Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Ruggles, Benjamin

RUGGLES, Benjamin, senator, b. in Windham county, Conn., in 1783; d. in St. Clairsville, Ohio, 2 Sept., 1857. He obtained the means for acquiring a classical education by teaching during the winters, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He removed to Marietta, Ohio, and subsequently to St. Clairsville, and in 1810 became president judge of the court of common pleas for the third circuit. In 1815 he was chosen U.S. senator, and he served until 1833, gaining by his habits of industry the name of the “wheel-horse of the senate.” In 1836 he was chosen a presidential elector on the Whig ticket.