RIPLEYS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT

Some of the following information was obtained from letters written in thesummer of 1938 by our cousin Doris Hildreth Wheeler of Winchester, N. H. Her greatgrandfather was Alden Ripley, son of our ancestor Nathaniel, 2nd brother of IsaacRipley, b. 1779 in Plympton, Mass. both Isaac and Alden were sons of Lucy SturtevantRipley.

Ashuelot, where our ancestors Nathaniel and his son Isaac once lived, is a smallsettlement two miles from Winchester, N.H., and is a part of Winchester. The latter townwas settled in 1732, the first town in the Ashuelot Valley, the Ashuelot river affordingfine water Power for many industries from early times up to about ten years ago when,manufacturing slumped, some of the mills and houses were torn down and othersvacated. But the river and magnificent scenery remain as they were in early days. Thereare two or three cemeteries, very old ones, in Ashuelot; one is up on the side of themountain and hidden from sight, but I know there are Ripleys buried there. Here inWinchester is a. large cemetery on the outskirts of the town where are buried severalgenerations of the Ripley family, my grandfather's ancestors

Back of Ashuelot is a hill, which was called Ore Mountain in the early 1800's.There iron ore was dug up and taken to Ashuelot where it was made into iron utensils. Infact, Ashuelot was once called, "Furnace Village". This might account for the Ripleyswho were "moulders in a furnace", coming here or living here. One of my uncles has anold iron kettle made in the Ashuelot foundary by Alden Ripley, my great grandfather.He was a foundry worker as well as was his older brother Isaac, your great grandfather.The house where Alden lived in Winchester is in good repair and is occupied by HarveyHenderson, one of our se 1ectmen."

Doris Hildreth Wheeler searched all the cemeteries in Ashuelot andWinchester and found many Ripley graves. Among them was several of especial interestto us. In the old hillside cemetery back of the town of Ashuelot, she found threegravestones of Eleazar Ripley's family. Eleazar was our Nathaniel's older brother andwas born, Oct.22, 1751 in Kingston, Mass. He "died Sept. 27,1810 in his 59th year"His tombstone continues:"Afflictions sore, sum-time I borePhysicians skill was vainTill God did send death as a friendTo ease me of my pain.

We'll go where his remains are laid,and mourn because we've lost our head.His days are spent, his glass is runThe Holy will of God is done."

Beside Eleazar's grave is that of his widow Mary Ripley who "died' Nov. 16,1833 aged 73 years". Their little daughter Sally is buried beside them. Her tombstonesays, "Daughter of Eleazar Ripley and Mrs. Molly, his wife. Died Oct. 3, 1798 aged 11months, days." These three stones are of marble and in excellent preservation. Adjoiningthese stones are slate stones marking the resting places oftwo of Nathaniel Ripley'schildren and one of his brother Levy's. One of them reads, "Daniel, son of Nathaniel andMrs. Molly Ripley was drowned Nov. 1,1798 aged 13 years'. He was born 1785. Hisepitaph says:

"While he strove his life to saveThe waters proved his fateAnd hurled him down the stream,To painful to relate.The bloom of youth that bid so fairOfDeath's cold cup he drank his share."

The second grave stone reads: "In memory of Billy, son of Mr .. Nathaniel andMrs. Molly Ripley, who died May 20, 1792 aged 3 yrs. 14 mo. and 5 days." Anothergrave adjoins these. It is the grave ofa child of Levi Ripley, who was Nathaniel'sbrother. Levi was born in Plympton, Mass. Mch. 7,1772, son of William and Lydia RingRipley. (H.W. Ripley in his Ripley (genealogy made a mistake and copied Lucy forLevy).

The stone reads, "Maria, daughter of Mr. Levi and Mrs. Elizabeth Ripley, hiswife, died Sept. 13,1798, aged 1 year, 11 mo. 2 days. This child was born Oct. 11, 1796according to the New England historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 40, pg 57 andthe parents marriage is recorded in Vol. 37, p. 398 of the same series." "Levi Ripleymarried Elizabeth Hawkins in 1796".

Another Ripley grave completes this group of the Ripley family. It is that ofWilliam Humphrey, son of Mr. Lyndon and Mrs. Eusebia, died April 12, 1815 aged 1year, 2 mos. and 17 days. I have been unable to trace the parentage of Lyndon Ripley. He )was a son, in all probability, of either Eleazar or Nathaniel Ripley. I'm inclined to believethe latter and his second wife, Molly Hawkins. A Lyndon Ripley is listed in the Bostondirectory for 1857 as an iron founder.

In the Ashuelot village cemetery are found the graves of Levi Ripley who diedJune 28, 1821 aged 49 years and of his wife, Elizabeth (Hawkins) Ripley who died Nov.22, 1862, aged 85 years. Three of their children are buried beside them, Levi, born 1802died 1857; Sarah Ann born 1808, died 1878; Trenda C. wife of John S. Willard, died1841 aged 37 years. Mr. Levi's tombstone reads,

"Mortals attend! Your summons read,One day in health, then amongst the dead.In a clear glass you may your frailty seeAs I am now tomorrow you may be.

In the old part of the Winchester cemetery are found the graves of some of AldenRipley's family. Alden was buried there and his headstone reads; "Alden Ripley diedMarch 24, 1854 aged 74 years. This makes his birth year 1780 and fully proves that he isLucy Sturtevant Ripley's son for Lucy died June 2, 1782. Beside Alden's grave is that ofhis second wife Miranda Johnson who died in 1875. By his wife, Lucy Scott, Alden had 5children. He and Miranda had 13. Some of them are buried beside their parents, asWillard 1844-1896, James 1840-1917, George Ripley's wife Frances, and Isaac, the first-born son by the second marriage. Isaac was a brakeman on a railroad, and his tombstonereads, "Isaac Ripley was instantly killed on the Vt. And Mass. RR Jan 2, 1850 aged 27years".

In another part of the cemetery are the graves of Maria Ann Ripley Hildreth1833-1922, and her husband Frank Hildreth 1829-1902. These are the grandparents ofDoris Hildreth Wheeler. In this same Evergreen Cemetery in Winchester N.H. is buriedPhoebe Chamberlain Ripley, wife of George Ripley, son of Eleazar and Molly Ripley.Mrs. Wheeler writes that a beautiful memorial window in the Universalist Church inWinchester was given in memory of the Ripley and Scott families.

From the census of 1790 and various vo 1urnes of New England Historical andGenealogical Register, I was able to gather the following material.

Shortly after their services in the Revolutionary war, the brothers Eleazar andNathaniel Ripley moved, to Ashuelot, N.H., leaving their father and brothers, David,Francis, and William, Jr. in Plympton, Mass. where all were heads of households in 1790.The two younger brothers, Daniel and Levi followed their brothers to Ashuelot to live.Probably Eleazar was the first to go to Ashuelot as he was there as early as 1780. Volume39 of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register says that the children ofEleazar and Molly Ripley were;

George, b. Dec. 31, ]780 m. Phoebe Chamberlain 1807Eunice, b. Jan. 26, 1783 m. Luther Alexander 1805Lois, b. Nov. 8,1786 m. Harry Smith 1806Philip, b. Dec. 2, 1792Sally, b. Oct. 25, 1797. died Oct 3, 1798.

Volume 37, p. 297 records the marriage of Nathaniel Ripley to Mary (Molly)Hawkins Apri 1 15,1783. Page 397 says that Levi Ripley married Elizabeth Hawkins in1796 and in 1793 Daniel Rip 1ey married Polly Hawkins. Quite likely three sisters marriedthree brothers. Other Ripley records are given in volumes of this series but no where isfound a list of Nathaniel's, Daniel's or Levi's children. The Winchester records werecopied from original town records by John L. Alexander, M.D. of Belmont, Mass. andcommunicated to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for print. Hisrecord of births is very meager, and only "partial" as he admits. Some were destroyed.Doris Wheeler says that the town recorder was a Tory and in disfavor during and after theRevolution and "it is greatly to be regretted that during those disturbed times no record waskept of the happenings in Winchester. This makes it difficult to find dates of marriages,births and deaths, except from old tombstones."

I have not been able to find any record of the death of either Nathaniel or IsaacRipley, our direct ancestors, although vital records have been searched and HistoricalSocieties have investigated for me. A Nathaniel Ripley died Nov. 1, 1845 aged 80 inMiddlebury, Vt. He could not be our ancestor if the age record is correct because ourNathaniel would 90 years old in 1845. In New York, the vital statistics department was notorganized until 1880 and in Massachusetts, 1850. The vital statistics records for NewHampshire are unreliable for the early years. In eighteen copies of record sent me I foundfive mistakes, some of them absurd as Billy Ripley, son of Nathaniel, was born in 1732,three years before his father's birth. Another slip says t~hbOY died in 1723. The townof Winchester wasn't settled until 1732. Dr. Alexander ipl y' records (he was a Ripleydescendent) and the tombstone records are to be preferr. ve given no information inthese pages but what has been checked and found correct. ?

The Curator of the Bennington, Vt. Historical Society furnished data establishingthe fact that both Eleazar and Nathaniel Ripley were living in Bennington, Vt. in the early1800's. Town records relate that Eleazar was sworn a freeman in 1802, and was present at

a town meeting on Sept. 4, 1804. In 1803 a record mentioned Nathaniel as freeman.Another record says that on Dec. 13, 1803 Eleazar Ripley and others signed a documentheaded "Subscribers of the town of Bennington who disagree in religious opinion with themajority of the inhabitants of the town of Bennington in support of the minister".

Material gathered by our cousin Dr. George H. Ripley of Kenosha, Wisconsinrecords that by a later marriage, Nathaniel Ripley had two sons named Nathaniel andEleazar, both of whom died and were buried in Bennington. (Grace Cornog found noRipley gravestones in Bennington Cemeteries in 1938.) the following article quoted bythe curator confirms the opinion that there was a Nathaniel, Jr. From an old record shequotes "Drowned in this town on Thursday evening, the 26th of December 1818, JesseDowns of Bennington and Seth Keys of Pownal. They were in a wagon with a boy whodrove the horse on their way from the East village to their respective families. The boymentioned above was Nathaniel Ripley who was saved by the box becoming attachedfrom the rest of the wagon" Marriage records say that Nathaniel Ripley (Jr.) marriedPhoebe Fox on Aug. 25, 1830. He died Feb. 28, 1847 (death confirmed by Vital RecordStatistics) Nathaniel, Jr. was the father of Mrs. Edward Kelley and Mrs. Hannah French.Hannah Ripley married Frederick French on May 18, ~

OTHER RECORDS ~;~Also I saw in 1953, two more Ripley graves there; Samuel Ripley died Aug. 6,

1849 aged 53 years and Emily Alexander Ripley, wife of Samuel born Oct 11, 1800 diedJan. 8 1885. Samuel and Emily married 1819 (Winchester records and N. Eng.Genealogical records) Samuel Ripley was son of William and Keziah Ripley.

In the U.S, Census for 1830, Laura Torrence Ripley is listed as a widow inBennington, Vt. In the biography of William Isaac Ripley in The History of Fond du LacCounty, 1880 it states that, at the age of 14 years, (1826) he commenced working in acotton manufacturing establishment. Since he left school to go to work then it is quitepossible that his father died about 1826. ?Sallie Ripley married Jeremiah Granger, Bennington. Dec. 31 ~ g----s )Mary Ripley married Oliver Haskins of Canaan, Conn. Mar. 2~<

These girls could have been the daughters of either Eleazar Sr. or Nathaniel Sr.

Every available source has been searched for the marriage and death records ofIsaac Ripley, but nothing has been found. However, we do know from William IsaacRipley's Biography, probably dictated by himself and printed in the Fond du Lac CountyHistory (Wisconsin) in 1880 that he was living in Bennington, Vermont with his parentsafter 1815, where he was attending the common schools, and with his family, of course,was his younger brother, Charles Torrence Ripley who was born in 1815 somewhere inMassachusetts.