RINGLAND. The Emerald Isle has contributed largely to the intellect, and consequently, the social and material development, of America. Many of the brightest minds and most successful business men which the United States has produced have emigrated from, or were descendants of natives of Ireland. Among the latter will be found the name of Ringland. The following is copied from a letter written by Col. Thomas Ringland at Grandview, Ill., in 1860: As respects the Ringland branch, there is a tradition in our family that our common ancestor came to Ireland from Hanover, in the army of King William III., in the latter part of the seventeenth century, previous to the famous battle of the Boyne, in which William was victorious. After the war our ancestor settled in the North of Ireland, and all of the name of Ringland that I ever knew sprung from that ancestor. My grandfather, whose name was George, died when my father was an infant, and my grandmother again married another Hugh Ringland, and after the death of the latter she lived with my father until her death. My father, William Ringland, had one brother and one sister, both older than himself, and both living when we left the country in 1795. My mother, Prudence (Bailie), was born of an old and respectable Scotch-Irish Presbyterian family. Both her parents were members of the Presbyterian Church, in the parish of Bellee, County Down, Ireland, and was herself a member of the Presbyterian Church for some years before her death, February 6, 1824, at her home in Morris township, Washington Co., Penn., aged sixty-three years. William Ringland and wife, formerly Prudence Bailie, parents of the above-named Thomas Ringland, with six children---George, Margaret, Mary, Thomas, William (first James and first Nancy having died in infancy in Ireland) and second James---emigrated from Ireland to America, and settled in the summer of 1795 in Morris township, Washington Co., Penn., on the middle fork of Ten-Mile creek. After their arrival in America they had children: second Nancy, Catharine, Robert (who died an infant), Eliza and Jane, in all thirteen children. William Ringland, Sr., died September 9, 1827. George Ringland, first son of William, had four children: Thomas, Margaret, Rebecca and Matilda. Thomas settled in Natchez, Miss., became wealthy, and died many years ago. Margaret married Harvey Bane, whose family are very much scattered. Rebecca married William McKenna, a merchant of Hillsboro, Washington Co., Penn.; had one son, George R.; lost sight of. Matilda married Cephas Bane, lived in Streator, Ill., and both died there a few years ago, leaving a considerable family. Thomas Ringland, second son of William, married Anna McCollum in 1813; had six sons: William, John Newton, Samuel, George, Benjamin Anderson and Alexander Hamilton, and three daughters: Mary, Nancy and Anna. Of these William married Christian Bane in 1836; had four daughters: Elizabeth, Anna Eliza, Clarissa and Emily; died in 1843. Of these Elizabeth married Col. W.A. Lowe, colonel of the Seventy-ninth Illinois Regiment, who died at Newman, Ill., in 1869; had one son, George W. Lowe, who is single in Kansas, Ill. Anna Eliza died in infancy. Clarissa married Henry Chambers, of Coles county, Ill., has several children. Emily married Thomas Lawhead, and lives near Kansas, Ill.; no children living. Nancy Ringland, daughter of Thomas, died at Kansas, Ill., in February, 1884. Dr. George Ringland, son of Thomas, married Margaret Rea, of Greene county, Penn.; has had three sons and three daughters: John Thomas, William Franklin, Rea Crawford, Hannah, Mary and Margaret. Of these John Thomas died in his sixteenth year, at Kansas Ill.; William Franklin, a Presbyterian minister, has had charge at Pana, Ill., and Hastings, Neb.; is president of Hastings (Neb.) College; in 1881 married Anna C. McCorkle, at Crawfordsville, Ind.; has three sons: Paul Franklin, George Lyle and William. Rea C. married Josephine Hampshire, of Decatur, Ill., where he now lives; has had three sons, one living. Hannah married John Skinner, at Newman, Ill., and died soon after. Mary and Margaret, single, live at home with their mother at Kansas, Ill. Dr. George Ringland died at Kansas, Ill., in 1891. John Newton Ringland married Patty Clark; had one child, and both mother and child died; he afterward married Jane Weir, and had three sons and one daughter: E. Bernard, Adam Weir, Thomas and Annie Mary. Of these, Dr. E.B. Ringland has a water-cure establishment at Hamilton, Ill., opposite Keokuk, Iowa; has been married three times; child by second wife living. Rev. Adam Weir Ringland, Presbyterian minister, has had charges at Dubuque, Iowa, Toscola and Beulah, Ill., and Duluth, Minn.; has recently been called to the presidency of a theological school in same State; was married to Lena Patten, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1873; has young son and daughter living. Thomas married Anna Nixon, lives in Iowa and has some children. Annie Mary is unmarried, living at Hamilton, Ill., with Dr. E.B. and his mother. John Newton Ringland died in Lee county, Iowa, in 1851. Samuel Ringland, son of Thomas, died unmarried at Dudley, Ill., November 8, 1874. Benjamin Anderson Ringland, son of Thomas, is living at Oakland, Ill.; married Mary Smith, of Grandview, Ill., has four sons and four daughters. Alexander Hamilton Ringland, son of Thomas, is living in Chicago, Ill., married to Ellen Wallace: have three children: Allie, Ralph and Bertha. Anna Ringland, daughter of Thomas, married Jacob Braden in 1838; she died in 1846; had one son, James, and three daughters: Elizabeth Ann, Martha and Isabel. Of these, Elizabeth Ann died in infancy. Martha married a Mr. Bergen, and had two sons and one daughter, her husband having died, she married J.B. Weir, of Washington county, Penn., in 1886, and they live in Washington, Penn. Isabel married James S. Hewitt, of Dudley, Ill., has two sons and one daughter. Jacob Braden died at Dudley, Ill., February 4, 1893, aged eighty-one years. Col. Thomas Ringland, son of William, came to America with his father and family in 1795, and settled in Morris township, Washington Co., Penn., where he continued to reside until 1857, when he moved to Grandview, Edgar Co., Ill. During the war of 1812 the Colonel volunteered his services as a private soldier, and was afterward promoted to major for gallant conduct, and received an honorable discharge. By a life of uprightness the Colonel so endeared himself to the people of his adopted county, that in 1825 he was nominated and elected to a seat in the House of Representatives, and again in 1826 and 1827; and such was the fidelity and ability with which he discharged the duties of the office, that in 1828 he was elected to the Senate from the District then composed of the counties of Washington and Greene, and was re-elected and served with the entire approbation of the people until 1834. As an evidence of the high appreciation of his worth and integrity, his brother senators elected him to the honorable and responsible position of Speaker of that body, the duties of which he discharged with a courtesy and impartiality unsurpassed. In politics Col. Ringland was all his life an earnest, unswerving Democrat. He sustained the pure patriot, gallant soldier and eminent statesman, Gen. Jackson, throughout his eventful administration. During the struggle of that great and good man with the Bank of the United States, while others faltered and many yielded to the seductive influences of that corporation, Col. Ringland stood firm. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church for some years before his death, which occurred January 7, 1869, at Grandview, Ill., when he was aged eighty-six years. William Ringland, third son of William, in 1826 married Mary Bane, of north fork of Ten-Mile creek, Washington county, Penn. Had four children: two sons---Isaac B. and Henry W.---and two daughters---Harriet and Mary V. All moved to Marshall county, Iowa, about 1856. Of these children, Isaac B. married, in 1857, Mary A. Evans, of Marshall county, Iowa; had two sons and three daughters: William, Harvey, Emma, Mary Eva and Margaret. Of these William died in infancy. Harvey is at school in Minnesota, studying pharmacy. Emma married H.F. Willson, in 1878, lives in Wayne, Neb.; have had two children, one living, Homer. Mary Eva married C.E. Smith in 1881; live in Correctionville, Iowa; no children. Margaret married R.E.K. Mellor in 1883; live in Wayne, Neb.; have four children---William, Mabel, Mary and Zoa. Henry W., second son of William and Mary (Bane), died unmarried in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1867, aged thirty-five years; buried in cemetery at Boone, Iowa. Harriet L., first daughter of William and Mary (Bane), married Samuel Munnell in 1860; had five children; four died in infancy, one living: Mary R. Munnell, who is attending school in Chicago, Ill. Harriet L. died in 1871, aged forty-one years. Mary V., second daughter of William and Mary (Bane), in 1859 married D.M. Moninger, a successful farmer and stock raiser of Marshall county, Iowa, where they now reside; had four sons and one daughter: William R., John H., Frank B., Harry W., and Anna M.; of these, William, in 1887, married Mary H. Kellogg, of Grinnell, Iowa; have one daughter, Margaret; live in Marshall county, Iowa. John H. and Frank B. were drowned in the Iowa river near their home, in 1887. Anna M., a handsome little girl, died at the home of her grandfather, John Moninger, in Washington county, Penn., in 1870, aged three years. Harry W. lives at home with his parents, unmarried. Maj. James Ringland, fourth son of William, was born in County Down, Ireland, in June, 1791, came to this country with the family in the summer of 1795; June 26, 1828, married Sarah, daughter of James Stockdale, who also emigrated from Ireland about the same time. On being duly elected and returned, he was commissioned major of the "First Battalion of the Washington and Greene Vanguards" (a regiment of volunteers of the militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), by the Governor on August 3, following, for the term of seven years. Major Ringland joined the Lower Ten-Mile Presbyterian Church about 1830, of which he was a faithful member until his death, which occurred May 12, 1871, when he was aged eighty years. Sarah Ringland, wife of Major James, was born near Zollarsville, Washington Co., Penn., in 1796; joined the Presbyterian Church at Amity in 1830, and died October 31, 1878. William Ringland, son of James, left Washington county in September, 1862, located in Marshall county, Iowa, for a number of years. Then settled in Boone, Iowa, about 1866, where he now lives; owns a warehouse and lumber yard in Boone; was married to Miss Delia M. Swaine June 9, 1870; have had eight children: one died in infancy; James, Edmund Alleman, Guy Jay, Josiah Allen, Cady Stockdale, Annie Mary and Elsie Sarah, who are all at home with parents. George S. Ringland, son of James, went west in the fall of 1855; spent about one year in southern Iowa; then settled in Fort Dodge, Webster Co., Iowa, where he remained until the commencement of the Civil war. In 1862 he assisted in organizing a volunteer cavalry company, which joined the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment under Col. Harlin, in which he served for three years in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, during which service he was promoted to the captaincy of his company. After the close of the war, in 1865, he returned to Fort Dodge; about 1868 was married to Miss Anna A., daughter of Woolsey Wells, of Fort Dodge, for many years an attorney there; has one child, Jennie, now taking a course in Wellesley (Mass.) College. Captain Ringland is now engaged in the manufacture of plaster of paris and in banking. Mathew B., son of James, unmarried, remained at the old home all his life; died November 23, 1881. Elizabeth J., only daughter of James, married H.H. Conger, in November, 1863; now lives adjoining her birthplace; has three children: George R. (who married Miss Emma Casy in September, 1890), H. Hershel and Omar D. Of these Dr. George R. Conger is now located at Taylorstown, Washington Co., Penn., in the practice of medicine. H. Hershel and Omar D. live at home with their parents. Josiah, youngest son of James, now owns and lives on the farm which his grandfather, William Ringland, bought of William Clutter, August 25, 1795, the same summer they came to America. Has Edwin and Eva Young living in the house with him; though unmarried, still has hope that Cupid may yet come his way, and tarry with him through his remaining years. Margaret Ringland, first daughter of William, married William Ferguson, and had one son, Henry, who married Nancy Young, and had a large family; moved to Clark county, Ind. Nancy Ringland, second daughter of William, married Moses Braddock, and removed to Hancock county, Ind., near Greenfield. Catherine Ringland, third daughter of William, married James Andrew; moved to Morrow county, Ohio, where James Andrew died; the widow and children returned to Pennsylvania; they had seven children: George, Hindman, Thomas R., Eliza Ann, Prudence, Mary and Sarah. Of these, George Andrew died before he became of age. Hindman married Ann Minton in 1855, and had eight children: James E., Lee H., M.W., Bell (who died when a child), Inez P., Florence, Annie M. and Osee B. Hindman Andrew died February 19, 1884, near Lindley's Mills, Washington Co., Penn. Thomas Andrew went West about 1855, and married there; now lives in Spring Hill, Iowa; has three sons and two daughters living. Eliza Ann married Ira Andrew, and has one son and two daughters living. Eliza Ann Andrew died the day her brother Hindman lay a corpse. Mary and Sarah went West about 1857. Mary married Mr. Bataw, in Illinois; now living with a daughter in Indianapolis, Ind.; have two daughters living. Sarah died unmarried. Jane Ringland, fourth daughter of William, married John Bane about 1830; had seven children: George, Mary, Thomas, Margaret, Addison, Ann and Nancy. Of these, George married twice and had a large family; names of wives and children not known. Thomas married Susan Collins, of Charleston, Ill.; no children. Mary married Mr. Enlow, who died leaving two small children, son and daughter; she still lives, a widow, at Stockton, Coles Co., Ill. Margaret married Mr. Nuby; has some family; she died some years ago. Anna married John McKinley; she is a widow with four children, two boys and two girls. Nancy married Mr. Ball. Addison married; name of wife unknown. Mary Ringland, fifth daughter of William; unmarried; lived with her brother James; died May 25, 1829. Elizabeth Ringland, sixth daughter of William; unmarried; quite handsome; died February 6, 1825, aged twenty-four years.

Text taken from page 766 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed April 1997 by Jack McNatt of Valrico, FL as part of the Beers Project. Published April 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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