1997 Ruffner Family Reunion
Luray, Virginia

It had been two hundred and fifty-eight years since Peter Ruffner and his new bride Mary Steinman journeyed from her parent's home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and homesteaded on the Hawksbill Creek in the Valley of Virginia. Their destination was land given to them by her father.  On June 6th, 1997 one hundred and forty-five descendants of Peter and Mary honored them by returning to the ancestral homestead which is now the beautiful town of Luray, Virginia.

Three days of events had been well planned by our Chairman Douglas Ruffner from Inola, Oklahoma and his Committee.  Registration and Hospitality welcomed us to our headquarters motel, the Ramada Inn, just a short two miles from the original Ruffner Farm where our monument to Peter and Mary was being installed by Heritage Memorials of Harrisonburg.  Under the chairmanship of Cousin Joan Ruffner Reid from Columbus, Ohio, the registration ran smoothly and we all renewed our many contacts from the Charleston Reunion and made many new ones.  Connecting with Cousins became infectious as we met the faces that went with so many of the names in the Ruffner Book.  Honored guest was Doris Ruffner, co-author of those two volumes that were the inspiration for our being together.

A nice gift from the committee was a pin attached to our name badges that was the Ruffner Family Crest whose roots go back to the Ruffners of Maienfeld, Switzerland.  It is the same crest shown on the mast head of this newsletter.   Cousins shared genealogy charts, information and photos which kept our copy machine busy.  A sales table of books on Luray and the Ruffners quickly sold out.

We closed out our first day with a special evening of research at the Page County Public Library hosted by Librarians, Vickie Cyphert and Debbie Owens.  They very graciously made available to us the records in their genealogy collection that pertained to the Ruffners.  Our committee was able to index the records in the "Ruffner Collection" that is housed there.  The collection contains the research and correspondence generated by Olive and Doris Ruffner when they edited the Ruffner books.

Saturday we boarded our buses for a delightful and exciting exploration of the Hawksbill Valley and the Ruffner Family Historical Sites.  Guided by the "local experts," Barbara Ruffner Kibler and Gary Bauserman, we toured  (1) the Willow Grove Mill on the land of Joseph Ruffner before he took his family to the Kanawha River Valley in 1795;  (2)  we were welcomed by Louise Ruffner to the John & Nancy Bumgardner Ruffner home on the South fork of the Shenandoah River and childhood home of Barbara Kibler;  (3)  "Fort Stover" historic home built by Samuel Stover on Peter Ruffner land;  (4)  we toured the log cabin built by Reuben Ruffner before he departed for Kentucky about 1789 with his wife Catherine.   (5)  we climbed through the fascinating construction of "Fort Egypt" built by Joseph Strickler in 1758 which became the home of the Stover family;  (6)  we toured the beautifully preserved Historic Mauck Meeting House where the Ruffners, Stricklers and Stovers worshipped in 1798 and we toured (7)  the museum of the Page County Heritage Association in the historic Barbee House.

Our buses also drove by:  The Massanutten Monument; Fort Rhoads, site of the Rhoads family massacre in 1764; the home of Benjamin Ruffner, Sr.; the home of Mark Ruffner at Marksville and the site of Emanuel Ruffner's homestead.  We all met at the famous Luray Caverns for tours and lunch.  The caverns, part of what was first called "Ruffner Cave" are on the original Peter Ruffner land.

Our second day concluded with the traditional Ruffner Family Banquet held at the Ramada Inn.  Following a delightful reception gathered around the wall-size Ruffner Genealogy Chart we were treated to a Southern Buffet.  Our program was hosted by Cousin Melissa Ruffner Moore of Prescott, Arizona.  With a tribute to her father, Budge Ruffner, organizer of our Illinois and Arizona Reunions, who passed away in 1996, she honored all the cousins who had volunteered their time to produce our four reunions, especially this one on the original Ruffner homestead.  A special ovation was given to our chairman, Doug Ruffner.

Highlight of the banquet was our visit by "Dr. Henry Ruffner" in the person of Garrett Jeter of Charleston, West Virginia.  Dressed in period attire he delivered the historic speech that Ruffner gave in 1847 before the Franklin Society and was later published in what is known as the Ruffner Pamphlet.  As Jeter demonstrated, our ancestor was among the earliest who spelled out the destructive nature of slavery, both morally and economically.   Our evening concluded with remarks by James Ruffner of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan and son of Olive Ruffner, co-author of "Peter Ruffner and His Descendants."

Sunday, June 8, began with the dedication of the Monument to Peter and Mary (Steinman) Ruffner at the Ruffner Family Burial Ground on their original homestead in Luray.  With Bob Sheets officiating, tribute was paid to our ancestors who from that site began the family that was gathered in their memory.  He gave special thanks to Cousin Fred Ruffner who made the initial contribution that enabled the monument to be erected.  The monument made from Georgia Gray Granite was inscribed, "Peter Ruffner, 1713-1778 and Mary Steinman Ruffner, 1714-1798.  On this site are buried these ancestors of the Ruffner Family in America who homesteaded here on the Hawksbill Creek in 1739 at this place they called "Big Spring."  Peter, born in the Upper Rhein Valley, immigrated to America in 1731, married in 1739 Mary Steinman in Lancaster, PA, daughter of Joseph, holder of the Hawksbill Patent of land from Stony Man to the Shenandoah River.  Here were born their children, Joseph 1740, Benjamin, Sr. 1742, Catherine 1744, Peter, Jr. 1746, Reuben 1748, Tobias 1752, Elizabeth 1755 and Emanuel 1757.  To honor their memory, this monument was erected by their descendants who gathered here to celebrate their common heritage.  June 8, 1997."

The Monument, shaded by ancient trees planted long ago now marks the first family burial ground in view of the Historic Ruffner House Inn.  Representative members of the various branches of the Ruffner Family took part in the unveiling of the monument followed by Shirley Ann Sheets of Denver, Colorado, placing a symbolic arrangement of Pine boughs from the East Coast and sheafs of wheat from the West Coast representing the national union of the Ruffner descendants.  A dedication sermon was delivered by the Rev. Paul Mishler and the benediction by our cousin, Rev. Dorotha Russell of Mahomet, Illinois.

Descending the burial hill we left the old homestead to attend a Ruffner Memorial Service at the Big Spring Mennonite Church with Rev. Mishler officiating.  We then journeyed out to Arrowhead Lake Park for a grand finale of our reunion at a Ruffner Family Picnic hosted by Barbara Kibler and our "local cousins."   To the sounds of authentic Shenandoah Valley music we took part in an old fashioned feast  and the memories of a Ruffner family gathering two hundred years ago.  Auctioneer Melissa Moore led our traditional family auction to raise funds for the reunion.  Bob Sheets
announced that The Ruffner Family Association had been launched with the creation of an organizing committee to be incorporated by the next Reunion in 1999 at Lancaster, Ohio.  Reunion Chairman is Roberta Kirwin of Lancaster, Ohio.  Closing remarks were by Chairman Doug Ruffner followed by tributes from Fred Ruffner, to the committee and all who made the Luray Reunion a success.  We parted in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains as the sun set over the historic Shenandoah Valley with a pledge to keep alive the Family of Ruffner in America.

Many of you may have heard about the dramatic events that happened before we all departed Luray.  Returning to the Ramada Inn we met with Tom Weinstein whose family owns the Virginia Oak Tannery and the Ruffner House B&B.  He generously offered to take us on a guided tour of the House but when we arrived we were accosted by the current managers of the Inn with threatening remarks to "leave the property at once."  We were told that the police had been called and were on their way.  It seems that the Weinsteins had long been dealing with this unhappy situation and it irrupted during our reunion.   Many of you had encountered the rude managers when you had asked to see the house.  But for the seriousness of the situation - a la, a Felinni type movie - the comical scene was something we will never forget.  Four car loads of Ruffner descendants unloading on the lawn of their ancestors with high anticipation and a preponderance of gray hair, met by two screaming, out of control Inn Keepers, (needing a good shot of valium)  and a patrol car of baffled but amused policemen.  The upshot of the encounter is that we left without our tour and the Inn Keepers lost their lease.  It is our continued association with the kindness and generosity of the Weinstein Family that is the memory to last longer than any we might have of the "Battle at Ruffner Spring."

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