English Origins of the Ridgway Family
The Ridgway surname is of English origin and was
probably derived from a place name that identified it's owner as
residing on or near the ridge road. Over the years, and
in different localities, this name has had many variant forms,
including Ridwar, Rydeware, Rydgeway, Wrydgway, Rudgwy, Ridgwaie,
Ridgeway and Ridgway. Some of these variations resulted from
differences between early Anglo-Saxon or Welsh, and modern
English pronunciation and spelling. It is well established that
the Ridgways are of noble lineage.(1)
A manuscript in the British Museum gives a pedigree of the
Ridgways from John, 1375, to Robert, 2nd Earl of
Londonderry, 1631, including the various Coat of Arms over the
years. Patrilineal and matrilineal lines of the Ridgway family
can be traced back to the earliest kings and earls of England,
including among others Leofric I, 1st Earl of
Leicester, Earl of Lincoln and Earl of Chester, born about 680,
and William de Ridware, a great grandson of William the
Conqueror. It was William de Ridware who made his manor of Ridware
in Staffordshire his principal residence, and from this
place assumed the surname Ridware or Ridgway. Another patriarch
of the Ridgway family was Sir Thomas Ridgeway, first Earl of
Londonderry, born around 1560 and died in 1631. Sir Thomas was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth and was described as "Ye first
to plant a Protestant Colony in Ireland", probably referring
to his Londonderry proprietorship. King James I refers to him on
May 25th, 1616, as
"his well-beloved and faithful Leige subject and
counsellor Thomas Ridgeway; Knight, Baronet, descended of an
ancient family and of his varied servies as well as the time
of our sister of happy memory, the late Queen Elizabeth, in
the general naval expedition for the Island of Azores, and in
divers other places and at several times during the happy
reign of the said Queen, by whose hand, for those very
services of his, he was had in ye dignity and style of a
golden knight, as also for the faithful and most acceptable
services which needed in the time of our reigne; not only in
matters of great and serious consultation, but in our
Parliments of England and Ireland, and particularly for
activity, industry, and in his own expenses for advancing and
establishing the Royal Plantation of ye Provence of Ulster,
in building several castles and strong forts, as well in the
County of Ulster, Tyrone as in Letrong in the County of
Monoghan and Gallen Ridgeway in our Queens County and now for
above nine years Commander General and Treasurer of
Wars"
From various records it is evident that
quite a number of emigrant Ridgways arrived on American soil
during the 17th century, some representing separate
lines of descent. Many Ridgways in this country can trace their
lineage to Richard, born in 1654, the son of Robert Ridgway, 4th
son and youngest child of the Second Earl of Londonderry. Richard
and wife Elizabeth Chamberlayne arrived at Burlington, New Jersey
in 1677, and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania at a Quaker
community called Crewcorne. One of Richard's children by a second
marriage, John, migrated to Hopewell, another Quaker community in
Frederick County, Virginia, around 1724. Many Ridgways in
Virginia are his descendants.
The particular Ridgway family of
interest here traces its lineage back to 17th
century Maryland. There is no evidence of a connection
between this line and the Pennsylvania/Virginia Quaker line of
Richard. In fact, evidence seems to indicate the early presence
of Ridgways in Maryland concurrent with their northern
counterparts.
Footnotes
1. Descent of the
Ridgway--Ridgeway Family in England and America, 2nd edition,
by George C. Ridgway, Evansville, Indiana, 1926. (copy on file at
Bauch Library, Leesburg, Virginia).