Career
He served in the West Virginia House of Delegates and was commissioned in the local militia by the new state as a Major General. In the years after the War, for a time, General Ruffner was in charge of the Lock and Dam Improvement Project of the United States. Government on the Kanawha River. He died in 1883 after falling from a horse while extremely drunk.
Ruffner"s daughter, Patti Ruffner Jacobs, became a prominent suffragist in Birmingham, Alabama.
Young Booker came to Malden, West Virginia with his mother Jane after Emanicipation in late 1865. Following other jobs of manual labor including working in the salt wells, he served as the Ruffner family"s houseboy.
He lived there until 1872, when he left to attend Hampton Institute at the age of sixteen. According to the first of his autobiographies, Up From Slavery, Ruffner had a harsh reputation for her rigid and strict manner, was feared by her servants and could only keep temporary employees due to her demands and expectations.
She taught Washington the value of a dollar, and encouraged him to further his schooling, allowing him to attend school for an hour each day.
Washington expresses his extreme respect and utmost regard for Ruffner, calling her "one of the best friends I ever had." In modern times, the Ruffner and Washington families are still good friends, and had a reunion in Charleston, West Virginia in 2002. lieutenant is also noted that the Ruffners attend the Washington family reunion at Hampton annually, and both families still contribute to causes for the growth of society.
