About us
The Ragsdale family name is said to come from Ragdale, England, meaning either "valley at the pass" or "dweller in the valley where the lichen grows." Henry Ragsdale was born in Leicestershire, England about 1450, and his son Robert was born about 1485 in Ragsdale, Leicestershire, England. He died about 1559 and some of his children were Henry, Thomas R. and John R. Henry was born about 1510; he married Elizabeth Oglethorpe about 1532, and their children were William, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Margaret, Owen and Catherine. Henry died in 1559. William was born in 1575; he married a woman named Heathcote, about 1615; they had a son, Godfrey I, who came to America.
Godfrey Ragsdale I and his wife, thought to be Lady Mary Cookney, arrived in Virginia some time late in the summer of 1638. They were the first documented Ragsdales to come to America. Godfrey Ragsdale I and his wife lived in Henrico County Virginia on a 300-acre plantation on February 25, 1642, upon the north side of the Appomattox River.
On April 18, 1644, afterwards known as "Opechancanough Day," Pamunkey Indians and several tribes in the Indian Federation went on a rampage. There was a carnage that was greater than the one in the Norfolk area in 1622. The Indians slaughtered no less than 500 Englishmen. This massacre fell almost entirely upon the frontier counties at the head of the great rivers and upon the plantations on the south side of the James River. Both Godfrey I and his wife were killed.
From documents we know that Godfrey had a son named Godfrey Ragsdale II, who was born in 1644. Because his mother and father had been killed in the 1644 massacre, Godfrey II's next door neighbors raised him and later became his in-laws. Historians say that most Ragsdales in America came from Godfrey II.
Godfrey Ragsdale I and his wife, thought to be Lady Mary Cookney, arrived in Virginia some time late in the summer of 1638. They were the first documented Ragsdales to come to America. Godfrey Ragsdale I and his wife lived in Henrico County Virginia on a 300-acre plantation on February 25, 1642, upon the north side of the Appomattox River.
On April 18, 1644, afterwards known as "Opechancanough Day," Pamunkey Indians and several tribes in the Indian Federation went on a rampage. There was a carnage that was greater than the one in the Norfolk area in 1622. The Indians slaughtered no less than 500 Englishmen. This massacre fell almost entirely upon the frontier counties at the head of the great rivers and upon the plantations on the south side of the James River. Both Godfrey I and his wife were killed.
From documents we know that Godfrey had a son named Godfrey Ragsdale II, who was born in 1644. Because his mother and father had been killed in the 1644 massacre, Godfrey II's next door neighbors raised him and later became his in-laws. Historians say that most Ragsdales in America came from Godfrey II.