Sideroads: The Remarkable Ripley's William Young Ripley, Part 1

William Young Ripley was the third child of Nathaniel and Sibbel Huntington Ripley. He was born 13 Dec 1797 in Middlebury, Addison, Vermont.

He never spent a day in school, but he and his sisters and brothers were all educated at home. At 12, he was hired out to a farmer, working at a rate of about 19 cents a day for a month. By 13, he was found buying and selling horses on his own and driving long distances, delivering goods. Thirteen was also his age when his mother died. His father had by this time moved to his own farm in Weybridge.

According to With Pen and Sword: Lives and Times of the Remarkable Rutland Ripley's, by Robert G. Steele, Ripley stated, "I fully expected to be a farmer, and live and die in Weybridge. But on the morning of September 11, 1814, I went up to Middlebury, my worldly possessions being some clothes tied up in a handkerchief. There I hired as clerk for Mr Hager's store for $30 a year, and my board and washing."

His wages grew to the princely sum of $150 and he spent four years with Mr Hager. Now 21, he took his employer's "recommendation"  and character references signed by no less than the governor of Vermont and 34 other noted citizens, and joined his brother Samuel in Charleston, South Carolina.

According to Julia's story in With Pen and Sword, his brother did not greet him warmly, thus leaving William to fend for himself. After a couple of unsuitable job, he went to work for Mr. Bryan at his dry goods store for an annual salary of $450 plus lodging and a good discount.  Within a year, his wages had been raised to $750 and he was able to pay his brother Samuel back the small amount he owed him. While living with the Bryan's he met his future wife, Zulma Caroline Thomas.

Zulma was the daughter of Londoner Jean Jacques Thomas and Susanne De Lacy and was born on 29 Mar 1801. She was orphaned at a young age and was raised by Captain William Hall.

In 1822, William went into business for himself and married his bride on 05 Dec 1822. They boarded

Poet Julia Ripley Dorr

with the Bryan's for several months before purchasing a home for $1,000 - William wanted to owe no man according to his report.  Finally came the birth of their only child, Julia Caroline, on 13 Feb 1825. Julia would grow up to be the famous poet, Julia Ripley Dorr.  William purchased his only slave, Nancy, who was to be a nanny to Julia, but "She did not behave well, and I would not send her to be whipped, as was the custom. She took advantage of this leniency; and so I sold he to get rid of her, for just five dollars more than I paid for her." When they moved to their home on King Street, they had three servants: cook, chamber maid, and nurse. All three were cumulatively paid the princely sum of $22 per month.

Zulma's health was failing so the Ripley's had her bed loaded aboard a steamer in the Charleston Harbor. They made it to New York and then finally reached Nathaniel Ripley's house in Weybridge on 29 Jul 1826. After a brief rally, she died on 02 Aug 1826. According to Julia Ripley Door, "Prominent among the early settlers of Middlebury, were the Youngs and the Warrens, close friends and intimate neighbors of the Ripleys." Both families were in attendance for the Ripleys in those dark days.

Once Zulma was gone, William set about closing up his affairs in Charleston. Julia was left in the care of Mrs Hastings Warren. Julia remembers those two years fondly. By the time her father had established his firm of Ripley, Waldo & Ripley, commission merchants in New York, and had called for his daughter, she had forgotten him. She did adjust and off they went to the home of Mrs Westcott who ran a boarding school for a small group of girls. Julia spent two years there. Then, it was back to Vermont and Grandfather Nathaniel's house. It was there that William announced to her he was remarrying. She was six. The wedding to Jane Betsey Warren, was held  on 10 Feb 1831.

Her first sibling would arrive two years later - William Young Warren Ripley on 31 Dec 1832. Julia again found herself shipped out soon after his arrival to a boarding school in Plattsburgh, run by Mrs Harriet Adams, a sister of "Grandmother Warren." It sounded, from her description, to be a less than happy time spent there.

In 1834, she returned to find a sister, Mary, born 17 Jun 1834. She spent a lot of time from that point forward at the Warren's in Middlebury, attending school in bits and pieces here and there.

William, in the meantime, had wearied of the farm life, having not reached 40. He invested in a glass factory in Lake Dunmore. He also sold the farm and moved to Rutland. Here he would embark on his second and most successful career.

Told in Part 2.