I just browsed this website: http://www.ocmuseum.org/genealogy/
It has a lot of wills, use the Make a Selection search feature when you get to the page. I found the following names all referring to members of the same family:
Elget RUARK, will of 1815, son Stephen, Thomas, Elget, dtrs. Mary, Betsy, and Peggy DREADON
John RUKE, wife Mary, will of 1769, Ezekiel, James, Levin, John, Sarah OWENS, others unnamed.
Levin RUARK wit. will of John SHOCKLEY 1773
Elget RUKE wit. will of Joshua SELBY 1795
Joshua RUARK wit. will of Patrick CASEY 1821
James RUARK wit. will of James LONGO 1743
John RUARK wit. will of Peter OWENS 1756
John RUARK wit. will of Wm. PARKER 1817
Catherine RUKE legatee of mother Margaret MADDOX 1797
Daniel RUKE wit. will of Samuel PARKER 1795
Rebecca RUKE legatee of mother Sarah BROWN 1796
James ROOK legatee of Wm. HODGE in 1764

Gene this is a great site. I have most of them listed in the Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages. David Ruark said
his gg had records of four brothers coming from County Galway, Ireland Abt 1680 with the name O'Rourke. I believe this is the start of the Ruark clan. There was James(listed),William,Major,and I believe Thomas. There is a William Ruarke wit. will 1698, and Merjery Ruark wit,1727.
She might be a sister,instead of Major. Everyone should try to tie to these people. You can send me any site you located, or post them like you did this one. Lester

Lester, and all, I keep running into the four brother story, but without a source for it. I've also heard this one, that when Lord Calvert started to colonize Maryland, he brought retainers from the Calvert family's barony in Ireland, which was in Longdon Co., Ireland. Included among them were the three RUARK brothers, John, James, and William, who were horse trainers. Sure would be nice to find a spot of confirmation somewhere. I need information on the beginning generations leading to John RUARK who married Mary DRISKELL, our line continues through Ezekiel. Gene in Gotha

just returned from an 11 day visit to ireland. several days in galway city and co. galway. did'nt learn much on the o'rourke=ruark ties. heard lots of possibilities, but nothing that i could say was "fact" there were several places in which to check, but everythiing in ireland seems to close at 3 or 4 pm. No ruarks in any of the phonebooks in the 7 cities i stayed in. i did'nt find any of us buried there either. (i guess i need to go back!)

Lester, et al,
Lester, there are two errors in your above statement: I did not say this is what I believe, I quoted you a statement from Portrait and Biographical Record of the Eastern Shores of Maryland which stated that Major T. Ruark (who was born in April of 1837) father, James, and 3 brothers, Thomas, William & Major came to Maryland from England, and that James died about 1835...(note the discrepency with Major's birth.) These can be the same four as listed in AuntJeans pages. We just need to have some documentation before we can start to sort them out. I have tons of pension papers, deeds, and marriage listings from Maryland..but, as I said to you the only tie I have of Maryland to my proven ancestor is that one census says that his two sons were born in Maryland. I don't believe our name is as uncommon as we thought it was, and that there was more than one (or the above 4) Ruark to immigrate to Maryland or the states.
I agree that if we continue to submit our documentation to each other we may be able to do some sorting and tieing together. For that reason I have placed the will of my oldest proven Ruark, Timothy, in the Wills section. Marvel

Gene, I said David, when it should have been Tom. The one who just came back from Ireland. And I guess we are cousins, as I come from Shadrack not proven son of John and Mary, John's father was James. He came from Ireland and died in MD in 1719. John was B, 1703 in MD. This info is listed on AUNT JEANS site. I just heard from Marvel in WA who believes the brothers came from England in 1835. So there are areas to look for. I'll contact Marvel to see if their names were Ruark when they came here.

Marvel et.al.
There is much confusion about the dates and brothers. Review Aunt Jeans List: James was born in Ireland, as was Major, Thomas, and William. James died in 1719.His son James was born in 1703 in Maryland.Therefore James died in Md.and if his son wasborn in 1703, James had to have been born in the 16 hundreds.This Ireland James is where my line goes back to so far. Regarding Major: There is a Major listed in the land records in the Somerset Co. Md. courthouse in Princess Anne Md.(That is where my ancestors are from). I'm going there and Salisbury State College soon and will look for more info on the brothers.

Sterling

You are right about there being a lot of people with the Surname of Ruark all over the USA. Not having good luck with finding my Ruark names. Has any one found the Spelling of ROORK.
I found them in a 1850 census in Carroll County Arkansas. They came out of Tennessee to Arkansas. Ruby Ruark Snow

Ruby, I have to admit that is a new one for me. I have not seen this spelling anywhere. My line is James 1700 MD John, Shadrack, Erastus, Robert,John, Lester, and me. They went from MD to PA, OH, to IL. Maybe some of the IN line may have seen that name before.

I beleive that the census taker spelled RUARK as Roork spelled as they heard it. in 1850 they did not have the schooling as we do today. The family might help some one.

Roork John 34 Farmer TN
Phebe 31 TN
Catharine 9 TN
Columbus 7 TN
Matilda 5 TN
Sarah L 3 TN
Harriet 1 TN

Lester, Thanks for the reply Ruby