written by the Stamp Act Congress and passed on October 14, 1765. American colonists opposed the acts because they were passed without the consideration ...

sent by the Congress to King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

and the accompanying petitions sent to both Houses of Parliament. That made him become publicly censured by the General Court. He subsequently became one of the leading

Tories A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The T ...

of New England. He commanded the Loyal American Association and was a Mandamus Councillor appointed by General Gage in Boston. The Loyal American Association vowed the following: * Avoid submitting to rebellious assembly. * Enforce obedience to the King. * Defend one another if imperiled by unlawful assembly. * Repel force with force. * Use retaliation if any member or property was injured.

Nova Scotia

From the outset of the

in 1775, he stood with the

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

, left Boston soon thereafter for

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

with the British troops, and accompanied Lord Howe to

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

. His estates were confiscated, and he was named in the Massachusetts Banishment Act. In 1779, he received a grant of 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land in Wilmot,

, where he settled.

Family and later life

Ruggles left his daughter,

Bathsheba Spooner Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner (February 15, 1746 – July 2, 1778) was the first woman in American history to be executed following the Declaration of Independence. The daughter of prominent Loyalist brigadier general and jurist Timothy Ruggles, B ...

, behind in Massachusetts. On July 2, 1778, she became the first woman executed in the newly independent United States of America. She was hanged while five months pregnant for the crime of plotting, with a 17-year-old Continental Army soldier with whom she was having an affair and whose child she can be presumed to have been carrying, and two British soldiers, who had deserted the British Army, after the death of her husband Joshua Spooner, who was savagely beaten and dumped in a well. Three of Ruggles' sons, Timothy, John, and Richard, followed him into exile and settled in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, unlike his three daughters and his wife. A grandson, also named Timothy Ruggles, was a political figure in

. Ruggles was bothered by a hernia in later years and in August 1795, on the occasion of a visit by guests while he was taking them on a tour of his garden, he aggravated his poor health. Four days later, he died. He was buried on the eastward side of the Old Trinity Church of which he had been a major financial contributor in Middleton, Nova Scotia. A monument was later erected to his memory by his great-granddaughter, Eliza Bayard West. Ruggles has been described as a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

for most of his life. It was noted that "he drank nothing stronger than a small beer & was almost a vegetarian in a society in which gluttony was the one universal excess."Lee, Helen Bourne Joy. (1972). ''The Bourne Genealogy''. Pequot Press. p. 29

Early life

Stamp Act

Nova Scotia

Family and later life

See also

Notes

Further reading