LIfe in Pioneer Illinois

An interesting account of emigration to Illinois from England is here

John Hall, On Presbyterianism

Cornell U. has the North American Review on line and searchable here. It was probably the leading magazine of intellectuals in the 19th century.

Rev. William R Harshaw mentions Rev. Hall, pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian if I remember correctly. For a taste of what late 19th century Presbyterianism was like, here's a link to his: Why I Am a Presbyterian. And the Rev. Charles A Briggs was involved in a famous trial in NYC when Rev. William was there--here's a link to his discussion of the future of the Presbyterian church.

Recent Lucas Updates

Marjorie found an obituary for a great aunt (I think)--Marjorie Lucas at the Edenprairie website. I used the information to add or edit entries on Ancestry.com for her, her brothers, and some of their descendants. Marjorie is bound for Minneapolis tomorrow to talk about John Martin et. al and hoped to find some cousins there.

Seneca #9 Presbyterian Church

Found the church web site (it's linked with the Memorial Presbyterian Church of Bellonna), Rev. Ellen Johnson, pastor.

Seneca No. 9 Presbyterian Church

Received an email from the Rev. Ellen Johnson yesterday. She's the minister at the Seneca No. 9 Presbyterian Church where the Rippeys and others worshipped. Said she'd heard from a number of descendants of early church members because they'd just celebrated their bicentennial on Oct 21.

According to Rodney Lightfoote's history of the church, the raising of the original building was accompanied by the drinking of some gallons of whiskey. [shock, shock]. He notes the controversies through the years.

While I'm thinking of it, let me note my vague memories of a story that my sister heard from someone--someone in authority during the mid 1800's said there was no way that an organ would ever cross the church threshold. So the pro-organ party managed to get it in through a window!

New Photos

I got copies of several photos from Bobbie Ernst:

Margaret Ellen Rippey
Elizabeth Rippey
James Raymond Turner holding Raymond Weld Turner, with George Rippey Turner
Elizabeth (Rippey) and James Turner, perhaps an engagement photo from 1856 or so.
Paired photos of Elizabeth (taken in Geneva, NY) and James (taken in Ft. Wayne) perhaps in 1880 or so.

I've uploaded them to a Picasa Photo Album under the title "Rippey Line Material" and shared them with Jean, Marjorie, and Bobbie. It's a public album, so let me know if there's any problems.

Bobbie Ernst's Line

Finally got caught up enough to record Bobbie Ernst's lineage in the ancestry.com tree. (Her brother was born on Pearl Harbor day.) I'll get to the other information.

Back Home

Last Friday Lisa and I returned home from a trip on which we visited Marjorie Harshaw Robie and family in Ipswich. Enjoyable, but I returned to find a contribution from Bobbie Ernst of several pictures and notably the genealogical table compiled by Dr. John Newton Rippey. Then Ed Cole emailed material on the Boyd family, who appear to have intermarried with Harshaws. On top of that, I took lots of pictures on the trip and I'm still dealing with my new laptop and trying to integrate it into my routine. So I'm feeling pressed to catch up.

Marjorie's going to speak in Boston and then in Minneapolis. Haven't seen her speech, but it's on the divisions in Ireland in the context of James Harshaw and John Martin. See her book available at Amazon.com. (She's hard at work on the second volume.)

Jonas Lighty's Will

This is an image in Picasa of Jonas Lighty's will. The transcript is in the Susquehanna Saga.

[Updated--corrected name to "lighty"

Aaron Black

Marjorie this morning asked me what had been done on the Blacks. That stirred me to run through Jean's extracts of Aaron Black's will and the various deeds that his name appears on and then to publish it (linked through "Family Records) or here.

I rushed, but it's interesting to note that the 1804 documents show John Rippey, James Barnes, and Samuel McIntire as witnesses. It seems to have been a close knit community?

Rev. John Newton Rippey, MD

Bobbie Ernst had mentioned him, and I vaguely remembered stumbling across his name a time or two. So I finally did a Google on him. He turns up as an Episcopalian minister in at a convention in Michigan in 1898. But this site has an interesting mention of him.

The Crawfords

Spent some time this week covering the Crawfords--Ada Rippey's sister married Fredrick Swartz Crawford and had four children. He was a Presbyterian minister appearing in the 1898 directory of ministers. Mary was, I fervently hope, "Mary E Rippey" born in 1858, not the Mary Rippey born to George Orson Rippey in 1859.

Ada went to Monmouth College in Illinois. I wonder if and whether Mary went to college. Her first child, Ada Vere, is born in Ohio, indicating maybe that Crawford had a post there.

A sidenote--it seems the norm that when the husband died, the wife lived with a daughter or stayed on the farm with the son who was farming it. But in the case of Elizabeth Black, it seems neither happened. First there was no farm to inherit. (I write that then wonder--couldn't he have been farming as well as preaching, but I don't think that's reflected in the census data.) Joseph was moving in this time period, from NY to PA by way of Nebraska. Mary had her two sons in 93 and 94, right when Rev. John died. And Ada was in New York City, probably not an environment Elizabeth would like.

So the best I can tell, with the possibility of confusion over the Blacks, Elizabeth headed back to the family farm with her maiden sisters (3) and bachelor brother.

James Smith--A Near Miss?

One of the mysteries in my genealogy is William Smith. We aren't sure where he came from--was it from New England which was the source of most of the settlers of upstate New York, or from Pennsylvania, where most of my ancestors came from.

I bought a history of the First Presbyterian Church of York, PA off E-bay (please use the site, I own stock in the company ;-) ). Not from any real likelihood of finding something, but York's just north of the area Capt John Rippey and Mary Orson lived (about 20 miles according to Google Maps) and there's not likely to be a history of the Lower Chanceford Presbyterian Church available. The history is really short (the history of No. 9 church is longer and more detailed). [tongue in cheek on] But it did mention a "James Smith", both as being prominent in the church and, by the way, a Signer!!

Signer of what, you ask?? Of the Declaration of Independence, of course, you ignoramus! So today I did some googling. Alas and alack, I'm not an heir. [tongue in cheek off] Smith was from Ireland, emigrating with his father, being trained as a lawyer and practicing first in Shippensburg, PA and then in York. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and an early organizer of the militia in York. Rather interesting guy, if rather different from the usual stereotype of the dour Presbyterian. This was the most complete bio I found (which is downloadable if you have broadband).

So I can say that Capt. John Rippey would have met James Smith, but that's it. But, given the concept of 6 degrees of separation, there's now 6 degrees of historical separation between me and George Washington. (me to grandfather William to Rev. John to Joseph to Capt John to James Smith to George Washington).

Connecting Up Herald and William Harrison

I've written somewhere, perhaps in comments on ancestry.com, about trying to find the "county agent" that was painted by Norman Rockwell, and hooking him up with common ancestors. I thought I had succeeded, but yesterday found a correction.

The county agent was "Herald Rippey", painted while he was an Extension agent in Indiana. His parents, George C. and Hattie, moved around, as Herald was born in Indiana but was living in Washington state at the age of 6. George C. was born in Michigan in 1882, the son of William Culbert Rippey. William Culbert was the son of William Rippey, born in 1814 in Ontario County.

The problem, which I thought I'd worked out, was: William must have been a son of a son of Capt John Rippey (the only Rippeys in NY in 1820 were Capt John's sons), but which son. I thought Hugh was the most logical--the census showed the most sons of the right age range.

But it turns out William was Mathew's son, at least according to a message posted on a message board. I finally got around to clicking on the "ancestry community" tab in ancestry.com, which took me to message boards and the Rippey board contained a thread where the writer connected Mathew and William. (She was showing that two cousins had married.)

Who's William Harrison Rippey? He's a family genealogist mentioned by Donald MacKay Rippey in his "Susquehanna Saga" and, apparently, another son of William Culbert.