Lewis Rue, Philadelphia waterman, 1755-
September 22, 1773
The Pennsylvania Gazette
 Philadelphia, September 20, 1773.

FOUR DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the subscriber, shoemaker, living in Water street, near the Old Ferry, an apprentice boy, named LEWIS RUE, he formerly lived with a barber and hairdresser, 17 years old, 5 feet 4 inches high, fair complexion, light straight hair; he is supposed to be harbouring about his mother, or some other person, near Neshaminey; had on, when he went away, a brown broadcloth coat and jacket, with gilt buttons, black stocking breeches, thread stockings, old shoes, metal buckles, check shirt, and good beaver hat. Whoever takes up the said lad, so that his master may get him again, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by ANTHONY WRIGHT.
***All masters of vessels are forbid to take him off, or any body from harbouring him in their houses, at their peril.

Lewis Rue
The runaway apprentice shoemaker described in the newspaper advertisement to the right appears to be the same person as described elsewhere as the son of Matthew Rue (d. ante 1770) and Mary Town Rue.
One might presume, by the way, that the aforesaid ad was quite likely written by the editor and publisher of that renowned publication: B. Franklin, printer, who himself ran away from an apprenticeship at about the same age.
This 18th century equivalent of a milk-carton ad leaves the impression that the boy's mother was alone in 1773, wherein it states, "...he is supposed to be harbouring about his mother, or some other person," and there is no mention of a father. Whether Lewis was reunited with his master before the Revolution broke out is unknown. Four years later, Lt. Anthony Wright was publishing similar advertisments in the Gazette looking for deserters from the American military, such as one in the December 17, 1777 edition of the Gazette looking for a William Floyd, age 35.
Information at Bucks County Orphan's Court, file #504, cited by Bill Utermohlen in his work in progress, The Bucks County Rue Family, shows that Lewis was born about 1755 to Matthew Rue and Mary Towne, which is consistent with the age noted in the newspaper ad. Mr. Utermholen notes that Lewis Rue (son of Matthew and Mary) would be described later in his life as a waterman and a cordwainer.
Lewis then joined the fight against England, where his brother Benjamin was already a prominent officer in the Navy of Pennsylvania. Pvt. Lewis Rue appears on muster rolls of 10 Sept. 1775 of the Light Infantry Associated Co., Bristol; in 1780, with Lt. John Quandrill's company; on 24 April and 2 July 1781 with the same outfit, described as "Light Horse." He was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1781.
Lewis Rue later married, and on 2 June 1792 obtained a divorce from Christianna Taylor, according to a digital file received from Bill Utermohlen. She was assigned John Grant to act as her Trustee in the divorce proceeding with Lewis. Utermohlen states:

On 20 Apr 1787, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania let to Lewis Rue of Chester County "the meadow upon Mud Island in the River Delaware and the house thereupon" for seven years at a rent of £15 the first year and £30 for each year thereafter (Phila. Co. LR D-18:335). Rue was also to have "the use and benefit of the wharves on said Island and the Fisheries," as well as "the Common use of the wharf belonging to the State on State Island for the purposes of going and returning to Mud Island." Rue was promised £100 for purposes of repairing the facilities on Mud Island. The monies appropriated were to be spent "first to under pinning the house next to the Wharf and doing such repairs to the wall at the north Corner as are Essentially Necessary and then to such other repairs of the Buildings there as may be agreed upon."
Utermohlen continues:

On 22 Nov 1738 and 4 Apr 1741, Matthew Rue is mentioned as a Justice of the Peace for Bucks County and, on 17 Dec 1745, he is described as Chief Burgess of Bristol (Pennsylvania Archives 2:9).

Matthew Rue made his will on 2 Jul 1770, at which time he was of Middletown township. To his wife Mary he left his "Negro Wench Teena," the use of the new part of the house, both "below & up stairs," as well as use of the cellar, and an annual stipend of £10 plus:

'Ten Bushels of Wheat, One Side of Beef, a fatt Hogg & the Use of two Cows with pasturing & Hay sufficient to keep them. I likewise give her her firewood to be cutt & delivered at her door And as much Indian Corn & Buckwheat as will be necessary for her Family use.'

This bequest was to be in lieu of Mary's dower. Matthew left his daughter Mary Case and her daughter the house in which Mary then lived in Trenton. He left a separate bequest to Mary's five sons. Matthew's daughter Catharine was left 100 acres "off the West End of the Plantation she now lives on." The remainder of that tract went to Benjamin and Lewis, sons of Matthew's son Matthew, the two grandsons to pay £40 to their sister Catharine. Their mother, the widow of Matthew's son Matthew was to receive the rents and profits of the land until the boys arrived at the age of 21 years. Matthew also made bequests to his granddaughter Mary Ramsey (another surname is stricken, but I can't read it on my copy), his granddaughter Rebecka, eldest daughter of Benjamin Town, his grandson Mathew Rue, son of his son Richard Rue (provided he lives to be of age and a farmer), and the children of his son Lewis Rue, deceased. The remainder of his estate, Matthew left to his son Richard Rue, naming Richard and a friend, John Bessonett, as executors (Bucks Co. est #1288).
Most, if not all, of Matthew's children must have been by his wife Catherine, who was alive at least until Matthew was in his late 40s. Francis Bazley Lee's Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey, p. 523 (1910), says that his second wife Mary "was probably a second spouse, and a sister of Benjamine Towne who married his eldest daughter." While Lee was clearly right about Mary being Matthew's second wife, he appears to be wrong in identifying her as a sister of Benjamin Town.
Lee's conjecture was probably based on two wills: (1) Matthew's, which mentions a daughter Catherine (proven by land records to be Catherine Town) and granddaughter Rebecka, the child of Benjamin Town, and (2) that of Deborah Town of Bristol township (dated 20 Jul 1771), which mentions her brother Benjamin Town, sister-in-law Catherine Town and sister Mary Rue, as well as Catharine Rue, daughter of her sister Mary Rue (Bucks Co. est. #1314). The sister Mary Rue mentioned in Deborah's will, however, could not have been the elder Matthew's spouse, since Mary Rue is mentioned as having a daughter Catherine Rue and Matthew's daughter Catherine was then married to Benjamin Town and is, indeed, mentioned by her married name in Deborah's will. The Mary Rue who had a daughter Catherine must be the otherwise unnamed spouse of Matthew's deceased son Matthew, who is shown by the elder Matthew's will to have had a daughter Catherine.
During the American Revolution and thereafter, Mud Island in the Delaware River was home to Lewis Rue and housed Fort Mifflin which protected Philadelphia from attack by English warships. As the owner of Mud Island, it is not surprising that Lewis spent time navigating the waters of the river which bounded his home. Thompson Westcott (1857), in The life of John Fitch, Inventer of the Steam Boat (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., chapter 17), indicates:

Lewis Rue and John Shaffer gave a certificate that on Saturday, the 5th of June, 1790, they left Philadelphia in the steam­boat about four o'clock in the morning, and went to Trenton Landing, and to Lambertville, fifteen miles above Trenton. They returned to Philadelphia by half­past five o'clock in the afternoon. They stopped one hour at Lambertville and other places. The current was against them eight or nine miles before they reached Lambertville. There was a fresh wind against them all the way on their return, and the tide was against them for seven or eight miles before reaching Philadelphia. The space passed over by the boat in twelve hours and a half was ninety miles, and the speed was, on the average, seven miles and a half an hour. Probably with the tide, on the upward passage, it was nine or ten miles an hour...
This Lewis is the brother of Capt. Benj. Rue, who was awarded a military pension and whose obituary appeared on September 6, 1823 in the The Western Star & Lebanon Gazette of Lebanon, Ohio.
Utermoholen also offers the following data concerning Lewis Rue:
21. Lewis Rue
Lewis4, the son of Matthew3 (Matthew2-1) Rue, was born after 13 Jun 1753, as he was not yet 21 on that date in 1774 when he asked the Bucks Co. Orphans' Court to appoint his brother Benjamin his guardian for purposes to take care of the property left him by his grandfather Matthew (Bucks Co. O.C. #504). Lewis Rue married Christiana Taylor, the daughter of John Taylor. They had at least two grown children by 19 Apr 1806.
Lewis was probably the private Lewis Rue in Major McIlvain's Company of Bristol township, Bucks County on 9 Oct 1775 (the same company in which Benjamin Rue served). Lewis was definitely of Bristol township on 28 Jul 1777 when he conveyed a 50 acre tract there to his brother Benjamin and also resided there when he corrected the deed on 4 May 1779 (Bucks Co. LR 29:55).
The 1779 tax list for Tinicum Island in the Delaware River, then part of Ridley township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, but after 1789 part of Delaware County, shows a Benjamin and Lewis Rue. Lewis was taxed on 70 acres. Two Lewis Rues appear in the 1780 Ridley tax list. Lewis Rue was among the residents of Tinicum who petitioned in May 1780 for the island to be set off as a separate township. He does not appear in taxlists for Tinicum later in the 1780s.
On 20 Apr 1787, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania let to Lewis Rue of Chester County "the meadow upon Mud Island in the River Delaware and the house thereupon" for seven years at a rent of œ15 the first year and œ30 for each year thereafter (Phila. Co. LR D- 18:335). Rue was also to have "the use and benefit of the wharves on said Island and the Fisheries," as well as "the Common use of the wharf belonging to the State on State Island for the purposes of going and returning to Mud Island." Rue was promised œ100 for purposes of repairing the facilities on Mud Island. The monies appropriated were to be spent "first to under pinning the house next to the Wharf and doing such repairs to the wall at the north Corner as are Essentially Necessary and then to such other repairs of the Buildings there as may be agreed upon."
On 2 Jun 1792, Lewis Rue agreed with his wife Christiana and her trustee, John Grantham, "on account of sundry unhappy differences between them" that they should separate and live apart from one another and that Christiana should hold her own property as if she were single, Lewis Rue to be free from any charge for maintenance and to be indemnified from her debts and contracts (Del. Co. LR A:510).
Lewis and Christiana were still husband and wife when her father died in late 1804 and they together executed the various deeds by which the three surviving daughters settled with Benjamin Rue and his two children and then divided the remaining property of John Taylor (Del. Co. LR H:87, 93, 478, 481, 485). They also joined in disposing of Christiana's inheritance. On 24 Mar 1806, they and the other heirs of John Taylor sold 30 acres of drained meadow to George Weed for $2800 (H:563). On 19 Apr 1806, Lewis and Christiana sold Thomas Smith most of Christiana's property on Tinicum for $5,500 (H:556). Christiana sold a final small piece of land without Lewis's participation on 16 Apr 1808, after her removal to Ohio, to Jeremiah Reeder for $700 (Del. Co. LR I:205). The grantee and Christiana's nephew Lewis apparently went back to Pennsylvania and recorded this deed, Lewis swearing to the authenticity of Christiana's signature. Reeder immediately sold the land for the same consideration.
Lewis's participation in these transactions was presumably necessary, regardless of the 1792 agreement, in order to assure the buyers and other heirs that he would not assert rights of curtesy and perhaps due to uncertainty over Christiana's right to contract on her own behalf. Their joint participation cannot, therefore, be considered evidence of a reconciliation, although either the continued efficacy of the 1792 agreement was doubtful or Lewis got greedy and had to be bought off, because Christiana and Lewis executed another separation agreement on 19 Apr 1806, this time with their son Thomas Rue acting on behalf of Christiana (Del. Co. LR H:540 & 542). Lewis was paid $500 under this agreement to renounce any interest in his wife's property. Lewis was called a "waterman" of Tinicum on 3 Dec 1804, when the first round of these documents was executed, but a "cordwainer" of the same place by 11 Dec 1805.
Shortly after the last of these transactions, Christiana departed for Ohio with her sons Thomas and Benjamin Rue, Jr. and her probable daughter Rebecca. By 28 Jun 1806, she and her sons were "of Warren Co., Ohio" when they purchased the southeast quarter (160 acres) of section 6 in Sycamore township, Hamilton Co., Ohio (abstract Hamilton Co., LR G-1:91). They were still of Warren County on 24 Jul 1806 when all three purchased 50 acres in section 23 of Columbia township, Hamilton Co., including an island in the Little Miami River and property known as "Covalt's Station" (abs. Hamilton Co. LR G:155). That same day, Rebecca married Daniel F. Reeder. Only two days later, Christiana was called a resident of Hamilton Co. when she bought part of Lot #69 in Lebanon, Warren County (Warren Co. LR 1:286). Three days later she bought a four acre lot in the west half of sec. 6, township 4, Warren Co. (Warren Co. LR 1:288). Christiana recorded another copy of her separation agreement with Lewis Rue at Cincinnati in the land records of Hamilton Co. on 16 Oct 1806 (LR D-1:246).
Lewis's whereabouts after the date of the 1806 separation agreement are unclear, although a Lewis Rue bought four lots in the west half of sec. 6, township 4, Warren County, Ohio and 150 acres in sec. 9 of that township between 5 Aug 1806 and 10 Sep 1806 (Warren Co. LR 1:286, 1:287 & 2:366). At least one of these lots was adjacent to land Christiana Rue bought at the same time (Warren Co. LR 1:288). This Lewis Rue could have been Benjamin's son by that name, who was then of age and is known to have gone to Ohio by 1808. In any event, Lewis Rue lost all this land, plus Lot #105 in the town of Lebanon, on 1 Jun 1809 pursuant to a sheriff's sale enforcing judgments obtained in January 1808 by Samuel M. Cray and Ichabod Corwin against Lewis Rue and Samuel Clinton and by Robert Benham against Lewis Rue and William Ferguson (Warren Co. LR 2:404). Each of these judgment creditors had sold Lewis part of the land he purchased in 1806 and I would guess that the land was purchased on credit, that Lewis was unable to make the payments and that Clinton and Ferguson served as his sureties when he was sued on the debt.
On 21 Nov 1808, Christiana, Thomas and Benjamin sold their 160 acres in Sycamore township (abs. Hamilton Co. LR I:41), but the transaction appears not to have been consummated, as they sold the same property on 10 Mar 1810 to Archibald Job of Virginia (Hamilton Co. LR H:425). Job reconveyed to "Christiana Rue & Sons" on 3 Apr 1810, which is the only record in which there is a clear reference to Benjamin as her son (abs. Hamilton Co. LR E-1:73). This property apparently was lost at a sheriff's sale (abs. Hamilton Co. LR K:247).
Christiana was a resident of Columbia township, Hamilton Co. between 1808 (perhaps 1806) and 1810, but was again of Warren Co. on 22 Jul 1814, when she sold Daniel F. Reeder her 4 acre lot in section 6, township 4 (Warren Co. LR __:421). On 25 Sep 1816, when she gave her son Thomas Rue a power of attorney, she was also described as a Warren Co. resident, although the deed was acknowledged in Mason Co., Kentucky (abs. Hamilton Co. LR R-2:320). By 1 Jan 1817, when she sold a lot in Lebanon, Warren Co. to Daniel F. Reeder, she was called "of Mason Co., Kentucky" (Warren Co. LR 6:428). The last two references to Christiana, on 20 Dec 1817 and 9 Apr 1819, describe her as a resident of Montgomery Co., Ohio, where her son Thomas appears to have removed.
Christiana's son Thomas appears to have promoted a town called Ziegler in Columbia township, which he had platted on 19 Apr 1817 as her agent (abs. Hamilton Co. LR R-1:43). Christiana's role as principal is puzzling as she had sold her one-third interest in the 50 acre Covalt's Station tract on 18 May 1810 to John Bell (abs. Hamilton Co. LR I:249). Benjamin Rue had sold his interest in the property to Thomas by deed of 1 Mar 1810 (abs. Hamilton Co. LR I:42). Several lots in Ziegler were sold off between 9 Aug 1817 and 9 Apr 1819 (abs. Hamilton Co. LR R-1:123, R-2:319, V-1:433, R- 2:320).
Most of the information presented here about Lewis and Christiana Rue in Ohio was received from Mrs. Helen Tucker of Seattle, a descendant of Benjamin T. Rue. Mrs. Tucker commissioned some research in the Hamilton Co. records by Adele Blanton. Ms. Blanton reviewed the Hamilton Co. land records to 1836 and the probate records to 1884. It seems safe to assign Rebecca Rue to this family, since the children of Lewis's brother Benjamin by his first marriage are known and the children by his second marriage would have been too young to marry in 1806.

Children:
i. Thomas Rue5
b. bef 19 Apr 1785 (of age 1806)
m. bef 10 Mch 1810 to Hannah Larzelere, dau of Nicholas of Dayton, Montgomery Co., Ohio 8 Jul 1824
ii. Benjamin T. Rue, b. bef 28 Jun 1785 (of age 1806)
m1 13 Dec 1806 Clermont Co, Ohio to Martha Yates
m2 17 Sep 1820 Fayette Co, Indiana to Betsy Blood
in Fayette Co, Ind 27 Feb & 13 Jul 1822 in Woodford Co, Ky 4 Dec 1822
in Louisville, Ky late 1820s or 1830s
in Lafayette Co, Wisconsin 1850
iii. Rebecca Rue, m. 24 Jul 1806, Warren Co, Ohio to Daniel F. Reeder
[Reeder bought Lot #119 in Lebanon from Christiana Rue on 1 Jan 1817 (Warren Co. LR 6:428) and sold the south half of the lot on 7 Aug 1817 (7:286); Reeder loaned $300 to John Randall in 1814, for which he gave his release on 28 Nov 1817, the money having been paid (7:291); he sold several tracts of land in Warren Co. in the 1840s by power of attorney or through sheriff's sale (LR 18:141; 25:421, 433 & 644)]



Query

Verifiable information or copies of documents
about any of the individuals named above,
or their ancestors or descendants,
would be most appreciated.


BIBLIOGRAPHY





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