Rutledge Last Name
Updated Oct 16, 2018
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  1. 1. Photos
  2. 2. History & Origin
  3. 3. Rutledge Family Members
  4. 4. Family Trees
  5. 5. Death Records
  6. 6. Other Records
  7. 7. Your Rutledge Family
  8. 8. Followers & Sources

Rutledge Family History & Genealogy

14 photos, 14,724 biographies, and last name history of the Rutledge family, shared by AncientFaces Members.
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Rutledge Last Name History & Origin

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History

We don't have any information on the history of the Rutledge name. Have information to share?

Name Origin

The name Rutledge itself has had many different spellings, as there were no spelling rules when the name came about. The name itself means "red boggy water" which infers that the original people lived in rural areas.

Spellings & Pronunciations

Rutledge, Rutlidge, Ruthlidge, Ruthledge, Ritlidge, Rutletge

Nationality & Ethnicity

The origin of the Rutledge name is not specifically known although it has been linked to both German and Scottish roots.  There have even been stories of a Rutledge clan known to cause problems for Anglo-Saxon nobility, refusing to reliquish valuable land to the rich. These stories tell of farmland folk fighting back with pitchforks and makeshift spears, causing so much raucous that the nobles abandoned their quest to expand borders into the Rutledge lands simply because of the trouble.

Famous People named Rutledge

Edward Rutledge (Dec.8 1798-Jan.23 1800) was the youngest person to sign the American Declaration of Independence.
Ann Rutledge (Jan.7 1813-Aug.25 1835) was the rumored first love of Abraham Lincoln.
 

Early Rutledges

These are the earliest records we have of the Rutledge family.

Rutledge Biographies & Family Trees

Find birth, death records, and obituaries of Rutledges on AncientFaces:


Most Common First Names

Sample of 21 Rutledges bios

Rutledge Death Records & Life Expectancy

According to our database of 10,618 people with the last name Rutledge that have a birth and death date listed:

Life Expectancy

70.5 years

Oldest Rutledges

These are the longest-lived members of the Rutledge family on AncientFaces.

Other Rutledge Records

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John Rutledge
Member since 2002
30
The name "Rutledge" is a place name. It meant "red lache or pool" from the old Anglican words "redd", meaning red, and "loec" - later "lache", variant "letch" meaning a stream, or a pool in boggy land. "Rutledge" was "a great Border name". Anciently, those of that name were said to dwell "by the waters (of Bale", or Bailey Water, later called Routledge Burn, in the township of Bailie, or Bailey, near Bewcastle in the southern part of The Debateable Land on the English-Scottish Border.

This area so long in dispute between the English and the Scots was settled before the Norman Conquest as part of the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria by the Angles. The people of this part of the Border in time came to be organized into tribes or clans. This was the land of freebooters and raiders. "These trackless and desolate regions", he says, "were notorious for the activities of troopers before the Union" in 1603. This land was "no other thing but theft, reiff, and slaughter", until the boundary was finally agreed upon in 1552. John Lang in his Stories of the Border Marches refers to "the wild men of Bewcastle".

For many centuries Carlisle and Bewcastle township were within Scotland. The township is now in England in the County of Cumberland along the present border, on high land, an area of rolling hills. Anciently, Bewcastle was the site of a Roman Fort or Station. In 1470 Edward IV granted the manor and castle, which had long lain waste, to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, then Lord Warden of the Western Marche. He sublet the area to Cuthbert Rutlege, John Rutlege, Robert Elwold (Elliot) and Gerald Nickson (Nixon). The remains of a pele tower, or castle, still stand and the old church of St. Cuthbert is kept in good repair.

Undoubtedly, the earliest known location of the Rutledges was on the Bailey Water, at Kershopefoot, at Masthorne and between Kershopefoot and the Leven (now the Line) waters, all nearby places "within the Rule of Bewcastell". The Kershope burn is now part of the modern boundary line between the two countries.

For more on the origin of the Rutledge surname, please visit: [external link]~rutledge/origins.htm
You may also want to visit The Rutledge Family Association Website at:
[external link]~rutledge
Jan 12, 2003 · Reply
Isabell Rutledge
Member since 2008
0
hello, my full name is isabell rutledge,my mother's name is Linda lee Rutledge, my grandfather's name is Alfred Abner Rutledge. I am trying to find other family members, who could give me information on any history, you may have on my grandfather. I was once told that there may have been a book written on him and I am curious as to find out, if this has actually happened or if it was just a tall tale. Anyone who might have any information please contact me at [contact link] any questions you may have i will contact you through the email
Mar 18, 2008 · Reply