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Martin Ratliff, Sr.

Martin Ratliff, Sr.

Male Abt 1768 - 1844  (76 years)    Has 2 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Martin Ratliff 
    Suffix Sr. 
    Birth Abt 1768  Gibson Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 1843-1844  Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Ratliff Cemetery, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 3 Siblings 
    Person ID I432895  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 12 Feb 2003 

    Father James Ratliff,   b. Abt 1738, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft Aug 1800, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years) 
    Mother Mary,   b. Abt 1743, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft Aug 1800, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 57 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1760  Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F171505  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Susannah,   b. Abt 1775, Louisa County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1820-1830, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 55 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1793  Gibson Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Children 
    +1. Martin Ratliff, Jr.,   b. 1795, Gibsons Mill Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aug 1852, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 57 years)
    +2. Catherine Ratliff,   b. 1797, Gibsons Mill Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1840, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 44 years)
    +3. Richard Rueben Ratliff,   b. 1799, Gibsons Mill Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1875-1880, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
    +4. Mary Ratliff,   b. 1800, Gibsons Mill Creek, Louisa Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1852, Ellis Creek, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 52 years)
    +5. William Ratliff,   b. 20 Sep 1801, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Feb 1904, Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 102 years)
    +6. John Ratliff,   b. 1803, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1851, Highland Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 48 years)
    +7. Elizabeth Ratliff,   b. 1805, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1880, Elk Mountain, Pocahontas Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years)
    +8. Nancy Ratliff,   b. 5 Aug 1806, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Nov 1866, Oil Creek, Lewis Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 60 years)
    +9. Stephen W. Ratliff,   b. 1808, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Feb 1876, Heaters Fork, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 68 years)
    +10. Henry Ratliff,   b. 1 Aug 1810, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Sep 1904, Ellis Creek, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 94 years)
    +11. Thomas Ratliff,   b. 1811, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Mar 1880, Ellis Creek, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 69 years)
    +12. James Ratliff,   b. 1813, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1849, Highland Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)
    +13. Harvey Ratliff,   b. 1815, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1880, Ellis Creek, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 66 years)
     14. Margaret Ratliff,   b. 1817, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1885, Ellis Creek, Gilmer Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 69 years)
    +15. Andrew Ratliff,   b. 1819, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1880, Stoney Bottom, Pocahontas Co., West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years)
    Family ID F171296  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 12 Feb 2003 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Ratliff Cemetery, Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co., Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Martin married his wife in about 1793 in Louisa Co. Virginia or in a neighboring county. A close examination of the federal census records from 1810 to 1850 of Bath Co. and Pocahontas Co. for the Martin Ratliff famliy seems to point to one wife. Admittedly, an argument can be made that Martin had two wives. The first would be the mother of the first 3-4 children and the second, the mother of the remaining 11-12 children. The name of his wife appears on only a couple of known documents. First as Susannah on Catherine Ratliff's marriage record to Isaac Fox. Catherine is undoubtably the second of Martin's children. The mother's name appears on a later marriage record of Henry's second marriage in Gilmer Co. as Mary S. Ratliff. The assumption is her name was Mary Susannah. As other Ratliff reseachers will confirm, the Ratliffs rarely used their names as given. There were nicknames, triple names, middle names, and they used all of the names at various times in their life or on different types of documents!
      If there were two wives, then the first is unquestionably, Susannah and the second wife's name is Mary S. Because of the close birthdates of the first 8 children, I believe we can better assume one wife and 15 children and her name, is Mary Susannah. Martin fathered at least 14 children we know, because Martin, Jr. is the oldest and Margaret, who lists Martin as her father on her marriage certificate in 1863 to Robert Kirkpatrick, is the 14th child. This is a disappointing record, because her parents are listed as "Martin and.....", then there is nothing for the mother's name. Looking at the document, it appears the clerk just stopped writing and never finished the entry. It is currently presumed, based on census data, that Andrew is Martin's son, the last and 15th child. The census data is inaccurate in ages on all the family members as they aged. The fact that Elizabeth, the 7th child, had at least two children (quite possibly three) as a single mother, confuses the validity of some of the assumptions, but, we are only left with two choices: Martin had one wife or two.
      Martin and Mary Susannah moved to Sunrise, Back Creek, Bath Co. Virginia in early 1801. Richard is documented as born in Louisa Co. in late 1799, Mary was born in 1800, probably in Louisa Co. and William is documented as born in Bath Co. Virginia in September of 1801. This move coincides with the sale of James Ratliff's land in Louisa Co. in August of 1800. The small Ratliff family of Louisa Co. dispersed in late 1800 or early 1801. James and Mary disappear from records, perhaps going to live with one the of children other than Martin. Martin and Mary may have moved to Bath Co. to follow members of Mary Susannah's family. It has been suggested, and with good cause, that Mary Susannah may have been a Gibson, but there are a number of surnames that are in Louisa Co. in 1787 and then in Bath Co. by 1810.
      Part of the difficulty in tracing Martin is having never owned recorded land in Bath Co. and he died without a will or estate settlement. The land the Ratliffs lived on near Sunrise, is now under water from a 1970 dam project on Back Creek. The original Ratliff Cemetery is also under water, but the graves were moved to Maple Grove Church Cemetery, 33 of the 40 graves, were marked with field stones only. This is a tradition that carries into Gilmer Co. that makes dates impossible to locate.
      Martin and Mary first appear on the 1800 Bath Co. Census under"Rutliff" (which is probably an 'a' that didn't close and looks like a 'u'. Another difficulty in having any traditional knowledge of our Radcliff history is the wide age gaps between our father (b. 1921), his father, (b. 1872), our great-grandfather, (b. 1811) and then Martin born in 1768. There was no traditional family history passed on from the Ratliff line to my father.
      Martin's presumed brother, Thomas H. Ratliff is on the 1840 Illinois Census, in Morgan Co. Isabel, who married, Abraham Ailstock, listed in Virgina in 1830, probably Greenbrier Co. or Rockbridge Co., is a possible sister and I have not confirmed they are the same family. Mary Ratliff, another possible sister to Martin, who married a Thomas Napier also moves on, but appears on the 1830 Bath Co. Census index.
      Martin and his large family may have moved between Bath and Pocahontas Counties over the decades, but the county boundaries also changed over the years before being settled. It would seem they mostly did farm work and possibly some timber work and spent the majority of thier lives at Sunrise on Back Creek in Bath Co.
      Some reports say these Ratliff men possessed amazing physical strength and toughness. They obviously came from healthy parents. Consider there are 15 children here and all of them lived to adulthood and eventually married and most had large families. In this time period, that would have been extremely rare, not to mention that one son lived to be 102, and one to 94!
      I use the year 1844 for Martin Sr.'s death because in this year many of his children migrated. It was probably in the winter of 1843-44. William, Henry, Thomas, Stephen W., Margaret, and Mary (Ratliff) Gibson with family move to the newly forming Gilmer County. Harvey and his large family followed sometime after 1850. Some of Richard's children and Catherine's children (the Foxes) migrated to the Lewis County area in the mid 1840s. And Nancy Fox and her two daughters settled at Oil Creek in Lewis Co. sometime in the 1840s. James and John Ratliff moved up Back Creek to Highland Co. in the mid 1840s.
      Over 13 years of research and finding others that have worked on this line has been far and few between. Below is a list of those that I have corresponded with or research I have received:

      Amanda Myers, Fairmont, West Virginia, John Ratliff line
      Freddie G. Moore, Spring, Texas - William Ratliff line
      Marion Putnam Keranen, Rock Lake, North Dakota, William Ratliff line
      Thelma Patterson Osborne, Carmichael, Pennsylvania, deceased?, Henry line
      Rev. Paul D. Frazier, Hardin, Illinois, Richard Ratliff line
      Fran Curry Townsend, Petersburg, West Virginia, Richard Ratliff line

  • Sources 
    1. [S1414] Bath County Census 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840.



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