pious man, was controlled, it is said, in the selection of this college in preference to William and Mary and other colleges then popular, by a desire to secure him as much as possible from the usual temptations of college life by placing him in an institution whose reputation for the maintenance of authority and discipline stood high, as it did at Princeton. Young Ruffin graduated there in 1805, being sixteenth in a class of fortytwo members. Gov. James Iredell was his roommate; and among his college friends and contemporaries who afterwards achieved prominence were Samuel L. Southard and Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Joseph R. Ingersoll, of Philadelphia; Stevenson Archer, of Maryland; and many others. On his return home he entered the law office of Daniel Robertson, Esq., in Petersburg, and remained with him during 1806 and 1807. Here he had as fellow-students Gen. Winfield Scott and Judge John F. May. Mr. Robertson was a Scotchman by birth, a learned scholar and advocate, who gained high distinction as a lawyer. He reported the debates in the Virginia Convention which adopted the Federal Constitution and the trial of Aaron Burr for high treason. In his autobiography General Scott refers to subse quent occasions when he had met Judge Ruffin, especially in Washington, in the spring of 1861, when the latter was serving as a mem ber of the Peace Congress; and he expresses the opinion that " if the sentiment of this good man, always highly conservative (the same as Crittenden's) had prevailed, the country would have escaped the sad infliction of the war." Rev. Sterling Ruffin, his father, having suffered financial reverses, removed to Rock ingham County, N. C, in 1807, and his son soon followed. He continued his studies in the law office of Judge Murphey, and was admitted to the bar in 1808. He located in Hillsboro, and on Dec. 7, 1809, married Miss Anne Kirkland of that town, the daughter of William Kirkland, a leading citizen. In 1813, 1815, and 18i6,he was a member of the House
of Commons from the borough of Hillsboro, and in the last-named year was Speaker of the House. In 18 15 and 18 16 the town of Hills boro was represented by Judge Ruffin, and the county by Judge Murphey in the Senate, and Judge Nash in the House. It is said that on first coming to the bar Judge Ruffin's efforts at argument were diffident, and his speech hesitating and embarrassed. His friends candidly advised him to abandon the profession, but he felt that he had the " root of the matter " in him, and held on. He was well grounded by his studies in a knowledge of the law, and experience soon cured his defects of speech. At a strong bar he soon became a leader, and in 18 16, while Speaker of the House, he was chosen a judge of the Superior Court to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Duncan Cameron. This position he resigned after two years on the circuit, and returned to a lucrative practice at the bar. He was an indefatigable student, and a frame of iron permitted him any amount of application. For forty-three weeks of the year he had engagements in court which he kept regardless of weather and bad roads. He also was for one or two terms reporter of the Supreme Court, but was compelled to relinquish the position by the demands of his practice. His work as reporter will be found in the first part of the 8th N. C. (1 Hawks). In the summer of 1825, upon the resignation of Judge Badger, he again accepted the posi tion of judge of the Superior Court, and during the next three years he administered its duties in such a manner that he was gen erally designated by public opinion for the succession to the Supreme Court upon the occurrence of the first vacancy. In the fall of 1828 the stockholders of the State Bank of North Carolina, at Raleigh, at whose head were William Polk, Peter Browne, and Duncan Cameron, in view of its embarrass ments and threatened litigation, prevailed on him to take the presidency of the bank with an increased salary and with the privilege of practising his profession. He again resigned his judgeship, and, accepting the offer, by his
