Rury Overview
United States History
There are at least two distinct lines and maybe more of Rury's currently in America. Both immigrated from Germany.
The New York Branch descends from a Henry Rury and his two sons William and Henry Rury who immigrated
from Germany before 1774.
The Illinois Branch
descends from a Frederick born 1792 in Hanover and Mary (Braithaupt) Rury born 1790 in Hanover (Germany) and came to the New World about 1839. It is unclear
how exactly they arrived here, most accounts have them arriving
in New York, but it is unclear whether they caught another ship
to New Orleans and came up the Mississippi or traveled by river
or across land from New York. Either way they settled in Steeleville, Illinois.
Unidentified Branches include individuals
that have not had enough evidence to place them within the larger family trees. They include
two of the earliest Rury's to immigrate to the U.S.
RURY, William P., ship Isabella left Rotterdam for PA arriving 1 May 1806.
RURY, Edward, abstracts of Virginia land patents and grants
"COL. EDMUND SCARBURGH, 1000acs.
Accomack Co., 21 June 1664, p. 182... lists borders and names,
then on the next page, page 453 it reads
SAME. 1400 acs., 20 June 1664, in same Co. P. 184, (74). At the seaboard side on E., N. by Stokelyes
branch & Cr., S. by Arathusa Cr. & main branch formerly
called Kickcotanck Cr. Trans. of 28 pers: Jeffery Sadler, Martha
North, Lewis Wells, Jenkin Powell, Paul Wintrop, Rich. Wallford,
James Richards, Edward Rury, ..."
German History
Hanover a former kingdom and province of northwest Germany. It was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire
from 1692 to 1805. The Hanover kingdom lasted from 1815 to 1866,
when Hanover became a province of Prussia {later Germany}. In
1837 Hanover was separated from Britain due to accession laws.
As a result of the AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR {1866} Hanover was made
a Prussian province, from 1871 a German province. After World
War II it was incorporated into Lower Saxony. There is a town
in Hanover also called Hanover, but census records only list the
country.
The New York Rury's came when Germany was part of the Roman Empire. The Illinois Rury's came while Hanover was a German province.
Scottish History
One of the largest traces of the Rury history comes from the descendants of Reginald, Lord of the Isles, from whom are descended the clans MacDonald and MacRurie.
They can be found within the United Kingdom Branch.
Nationality Rumors
The rumor that occurs the most, from the oldest of relatives and from a number of separate family trees,
is that we are from Scotch-Irish descent. This despite being part
of German communities in the U.S. and many even spoke German or
had German accents. This is attributed to marrying into German
families and residing in German communities. Approximately 250,000
Scotch-Irish immigrants came to America between 1717 and 1775.
Most of these were actually transplanted lowland Scots who, in
one of many English schemes to subdue the Irish, had been urged
to emigrate to Ulster in Northern Ireland a century earlier by
James I. It was thought that hard-nosed Presbyterian Scotsmen
could better control the Irish than England's standing army, but
by 1717 the Scotch-Irish were in trouble themselves. A depression
in the flax industry, higher rents, severe frosts, a sheep disease,
and a small pox epidemic scourged Ulster. They emigrated to the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the Piedmont country of North Carolina,
to New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
See 1st Scotland Family Tree and descendants including Ruarai for Scottish background. Rury's are found in
various books form Scotland "The Surnames of Scotland"
by George F. Black, "Clans, Septs & Regements of The
Scottish Highlands".
John Brokaw who is related to the Rury Tree speculates the Rury name is German based on given names,
the period, and locations of settlements. History tells us that
before the Revolutionary War more than 200,000 Germans had congregated
in New York and the Pennsylvania back country, where they became
known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." Many of them emigrated
from the German Rhineland, called the Palatinate, in order to
practice a number of dissenting religions. They were called Mennonites,
Dunkards, Moravians, Schwenkfelders, or sometimes "Plain
People." Later, Lutheran Germans came. Palatinate, either
of two historic regions of Germany that constituted an electorate
of the Holy Roman Empire: one (Lower Palatinate or Rhine Palatinate)
is now part of Rhineland-Palatinate, and the other (Upper Palatinate)
is now part of Bavaria.
John Rury of Plattsburgh, NY thought we originated from the 1st King of Russia who was Rurik a Swedish Viking from the Ruhr Valley?
Other rumors include the name originating as O'Rouke (Scotch/Irish)
and then changed to O'Rury and later
dropped the O'. Many times it is rumored the name was longer such
as Ruräde, Rurah, Rurhody, Ruroadie?. Another rumor says we are Bavarian
Jews or High German of the name Ruroudie?. In many cases I am
not sure of the spellings, due to the oral tradition.
Ken Rury's view are that we are German immigrants. Are name was probably Ruräde. And if it is we have no likely link to Scottish ancestry. This link is only be resemblance of name at this time and goes back
to an earlier Irish ancestry. The only records of earlier Rury
names are from Scotland/Ireland, none from Germany so far. Charles
Rury also builds a strong case for the Scottish background, and
so does the memories of many Rury family trees. Even the memory
of a longer name that sounds much like the one described by Charles
(Clan Ruairidh). A possible hint of our Scottish ancestry can
also be seen in the attendance of the early NY Rury's to the Dempster
church who's pastor was Scottish. It is clear though that the
immigrants of both the New York and Illinois Rury's are from Germany.
ury Spellings
As we all know it is hard to get people to understand how to spell RURY even though it is so short. Census
records have a very low accuracy for correct spellings. The following
are spellings from Census records that surrounding evidence would indicate to
be RURY's.
RURAH, RURD, RURA, RUSE, BORY
Phonetic names for RURY include RURAH, RORIE, ROREY, ROARIE, RUREY, RORY and possibly ROURETY. Many of these are valid family names themselves and can be difficult to
determine if they should have been RURY. In some cases it may
be best to look at the original Census rather than the Indexes,
for the least errors.
Many reasons existed for these variations, but mainly it was because church and government officials, lawyers and scribes spelled the name the best they could as the individuals themselves could not write.
The early Illinois Rury's were illiterate. They could not write their names. The early vital records including Wills, land records of Frederick Rury and his children include x marks, spellings within the same document even differ. The spelling was determined by the clerk or official who recorded the names usually phonetically. Anyone growing up a Rury can understand these variations and add to this someone speaking in German and it makes even more sense.
Scottish History establishes many variations on the name Rury or as was originally known as Ruarie.
MacRuairi, Ruarai, Ruari, McRorie, Rorie, McRurie, Ryrie, Rury, Make Rori, Makrore, Makreury, McRourie, McRory, MacRuairidh, Ruadhri
