Vladimir Kyrilytch Ratcliffe

Eula identifies the first American "Ratliff" to Gavin Stevens as Ratliff's "six or eight or ten times grandfather": although presumably he originally came from Russia, he arrived in the new world as an ensign in the British army. He became a prisoner of war in Virginia, but escaped and was rescued by "a woman of course, a girl, that hid him and fed him" (338). After the Revolution he became "a Virginia farmer" (338). The name "Vladimir Kyrilytch" is traditional for successive generations of males, while "Ratliff" is a variant of Ratcliffe, the surname of the woman who hid him and married him.