On this and the following pages, I've tried to avoid listing living people. If you see Descendants Living, that means the next generation has living people. I wanted to show which branches have continued to the present day, but at the same time preserve people's privacy.
If you see anything wrong here, or if you want anything added, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
All the names shown in bold are my direct ancestors.
Wayne County, Iowa was home to two large Ruark families, both related, and both began by men named Peter Ruark. The older of these was Peter Ruark Jr. , son of Peter Ruark of Pulaski County, KY. Peter Jr. had been born in Pulaski County, Kentucky, and had moved to Marion County, Indiana before 1840, probably at the same time as his older brother Thomas. Around 1850 Peter moved to Wayne County, Iowa, where he remained.
The younger of the two Peter Ruark's was the son of Thomas, son of Peter Sr. of Pulaski County, KY, and was therefore the nephew of the other Peter. Like his uncle, he had been born in Pulaski County, Kentucky, and had moved to Marion County, Indiana in 1837. He moved to Putnam County, Indiana with his father in 1861, and left in 1873, settling in Wayne County, Iowa.
These two related Peter Ruarks were the source of much confusion for me, but I took the time to study the census and marriage record and had them mostly sorted out. In the past 10 years I've found several descendants of the older Peter Ruark who have been a great help sorting out the family and providing many of the dates I was missing.