Robert Ryland was a Virginian, born there in 1805. His parents were Josiah H. Ryland, March 5, 1767 – June 9, 1850, and Catharine Peachey, May 4, 1776 – June 21, 1858, who were married June 18, 1802, in Essex County, Virginia. Robert was their second son; the other children were Samuel Peachey Ryland, April 5, 1803 – June 28, 1886; Elizabeth Ferguson Ryland, June 11, 1807 – April 18, 1871. Martha Jane Ryland, August 22, 1810 – April 11, 1894. Joseph Ryland, November 3, 1813 – August 25, 1872. John Newton Ryland, March 22, 1816 – April 9, 1906.
The Morning Herald, Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Monday, March 7, 1898
Golden Wedding
Dr. Robert Ryland and Wife Married Fifty Years
They will celebrate their golden wedding on the 8th of next June.
(From Sunday’s Courier-Journal, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.)
Lexington, March 5 – Dr. Robert Ryland, for many years a citizen of Lexington, will celebrate his golden wedding on the 8th of next June. The remarkable thing about this fact is that the good wife who will take part in the festivities is his second wife. He was married in 1830 to Miss Josephine Norvell, of Richmond, Virginia, with whom he lived about sixteen years. On June 8, 1848, he married the second time, taking for his wife Miss Bettie Presley Thornton of Caroline County, Virginia. Golden weddings are rare occurrences, but it is left for few men indeed to live with their second wife fifty years.
Robert Ryland was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, March 14, 1805, and received an education far ahead of his time, graduating from Columbian College, Washington, D.C., before he was twenty-one years old. His father had given to each of his brothers and sisters a farm, but he preferred to have his share of the estate in another form, and he left his home to preach the Gospel. For awhile he was chaplain at the University of Virginia and was called from there to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church at Lynchburg, where he stayed five years, building the church from nineteen members to one hundred and twenty. From there he was called to Richmond to take
Charge of a school. This school afterward became the Richmond college, and he was President until the beginning of the Civil War. This broke up the college and left him without employment. Up to this time he had been pastor of the First African Church and had baptized into its fellowship three thousand eight hundred persons. This work could be done in connection with the college work as it required no pastoral visiting. During the war he gave his time to the soldiers, going from hospital to camp and from camp to hospital, aiding them in every way he could. His home was full of the sick and wounded all the time, and many were nursed back to health and strength there. So firm was his faith in the permanency of the Confederacy that he invested every dollar of his ample fortune in Confederate bonds and, of course, lost it all. Thus, at the age of sixty, when most men count their life work done, he found himself bereft of property and employment. Looking around for a means of support for his family he was offered a school in Kentucky, which would give him the means of livelihood and an opportunity of educating his daughters. In 1888 he left his home and friends in Richmond and came to Kentucky where he taught for twelve years, moving first to Shelbyville, then to Lexington, then to Newcastle and back to Lexington. Since closing his school, he has been busy with his pen, and in the pulpit when an opportunity offered, and for the last four years as chaplain of the southwestern Virginia Institute at Bristol. By his first wife Dr. Ryland reared four children: Williams S. Ryland, now President of Bethel College, Russellville, Ky.; Norvell Ryland, a merchant in Richmond, Va.; Mrs. A. B. Knight, of Shelbyville, Ky., and Mrs. William Taliaferro
of King and Queen County, Va. By his present wife he reared three daughters, Mrs. Frank A. Atkins, of Lexington, Mrs. H. S. Ellis, of Newcastle, and Mrs. G. W. Wail, of Somerset.
Although ninety-three years old the 14th day of this month, Dr. Ryland is hale and hearty. His mind is as vigorous as that of the average man of sixty. Among his latest works is a history of Richmond College, which shows him to be a graceful and powerful writer. As a worker for the upbuilding of the colored race Dr. Ryland has few equals. In one of his recent articles concerning the colored people Dr. Ryland says:
“For my own part I am not ashamed to confess a long-standing concern for the whole race. I was born on a large Virginia farm on which there lived about forty Negroes of all ages, between infancy and decrepitude. I was nursed by a kind woman of color whom I call ‘Mammy,’ and loved as such. I played with colored boys, rode on their backs, was drawn in a toy wagon by them as my horses; for the grown servants I was a constant intercessor with my father and mother for extra food, clothing and medicine. I was pastor of the First African Church for twenty-four years, and by the whole body of thirty-eight hundred professed believers that I baptized in that church. I was treated with uniform justice and kindness and have never ceased to thank God for the privilege of preaching a free Gospel to them. Our duty is to prepare the colored people first for useful citizenship among us and then for their higher spiritual destiny.”
The doctor then goes on to say that all Christian People Ought to devote at least a portion of their time to educating the colored race along the lines indicated. The children and grandchildren of Dr. Ryland in Kentucky will probably go to Bristol, Va., in June to be present at the celebration of his golden wedding with his second wife.
1850 Henrico County Virginia Census
Robert Ryland, 45, Clergymen. Betty P. Ryland, 27. William S. Ryland, 13. Josephine Ryland, 11. Norvell Ryland, 7. Kate Ryland, 5. Also in the census Lewis Turner, 32, and Bennett Puryear, teachers, 36 students and a college steward, H. F. Thornton, 23, and Aggy Hooper, 65.
1860 Henrico County Virginia Census
Robert Ryland, 55, Baptist Minister, real estate $6,500; personal estate $53,000. Bettie Ryland, 39. Josephine Ryland, 22. Norvell Ryland, 18. Kate Ryland, 16. Roberta Ryland, 9. Nettie Ryland, 6. Bessie Ryland, 3.
1870 Shelby County Kentucky Census
Robert Ryland, 65, Minister and Teacher, personal estate, $1,000 [note the difference between the 1860 amounts and 1870 – lost due to buying Confederate bonds during the Civil War]. Betty P. Ryland, 50, Matron of School. Roberta Ryland, 19, schoolteacher. Kate Ryland, 25, schoolteacher. Nettie Ryland, 15. Bessie Ryland, 12. Lucy Briggs, 62, Vermont. Ann L. Briggs, 24, schoolteacher, Michigan. Harry F. Hafer, 33, Prussia, music teacher. Aletha C. Hafer, 23, New York, assistant music teacher. 10 female students. Lucy Stephney, 70, Virginia, domestic servant. Georgeann Logan, 19, domestic servant. Reuben Logan, 30, house carpenter. Sarah Logan, 25, keeping house. Infant son of Reuben and Sarah, 1 month. Mary Shouse, 21, Missouri.
1880 Henry County Census
Robert Ryland, 76, schoolteacher. Elizabeth Ryland, 60, keeping house. Bessie Ryland, 22, schoolteacher. F. A. Atkins, 29, son-in-law, schoolteacher. Bertie Atkins, 28, daughter, music teacher. Mary Atkins, 5, granddaughter. Bertie Atkins, 3, granddaughter. Antoinette Atkins, 1, granddaughter. Jessie Douglas, 15, nurse. J. Schermerhorn, 18, boarder, pupil.
The Daily Leader, Lexington, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Monday, April 24, 1899
Death Claims
Rev. Dr. Robert Ryland Famous Baptist Minister
94 Years of Age
Rev. Dr. Robert Ryland, one of the best known citizens of Lexington, and a famous Baptist minister and philanthropist, died at an early hour Sunday morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. F. A. Atkins, on South Limestone Street.
About two weeks ago the venerable gentleman suffered a stroke of paralysis, and his life was then despaired of. However, he rallied and was better. Friday he began to fail and to gradually grow worse till the final end came.
Funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church at 10 o’clock this morning, conducted by Rev. Preston Blake. After the services the body was taken to the C. & O. depot and shipped to Richmond, Virginia, on the train which left here at 11:30.
The Courier Journal, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Saturday, June 24, 1905
Death of Mrs. Ryland
Mrs. Bettie Presley Thornton Ryland, widow of the late Rev. Robert Ryland, died here today in her eighty-fourth year of age. She was born in Caroline County, Virginia, and was the daughter of Anthony Thornton. Her great-grandfather was at the surrender of Burgoyne and a paternal uncle was on the staff of General Washington. During the Civil War all of her time and fortune was given to the Confederacy. She was an honorary member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Frank A. Atkins, of Lexington; Mrs. Harvey S. Ellis, of New Castle, and Mrs. George W. West, of Somerset. Besides there the Rev. W. S. Ryland, of Russellville; Mrs. A. B. Knight, of Richmond, Virginia; and Mrs. William Taliaferro, of Tappahannock, Virginia, were her step-children. Her husband was once President of Richmond College and shortly before his death they celebrated the anniversary of their golden wedding. The funeral will take place at the First Baptist Church in Lexington tomorrow evening and the burial will be in the Richmond College lot, at Hollywood, by the side of her late husband.
Categories: Family Stories
