HISTORY OF RIDGWAY FAMILY
Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1
Northwestern Historical Association
Madison, Wis.: Northwestern Historical Association, 1904
Pg. 60
FRANK RIDGWAY, the local forecaster of the U. S. weather bureau at Pittsburgh, Pa., comes of a family which, for many years, was distinguished on both sides of the Atlantic.This family, alias Peacock (alluding to which the old bearing of arms was three peacocks, heads erased), had been in Devon from a very early period, as manifested by the collection of Sir William Pole, the best antiquary of that county.The name may be presumed to have been local, there being two places so called in the shire, one near Plymouth, the other in the parish of Owlscomb, near Honiton.The first who advanced the family was STEPHEN RIDGWAY, who was one of the stewards of the city of Exeter in the sixth year of the reign of Edward IV., and mayor thereof in the 7th year of the reign of Henry VII. (1466), and the next was JOHN RIDGWAY, a son or a grandson of STEPHEN RIDGWAY, who purchased from the Mohuns of Dunster the Manor of Tor, in Devon, and was elected one of the representatives of the city of Exeter in the first two parliaments called by Queen Mary.He married ELIZABETH, daughter of JOHN WENTFORD, and was succeeded by his son, THOMAS RIDGWAY, ESQ., who purchased, in 1599, from Sir Edward Seymour, the site of the Abbey of Tor in Devon.He married MARY, daughter of THOMAS SOUTHCOTE, ESQ., and co-heir of her mother, GRACE, daughter and heiress of JOHN BARNHOUSE, ESQ., of Marsh in Devon, and by her had a son and heir – I. SIR THOMAS RIDGWAY, who was employed in Ireland in a military capacity to ELIZABETH, and planted the first Protestant colony in Ireland.He was high sheriff of Devon in 1600, and received the knighthood at the accession of King James to the throne of England.He was elected one of the knights of the shire for the county of Devon in the first parliament called by the king, who continued to employ him in some of the highest places of trust and command in Ireland, and had him sworn in the privy council.He was advanced to the dignity of baron, Nov. 23, 1612, created a peer of the kingdom of Ireland, in 1616, as baron of Galen-Ridgway, and advanced, in 1652, to the earldom of Londonderry.He married CICELY, sister of and co-heir of HENRY MACKWILLIAM (the lady was maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth), and had issue: ROBERT, his heir; EDWARD, MACKWILLIAM, MARIA, died young, and CASSANDRA, married to Sir (pg. 61) FRANCIS WILLOUGHBY, Knight.His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, SIR ROBERT RIDGWAY, second earl of Londonderry, who married ELIZABETH, daughter and heir of SIR SIMON WESTON, Knight, of Lichfield, and was succeeded by his son, III. SIR WESTON RIDGWAY, third earl of Londonderry, who married MARTHA, daughter of SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart., and left several daughters and two sons, ROBERT and THOMAS.The eldest son, SIR THOMAS RIDGWAY, fourth earl of Londonderry, married LUCY, daughter of SIR WILLIAM JOPSON, Bart., and had two daughters, his co-heirs, viz.: LUCY, married to ARTHUR, fourth earl of Donegal, and FRANCES, married to THOMAS PITT, ESQ., M. P. for Wilton, who was created earl of Londonderry.His lordship died March 7, 1713, when all his honors, including the baronetcy, became extinct.Tor Mohun, the old Ridgway estate in Devon, was sold about 1768 by the earl of Donegal to Sir Robert Polk, Baronet.The site of the Abbey of Tor was purchased from the first earl of Londonderry in 1653 by John Stowell, Esq., of Indiano, from whom Sir George Cary, Knight, purchased it in 1662.Arms – Sa.A pair of wings conjoined and elevated.Arg.
RICHARD RIDGWAY and his wife, ELIZABETH, left Waterford, Berks Co., England, and sailed for America in the ship “Jacob and Mary,” of London.They arrived in the Delaware River in July, 1699.Their eldest son, THOMAS, was 12 years old when they arrived.RICHARD settled with his family in Springfield Township, Burlington Co., N.J., where he died, leaving two sons, THOMAS and RICHARD.THOMAS married ANNA PAWS, daughter of JOSEPH PAWS, and moved to Little Egg Harbor, N.J., where he died, in 1724, leaving 11 children, named JACOB, JOB, TIMOTHY, THOMAS, EDWARD, RICHARD, JOHN, ROBERT, CATHERINE, ELIZABETH and ANNA.Of these, THOMAS, JOHN and ROBERT married and spent their days in Egg Harbor.JACOB, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch went to Springfield Township, in Burlington County, on a farm known in later years as the “Michael Earl Farm.”RICHARD, son of THOMAS, went to Long Island, where his descendants still reside.JOHN, born in 1705, was quite a celebrated Quaker minister.He married PHAEBE BALLINGER, and left 5 children, named JOHN, PHOEBE, JACOB, THOMAS and ANNA. Of these, JACOB became the greatest millionaire of Philadelphia, and was the father of MADAM RUSH, wife of DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, of that city.JOHN married ELIZABETH WRIGHT, and died in 1845, leaving 8 children, named DAVID, born in 1777; SARAH, born in 1779; CALEB, in 1781; JOHN, in 1784; JACOB, in (pg. 62) 1787; DAVID W., in 1791; ANDREW C., in 1793, and THOMAS, in 1797.RICHARD RIDGWAY, brother of THOMAS and son of the first RICHARD, married ELIZABETH DREWS, and settled near Trenton, N. J., where he died, leaving several children.JOSEPH, the eldest, born in 1701, and wife, ABIGAIL, lived near Burlington, and had four sons and four daughters, named DAVID (born in 1733), ALLYN, JOSEPH, HENRY, MARY, SARAH, the names of the others being unknown.MARY married SOLOMON THOMAS, of Springfield, N. J.; SARAH married JOSEPH PANCOAST, father of DR. PANCOAST, of Philadelphia.DAVID married JANE BURR, and moved to Trenton, N. J., and had four sons and four daughters, named DAVID, RICHARD, BURR, ROBERT, ABIGAIL, RACHEL, SARAH and HANNAH.ABIGAIL married JOHN LIVZEY, of Philadelphia; RACHEL, JOHN EVANS; SARAH, JOHN JOHNSON, and HANNAH, AARON MIDDLETON.RICHARD, born in 1773, was married at Wysox, Bradford Co., Pa., 1808, to SARAH COWEL.This comprises all branches of the descendants of RICHARD RIDGWAY that I am able to discover in America.Another branch of RIDGWAYS is found in Massachusetts.They came to this country at an earlier date, as will be seen by the following: 1st. JOHN RIDGWAY and wife, MARY, admitted to the church in Charleston, Mass., in 1652.MRS. RIDGWAY died Dec. 20, 1670.2d. JOHN, whose wife's name was HANNAH, died in Charleston, Dec. 10, 1721.3d. JAMES RIDGWAY, son of JOHN and HANNAH RIDGWAY, born in Charleston, Oct. 13, 1698.His wife's name was MEHITABLE.4th.JOSEPH RIDGWAY, son of JAMES and MEHITABLE, was born, April 6, 1735, and died in 1815.He married, as his first wife, ABIGAIL BELL, and as his second wife, MARY RIDGWAY, daughter of JAMES RIDGWAY and his wife, MARY BRAIZER, of another line of RIDGWAYS.
FRANK RIDGWAY, the subject of this sketch, was born on a farm in Gloucester County, N. J., in 1859, and moved to Baltimore ten years later, where he received a limited education, mostly in private schools.He entered the U. S. signal corps, in 1879, as a private, and was placed in charge of a military telegraph line in Arizona and New Mexico, where he remained until his term of service expired, in 1884, having been promoted to sergeant in 1880.After he came east, re-enlisted in the signal corps in 1885, and remained until the service was transferred from the department of war to the department of agriculture, in 1891.He was stationed in Washington, D. C., until the latter part of 1885, and then sent as observer to Cape May Point, N. J.After this he was transferred to Cape Henlopen, Delaware breakwater, as sergeant in the signal corps, having charge of the military telegraph (pg. 63) line between Cape Henlopen and Chincoteague Island, and was sent thence to Sandy Hook, N. J., and from there to Manchester, N. H., where he remained until September, 1887.He was then ordered to Atlantic City, N. J., where he remained a short time and was transferred to Washington, D. C., being occupied there until May 31, 1888.MR. RIDGWAY was then transferred to Harrisburg, Pa., where he remained until June 9, 1896, and then came to Pittsburgh, where he has stationed.MR. RIDGWAY is a Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree, and is a Shriner.He is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Pittsburgh, Pa.