Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Ruge, Charles 1829 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 6, 2007, 2:40 pm

Author: Portrait & Bios Album, 1890

CHARLES RUGE. Although the life of a farmer may be devoid of the excitement 
and many of the hazards of city life, it is a field for the exercise of as 
high a degree of tact, keenness of judgment, and foresight as any pursuit in 
which man can engage. The sight of "green things growing," which he has sown 
and cultivated, affords a pleasurable sensation, to which is added the 
knowledge that sustenance is at hand whatever limits may be furnished 
by "corners" of speculators, to the price the agriculturist receives for that 
which has cost him so much labor. The gentleman with whose name this sketch is 
introduced is a Prussian by birth and ancestry. His father, Christ Ruge, died 
at the age of sixty years from overwork while cradling grain, the sad event 
occurring when our subject was nine years of age. The widowed mother, formerly 
Miss Christina Trouf, followed her son to America four years after his arrival 
on the shores of the New World, and died in Chicago, Ill., at the age of 
eighty-three years. She belonged to the Lutheran Church. The natal day of 
Charles Ruge was September 2, 1829, and he is the youngest of the four 
children, comprising the parental family. He was reared and educated in his 
native land of Prussia, and when twenty-four years old left it to seek a 
broader field for his energies in the United States. He took passage at 
Hamburg on the "New Doner,'' a sailing-vessel, which anchored in New York 
Harbor, after an ocean voyage of five weeks and three days. He at once came to 
Chicago, Ill., where he landed $5 in debt, but filled with the determined 
spirit which has secured for him a comfortable fortune. Mr. Ruge secured work 
in Dn Page County as a farm laborer, and four years after his arrival there 
took a companion and set up housekeeping on rented property. He farmed as a 
renter five years in Bloomingdale Township, after which he removed to Will 
County, and purchasing one hundred and twenty acres of land in Washington 
Township, began his well-directed efforts to scure a home and fortune. By 
subsequent purchase he added eighty acres to his landed estate, which is 
located on sections 35 and 36, and now has two good sets of buildings upon it. 
His efforts were ably seconded by his wife, and with her assistance and that 
of the family in later years, Mr. Ruge has succeeded in making a fine farm. 
His pleasant dwelling is situated on section 35, and is supplied with an 
abundance of good cheer. The lady who presides over the domestic economy bore 
the name of Minnie Zerzov. She was born in Prussia. April 9, 1840, and is a 
daughter of Fred and Fredricka (Wagner) Zerzov who were natives of the same 
Kingdom as the daughter. The father served his country as a soldier for some 
time, and died when but thirty-five years of age from disease contracted while 
in the army. Mrs. Ruge, who was the youngest child, was a year old at the time 
of her father's decease. She obtained a good education prior to her eighteenth 
year, when she bade adieu to her native land and set forth alone to gain a 
maintenance in America. Leaving Hamburg in November, 1857, she landed in New 
York City after a long sea voyage on the "Louis Napoleon," and at once came to 
Chicago and secured employment as a domestic. Mr. and Mrs. Ruge are the 
parents of thirteen children, whose record is as follows: Henry, Robert and 
John died in childhood; Charles, who married Carrie Grabe, is a clerk in a 
grocery store in Chicago; Eva is the wife of Herman Hack, who lives on a farm 
in Iroquois County; Herman, who operates a part of his father's farm, married 
Anna Meyer; Bertha married Henry Meyer and they live on a farm in Lake County, 
Ind.; William clerks in a dry goods store in Chicago, his wife having borne 
the maiden name of Dora Meyer; Alvina is the wife of Otto Knuth, a machinist 
in Chicago; Emma and Minnie, twins, also live in Chicago; Henry and Amel are 
at home. In his political views and in the casting of his vote Mr. Ruge is 
strictly independent. He and his wife belong to the Evangelical Church of 
North America. They have the respect of their acquaintances for the industry 
and good principles which have characterized their lives and the kindliness 
they manifest toward mankind.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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