In 1765, Christian Ruse was naturalized in Frederick, Maryland.¹ The naturalization list “Roos, Christian, of Frederick County, German” as being naturalized on September 11, 1765. The register also lists on 1 September 1765, as the date of communion, since receiving communion at a recognized church within the previous three months was a requirement for naturalization in the Maryland colony. Although the Anglican Church was the official church in Maryland at that time, the Lutheran Church was also allowed to conduct naturalizations.  The naturalization record gives the church and minister as “Lutheran, Shwordfeger,” who is the Rev. Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (1763-1768) in Fredericktown, who also served the Lutherans in the German Settlement in Loudoun County, Virginia.

In 1769, Christian Ruse first appears in the Loudoun County tithable lists – which was the nearest thing to a census in the colonial period. In subsequent years, he appears in the Loudoun tithe list as follows:

• 1769: Christian Russ
• 1770: Christian Rous
• 1771: Christian Rouss
• 1774: Christian Rous
• 1782: Christian Ruse²

After his first wife died, Christian, then 28 years old and living in Loudoun, remarried in 1774. The marriage register of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, Maryland, listed a marriage on 2 November 1774 between “Christian Russ, widower until now, and Catharina Lembachin, Anthoni Lembach’s legitimate daughter, both residing in Loudon County.”³  The marriage was performed by the Rev. John Andrew Krug, who was the pastor in Frederick but also rode circuit to minister to the Lutherans in Loudoun County. It is not known if the marriage took place in Maryland or in Virginia.

The known and probable children⁴ of Christian and Catherine Ruse were:

• Christina was born in 1775 and married [given name unknown] Fast.
• Jacob was baptized on 1 May 1776.⁵
• George was born in 1776 and buried on 21 January 1806 in New Jerusalem.⁶
• Christian was born in 1779 and married Hannah Day.
• Elisabeth was born in 1780 and married John Slates.
• Johannes/John was baptized on 4 May 1783⁷ and married Sarah Sands.
• Rachel was born in 1782 and died in Ohio.
• Michael was born on 28 January 1786 and baptized on 21 April 1786.⁸
• Anna Regina was born on 30 October 1787, baptized on 28 November 1787,⁹ and married Michael Fisher[?].
• Maria “Polly” Magdalena was born on 6 February 1790, baptized on 17 March 1790,¹⁰ and married John Doran.
• Abraham was born on 26 March 1792, baptized on 1 June 1792 and died young.¹¹
• Heinrich/Henry was born on 1 October 1793, baptized on 27 October 1793,¹² and married Sarah Everhart.
• Frederick was born on 4 November 1795, baptized on 13 December 1795,¹³ and married Catherine Fisher.
• Solomon was born on 1 January 1797, baptized on 25 March 1798,¹⁴ and married Elizabeth Crum.

“Christian Roose” (Ruse) paid the Supply Tax in 1782 and 1783.¹⁵

On 1 January 1793, Christian Ruse/Roose entered into a lease for 150 acres of land with Francis Richey.¹⁶ Richey was one of a chain of sub-tenants going back to a lease granted to one John Norton by George William Fairfax in 1765. The property was sub-let again two years later, in 1767, to John Phillips, and again in 1786 to Richey, and then in 1793 to Ruse. It is quite likely that Ruse was living on and farming the land before 1793. It was the pattern in the German Settlement during colonial times that German settlers often lived on the land for years, even decades, before a formal lease or sale was executed. In Loudoun County, 1793 was the first when large numbers of Germans began to appear on lease agreements.

Ten years after formally leasing the land, in 1803, Christian Ruse purchased 185 acres, including 150 acres (described as “now in possession of said Christian Ruse under a Lease for Lives yet unexpired”) from one Joseph Lewis.¹⁷ The land stayed in the Ruse family through the 19th century, up until 1905. It is now the site of the Lovettsville Community Park.

He appears as “Chris^t Ruse” in the 1810 census, listed between Michael Bogar and Philip Everhart, which corresponds to the known location of the Ruse property.

The Lutheran Church burial register lists: “Old Christian Russ” with no burial date, but among deaths and burials for 1822.¹⁸ However, his headstone (which is almost unreadable) was transcribed as giving his death date as 20 September 1821, at 75 years, with the rest illegible.¹⁹

Christian is buried in site NN 1 in New Jerusalem Lutheran Cemetery, and his wife Catherina, who died on 15 August 1802 at 35 years of age, is buried next to him in site number NN 2.

Sources:

1. Jeffrey A. Wyand and Florence L. Wyand, Colonial Maryland Naturalizations (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1975), Group 303.
2. Marty Hiatt and Craig R. Scott, Loudoun County, Virginia Tithables, 1758- 1786 (Athens, Georgia: Iberian, 1995), Volumes I – III.
3. Evangelical Lutheran Church Historic Parish Record, “Marriages 1743-1811,” Vol. I, pg. 368, #27.
4. There is much confusion about Christian Ruse and his children in various genealogical sources, including the most-used online sources. The author compiled this listing about twelve years ago from a variety of sources. Some are very reliable, i.e. church records, other less so.
5. Evangelical Lutheran Church Historic Parish Record, “Baptisms,” Vol. II, Pg. 62.
6. New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Register, “Burials,” 5 June 1792.
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church Historic Parish Record, “Baptisms,” Vol. II, Pg. 135, #41.
8. New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Register, Vol. 1 “Baptisms,” 21 April 1786
9. Ibid., 28 November 1787.
10. Ibid., 17 March 1790.
11. New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Register, “Burials,” 5 June 1792.
12. New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Register, Vol. 1 “Baptisms,” 27 October 1793.
13. Ibid., 13 December 1795.
14. Ibid., 25 March 1798.
15. Patricia B. Duncan, Loudoun County, Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists (Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books, 2004), 1782B, p. 20, and 1783A, p. 37.
16. Loudoun County Deed Book E, p. 305.
17. Loudoun County Deed Book 2D, p. 048.
18. New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Register, “Burials,” no date.
19. Marty Hiatt and Craig R. Scott, New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Cemetery, 1770-1943. Published by the church, 1995.