Sideroads: The Remarkable Ripley's, Generation 3/4

As mentioned, I've been digging into two lines of John Ripley, the son and co-immigrant of his father, William Ripley. To catch up, go here.

Hezekiah was the second son of John II. He and his wife Sarah Garnet lived in Hingham, Massachussetts for their entire lives, They had at least nine children, but for this tale, we're following his third son, John.

John's father died at the age of 43, in June of 1736, and his mother Sarah, remarried to John Pratt, in September of 1737. John was only 16 years old at the time and it's possible that he did not get along with his new stepfather. In any case, young John set out to find his own way in life, probably between 1737 and 1739, and headed for the land of new religous freedom, Rhode Island.  John most probably traveled by ship on this journey, possibly working on the ship to pay his way, as it is doubtful that he had any money at the age of 16.

From the birth of John's first child, we know that he must have arrived in Rhode Island by at least April of 1739, nine months before his first child's birth. He married Meribeth Lee (sources also reference Meribah Messenger as his wife - I would be eternally grateful to have this sorted out by someone) who was born in Rhode Island in 1718. All 10 of John's children were born in Kent County, Rhode Island.

John later moved to New York State, probably between June 1775 when his daughter Jane was married in Warwick, Rhode Island and before 1777 when his son Asa became a militia volunteer in the Revolutionary War, from New Canaan in 1777.  

http://www.ripleygenealogy.com/Page_95.html

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Joshua II Ripley the fourth child of Joshua and Hannah Bradford Ripley, was born 13 May 1688 in Windham, Connecticut. He married Mary Backus on 03 Dec 1712 in Windham. They made their home in Willimantic where for some brief time (mostly likely thanks to his father's connections), he was a proprietor of the Willimantic Iron Works. The iron works was never very successful, thanks in part to frequent ownership changes, but did employ a number of people over its years of operations. Eventually, it was abandoned and was swept away in a flood. Joshua and Mary had at least 13 children and both died in Windham County.

Joshua Ripley Jr (or III, depending on source),  was the sixth child of  Joshua II and Mary Backus. He was born 30 Oct 1726. He married Elizabeth Lothrop. the daughter of  Benjamin Lothrop and Mercy Baker, born 09 Mar 1730/1 at Barnstable, Massachusetts, on 26 Mar 1748 in Windham, Connecticut. Of this Joshua little is known other than he was both born and died in Windham and had at least 10 children, including his 8th, Nathaniel, who is up next.

Sideroads: The Remarkable Ripley's; Generation 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I am following two of the Ripley lines through the generations. Each line took startlingly different routes through history. John and Joshua, both sons of John I and grandsons of William, the patriarch settler (but not the first) in America, were each reared in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts where William had been granted four acres of land, some of which was owned by the Ripley's for generations afterwards. Their father John owned property in Hingham and was if not well-off, well-placed and respected.

Built in 1692, the Ripley Homestead  is made up of
three sections, each added as the family grew. It sits on .61 
acres in near town center at 347 Main St.

John II (as we'll refer to him here), was the first-born of John I and Elizabeth Hobart, born 20 Feb 1656  in Hingham. He married Miss Jane Whitmarsh, born 08 Apr 1664 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, on 13 Oct 1686 in Hingham. According to records, he resided on Main Street, near Bull's Pond with his family.

"Commencing at his (Lt Smith's) house and thence extending south to the present location of Pleasant Street and cast to that of Spring street and bounded north by Leavitt, and west by Main Street, was a large common or training-field in which, probably not far from where is now the Public Library, was Hingham's third fort, doubtless under the immediate charge of Lieutenant Smith ; and which in connection with his garrison house, provided a fair means of defence to most of the houses on the plain. Around this field were the lots of many of the first settlers, and the homes of their descendants formed at this time a village. Among them on Main Street was that of Matthew Hawke, afterwards the third town clerk. From him is descended Col. Hawkes Fearing, whose house is upon the same spot. Matthew, one of the first settlers, was by occupation a schoolmaster. His granddaughter married John Fearing, Colonel Fearing's paternal ancestor. James Hawke, son of Matthew, also resided at Hingham centre and probably with his father,—he too becoming town clerk in 1700, succeeding Daniel Gushing ; and was himself succeeded in the same office by his son James, also a resident of this part of the town, and with whom the name ceased. He left two daughters, one becoming the mother of John Hancock. Next them was Francis James, and but a short distance further south, about where David Hersey's house now is, was the homestead of the Ripleys, and on or near it were located John Ripley and Jolin junior and his brother Joshua. Their nearest neighbor, John Bull, " Goodman Bull," was the progenitor of many of the present inhabitants of the town. Bull's Pond, a small bit of water opposite Grand Army Hall, takes its name from the old settler, and marks the location of his property."
~  History of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, by Bouve, Thomas, Bouve, Edward Tracy; Long, John Davis; Bouve, Walter Lincoln; Lincoln, Francis H; Lincoln, George; Hersey, Edmund; Burr, Fearing; Seymour, Charles. 1893.

The second son of John II, Hezekiah, was born on 29 Mar 1693 in Hingham to John II and his wife Elizabeth. Hezekiah married Sarah Garnet (also listed as Gardner and daughter of Stephen and Sarah Warren Garnet), who was born 31 Jul 1691 in Hingham, on 16 Feb 1716 in Hingham. Hezekiah, too, remained in Hingham until his death. Not much is known about Hezekiah, but he managed to have a number of children and live a long life.

Joshua was born 09 Nov 1658 in Hingham, the second of John I's sons. Joshua scored big when he married into the family of America's first settlers at Plymouth Rock and would set the tone for their upward mobility. Hannah Bradford was the daughter of Major William and Alice Richards Bradford and granddaughter of  William G Bradford, Plymouth Colony colonial governor.

Of Hannah: "She was a noble and useful woman, remarkable for her skill in the art of healing, she was the first, and for a long time the only physician in the settlement, and it is said that the first male physician, Dr. Richard Huntington, received much of his medical knowledge from her." She married Joshua Ripley at Plymouth, MA on 28 November, 1682. They made their way from Plymouth first to Norwich, Connecticut in 1688 (where Jeremiah and Hezekiah also traveled) and then to Windham in 1691, where he made his name.

"After a land dispute, a large tract of land was apportioned in the territory of Windham, Mansfield, Chaplin, Hampton, and Scotland in Windham. On May 1, 1686, the legatees assembled to receive their allotments, and "after prayer for direction and lessing" they drew lots, some receiving one, others several shares, according to the decision of Uncas (regarding the land dispute). On May 26, 1688, Richard Bushnell sold lot II, with thousand acre rights for ten pounds, ten shillings to Jeremiah Ripley, of Hingham and Daniel Wetherell sold an allotment to Joshua Ripley. In the autumn of 1688 John Cates built the first house in the new plantation in 1689. In 1691 Joshua and Jeremiah Ripley, John Crane and others built houses in the "Hitherplace." now the west side of old Windham street. 

May 12, 1692, the new settlement was made a new township and named Windham. Eleven names were signed to the petition asking the creation of the new town, and the name of Joshua Ripley headed the list. The first public town meeting was held June 12, 1692. Joshua Ripley was chosen town clerk. It was voted to petition the general court for liberty to portion town charges, and that Joshua Ripley should manage it. In 1693 Jonathan Ginnings and Joshua and Jeremiah Ripley were allowed to set up a saw mill with the privileges of a dam at No Man's Acre Brook. Joshua Ripley was elected in 1698 town clerk, and was also the first justice of the peace appointed in Windham County. He was the first deputy sent by the town of Windham to the general court. This was in May 1699 and he held this office until 1721. 

He was one of the members of Rev. Mr. Whitney's church, formed December 10, 1700. Joshua Ripley, John Backus and three others were a committee to direct the building of the first church. 1702. Mr. Ripley was repeatedly chosen to arrange town boundary lines. In 1704 there was trouble with the Indians and a train band was organized and a watch maintained. Messrs. Whiting, Joshua Ripley and Crane were appointed a committee for the proprietors of town lands with power "to order any meetings, put to vote any matters to be acted upon, and sign the acts." New lands were added to the town and Joshua Ripley was one of those employed to divide them and lay out a highway. 

In 1713 a new meeting house was built and Joshua Ripley with three others again arranged the seating, and two of them, Joshua Ripley and John Fitch, received "the chief seat in front." In 1725 Joshua Ripley was chosen one of the representatives of the brethren to act with the deacons, thus "forming one of the seven pillars," or counsellors, so dear to the early settlers, and the pastor was requested to consult with them "on all emergent occasions. 

The first court of pleas which met in Windham County was held at Windham Green. Joshua Ripley was justice of the quorum for Windham. Joshua Ripley Jr. was a juryman. Joshua Ripley at one time owned the iron works, but these were not remunerative, and were sold in 1 73 1. Joshua Ripley died after fifty years of active public life. It has been written of him "He was a man of sterling sense and sound judgment, widely known and respect," and "often called to public services in different parts of the colony." ~
Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts; by Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, b. 1848, joint ed, Vol IV

Next up, Hezekiah and Joshua II and the next generation.

Sideroads: The Remarkable Ripley's, Generation 1

William Ripley was born in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England, not far from the Ripley Castle on 14 May 1598. He had three wives in short order while living in England and several children with each wife. While living in England, he supported the family as a "glover."

In 1638, William, his third (of four) wife Susannah, daughters Mary and Sarah and sons John and Abraham, boarded the Diligent in Ipswich and headed to the New World, arriving, according to village records, in Boston on 10 Aug 1638. The ship held 133 souls. The Ripley's set out on foot, going 13 miles, to Hingham (along with many of his fellow travelers) where they stayed. (One theory espoused by a Ripley researcher is their trip did not occur until most likely 1640 or 1641, but I'm for the time being going with the records of the Hingham Town Clerk). The Ripley's settled in Hingham which had been founded in about 1633, not far from where the original Mayflower residents disembarked at Plymouth Rock only a few years previously. Others of his brood also made their way to America, but I'm going to focus on son John. William  was granted land in 1638 on Main St. by the training field in Hingham Centre. His house remained in the Ripley family for 300 years before it was torn down in 1940 and replaced by a fire house. While living in Hingham, he was a weaver. He became a Freeman May 18 1642, married his fourth and final wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (Partridge) Thaxter in 1654, and died soon after in  July 1656.

Hingham Hingham is one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts. There were settlers here as early as 1633. Its first name was Bearcove or Barecove, believed to be most likely Barecove because of its exposure of  nearly all the harbor at low tide. 

"The number of persons who came over in the ship Diligent, of Ipswich, in the year 1638, and settled in Hingham, was one hundred and thirty three. All that came before were forty-two, making in all one hundred and seventy-five. The whole number that came out of Norfolk (chiefly from Hingham, and its vicinity) from 1633 to 1639, and settled in this Hingham, was two hundred and six. This statement, on the authority of the third town clerk of Hingham, must be reconciled with the fact that there was a much larger number of settlers herein 1639 than would appear from his estimate. They undoubtedly came in from other places, and I am inclined to believe that there may be some omissions in Mr. Cushing's list."

"In these first settlements the ministers were the leaders. Their influence was supreme. They gave tone to the time, and color to history ; and the communities which they largely moulded seem, as we look back upon them, to be toned by the ecclesiastical atmosphere which the clergy gave to them. But with all this there was still all the time an immense deal of human nature. The picture of the early time, if it could be reproduced, would present a body of men and women engaged in the ordinary activities of life, cultivating the farms, ploughing the seas, trading with foreign lands and among themselves, engaged in near and remote fisheries, maintaining the school, the train-band, and the church, holding their town-meetings, — a people not without humor, not altogether innocent of a modicum of quarrel and greed and heart-burning, yet warm with the kind and neighborly spirit of a common and interdependent fellowship." 

"Their early records deal with every-day details of farm and lot, of domestic affairs, of straying cattle and swine, of runaway apprentices and scolding wives, of barter with the Indians, of whippings and stocks and fines for all sorts of naughtinesses, of boundaries and suits, of debt and legal process and probate, of elections and petty offices civil and military, and now and then the alarum of war and the inevitable assessment of taxes. They smack very much more of the concerns, and the common concerns, of this world than of concern for the next." ~  History of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, by Bouve, Thomas, Bouve, Edward Tracy; Long, John Davis; Bouve, Walter Lincoln; Lincoln, Francis H; Lincoln, George; Hersey, Edmund; Burr, Fearing; Seymour, Charles. 1893.

Son John married Elizabeth Hobart, daughter of Rev Peter Hobart & Elizabeth Brook in about 1654 in Hingham. They had seven children: John, Joshua, Josiah, Lt Jeremiah, Peter, Rebecca, and Hezekiah. Rebecca died in infancy and Hezekiah as a young man drowned at age 20 while attempting to ford the Shetucket River.

The next few posts will be following through the generations of John and Joshua. Each took completely different routes - one being the progenitor of some of the most notable families in American and one the father of a line of farmers that eventually landed in Iowa.

Clan William: Scandal Sheet: My Father, My Husband, My Sister, My Daughter

Capt Thomas Munson > Samuel Munson > Samuel James Munson > William Munson > Samuel II Munson > Freeman Munson >  Henrietta Munson > Virginia Woodington m Albert Harper > Gladys Harper 

Virginia "Jennie" Woodington married Albert E Harper after the death of his first wife, Lillie Belle.

Albert and Lillie Belle had four children. Those children were grown or mostly grown by the time of Jennie's marriage to Albert in 1913 in Grant County, Wisconsin.

Gladys Harper was the third of the children, born 28 Sep 1893. Gladys Harper briefly married Robert Walter Van Riper of Franklin County, Iowa at about age 15. What was probably a shotgun wedding was not so rare, even in those days, so that in itself wasn't necessarily so scandalous. Their daughter Grace was born on 14 Jul 1909. By 1910, Gladys was living back with her family.The Van Riper’s divorced. 

Gladys married Charles Dewey Hansell in 1916 in Brown County, South Dakota while both residing in Aberdeen. Charles was also from Franklin County, Iowa. In 1920, Gladys and Charles resided in Marmath, Slope County, North Dakota. Gladys gave birth to Lorraine Hansell in about 1922 after their return from The Dakotas to Franklin County. Gladys died on 24 May 1924 in Hampton, Iowa. Charles, acting as father, continued raising his now 15-year-old step-daughter and his thee year old daughter.

On 12 Jul 1927, Charles married his step-daughter Lillian Grace Van Riper in Mason City, Iowa, In what I'm sure was a shocking move to the families. I wonder if they felt the need to leave the area because of the scandal of it all and not return.

They moved with Lorraine to Chicago, where Charles worked in a foundry and later as a waiter.

Charles and Grace had three children while living in Chicago: Betty Lou (1930-1940), George Charles (1932-1948), and Jacqueline Jean (1937-1942). 

The Hansell’s lived in Jefferson County, Wisconsin beginning in the mid-1940s and remained there until their deaths. Their son George was the last surviving child and died at age 16 after an auto accident in Jefferson.

Lorraine, Grace’s half-sister and step-daughter, left home and was boarding in Chicago by the time she was 18. She was married, at least once, to Wallace Craig, whom she married in 1957. No other information is available on what became of her.

Scandal Sheet: The End of the Frank & Grace Noble Marriage

William Cooper > Amos Cooper > William Lloyd Cooper > Ann Cooper Thompson > Omar Hazzard Thompson > Grace Lorene Thompson & Frank Noble 

Ann Cooper Thompson Hardy lost her first husband, Daniel Thompson after 14 years of marriage in 1864. They had seven children, including Omar Hazzard Thompson, the second born. Ann remarried Andrew Hardy and had two more children, one of whom died in infancy.

Omar and his wife, Mary Louisa Herbst married in Chickasaw County, Iowa on 25 Sep 1872. They moved west and by 1880, were living in Wheeling, Nebraska. They had six girls and finally a boy, Grace being the third child, born in October 1882 in Burwell, Garfield County, Nebraska.

Grace Lorene Thompson met and married Frank Noble of Illinois on an unknown date. They moved around a bit in Nebraska, then moved Haxtun, Phillips County, Colorado, where they were found in 1920. By this time, they had four children and owned a small hotel. Also noted in the 1920 census, was the fact that they also housed four lodgers: John Dill, Michael Burn, Charles Kester, and Hugh McLane.

1933 Billings MT City Directory

Frank and Grace were then divorced some time prior to 1929 when Mr. Hugh McLane, bachelor, married the divorcee, Grace Lorene Noble, in Livingston, Park County, Montana on 03 Sep 1929. They had been residents of Dillon, Montana. There is no indication that Grace kept the by-then teenage children, with her. They are all found in Nebraska on their own or married in 1930.

1933 found Hugh and Grace living in Billings, Montana. After this, no record is found, but I did find a grave marker for a "Grace L. McLane" located at Crown Hill Cemetery, in Park County, Wyoming which may be hers. No trace of Hugh exists either...except he may have gone to Colorado and worked as a woodcutter as of 1940, living with his business partner. I can't confirm this either.

Frank Noble reportedly died in 1958, though I've not been able to confirm. Three of their four children survived, Frank Jr. dying at age 53 in 1966 while living in Grand Island, Nebraska, after he was hit by a car while driving his son's motorcycle. Daughter Hilda died in Minnesota in 1995 after a long marriage to a railroad man and subsequent remarriage after his death. Daughter Helen married as well, dying in Nebraska in 2001.

Micro-Memory: Moderntone Dishes

My mother, who is from the other side of my family and unrelated to all the people I've discussed

here so far, visited me yesterday as she had various errands to run in town. She lives way out - having retired to an idyllic rural setting about 70 minutes from here about 20 years ago.

She had called me the night before she left to see if I was interested in some things she was going to be clearing out. Included in those things were some beloved small specialty dishes, like a relish tray, that my grandmother had always used on special occasions. I was interested.

Then, she mentioned she had her grandmother's Moderntone dishes made by Hazel Atlas in the 1930s. I leaped all over that. My great grandmother had used those depression-era plates and bowls every day, though I have no memory of her using them. I do remember that my grandmother used them all the time. I adored them. It was all part of the "going to Grandma's" experience. She always saved the blue set for me.

This morning, I will be washing those up and putting them into my buffet, excited that I will be able to use them come Thanksgiving. I care naught for fancy china and silver, but will be using my grandparents silver-plated flatware and Modertone dishes for all of my special occasions.

Willow Creek, Montana - Pt 2: Frank Oscar Cooper

"Poker Crew- Bill Taylor, Ted Heily,Johnny Jenkins, Frank Black, Frank Cooper,WN Nixon" - 1935 Ron V. Nixon Collection - Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University - Bozeman 

William Cooper > Amos Cooper > Chalkley Jared Cooper > Barton Gourley Cooper > Frank Oscar Cooper

Chalkley "Charley" Cooper, Frank Cooper's grandfather, found most of his children decamp from the Stephenson County, Illinois area and remain in parts west. One exception was Barton Cooper. He did leave Illinois for the untapped prairie of Prairie, Jewell County, Kansas for about eight years in the 1870s/1880s. He and his first wife, Mary's first addition arrived months after the great blizzard of April 1873 and before the holidays, 21 Dec 1873 in the form of Frank Oscar Cooper. In the early 1880s, the Coopers returned to Stephenson County and remained there

Frank moved from Stephenson County to Seward County, Nebraska, where he was found in 1900. Several other of Charley's children had either settled there permanently or had lived there temporarily. In that year, he married his first wife, Anna Diers Dupin, daughter of Joseph W. Dupin and Georgia A. Fairleigh. They had three children before Anna died in 1914 not terribly long after arriving in Willow Creek, Montana. She was buried in Seward.

That year, Frank headed west to Willow Creek, Montana. His brother Theodore also arrived that year (see that story here). A young widow named Anna Matilda Shogren Holden married Frank in 1916. She had one child, Leslie Holden. Between the three children Frank had with Anna Dupin, the five they had together, and Leslie, there were nine kids. Son Jack took over the ranch from his father and continued the ranching legacy which has now reached into its fourth generation.

Jack Cooper

Willow Creek.

According to the family website, the history of the land went like this:

"Recorded as the Silver Brook Farm by the County Clerk on November 28, 1914, the original homestead of 480 acres was settled by Frank Oscar Cooper. He raised farm animals and harvested a large garden before losing the land during the Great Depression. After receiving a Land bank loan for $200/year, Frank repurchased the land. In 1946, his son Jack bought the land and continued to run a general farming operation for several years.

In 1977, after studying Ag-Production at Montana State University, Jack's son Mark returned to Willow Creek permanently to assist with the ranching and farming operations. Mark began actively working with registered cattle as a teenager under the tutelage of his father. He and his wife Cristy now manage the ranch which consists of over 5,000 acres." http://www.cooperherefords.com/

In 1942, daughter Marjorie moved to Vancouver, Washington, where she worked for Kaiser Ship Builders, designing "baby flattops" for the war effort. She then enlisted in the US Navy. She was stationed in Washington, DC, where she drew maps showing where the US fleet was during WWII. Her sister Connie also served as a WAVE for two years.

All nine children have died: Leslie Holden (Anna Shogren's son); Mary Verniece, Howell Raymond "Raymond", and Helen Dorothy (Anna Dupin); Jack Lawrence, Marjorie Lee Jenny, Betty Ann, Clee Scott "Scott", and Constance "Connie," but the legacy of what Frank Oscar Cooper and his children built remains.