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John A. Ratcliffe (1800 - abt. 1854)

John A. Ratcliffe
Born in Henrico, Virginia, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 54 [location unknown]
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Ratcliffe private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 19 Mar 2020
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Contents

Biography

Research Note

John A. Ratcliff was most likely the son of John Ratcliff and Sarah Bates. Evidence for this is provided in the personal letter of one of his descendants, George Ratcliffe. This letter is in the possession of Michael Ratcliffe (Ratcliffe-946). Additional evidence is provided in Michael Ratcliffe's research notes which are included below.

Possible Conflation

Various online family tree and ancestries at FamilySearch and Ancestry.com incorrectly list the John Ratcliff (Ratliff) born about 1800 in Virginia who married Nancy Snider and resided in Greenville, Darke Co., Ohio in 1840 as the son of John Ratcliff and Sarah Bates. A thorough search has produced no evidence to prove this relationship.

John A. Ratcliffe was born in 1800 and passed away in 1850.

Sources

Compiled Research

Notes on John A. Ratcliffe by Michael Ratcliffe

John Gordon Ratcliffe

I’ll start with John Gordon Ratcliffe, from whom I am descended through his son, George W. Ratcliffe (my great-grandfather), and George’s son, Harry E. Ratcliffe (my grandfather). John G. Ratcliffe married Mary Townsend in 1848. John and Mary are listed in the 1850 Census as living in Wheeling, VA with Dr. Thomas Townsend (surgeon).

Family histories list John as having had a brother named Lycurgus who was a conductor. Lycurgus is listed in the 1850 Census as the son of John A. and Harriett Ratcliff, in Wheeling, VA.

John listed his birthplace as York County, Virginia, on his Civil War enlistment (13th Kansas Infantry, Company G). Census records list his birthplace as Virginia.

From John G. Ratcliffe’s Civil War Pension File:

Details on life: Moved to Smyrna, Ohio in 1837. A year or two later, moved to Harrison County, Ohio on the Stillwater River. Also lived near Bethany and then in Wellsburg, Brooks County, Virginia. Notes that his father worked at butchering in Wellsburg for two years. Father then rented a farm at Beach Bottom on the Ohio River some four miles below Wellsburg. We lived there one year and moved to Wheeling. We lived there until 1856 when we moved to some twenty miles from Marysville [Kansas. John and Mary Ratcliffe were part of the Ohio Town Company, a group of Quaker abolitionists, which formed in Cadiz, Ohio, for the purpose of settling in Kansas. The Ohio Town Company settled on lands in Marshall County, Kansas, forming the town of Barrett (named after the group’s leader, Albert Barrett), south of the current city of Frankfort.]

1827-1837: Skimino, York County, VA 1837-1838/39: Smyrna, OH (probably on grandfather’s farm) 1838/39: Harrison County, OH 1840s-1847/48: Bethany, VA; Wellsburg, VA 1847/48-1849/1850: Beach Bottom, VA 1849/1850-1856: Wheeling

Based on this information and deeds from York County indicating that John A. and Harriett Ratcliff sold household goods in 1837 to pay debts and then disappear from York County tax records, I reached the conclusion that John G. Ratcliffe’s parents were John A. and Harriett Ratcliff. Further, the first name Lycurgus, appears among descendants of John G. Ratcliffe, as does Montford, which I’ve assumed comes from Augustus Montford, who was listed in the household of John A. and Harriett Ratcliff in 1850 (though, uncertain if Montford is a middle name or last name).

I also have a copy of a letter, passed down in family history files from my grandfather’s brother through my grandfather and father to me, that appears to be written to my great-grandfather, George. The author of the letter, however, is not known. The text of the letter is as follows (I have corrected spelling errors and cleaned up a bit of the grammar):

“George, this is the best that I can do. My Grand Fathers Ratcliff given name was John He was a Quaker and lived in Smyrna, Ohio. My Uncle Ben lived in Guernsey County and Uncle William lived close to Flushing. They both had families of boys and girls but I did not know their names. Uncle Josiah I never saw; he died before Father moved to Ohio. They were all Quakers. My Aunt Elizabeth married Amos Hibbs, a cabinet maker. They lived in Smyrna and my Aunt Sarah married a man by the name of Holloway. They were Quakers. I think that Grandfather died in Smyrna. Uncle Josiah had two children, a girl and a boy Robert Ratcliff was educated for a school teacher and when a man went to Miss[ouri?] and Martha cousin Martha married Wm. Hibbs. I had a cousin Wm. Ratcliff that lived east of Smyrna. He had a son they called Isaac and he had two or three girls. Mothers people most all died in Virginia. Aunt Ann, Mother’s sister, died in Wheeling and I did not know any of your mother’s people but her uncle Dr. Townsend who lived and died in Wheeling. Yes, she had an uncle William he lived in Cincinnati. All of the Ratcliffs that were kin to me were Quakers and lived in Ohio.”

Based on the text of this letter, with the assumption that it is written to my great-grandfather, George Ratcliffe, from a relative (perhaps one of the children of John A. and Harriett Ratcliffe), I made the connection between John A. Ratcliffe and John and Sarah Jordan Bates Ratcliff. However, because there is uncertainty about the identity of the author as well as uncertainty about the author’s connection to George, it is not definitive as a source connecting John A to John and Sarah. There is room for doubt and a need for more conclusive evidence.

John Ratcliffes in the York County in the Late-1700s

There were multiple John Ratcliffs/Ratcliffes in York County in the late-1700s.

York County, Virginia tax records for at least 1782 through 1794 list a John Ratcliffe who owned 200 to 210 acres. John appears to have died around 1794 or 1795. York County tax records list a “John Ratcliffe estate” encompassing 200 acres starting in 1795. Tax records also mention that 37 acres were acquired by the John Ratcliffe estate from James Bates. Since John Ratcliff, son of William and Elizabeth Harrison Ratcliff and husband of Sarah Jordan Bates Ratcliff, was only 16 years old when this range of years begins, it is unlikely that he is the John Ratcliffe who owned 200+ acres. It is possible, though, that they were somehow related.

The John Ratcliff, owner of 200+ acres, lists his wife, Mary, and son, Robert, in his will, dated December 23, 1786. He names his wife, Mary, son Robert, and friend Benjamin Bates as executors. It is of note that, in his will, he states, “my desire is that all my sons that may be living and under age at my death be brought up to some honest and substantial trade and that they and each of them may have the liberty of choosing masters and occupations provided the said choices be not a relation, either by father or mother, which I particularly desire they nor either of them may not be put or bound unto.” Was there a falling out between John and his relatives? The wording of the will suggests that he had at least one other son besides Robert; perhaps two.

There is a John Ratcliffe, son of Richard Ratcliffe and Elizabeth Hollowell Ratcliffe, born June 16, 1706 in York County. Both Richard and Elizabeth were Quakers.

York County tax records for 1795 also list William Ratcliff as owning 50 acres; John Ratcliff, Quaker, owning 90 acres; and Robert Ratcliff, Quaker, owning 56 acres.

John Ratcliff (husband of Sarah Jordan Bates Ratcliff)

1826: Henrico Monthly Meeting records (source: Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy) list John and children, Sarah J., Hannah B., Elizabeth, William, and Benjamin B., granted certificate to Short Creek Monthly Meeting, Ohio (about to remove)

1830 Census, Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio: lists John Ratcliff as head of household containing one male, age 5-10; two males, ages 20-30; one male, age 60-70; three females, ages 20-30. [This appears to be consistent with the household of John Ratcliff, husband of Sarah Jordan Bates Ratcliff. Henrico Monthly Meeting records list Josiah Ratcliff (likely, the son of John and Sarah Jordan Bates) and an infant child granted certificate to Short Creek Meeting in 1827. Is it possible he was living with his father and siblings in Harrison County in 1830? He would have been 33 or 34 in 1830, which isn’t consistent with the household record for the census, but information recorded in the census is not always correct].

References to John A. Ratcliffe

1820: Henrico Monthly Meeting records (source: Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy) list John A. Ratcliff, of Skimino Preparative Meeting, disowned for marrying out of unity.

1822: York County records list that John Ratcliffe, of James City County, sold 152 acres to John A. Ratcliffe for $600. Records also note that John Ratcliffe (James City County) received 152 acres from the Benjamin Waller estate by deed.

1826: John A. Ratcliffe listed in the York County deed book, with wife Harriett, as owner of a 152-acre parcel. Date: October 1, 1826. York County records also note that John A. and Harriett Ratcliffe owe Benjamin Waller $600.

1828: John A. Ratcliffe listed as a witness in deed signed by Josiah Ratcliffe, March 17, 1828.

1830 Census: John A. Ratcliff listed as head of household containing two free White males under 5 years, one free White male, age 20-30 (himself), two white females under 5 years of age, one free white female age 30-40 (likely, Harriett), five slaves, and one free colored person. [My assumption is that the slaves were Harriett’s since John had been raised Quaker, but Harriett was not.]

1837: John A. Ratcliffe named in deed to sell household goods to pay $37.50 debt owed to Richard Coke and Robert Waller. Date: February 27, 1837.

Other Ratcliffs/Ratcliffes:

1817: Short Creek Monthly Meeting records (source: Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy), Mary [Bates] Ratcliffe (wife of William, deceased) and children, Elizabeth, Hannah, Fleming, and William, received from Weyanoke Monthly Meeting, Virginia, May 3, 1817.

1834: Short Creek Monthly Meeting records (source: Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy) list Elizabeth Ratcliff married Amos Hibbs, August 28, 1834.

  • Personal family history records and files
  • Hinshaw, William Wade, and Thomas Worth Marshall, (1936) Encyclopedia of American Quaker genealogy Ann Arbor, Mich: [Edwards Bros] online book (pp. 155,209).




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree: It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John:

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