Henry Ruffin‘s headstone, topped with a Masonic emblem, marks his grave in the former Elm City Colored Cemetery, now Heritage Cemetery.

In the 1870 census of Springfield township, Nash County, N.C.: farm laborer George Ruffin, 50; wife Minerva, 35; and children Thomas, 10, Virginia, 4, and Henry, 2.

On 21 December 1887, Henry Ruffin, 21, of Wilson County, son of George and Mariney Ruffin, married Jane Tillery, 22, of Wilson County, daughter of Ben and Cherry Tillery, at four o’clock at Ben TIllery’s house in Gardners township, Wilson County.

In the 1900 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Pender Street, Henry Ruffin, 32, common laborer, and wife Ella Jane, 35, cook.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Wilson Road, farm laborer Henry Ruffin, 48, and wife Mahalley Jane, 39, cook.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Henry Ruffin, 52, and wife  Janie, 49.

Henry Ruffin died 26 July 1928 in Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 March 1964 in Johnston County, N.C., to George Ruffin and Mammie Ruffin; was married to Jane Ruffin; and was buried in Elm City.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2026.