When Ruth Hungerford was born on 16 August 1705, in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States, her father, John Hungerford, was 30 and her mother, Deborah Spencer, was 22. She married Joseph Shipman in 1729, in Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 5 daughters. She died on 3 May 1758, in Chesterfield, Montville, New London, Connecticut, United States, at the age of 52.