John Ruscoe (also Ruskoe) Norwalk Vol. 1
/ref>(1623 – 1702) was a founding

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

of Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. He was born in 1623, in

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, son of William Ruscoe, and Rebecca. His parents and their four youngest children departed from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

aboard the ship ''Increase'' in 1635, but his mother Rebecca died on the voyage. John and his brother

Nathaniel , nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * N ...

remained in England, presumably to manage a farm there and to earn money to send to their father until he had established himself in America. This was a common practice at the time. William arrived in Boston in June 1635, and upon arrival soon married the only widow in the Newton settlement, Hester Mussey. In 1836, the family joined

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational church, Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known ...

in settling

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

. Shortly after John arrived in Hartford he married Rebecca Beebe. John Ruscoe was one of the fourteen original signers of the Ludlow agreement to create a settlement at Norwalk. He was the owner of Half-Mile Island, the peninsula located east of Canfield Avenue on Shorehaven Road. He is listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founding settlers of Norwalk in the

East Norwalk Historical Cemetery __NOTOC__ Established in , the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery is Norwalk's oldest cemetery, and many of the area's first settlers are buried there. The cemetery is owned and maintained by the Third Taxing District, formally known as the East No ...

References

5. Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol 36, 2003, Robert W. Hull, CSG 12,200. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruscoe, John 1623 births 1702 deaths American Puritans Huguenots Settlers of Norwalk, Connecticut People from Billericay People from Essex (before 1965)