Peter, I only just now found this message, archived fortunately. Sorry it took me so long to find it!

My maiden name is Ruddiman, and my GGF John (Jack) Ruddiman came to the US from Scotland in 1846, having been apprenticed to a chemist in Dundee following his earlier schooling at what was then called Gordon's "Hospital" (now University) in Aberdeen. Although the family was mainly from Aberdeen, his parents John & Barbara moved to Dundee around the time he began his apprenticeship, and stayed there for nearly 40 years before returning to Aberdeen with their granddaughter and her family when they were quite elderly.

Because the Ruddiman name is not at all common, I'm certain that we are related, although at this point I couldn't say how closely. My 5G GF Thomas, wife's name unknown to me, lived in Monquhitter Parish (Cuminestown area) in northern Aberdeenshire right near the Banffshire line. They had 3 sons and 3 daughters; the earliest, John, was baptized in 1683, William in 1684, and my ancestor James, the youngest, in 1701.

James's sons were: Joseph, b.1729; William, 1731; James, 1737; and the youngest, my 3G GF, John (Sr.) was born 1745 and married Esther Freeman in 1777. Joseph, the eldest, is famous for being the pre-eminent stringed instrument maker in Scotland in the second half of the 18th Century and the Univ. of Aberdeen has some of his violins in their museum. This generation was all born in Monquhitter, but several of them moved down to Aberdeen, including at least Joseph and John.

John Sr. & Esther's eldest son John (Jr) born 11 April, 1798, married Barbara Mennie Feb 1, 1821 and they had 5 children. (John and Esther had at least 8 daughters before finally having their 2 sons.) Their second son was William Freeman, born 28 Feb. 1801, and married Jean/Jane Dalgarno in 1824 and they had 8 children.

John Jr. & Barbara's son John (3rd) was my aforementioned GGF who came to the US. Two of his brothers, William and James also came to the US, but his eldest brother Alexander, who married Ann Hunter, and their only sister Barbara, who married a seaman, Alexander Addison, remained in Scotland.

John 3rd married Caroline Bridgman from Suffolk and their second son John (4th) was my Grandfather, and my Dad was the 5th and I guess if I had been a boy I would have been the 6th.

I haven't found the given name of Peter in my branch, but I have a good bit of info about another branch that goes back to Banffshire - King Edward Parish mostly, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from Monquhitter Parish in Aberdeenshire - and the name Peter comes up occasionally in that branch. A Ruddiman gentleman from Michigan who was in corespondence with my GGF in the 1890s had a great uncle Peter who went to Cornwall and married Loveday Jenkins there and became the head gardener, I understand, at an estate there.

Does ANY of this ring a bell? I hope somewhere in all this you find a link. I don't have all of my data organized as well as I would like - it takes a LOT of time! But I keep plugging away at it, and filling new notebooks as I add info or get a GEDCOM from someone. I have been able to link up a few distant cousins with others in their branch, because I save EVERYTHING I find that has anything to do with ANY RUDDIMAN ANYWHERE, on the assumption that someday all this stuff will come together in one big but manageable family tree. Well, I can dream, can't I ??? ;-}

Please do get back in touch, hopefully faster than I did. And let me know if you see a connection anywhere.

Dorothy (Dot) Ruddiman Moritz, Clearwater, Florida, USA