Selected Families and Individuals

Notes


John HOWE

This person is dead.


Caroline B. REES

This person is dead.


William ALLEN

This person is dead.


Lilly GAVEY

This person is dead.


Gilman PETERSON

This person is dead.


Martha GAVEY

This person is dead.


John HOWE Esq

This person is dead.


Harry Rodolph DERRICK

Per Spencer & Goopasture source:  They lived in Olympia, WA.


Fred William DERRICK

Per Spencer and Goodpasture: Fred served as Chief of Police of Olympia, WA and served in U.S. Navy during WWII.

Derek Greenlee says he was Thurston County sheriff.


Bryan Lafferty STEWART

This person is dead.


Ruth LEONARD

Some think this may be the woman, Ruth Leonard, named in Priscilla Lafferty's will.  Considering the fact that three of her sons were given the middle name of Lafferty, She may have been a Lafferty.  R. Cox in his family tree says he believes she was Ruth Lafferty, born about 1754 in New Jersey,

2/24/2005 - I have a new theory.  Wayne Olsen said in one of his Emails that he thought Ruth was Bryan Leferty's youngest daughter.  But the generations are wrong. That daughter is Priscilla's younger sister. That would make the Stewart boys, one of with whom Ruth had a child, her nephews.  This is possible, but not likely.  This is what  a New Jersey Historical Society article had to say about Priscilla's sister, Ruth "(Bryan Leferty's) children probably were . . . 5. Ruth, said to have been one of the most beautiful and most wayward girls in the county."   We know that a Ruth Leonard was named in Priscilla Lafferty's will along with her sons. My theory is that Ruth Leonard is the child of Ruth Leferty and that Ruth Leonard had an illegitimate child with one of her Stewart cousins, John Fitz Stewart.  Someone pointed out that in olden days "Fitz" was used to indicate an illegitimate child.  So our ancestor Ruth Stewart Condon is quite possibly the girl named in the will as Ruth Leonard.  This is my theory.  I know of no way to prove it. But it's my Hunch.  
Dianne

December 8, 2009

Dear Children

Tonight I'm going to tell you the story of  Mary Stewart Condon's mother, Ruth

The Ruth Leonard Lafferty Condon Story

1757 – 13 Apr 1830

This is a mystery story. Who was Ruth?  She married our ancestor, Thomas William Condon, Sr.

Here is what we know about her.  She had a son, John Fitz Stewart, with one of the sons of William and Priscilla Lafferty Stewart in 1787.  In olden times the prefix “Fitz” was used to denote illegitimacy.

Priscilla Lafferty's father, Bryan Lafferty (Lefferty Leferty), was a judge in Somerset County, NJ.  He was born about 1705  making him in his early 50's when our Ruth was born. So its not impossible for him to have been the father of our Ruth.  Priscilla  had a younger sister, Ruth, said to be one of the most beautiful and wayward girls in Somerset County, NJ, the type that might have a love child.

William and Priscilla's sons were William, Alexander, and Brian Lafferty Stewart.  They were Loyalists, members of The Kings American Dragoons  who went to Canada after the Revolutionary War.  William was a captain and Alexander a lieutenant.

Apparently the Stewart boys were real Tories or scrappers when younger, for they appeared thusly in a Newark Journal article, "the notorious Bill Stewart and his brother B. Lafferty Stewart were confined to jail."

Thomas Condon, who married our Ruth, was also in the Stewart brother's Company of The Kings American Dragoons.

Thomas Condon  was also a Loyalist and was continuously with the Stewart brothers, both during the Revolutionary War and settling nearby, after the war, so  much so he married Ruth (Stewart)  when her first husband(or boyfriend, father of her child) died.

Priscilla Lafferty Stewart died 1785 leaving a will mentioning her sons William, Alexander and Brian Lafferty Stewart, and a girl Ruth Leonard, thought to be the affianced of one of her sons.

Thomas and Ruth Condon had Canada land grants in 1790,1792, 1795 and 1802.  Ruth as a widow had property before she was married to Thomas Condon.

Now our Thomas Condon & Ruth had 4 sons and a daughter, Mary:
Thomas Lafferty Condon          1789
● Bryan Lafferty Condon             1790
Mary Stewart Condon               1795
Johnson Lafferty Condon          1799
           Nathaniel Bloodworth Condon  1803

Looking at these names really makes you think she was definitely a Lafferty, doesn't it?

However, there was also a family,  the Thomas Leonard family of Somerset County NJ, who were also Loyalists and also had a daughter, Ruth.  Perhaps this was the Ruth Leonard mentioned in Ruth Lafferty Stewart's will.

Another researcher found this information, referring to Ruth Lafferty, “her son's half-brother, William McDonald, made a runaway match with a sister of Jennie McCrea, who was murdered by Indians near Fort Edward, during the Revolution.”  This would place Ruth Lafferty's birth well before the revolution and in line with our Ruth who was born 1757.  However, we don't know of anyone named William McDonald.

Perhaps the wayward Ruth Lafferty married a Leonard, and had a daughter Ruth Leonard who took up with the Stewarts and then married Thomas Condon.

It's intriguing to me.  What do you think?  Maybe someday you will unravel the mystery of William Condon's wife, Ruth.

Here's how we're related to Ruth:  Ruth had Mary Condon,  Mary had Harriet Boslow, Harriet had Mary Derrick, Mary had Flora Balis, Flora had Harold Stevens, Harold had Paul Stevens, Paul had Dawne Stevens, Dawne had ... Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky!

So Hooray for Ruth!  She adds mystery to our family.

Love,
Granny


Amelia

This person is dead.