Sideroads: The Remarkable Ripley's - Generation 5/6

David was the son of John Jr./III, born 30 Jul 1744 in Kent County, Rhode Island. He married Susan Priscilla Dunbar on 15 Dec 1764 in Hanover, Plymouth, Massachusetts.  They had five boys, three of whom survived infancy.

David left Massachusetts after 1765 and is found in New York before 1768; there his military service starting before ('colony') 1776 is recorded.

Note that after their marriage which is well documented, David and Priscilla moved to Washington County, New York, and occupied lands which had become opened after the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and made available as a settlement frontier. This land was formerly occupied by some Loyalist farmers, but mainly by Six Nation Indians who were also largely Loyalists. All of these made their way to Canada, in small family and group treks, under the leadership of Chief Joseph Brant, where they were resettled in a wide swath of hinterland around the Grand River in Ontario, sweeping from Middlesex County in the west, eastward to Fort York, the site of modern Toronto. There is a gap of several years, where records - for both groups - are lacking. This is because they did not yet have organized churches with clergy who made and filed records, and lacked towns with clerks to keep records. Thus records were not kept in an organized way, and cannot now be located readily. The family history shown here has been made of a composite of whatever records could be found, and historical notes and records made from memory, years later. Changes may occur as new records emerge.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~westxan/4759.html

David and Priscilla spent some time in Warren County, then Hoosick, Rensselaer County, and finally settle in Spafford as one of its earliest settlers on land that was referred to as "Ripley Hill." Both he and Priscilla died in Spafford. Their sons James and Jonathan remained in the area and extended the family holdings. Youngest son Joshua becomes part of the next story.

Ohio Association Land Purchase
 (see link at left)

Joshua Ripley, the fourth son of five and third surviving son of David and Priscilla, was born 12 Feb 1772 in Columbia, New York, He married Rhoda Corey in 1793 in Troy, New York. Joshua served with Captain John Griffin's Company in Col Joseph Wilcox's Cavalry Regiment (New York) during the War of 1812. After service, now a Baptist minister he and Rhoda moved to Gallia County, Ohio.

Gallia County, in Southeast Ohio in Appalachia, was first established in 1803 (read more here about how land partitioning and ownership occurred). The Ripley's and John Lee arrived sometime between 1816-1820 (depending on source). They started a branch of the Sandfork Baptist Church and began building their congregation. The first church was built on land donated by the William Smith family in Harrison Township, Gallia County, in section number seven near the junction of Rock Lick Creek, and Big Bullskin creek. This church burnt in 1826 and unfortunately the first record book was destroyed and all records of the first several years of the existence of the church were lost. It is said that the building was built of logs, and that each log was of buckeye timber. The first building was furnished with seats made from split logs and located 11 miles from Gallipolis, in a near due east direction, and it was the first church built on the south side of Gallipolis for more than 30 miles. Some time around 1832, the congregation decided to invite Jacob Ward to be their preacher.

Some of Joshua's children headed West to Iowa in the 1840s. It is believed by some that Rhoda died at Linn Township (not to be confused with Linn County) in 1847.  Census records, of course, didn't call out family members by name prior to 1850. Joshua was in Linn Township in 1850 living with his daughter Roxie Ripley Dovenor's family.  In 1860, at age 87, he was living with the family of son Amos in Patriot. Since we don't know if Rhoda made the trip west, we can assume one of three things: 1) She died in Cedar County but since no death records were kept in those early days, she was buried there and only a stone marked her life in Ripley Cemetery in Gallia County; 2) She died in Cedar County and her body was returned to Gallia County where it was interred in Ripley Cemetery which would have been an arduous journey before rail lines reached the area; or 3) She did not make the trip to Cedar County and the Ripley/Dovenor family's made their trip after her 1847 death and burial in Gallia County. No one seems to know the answer, so the mystery remains unsolved.

This generation would mark the first with ties to Iowa, where roots are still deep.

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Nathaniel Ripley, son of Joshua, Jr and Elizabeth Lothrop, was born 14 Feb 1768 in Windham, Connecticut. He was four times married. His first wife was Sibel Huntington, the mother of his first seven children. Sibbel was described in With Pen or Sword, The Remarkable Rutland Ripleys by Robert G Steele, as having had white hair at a very young age. She always covered it with a turban to hide it.  Nathaniel did what generations of members of this family had not - he moved.  He settled in Rutland where he purchased land

"Nathaniel was described in the same book as, "He was a tall, spare man, rather severe in aspect, masterful in manner, and very reserved. He had even more than the common New England reticence of that day. What he knew, he knew absolutely. His word was not to be disputed or gainsaid."

"He was a carriage maker and a farmer. I think he was not a successful man financially, because I know that my father, his second son William--supported him for many years, making his last days care-free and happy."

Nathaniel's son William Young Ripley is the next generation we'll focus on, but his other children of Sibbel do bear mentioning, so I do so briefly here:
Samuel Painter Ripley (1792-1857) moved to Charleston, South Carolina and became wealthy. His son Bentham was stationed at Fort Moultrie, Sullivans Island, South Carolina during the Civil War as part of the CSA. The fort fortified Charleston, South Carolina and saw action during the Revolutionary War. It also saw some of the earliest action of the Civil War. Bentham did not marry, dying at age 26.
Julia Ripley (1794-1858) married Jonas Rice and they resided in Bridport, Vermont. Jonas had had three previous wives but still had two daughters with Julia.
Erastus Ripley (1801-1802)
Laura Ripley (1804-1846) was the first wife of Rev Nelson Barbour.
Elizbeth Ripley (1806-1851) married Rev John Stocker and died in Iowa.
George Huntington Ripley (1808-Unknown) During the Texas Revolution, government officials in Washington-on-the-Brazos, decided to establish an official navy. In January 1836, agents purchased four schooners: Invincible, Brutus, Independence, and Liberty. Under the command of Commodore Charles Edward Hawkins they helped win independence by preventing a Mexican blockade of the Texas coast, seizing dozens of Mexican fishing vessels and sending their cargoes on to the Texas volunteer army. By the October of 1837, all of the ships had been lost at sea, sunk by the Mexican Navy, run aground, captured, or sold, and replacements were being procured. It is possible that George died at sea or in battle.

From Pen or Sword, The Remarkable Rutland Ripleys by Robert G Steele. References to Julia Ripley Dorr's earlier book: "George was a gay, debonair young scapegrace, handsome, admired, and fond of leisure and pleasure. Like his brothers, he drifted southward, going to New Orleans. What he did there I never knew. I never saw him but once when he visited the North in 1834, or thereabouts; but I well remember how he looked, and how fine I thought he was. Two years later, whe he was 28, he entered the Texas Navy, and that was the last his family ever knew of him."

Who knew Texas ever had a Navy? I learn something new every day.

I'm going to dedicate an entire post to William Young Ripley, so look for that next.