Ruffner Family Association

10/16/2025

Check this out! Someone found John Emanurl Ruffner’s Bible in Heath, Ohio, and pisted it to me in a FaceBook messenger message:

Hi there! I purchased an antique New Testament Bible around Heath, Ohio last year. It was mid-nineteenth century. I recently opened it to find the name Mr. John Emmanuel Ruffner. The name was penned beautifully and I had no doubt that it was was from someone educated. I think this may belong to your family.

Thank you for sharing this fabulous family heirloom.

07/17/2025

07/17/2025

Meet cousin George Thomas Marye, Jr., who has the distinction of being one of the last U.S. Ambassadors to Czarist Russia. Appointed by President Woodrow Wilson, George was the US Ambassador to Czarist Russia during World War I.

George is a 5th-generation Ruffner—descending from Peter Jr.
(Peter-1, Peter Jr.-2, Mary Elizabeth-3, George Thomas Marye-4)—and was born on December 13, 1846, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Before his Ambassadorship, Georgewas a top-of-his-class law grad from Cambridge, a San Francisco banker, and a man of the world who married Mary Alice Doyle. Together they hosted Red Cross galas, raised five children, and helped refugees during World War I.

George wrote a book called Russia Observed, where he discusses the Romanovs, Rasputin, and the slow-motion train wreck that was imperial Russia.

Can you imagine? Our cousin had a front row seat to the demise of Imperial Russia and he knew the Romanovs

07/16/2025

Check out this obituary of Nancy Elizabeth (Bumgardner) Ruffner, wife of John D. Ruffner. She left 139 descendants! Richmond Times Dispatch, April 8, 1937.