John Ruddy (1814 - 1832)

Born 1814 in Donegal, County Donegal, Ireland

Died 1832 at about age 18 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States

Biography

John Ruddy was born in Ireland.

John Ruddy was a Pennsylvanian.

John was born in 1814.^[1][2]

He migrated from Donegal to America travelling on the Barque John Stamp from Londonderry to Philadelphia in 1832.^[3][4]

He passed away in 1832, just 2 months after arriving in America, of cholera and probable mob violence at an East Whiteland railroad construction site known as Duffy’s Cut and was buried in a mass grave with 56 other individuals.^[5][6]

Burial Address- Church of the Holy Family, Ardara, County Donegal, Ireland^[7] Age- 18

As stated: John ruddy goes home to Donegal^[8] — The remains of 18-year-old immigrant found at Duffy’s cut to be reburied in Ardara

The remains are the first-found set of remains from Duffy’s Cut in 2009, originally designated as SK001, AKA John Ruddy. Ruddy was an 18-year-old immigrant from Donegal who died during a raging cholera epidemic in 1832 near present-day Immaculata University’s campus, while working on the construction of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.^[9]

The remains will be accompanied to Donegal by Bill Watson, Frank Watson, and Earl Schandelmeier, three original Duffy’s Cut researchers. Ruddy showed signs of perimortem blunt-force trauma to his head^[10] according to the forensic analysis, and likely died from that blow rather than cholera.

Ruddy will be reburied in Ardara on March 2, 2013,^[7][11] in a grave generously donated by Vincent Gallagher of the Commodore Barry Irish Center in Philadelphia. Vincent also put us in touch with the funeral director (Seamus Sholvin) and parish priest (Fr. Lafferty) who will assist us in the endeavor.

We have obtained necessary paperwork for the return from the Chester County Coroner, Dr. Stephen Dickter, and we will also be getting statements attesting to the age of the remains from Dr. Janet Monge, bone curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and from the funeral director at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, where five sets of Duffy’s Cut remains were buried in March, 2012.

Sources

1. ↑ John Ruddy, about 1814 – about 1832, LCTW-16M
2. ↑ Geni UK- John Ruddy
3. ↑ "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists Index, 1800-1906," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9Y-5ZQC : 19 February 2021), John Ruddy, 1832; citing ship John Stamp, NARA microfilm publication M360 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 419,547.
4. ↑ List of Passengers on board the British Barque John Stamp, John Young Master, for Philadelphia from Londonderry. April 1832. Arrived 23 June 1832
5. ↑ Chester County Ramblings -duffy’s cut
6. ↑ [Chester County Ramblings - our inconvenient history: duffy’s cut
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169275055/john-ruddy : accessed 16 April 2022), memorial page for John Ruddy (1814–1832), Find A Grave: Memorial #169275055, citing Church of the Holy Family, Ardara, County Donegal, Ireland ; Maintained by woowoo (contributor 49949980) .
8. ↑ The Irish Edition.com - John ruddy goes home to Donegal
9. ↑ Fates Of Irish Workers Sealed In Mass Grave
10. ↑ Duffy's Cut: The Murder Mystery of Malvern
11. ↑ Duffy’s Cut victim returns to Donegal for burial