Ruffin, Frank G.

Francis ("Frank") Gildart Ruffin (1816-1892), was a planter of Chesterfield County, Va., Confederate colonel, 2nd auditor of Virginia, editor, and political writer. Ruffin served as chairman of the Virginia Sinking Fund Commission, secretary of the Miller Manual Labor School, and editor of the Richmond (Va.) "Dispatch." Other prominent family members represented in the collection include Ruffin's uncle, Albert G. Ruffin (d. 1829), lawyer in Mississippi and Alabama and planter in Hanover County, Va.; Albert's wife, Eliza Roane Ruffin (fl. 1825-1837); and Eliza's father, Spencer Roane (1762-1822), state senator and judge, of Hanover County, Va.

Francis Gildart Ruffin (1820-1892), planter of Chesterfield County, Va., 2nd Auditor of Virginia, editor, and political writer, was orphaned as a child. It is unclear who his parents or his legal guardian were, but his affairs were often tended to by his uncle, Albert G. Ruffin, and aunt, Eliza Roane Ruffin. He may have lived for a time with Eliza Ruffin after Albert's death in 1829.

A colonel during the Civil War, Ruffin served as the Commissary of Subsistence for the state of Virginia until his resignation in February 1865 due to poor health. After the war, he became heavily involved in Democratic party politics. He held the position of 2nd Auditor of Virginia from 1884 until his death in 1892, served as chairman of the Sinking Fund Commission, and acted as Secretary of the Miller Manual Labor School in Richmond, Va. Ruffin also edited the Richmond Dispatch in the mid to late 1880s and was the author of several political pamphlets, including The Negro as a Political and Social Factor and The Cost and Outcome of Negro Education in Virginia.

Ruffin had at least three sons, Francis G. Ruffin Junior, George R. Ruffin, and W. U. Ruffin. He may also have had a daughter, Sally.

Ruffin's uncle, Albert G. Ruffin (died 1829), was the son of William (died 1825) and Margaret Ruffin of Raleigh, N.C. He had three brothers, William H., Robert R., and A. R. Ruffin. Early in his career, Ruffin sought opportunity in the Mississippi Territory, where he opened a law practice in Winchester in the spring of 1818. He remained there until 1821, when he moved to St. Stephens in the new Alabama Territory. Ruffin left Alabama upon his marriage in the spring of 1825 to Eliza Roane of Richmond and took up planting at Spring Garden, her plantation near Hanover Town in Hanover County, Virginia. He planted corn, wheat, and cotton and engaged in local politics until his death in 1829. Albert and Eliza had one son, Spencer (1826-1831). After her husband's death, Eliza moved with Spencer to her Newcastle estate in Hanover County and continued planting. Her brother, W. H. Roane, moved to Spring Garden.

Eliza and W. H. Roane were the children of Spencer Roane (1762-1822), planter, politician, and judge of Hanover County, Va., and Elizabeth Hoskins Roane (died 1825). Judge Spencer was educated at the College of William and Mary, where he studied law. Admitted to the bar in 1782, he became a state representative and senator, an advisor to Governor Patrick Henry, and a judge in the General Court and State Supreme Court of Appeals. A staunch Anti-Federalist, he started the Richmond Enquirer in 1804 as a vehicle for his political views.