CAMP PRESIDENT 3 ••• Rev. Clarence E. Ratcliff, Mt. Olivet Church, Box 458 Picture taken in 1953. 38 years old. Camp President Rev. Clarence E. Ratcliff Picture taken 1975. RICHARD RATCLIFF of Lancashire, England & Talbot Co., Maryland and his Ancestors and Descendants 1066-1982 by Clarence Earl Ratcliff (#1)463) P. 0. Box 2j.£8 Hinton, W. Va. 2 £9^1 C~M#*\ y- * -•• <^*~ ~ftijAAACcJ^**J£ ~A7*iy> ^yAyuptc,.--: Copyright 1963 XtA_ Ik^jA*-^ \JJ. \A.. by Clarence E. Ratcliff Richard Ratcliff of Lancashire, England & Talbot Co., Ild. and his Ancestors and Descendents 1066- ir INTRODUCTION For a long time the writer has been greatly interested in knowing about his Ratcliff ancestors, but could learn little about them from his own immedi­ ate family. Several years ago he began a systematic search through various gejjdalogical libraries, such as the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. , and the Mew England Historic Genealogical Society's library in Boston, Mass. Bx5*olc stores, such as Goodspeedrs Book Shop in Boston, and the Genealogical y'fiook Company in Baltimore, I-Iaryland, were also visited, to see if Ratcliff genealogies had already been prepared which would shed light upon his partic­ ular branch of the family. All this search was to no avail as he found not one single Ratcliff family history at any of these likely places. At that point it seemed Operative that our family genealogy be written. Then the decision was made to compile all Ratcliff family data that could be found; here "and there. Next I -wrote Rev. Everett N.' Ratcliff (#228U) of Columbus, Ohio, who, I hoped, might be a distant cous:m, which he is, and through him other cousins were located. These cousins graciously shared the family data they already had, and started collecting information from many sources. The combined research brought to light many facts about the family, some long ago forgotten, and many facts neverHffltirm by the present generations. During the summer of 1963, the writer made a trip to Raleigh, M. C,, where he searched through the state records at the Department of Archives and History, then he went to Pittsboro, the county seat of Chatham Co., IVI.C., and went through the county records, then he went to Siler City, and.the area three miles south of there, where the Ratcliff ancestors had lived from 1772~l80lj, while in Chatham Co. he also visited the noted genealogist, Robert H. Hutchison, Following this the writer went on to Guilford (Quaker) College, near Greensboro, IT. C, and searched through the old Quaker records which told much about our Quaker ancestors in N, C, By late 1963, it seemed that enough information had been collected to make a respectable booklet, so this was published that many more cousins could see what had been done, and so they could add any other \ knowledge of the family they possessed, to that already written down, in anti­ cipation of a revised edition sometime in the future. Soon after the first book, JOHN RATCLIFF GENEALOGY, CHATHAM CO. 3 N. C.; \ DESCENDEITTS, 1963,'was published, a copy of the earliest known (unpublished) ^ Ratcliff genealogy, an eight page pamphlet, A SHORT HISTORY OF TIE*RATCLIFF FAMILY, written by John Hoses Ratcliff (#1335) in 1915 (101a) was found by ' Cousin Ollie Clary (-//223W of Londonderry, Ohio, who kindly sent the booklet \ on to the writer for his perusal. Fortunately, this work corroborated in almost every detail the data secured elsewhere by the writer and his diligent ^o-rorkersu Of course, this was very gratifying. \ i. v RATCLIFF GENEALOGY As anticipated, several cousJLns did send in additional family data after they had seen the Ratcliff family book of 1?63, numerous errors were found and were corrected', and a great deal of "additional research was carried on at Columbus, Ohio, Detroit and Lansing, Michigan, as well as at Raleigh, Pittsboro, Siler City, and Guilford (Quaker) College, N. C, as well.as at the Genealogical Library at Salt Lake City, Utah, where the writer spent some days in 1965. In I96I4. the writer made a second trip to N. C.-to search for new data, particularly at Raleigh and Guilford College. With all the" corrections and additions assembled it seemed wise to put out'"a revised edition of the book,, which was accomplished-in late 1965* After the revised edition, RICHARD RATCLIFF of-Lancashire, England, & Talbot Coe, Hairy land, and his Ancestors and Descendents, 119li-1965, an Qh page booklet, was published several new l:Lnes were submitted, several corrections were made, and a great deal of research was carried on. This seemed to indicate a further revision which is being don* by this volume. In the summer'of 1966, the writer visited Swarthmore (Quaker) College at Swarthmore, Penna,, where he checked the records of English Quakers, particularly of our family, then he checked the records in Talbot Co., B$5& Hall of Records in Annapolis, and at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, Maryland, all this to find out as much as possible about the Ratcliff ancestors of early colonial Maryland. This search proved very fruitful as the following records will show, During the writer's stay in Maryland it was his privilege to meet and " have several long conversations with Cousin Reba Hawes (#1001bs) and her son, Dick. Cousin Reba has been doing genealogical research for many years, and was able to tell the writer many inter est ing th:ings about the Rat cliffs of ?Caryland. The most important information she was able to give were the names and birthdates of the children of Richard (#1000) and Maiy (Caterne) Ratcliff. (CousEin Reba is a regional officer of the D. A. R. and is a member of several other patriotic and genealogical societies). While the writer and his son, Donald,'were visiting in Maryland, and doing research on the family records there, Cousin Maybelle Barr (#2§68) was interrupting her tour of Europe to check the family records at the Society of Genealogists and the Public Record Office in London, England. The writer wishes to publicly thank her and Cousin Reba for the help they have given. After this the writer and his son, Donald, searched through the records at the Library of Congress for new information about the family, particularly in England, then he visited Jamestown, Va., where Captain John Ratcliffe was governor so long ago, then they Trent to Kinston, N.C, and saw the area where the family lived from 173M-772, then on'to Raleigh, Pittsboro, Siler City, and Guilford College, for the third time, and again checked through the old records for new information and then on homen It seems right that the writer agaEJn eijqpress his deep gratitude for all the help given by numerous cousins in mak:ing this booklet possible. Spe«ial mention must again be made of the untiring wrrk and continued researoh tfiat has been done by Cousin Ethel (Brown) Ratcliff (#1362) of Columbus, Ohio, and for the sustained interest and many, many sheets of family data submitted by Cousins Ollie (#223U) and Sidney Clary of Londonderry, Ohio. iio RATCLIFF GENEALOGY As mentioned in the 1963 and 196£ editions of the family book, the name Ratcliff has gone through a'series of changes in spelling, beginning, of course, with Talbot, then Rougemont, Routhclyve, RoUthclive, Routheclive/Roucheclive; Rouceclive, Raudeclif, Rauclyffe, Raucliffe, Rawcliffe, Radecliev, Radeclywe, Radeclyve, Radclyve, Radclive; Radeclif,Radeclife; Radclyffe, Radclife, Radclywe, Radclyfe, Radcliff, Radcliffe,-Ratclyfe, Ratclyffe, Ratclyff, ' Ratelife; Ractlyfe, Ratcleife, Ratcleiffe, Ratcleyfe, Ratcleffe, Ratcliffe, Ratcliff, Ratleyfe, Ratliffe, and Ratliff. Probably the name has been spelled other ways, but the writer has not written down the other spellings. (One wonders if these are correct spellings of "anyone rs names, or if most of the odd spellings were not errors in spelling .E) As conjectured in the 1963 and 1965 editions of the Ratcliff Book, it has now been proved that we are of Norman French descent. The old French family name, Talbot, having been dropped'shortly after the Conquest, and the name of the family's home town, Radcliffe, of Lancashire, England, being taken as the 1 family name5 socn after the original :immigrant settler in England* Early immigrants to America include John Sicklemore, commonly known as Captain John Ratcliffe, because his mother's second husband was a Ratcliffe. Capta-in John Ratcliffe sailed the ship "Discovery1' to Jamestown (VirgEinia) in 1607, and later v/as governor of the colony for a short period of time. In 1610 Captain John Ratcliffe was killed by the Indiana under Powhatan, and was buried along the James River. Roger Rat life, age I4I4, and his wife, Anne, age UO, brought their son, Isaac, age nine months"to Plymouth (Mass.) on the ship "George" in 1619, see Hotten's list, pp. 170, 208* Robert "Rat life of Knutsford, England, came to Plymouth (Mass.) on the ship "Anne", arriving 10 July 1623. He was awarded land in one of the first land distributions in that colony. (See the Will of William Mullins, among the Plymouth records.) John Ratcli'ff, probably a descendent of the above Robert, was a bookbinder in Boston in l6673 and had been employed by Bishop Ussher as early as 1638 to make Bibles for the Indians around Boston. Even at that early date John complained of the high cost of materials used in his work I Another early immigrant to America was a Philip Ratcliff, 'who came to Massachusetts, criticized the Puritan'Colony and leaders there, had his ears cropoed, and was sent back to England, where he seems to have worked for some measure of religious toleration—probably for Anglican Church members in the colonies.