Ruth Dutton née Murray is a character from the Emily series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. She is the daughter of Archibald Murray, the sister of Elizabeth, Laura and Wallace Murray, the half-sister of Juliet Starr, the aunt of Emily Byrd Starr, the wife of Mr. Dutton and the cousin of Jimmy Murray.
Her husband Mr Dutton died of illness. She then lived as a widow for many years. She often assumed that those around her had bad intentions, including her niece Emily Byrd Starr. Emily lived with her while she attended high school. She made occasional visits to New Moon Farm.
Aunt Ruth Dutton lived in Shrewsbury and had the reputation of being a remarkable housekeeper. She was well-off, with an elegant house covered in gingerbread on the edge of Shrewsbury, and was the town's largest subscriber to the church. She had "cold, grey eyes, prim, dull brown hair, short, stout figure, [and a] thin, pinched, merciless mouth."
Emily and Aunt Ruth seldom got along, as Aunt Ruth found Emily "sly" upon first meeting.
Emily boarded with Aunt Ruth while she studied at Shrewsbury. While Emily suffered under Aunt Ruth's strict rules and sometimes unjust accusations, their relationship turned when Aunt Ruth defends Emily from Shrewsbury's disdain over the affair of the "Old John house."
Aunt Ruth had been caught in a delicate situation in her youth with Fred Blair.