He was born in 1623, in Billericay, Essex, England, son of William Ruscoe, and Rebecca.
[3] His parents and their four youngest children departed from London aboard the ship Increase in 1635,[1] but his mother Rebecca died on the voyage.
[3] John and his brother Nathaniel remained in England, presumably to manage a farm there and to earn money to send to their father until he had established himself in America.
[3] John Ruscoe was one of the fourteen original signers of the Ludlow agreement to create a settlement at Norwalk.
[4][3] He was the owner of Half-Mile Island, the peninsula located east of Canfield Avenue on Shorehaven Road.