Re: H. M. Ripley (Rev.) b. 1812 Livingston Co., NY
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In reply to:
Re: H. M. Ripley (Rev.) b. 1812 Livingston Co., NY
beverly balletto 12/03/08
Beverly,
Mary Ripley was the daughter of Casper Ripley (1816-1890) and his wife Mary (surname uncertain, born 1841 in Hesse Castle, Germany). She was possibly his second wife. Casper and his family are found in Tivoli, Dutchess, New York at the time of the 1880 US Census, with six daughters and one son. Mary Ripley, one of the daughters, later to be wife of John Jennings, is with the family, born in 1869. Casper was a railway worker, and he managed to find a job for his son-in-law John Jennings, similar employment. This is why the birth record you obtained, for your grandfather Albert A. Jennings, was from the railway board.
At the time of the 1900 US census, only seven years old, your grandfather appears to be living with another family, not with the name 'Jennings', and not with his parents. Do you have any idea why this might be the case? I don't have enough family history from this group, to know if he might have been lving with a cousin or something; he is recorded as a 'boarder' in that census.
It is interesting that Casper Ripley married a German girl. In fact, he himself was a fluent German speaker. His family is from the Rupple family of Germany, who emigrated to Pennsylvania from Oberhessen, Hessen, Germany. Casper's grandfather was born 'Ludwig Rupple' on January 1 1727; he was not poor, but quite well off; he was naturalized as a US citizen, in Philadelphia in 1762; and in 1771, he and others of his family contributed to build a new Lutheran Church in Manor Township, Pennsylvania (St. Peter's Church) in 1771.
Ludwig's first name was generally translated as the English equivalents of 'Lorenz' and 'Lawrence'; his last name was also a problem for local PA clerks, and he was sometimes recorded as "Lorenz Hibel" and "Lawrence Hipple". In the end, the family settled on "Ripley" as a good translation, and this became the family surname. Thousands of descendants are now living, who originate from this Ruppell-Ripley family of German origin. Many other Ripleys (like me) are of English origin, originally from Yorkshire. Both are great family ancestries.
Just as a point of interest, did your grandfather ever speak of anything German, or attend a Lutheran Church?
What else do you know about your g-grandfather, John Jennings? Do you have a good idea of his date of birth or death? I suspect he may have been son of an Irish immigrant, and possibly Roman Catholic.
Richard Ripley
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Re: H. M. Ripley (Rev.) b. 1812 Livingston Co., NY
beverly balletto 12/04/08