William Thomas Ridgway (VI)

1863-1936

Excerpt from William Ridgway family bible As recorded in the family bible, William Thomas was born to William and Millie Ann Ridgway on July 28, 1863 at the family farm near Front Royal, Virginia, a little more than one month before his father enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry.(1) In 1894 William married Elton Virginia Clapsaddle, daughter of Byrd Clapsaddle and Hannah Margaret Hottel of Warren County. Elton was born on April 13, 1871. Her father, Byrd, served in Company E, 7th Virginia (Ashby's) Cavalry during the War. Byrd's name is listed on the Confederate monument at the Warren County Courthouse, along with William Thomas's father. Elton's mother, Hannah, came from a prominent Shenandoah County family of German descent.(2) Byrd and Hannah Clapsaddle are both buried at Bennett's Chapel cemetery, southwest of Front Royal.

William was a farmer, like his father, and a land owner near Buckton in the Fork District of Warren County until 1913, when he sold his property and moved the family to Savage, Maryland. His brother Desiah also moved to Savage with his family about this same time. William and Desiah both worked in the Savage Cotton Mill, as did many of their children.

William Ridgway Elton Clapsaddle

On September 28, 1915, William and Elton both registered to vote in Maryland as Democrats.(3) In 1931 William retired from the Savage Mill after working there for 15 years. In a deed dated April 14, 1934, for the sum of $5.00 and "other good and valuable considerations", he and Elton were deeded two adjoining lots at the southeast corner of Baldwin and Baltimore Streets in Savage, by Joseph S. and Annice B. Wheatley.(4) William died on July 14, 1936 in Savage, and is buried in the Savage Cemetery. Elton died four years later, on February 19, 1940, from a gas leak in their house in Savage. The tragic event was described in some detail in an excerpt from her obituary printed in The Warren Sentinel, February 29, 1940:(5)

"Mrs. Elton Virginia Ridgeway, widow of the late William Thomas Ridgeway, died at her home in Savage, Md., early Monday, Feb. 19, as the result of asphyxiation from gas fumes escaping from a defective meter. Mrs. Ridgeway and her daughters, Catherine Ridgeway and Mrs. Richard Linder were alone in the house and apparently had detected escaping gas before collapsing. Mrs. Ridgeway had fallen over a grate in the floor which was directly over the gas meter. Mrs. Linder phoned the Doctor before she collapsed. The doctor on arrival could not gain admittance to the house and went nearby to the home of her son-in-law, Monroe Collison, who rushed to the Ridgeway home and found all three lying on the first floor. Mrs. Ridgeway was dead. With aid of pulmortors. Catherine and Mrs. Linder were being revived when an explosion occurred wrecking the house and in a few minutes later the house was in flames. Several other persons who were in the house at the time of the explosion were injured, among them Richard Linder who was blown into the yard and received cuts and bruises on the forehead."

The house was completely destroyed by the fire. Many family heirlooms were lost as a result of this disaster, including the Cavalry saber worn by William's father during the Civil War. Elton is buried next to her husband in the Savage Cemetery. William and Elton had seven children.

The grown children of William and Elton Ridgway

From the left, Catherine, Mabel, Helen, Brocket, Herbert, Effie and Millie, ca. 1965 in Savage

Children of William & Elton Ridgway

  1. Millie Blanche Ridgway (1895-1971) Millie was born in Cedarville, Virginia. She married Ellsworth Munroe Collison (1895-1971) on June 30, 1917 in Savage, Maryland. Millie and Munroe continued to reside in Savage. Millie and Munroe are both buried in the Savage Cemetery. They had at least to sons.
  2. Effie May Ridgway (VII) (1896-1971) Effie was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. On June 25, 1916 she married James Willard Hackley (1889-1963) in the Savage, Maryland Methodist Church. They resided in Savage where James worked in the Savage Cotton Mill as a Loam Repairer. Both are buried in the Savage Cemetery. They had five children, Audley Willard, Louis Edwin, Wanda May, Barbara Corinne and Franklin Delano.
  3. Herbert Bryan Ridgway (1899-1963) Herbert was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. He married Edna Mae Waters (1893-1968) on September 10, 1934 in Ellicott City, Maryland. He was a clerk at the time. Both are buried in the Savage Cemetery. It is not known if they had children.
  4. Brocket Boyd Ridgway (1902-1967) Brocket was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. In 1947 he was living in Baltimore and unmarried. He died in Zephyrhills, Pasco County, Florida.
  5. Helen Elizabeth Ridgway (1904-1983) Helen was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. She married Richard E. Linder on August 12, 1936 in South Laurel, Maryland. They lived in Baltimore, where she was a stenographer and he was a toolmaker. They died in Baltimore, and their burial location is not known.
  6. Mabel Arbutus Ridgway (1908-1992) Mabel was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. She married Howard N. Fisher on May 26, 1928 in Ellicott City, Maryland. They resided in Savage. They had at least one daughter.
  7. Catherine Virginia Ridgway (1910-2001) Catherine was born in the Fork District of Warren County, Virginia. She never married, and lives Savage.


Footnotes

1. Bible of William and Amelia Ann Ridgway, in possession of Leona Hunt of Orange County, VA.

2. History of the Descendants of John Hottel, compiled by W. D. Huddle, L. M. Huddle and B. P. Huddle, Hottel-Keller Memorial, Inc., Toms Brook, VA, 1992.

3. Howard County, Maryland Voter Registry, Dist. 6, 1914-20, Howard County Historical Society, Ellicott City, MD.

4. Howard County Land Records, Book 148, Page 340, County Court House, Ellicot City, MD.

5. The Warren Sentinel, Front Royal, Virginia, Obituary, February 29, 1940, original in possession of Vince Hackley.