Our Virginia Heritage by Wiley Whitten (self-published in 1981) (Sent to me by Ann Rheney.) The first recorded Rucker was Sir Knight John von Rucker, who was granted a coat-of-arms in 1096.  The Rucker coat-of-arms was given to John von Rucker as a result of his participation in the First Crusade.  Like the Scholls (Shulls), the Ruckers heeded the call of their Catholic Pope to recapture the Holy Lands for Christendom.  The coat-of-arms was a device by which the knights and their commands could be recognized. The next Rucker to be granted a coat of arms was Lord Thomas Rucker, who was granted his shield in 1356 by Edward the Black Prince at the Battle of Pontiers.  The Rucker family of American - which of course includes Sarah Rucker Wingo (granddaughter of Peter and wife of John Washington Wingo) - traces its origin to Thomas Rucker, whose namesake three hundred years later would father Peter, America's first Rucker. One hundred and fifteen years would pass from the day Columbus first set sight upon the new world before the English would establish their first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia.  The first attempt to colonize the new world met with little success, but in the following decades the tidewaters of Virginia would see hundreds of thousands of Englishmen and Europeans seeking a new life and new hope in the land named for the virgin queen of England. America became a great nation on the strength of those who fled Europe seeking refuge.  While many came willingly, they did not always embark upon the journey with any great fervor, for often theirs was more a journey of fleeing rather than seeking.  This was especially true of the families who would constitute the Wingo family, and especially the Rucker, Seay, and Shull families.  Of course, our heritage was not exclusively Wingo.  The wives of the Wingo men carried other names, long since forgotten.  At this point the researchof our family tree has turned up those lost maiden names, among which are the Rucker, Seay, Fielding Sadler, and Hubbard families.  At this time only the Rucker and Fielding names have been positively traced back to their native countries.  Research material from Amelia County, Virginia is vast and hopefully in the near future more information about our Virginia heritage will be available.  What is known at this point are the primary reasons that our ancestors first came to America.  It seems likely that they came to this new land reluctantly.  The Seay, Rucker, and Shull families traced their origins to the area often described as the "Garden of Europe", the central part of Germany and most desirable part of France.  It would seem at first glance that many hundreds of thousands would flee this area.  But indeed within the period of a single human generation, an emigration en masse took place.   During the period between 1684 and 1685, over 400,000 Germans fled, escaping to Holland, England, Ireland, and America. This region was among the first in Europe to revolt against a long and corrupt dominion by the Roman Catholic Church of that day.  In 1618 the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants resulted in the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648).  This was one of the cruelest wars in the history of Europe, in which the peasants of the area were subjected to all the horrors that the undisciplined hordes of mercenary troops could inflict.  Starvation, torture and even cannibalism were common in this part of Europe during the war.  When war finally came to a halt in 1648, some measure of freedom of religion was won.  The peasants were still under the control of the princes of Germany, but most (princes) were Protestants and thus the people were allowed to practice their non-Catholic religion. At one time there were many important and influential members of the Ruckers who were prominent in old Germany.  A generation of our ancestors lived in peace in the Rhine Valley.  However, as time passed, the Ruckers, who were Protestant, found themselves under attack by Catholic forces.  The strong Catholic party in France gave rise to Louis XIV, a devout Catholic.  He issued an edict, which revoked the treaty which had brought the Thirty Year War to an end.  Protestants' rights were denied, including the right to own property.  Children of non-Catholics were given the legal right to denounce their father's faith.  Homes of Protestants were invaded and given to the command of the king's troops.  To escape such surrendering of family ties, the expropriation of their homes and estates, and the ruthless violation of civil rights long held, the Huguenots (as the Protestants in France were called) took flight.  About 100,000 went to Holland, and another 80,000 went to England, Ireland, and America. Other escaped to regions of Germany not under the influence of the Catholic king. England was especially receptive to the fleeing hordes.  Many used England as their temporary home as they planned their trek to the new world, to America, to the docks of Virginia and Philadelphia.  Europe's loss was a great gain for the new land.   America was being populated with some of the finest minds that Europe could offer. Without the Catholic purge of its Huguenot subjects, America might have been a vastly different country today.  Our Protestant ancestors were the backbone onto which the United States would eventually be formed.  The abuses briefly discussed in the chapter on the Scholls, were inflicted upon the Ruckers as well.  About 1685 Thomas Rucker, who is thought to be a man of some wealth, fled to England with his young children and wife.  Little is known of Thomas.  It is believed that he died in England.  Records do not indicate that he came to the American colonies with his son, Peter.  Peter would remain in England for about 15 years before coming to America about 1701. In 1704 Peter Rucker was naturalized as a citizen of Virginia by the House of Burgess.  (Note on the proclamation the misspelling of "Rucker".)  Peter's third son was William.  As of this writing, little is known of William.  It is thought that he married a woman named Hannah.  It is not known if this was her first or last name.  One of their daughters was Sarah, who married John Wingo.  And thus, like their great great grandson, a Wingo and a German were united in wedlock.

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