Eleazer Ripley and Nathaniel Ripley, Residents in Bennington Vermont, by Emma Ripley Cornog c. 1938

8/7/2019 Eleazer Ripley and Nathaniel Ripley, Residents in Bennington Vermont, by Emma Ripley Cornog c. 1938

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ELEAZERRIPLEYand NATHANIELRIPLEY( Resi'dents in Bennington, vt.)

Two brothers, Eleazer Ripley and Nathaniel Ripley lived inBennington, Vermont in the early ci~lteen hundreds. They ~re the sonsof William Ripley n:1, of Plympton, Mass. According to H.V .Ripley' s" Genealogy of a Part of the Ripley Family", published in 1867, theprogeni tor of this Ripley Itno was V"illia.m Ripley of 'Nest Brldge-Wll ter, Mass. who was YI1.8.Driedn lS93 to Mary Corbi son of 'Paunbon, Mass.Of their nine children, William Il, ,.)orn in 1702 married HannahBosworth, Feb. 24, 1725. She W~8 a . descendent of John Howlnnd of theMayflower. TheIr eldest child was V'!illiam Ripley III, born July 3, 1726.On Jan. 5, 1745 he mar-r ted Lydla. Ring of Fl.ympbon Mass. She was a des-cendent of Elder Willinrn Brewster and of Stephen' Hopkins, bothpassengers on the N'JI'flower in 1620. They had thirte en children , ofwhomnine were eons , Williar.l Ripley III and five of his sons,namely David, Eleazer, Nathaniel, Pr ancf.s and William servod in theRevolutIonary War.

\ - -Eleazer Ripley was born in Kingston, Mass. on Oct. 22,1751. Hlswife's name was Mary, surname unknown to 'writer. Nathaniel Ripley,born Oct. 5, 1755 at Plympton, Mass.lTLftrr1.6dLucy sbur-t.evant ofPlympton. She was a descendent of Miles Standish f.nd. John Alden.She named her two sons, IsftG.c (born Fob. 19, 1779) and Alden (born

1780, died 1854 in Winshestor, N.H.). Lucy died June 2, 1782 in hertwenty third. year and was buried in Plympton, Ma.ss.Shortly after their services in the Revolutionary War, the twobrothers Eleazer and. Nathaniel Ripley went to Ashuelot; N.H. to live.

Both are listed in the U.s. Census of 1790 as heads of householdsresident in Winchester Town, Cheshire County, N.H. (Ashuelot 1s twomiles from Winchester~ Their younger brothers Frtlttlcis :londWillia.m,and the ir older brother, Davld, were he ada of hous ehoLda in Plymptonin 1790.Twoyounger brother.5, Daniel and L6vy followed their brothersto Ashuelot to live for their n1.5.rri!lc;esare recorded in the townrecords of Winchel!!ter, N.H. "Dg,niel Ripley (born July 10, 1767)rnt.i.rried Polly HawkIn~;ln 1793." If Levi Ripley, (born March 7, 1772)married Eli zs.beth H~wkins in 1'798. I f After the dati th of hiE! wife,Lucy sturt;'.vant Rfpl13Y, Nathaniel Ri ploy married Molly Hlil.wkinsAprl1'lB; +783. Did ~hree brothere marry three sisters?

~ . < '1 .~ '.These :four brothers, El'!1azer, No.thaniel, Daniel and Levi Ripley wereliving in Ashuelot, N.H. tn }'795 f,'1r in that yec..r their names were signedto II net! tion to conetr-uct II public r-oad to be financed by the sale oflottery tickets. Per-naPi; the r-oad 'W8..$not built for on Decembcr 6, 1796Nabhanf.eL Ripley ""1~ made a f'r eeman in Bennington, Vermont, 6l.ccordin~ torecords in the LocaL Museum. His name appears in lists of freemen for theyears 1803 and 1804 also. His brother Eleazer Ripley W tO tS sworn.as af'r-eeman in Bennf.ngton in 1802 and 1'10 is listed as present :?t Q Freemens tmeeting sept. 4, 1804. On Dec. 13, 1803, Eleazer Ripley ~nd others signeda document hcade d, " Subscr!bel'a of the town of Bennington disngred inreligious opinion with the majority- of the 1nhabitnnts of the town of

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B~nnington d1eRgPee in religious opinlon-w!~~he~~or-lty of the1nhabitanbe ef ~he tQ~ffi of Benn1ngton in sup~ort of the minister." IH ow long Eleazer Hipley lived in Bennington is unknown to thewriter. N ot very lon.g probably for he died in Ashuelot in 1810and was buried in the cemetery on the hillside back of Ashuelot.

His tombstone reads: "Died Sept. 27 , 18 10 in his 59 th yenr." BesideEleazer's grave is thut of his widow Mary, who" died Nov. 16, 183 3aged 73 yeArs." They had a large family of children, the to~m recordsof W1nchester recording the names and birth dates of the first five.born between 17 80 and 1797 . Tho writer knows nothing furt:h.er of theirdescendents except that Lucy married Luther Alexander in l80B and the1rdescendents built the present stutely Comr!lU.nltyouse in Wl~t..l\..'(.;.~t-e"()~'~' . .,

Bennington Museum Records mention two other mAn named Natha.nieland Eleazer Ripley. They were sons of Nnth~n1el RiP~ey, Senior.According to family records in the possession of the writer, NathanielRipley, Seni91" was married th1:'eet'lmes, his third wife be ing namedRachel Oliver, but no proof has been found by the wri tel" for thethird mar-rtage , Chtldren of the thf r-d wi'fe were four in number;Nathnniel, who married Phoebe Fay, August 25, 1830 and who diedFeb. 28,1847 and was buried in Bennington; (2 ) Eleazer, born in 1805, .. v rdied Dec. 18, 1842, buried in Bennington. He married Jeanette N orton.(3) Pame Ld a J (4) Sa,llie. No doubt 1_ was this Sally Ripley whomarried Jeremiah Granger tn Bennington, Dec. 31, 1821. It w~s thesecond Eleazer Ripley who became a. freeman September 2, 1328 when hew~s twenty three years old.

In s. collection of newspaper clippings kept by the lil.teDr. HenryClay Day of Bennington and in the possession of the BenningtonHistorical 1~seum mention i8 made of the second Nathaniel Ripley,as follows:" Drowned in this town on Thursday eveni!lg the 26 thinstant, Mr. Jesse Downs of BenninGton, aged 49, and Mr. Seth Keys ofPownal, aged 45. They w~re i~ Q wagon with a boy who drove the horses.on their way to their respect! ve fs.milies, from the East Village',,'and the road passes very near the S&fford Mill Pond which has a verysteep' bnnk.i'h.e eveninG beH .ngvery' dark the' horses; got out of the rondand plunged into the wnter whore it was ten :_eet deep. Some persons inhhe company g~ve the alarm. Their bodies were found in about halt anhour, but too late to'restore th~m to life. The boy was taken fromthe wagon without ha vf .ng suattaineil c11ny injury. The horses we r-edrowned." -Ver-morrt Gaze t te, De c~rr..barl:118l8 .r. Day had added in hisown h!M. ndwr1ting;"The hoy mentioned above was Nathaniel Ripley and hewas save d by the box becoming detached from the wagon and floating."Po L'Lowi.ng this notatH)~ -:8,,added. " N~thD. .niel rapley, father ofVcr's. Edwa.rd Ke 11er.. nndMr8 . Hannah French and gnandf'a ther of Mrs.Arthur Sweet and Mrs. John Br arrt;"

Just how long N~than1el Ripley, Senior, lived in Bennington,is unknown to the writer.Doubtless he was living there in 1818 whenhis young son had the above experience. At that time lived~there also,Nathaniel's oldest son, Isaac and his fc.mily consisting of wife,Laur-a (Torrence) Ripley, daughter Electa and two sons, VlullitH'lIsaacand Ch~rles Torrence Ripley. By 1848 or 1850 all three of Isa~cs'


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ch11drenhad married and imnigrated to W1aconsin. Where Na.thanielRipley and Isaac and Laura Torrence Ripley spent their last yearsand are buried the writer would like to Rscertain. Any ~eader who cananswer this question in whole or part 1s asked to ~~ite to theoompiler.

S1gned-- ~~(Mrs. Jacob .Cornog,)1155 East Court street,Iowa C1ty, Iowa.

Reference a :

8.l~:11.12.13.14.15.16.

~ H.W.Ripley:"Genealogy of ~ part of the Ripley Family." Mayflower Descendents: Vol. 4,p.73" " Vol. 22,p.135 Vol. 22,p.69

~" " Vol. 22, p.169 and Vol. 5, P. 117 Rassach.usetts Soldiers and Sailors in the evolutionary War,Volum~ 13, pages 343,344, 347 and 3497. Plympton Records, p.376~myflower Descendents, Vol. 11,p.117

tl II Vol. 1, p.248, and Vol. 12 and 23Plympton Reco rds .New Rngland Historical ~nd Genealogic&l Register: Vol. 37, pg.297,To . Papers; "New Hampshire: Hammond, Vol. XIII, 1690-1800 "Bennington Historical Museum Records" ff

Ripley and Allied Families: Emma Ripley CornogGenealogical Register: Vol 39.A.nd 17. Ripley and Allied Families: Emmn Ripley Oor-nog , 1938 ----

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Eleazer Ripley and Nathaniel Ripley, Residents in Bennington Vermont, by Emma Ripley Cornog c. 1938