Shanghied in Somerset

    Evan Ragland is one of my favorite ancestors. Mostly because his story seems like something out of a Robert Louis Stevenson story. Evan Ragland was born March 31, 1656 in St. Decuman's Parish, Somerset, England to Thomas Ragland, Jr and Jane Morgan Raglan. The Ragland family, having descended from nobility, was considered wealthy and owned a lot of land

The church Evan was baptized in

An interesting account of his story was told to another researcher, Dawn Griffis on a trip to Wales in the late 1980s. She met with a direct descendant of the Ragland family, Anna Tribe. She stated that relatives of Evan Ragland's family had inherited some land in the 1500's in Somerset. When he was 13 years old, he and his cousin, John Davis were playing on the docks at Watchet while Evan's father, Thomas, conducted business in town. When Thomas came to pick them up they were gone. They had be kidnapped and taken onto a ship bound for America. This was a common occurrence during those days.  The boys were transported to America under what must have been terrible conditions and sold into indentured servitude. Evan, being well educated for someone his age, was taken into the home of the Stephen Pettus, the planter who purchased him, and worked as the man's secretary. Stephen Pettus was a wealthy planter who lived along the Chickahominy River in New Kent County, Virgina. Evan was able to purchase his freedom early and married Stephen's daughter, Susanna Pettus, his sole heir.

St. Peter's Church, New Kent, Virginia

    Evan Ragland appears several times on the Vestry Rolls of St. Peter's Parish Church. He would have been there when this building was built. This is also the church where George Washington married Martha Custis January 6, 1759.

    The Ragland family can trace their roots to Adam ap Herbert born in 1230 in Hertfordshire.

   The name Ragland was given to the family when  Robert ap Jevan (aka Raglan) moved into the Raglan castle with his Uncle William after the death of his father.

Raglan Castle

Evan Ragland is my 8th great-grandfather. Evan Ragland, Sr, - Evan Ragland, Jr - John Ragland, Sr - John Ragland, Jr - Sarah (Sallie) Ragland - William Ragland Francis - Mary Susan Fracis - Susan Irene Looney





SOURCES:

Ragland, Charles James Jr. The Raglands: The History of a British-American Family, vol. II. (Winston-Salem, N.C.: privately printed, 1987). Found at FamilySearch.org

St. Decumans Parish Register. Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812 (database on-line, ancestry.com). Image of original at ancestry.com

Indentured Servants Database

Who Was Reuben Ragland?

Raglan Castle

Wikitree