I have been searching (diligently) for them since I began working on genealogy about 30 years ago.  I got this far, and there is this huge brick wall - I have never known of the family to have lived in the south, at least no further south than Missouri. 

 

I am searching for the family of my grandfather, Henry (no middle name) Ratcliff.  He was born at Minden Mines, Barton Co., Mo on 7 March 1881 and died 10 August 1928 at Vinita, Craig Co., Okla. of Blood Poisoning.  He married on 17 March 1903, at Girard, Crawford County, Kansas, Bertha Olena Metzer.

 

Henry's father was John Phillips Ratcliff, born 8 Dec 1853 (his death certificate says he was born in Wishaw, Cambusnethan, Lanark, Scotland), and died 11 Feb 1930 at Wagoner, Wagoner Co., Okla.  He became a citizen of the US on 9 June 1887 in Scott County, Kansas.
 
John's death certificate names his parents as Henry Ratcliff and Euphamie or Effie Phillips.  Family tradition says that he had a brother names Alexander, who went by the name of "Sandy" who went to the Isle of Man.
 
I would appreciate any help in identifying this family.
Bonnie Jacobsen
bonnfred@verizon.net

 

 

Bonnie, Don Ratcliff forwarded your request for information to me as I have some Ratliff/Ratcliff family info.  Also, I am one of the co-administrators for the Ratliff Family DNA project whereby we are testing the Y-chromosome of any male with the surname of Ratliff, Ratcliff, and most of the other spellings in an effort to make some connections.

 

I also am a subscriber to ancestry.com whereby much genealogical information is available.  This site is a fee based site for most of the information but you might try to long on to ancestry.com and see what you can discover.

 

To help, I did find some information on ancestry.com and will try and share much of it with you.  I was unable to find much information other than what you have provided however, I think I can expand some of this info over what you may have.

 

Henry Ratcliff, born 7 March 1881, Minden , MO.   Died 10 Aug. 1928 in Vinita , OK .

Married Bertha Olena Metzer on 17 Mar 1903 in Girard, Crawford Co., KS.

Their children”

 

Hazel Florence Ratcliff, born 26 Jan 1904, Nelson, KS. D: 27 Aug. 1995 in Oroville , CA .

Married Ben Otto Mulkey, ca. 1922

Married Luther Bryant, ca. 1930.

One child: Eugene Leroy Mulkey.

 

Mary Elizabeth Ratcliff, b: 13 Oct 1905, Pittsburg, Crawford Co., KS. D: As a child?

 

Ruby Adeline Ratcliff, b: 6 May 1907, Longmont , MN . Still living in May 2000 at 93

Married: Elmer O. Freedlove, 4 Jan 1928 in Vinita , OK .

8 Freedlove children still living in 2000 so no names provided.

 

Elsie Alberta Ratcliff, b: 30 Apr 1909, Longville , MN . Still living Nov. 1999

Married Gabriel Roosevelt Witt, 4 Oct 1929 in Vinita , OK .

3 Living Witt children in 1999

 

Henry Ratcliff, Jr., b: 23 Dec 1911, Estele , OK . D: 3 Sep 1955 in Pierre SD

Never Married

 

Effie Laola Ratcliff, b: 13 Feb 1913, Longville , MN . D: 28 May 2002 in Anaheim , CA

Married Clyde Webber – no dates provided.

2 Webber children living

 

John Charles Ratcliff, b: 10 Apr 1915, Estele , OK .  NO death info.

Married Pauline Shirley ca. 1935

Married Jessie Maples ca. 1940

No children by either marriage

 

Earl William Ratcliff, b: 17 Sep 1917, Estele , OK .  D: 2 Feb 1970 in Lake Crystal , MN

Married Joyce Gladys Evanson 19 Jan 1941

4 living Ratcliff children

 

Letha Viola Ratcliff, b: 11 Sep 1919, Estelle, OK. No death info.

Married Hayes Durmont Clark Button ca. 1939

One living child.

Married Robert Harley 23 Mar 1956 in Ames , Iowa .

3 living Charley children

 

I was also successful in finding Henry’s WW I Draft Registration card which you will find below.  One piece of information you may not have is that he was of medium build and height.  He had blue eyes and red hair.

 

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
about Henry Ratcliff

Name:

Henry Ratcliff

City:

Not Stated

County:

Craig

State:

Oklahoma

Birth Date:

7 Mar 1881

Race:

White

Roll:

1851700

DraftBoard:

0

 

I could not find any information on Henry’s parents John Phillip Ratcliff and Mary Jane Slater.  However, I didn’t look too far.

 

A word of caution about the information, unless you have first hand information that the above is correct (and I do not), you might want to be sure and check out the details.  Several things seem a little different in this information:

 

1.       I was unable to find any census information which I should have been able to find.

2.     The going back & forth from Ok to Minnesota seems a little strange on the surface.  There may be a perfect explanation for it but you might want to check everything out to be sure.

 

Now, I would like to put in a plug for any Ratcliff males to take our DNA test.  If you will go to www.familytreedna.com you can go to the surname projects and look for the Ratliff Family Project.  You can register for the 37 marker test (which we recommend) as that provides information in which we could possibly place your line in with the 53 that have already taken the test.  The cost is $189 and is done with 2 cheek swabs done 8 hours apart and then submitted to a testing facility.  The information is highly guarded and the results will not be shared with other than those in the group.  So I would like to encourage you to encourage those male relatives with the Ratcliff surname to go ahead and take the test.  You can register on-line and handle the payment with a credit card.

 

Bonnie, I don’t know if I have helped you much but hopefully I have.  At last you may have places to look that you haven’t before.  Also, there are lots of Ratcliff families (not all related) that are in the South and Southwest.  And look at me, I am in Alaska so you just never know.

 

Should you have any questions, or desire any additional information, please don’t hesitate to get back in touch with me.

 

With kind regards,

Ed Ratliff

Anchorage , Alaska