Seneca Township, NE corner

Not much of interest to Rippey descendants here. Note there's a Reed in the lower left and there's a W&TSmith Co. in upper right. One Rippey married a Reed (some day I'll insert who) and the Smiths are notorious on this blog. But I've no way of knowing whether there's any relationship between this company and the William Smith in my ancestry.

Stanley, NY

See Seneca Township Introduction for background.

Like the Hall map, this is from the reverse side of the map showing the entire township. Had to scan twice and the scanning cut off the word "Stanley" in the upper left corner. (You may be able to note where I stitched two scans together.)

The "AC Rippey" is Aaron Chamberlain, son of Hamilton, grandson of George Orson and Marjorie Chamberlain.

There are also several McCauleys, who I've not tried to identify.

Hall's Corners

See the Seneca Township Introduction for background.

Of interest for this blog are the Rippeys (G.O. and E.). The Rippey genealogy also has intermarriages with one or more Robsons, Crosiers, and Legerwoods.

Seneca Township and Its Towns--Introduction

Through e-Bay (which I urge everyone to use--you can save a search and be notified anytime something comes up for sale that meets the terms, such as "Rippey"(warning, I own e-Bay stock)) I got a 1905 map of Seneca Township and its towns: Stanley, and Hall's Corners. I'll be scanning the images and putting on the Internet. The map is big, about the size of 6 letter-size pages laid out, so I couldn't get everything in one image. It shows the owners (or maybe occupants) of each house and farm in the township, including a Rippey, McCauley, McIntyre, and Black. The images themselves are now in my Picasa web album, which I haven't used in a year or so. If and when I include the image in a blog post, you can click on the small image to get a full page view.

History and Genealogy

I've invested a lot of time researching and recording my genealogy. With my background as a failed historian, it prompts some reflections on history, as reflected in the genealogical record.

The most striking lesson is from the Rippey genealogy, Captain John and Mary had 13 children, all of whom reached adulthood and had children of their own. This could be chance. Many family trees probably have an especially prolific family somewhere.

It could reflect the prosperous conditions in the York PA region for farmers. There's research here and here on the comparative health of disparate populations in time and space which shows colonial PA was a healthy area--the "Best Poor Man's Country" as one letter put it and a historian used for his book title.

But it contrasts with the record of their descendants. The average family size declines. That's to be expected, as it becomes harder for parents to establish their children on farms, and as prosperity decreases the need for multiple children to have one or more living in the parent's old age.

And children start dying, dying early and often. Some families seem jinxed, with 2, 3 or 4 children dying before their teen years.

The Pittsburgh Reformed Presbyterians

Here's one page of an excerpt from a book, which gives a little perspective on the Rev. John Black, Michael Harshaw's mentor, and the Reformed Presbyterians.

A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People By John Newton Boucher: ""

1898 Presbyterian Directory==Harshaw Excerpt

Ministerial Directory ... Of the Ministers in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern), and in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (Northern), Together with a Statement of the Work of the Executive Committees and Boards of the Two Churches... By Edgar Sutton Robinson: ""

Obit of Rev; John Rippey, from General Assembly Minutes

Minutes of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of North America By United Presbyterian Church of North America General Assembly, General Assembly, United Presbyterian Church of North America:

"John Rippey DD age 67 Caledonia Presbytery son of Joseph and Eliza Smith Rippey was born Nov 24 1827 at Seneca NY and made a profession of faith in the AR congregation of Geneva NY about 1840 or 1847 was graduated from Union College in 1851 and studied theology at Newbnrg and Princeton was licensed Dec 14 1852 by Caledonia Presbytery and ordained Aug 6 1856 by the Presbytery of Saratoga pastor of West Kortright NY Aug 1856 Dec 1866 Cnylerville NY Dec 20 1800 until his death The degree DD was conferred by Westminster in 1884 He was married May 18 1853 to Elizabeth Black of Seneca NY who with one son and two daughters survives him He died at Cuylerville NY May 14 1894 of Bright's disease "

Michael Harshaw's Move to the United Presbyterians.

This reports the movement by most of the Western Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church to the United Presbyterians. I apologize for the omission of a couple of sentences--I'm still learning how to handle the Google books excerpting.

The Reformed Presbyterian magazine. Jan. 1855-July 1858, 1862-76:
""

The Golds

An interesting piece here on the decline of mainline Protestantism, but here's the bit that caught my attention:

Early in the twentieth century, a trend toward consolidation began to take hold. Several things facilitated the trend. Those years saw, for instance, the peak of a great missionary movement in which, for two or three generations, the Protestant churches creamed off their best and brightest young people and sent them off to convert the heathen. (It is said that, as late as the 1970s, the most commonly shared characteristic among Americans in Who’s Who was “child of missionaries to the Far East.”) And out in the mission fields, a kind of practical common cause was forced on the Christians, an “ecumenism of the trenches,” which—because of the prestige of the missionaries—increasingly influenced their home churches.

Caught my eye because my aunt, Helen Harshaw Gold, was a missionary in China up to 1927(?)

What'd He Do in the War?

We know Captain John Rippey was in the Pennsylvania militia in the Revolution. But what did he do? I've never seen evidence of his participating in any battles. I think, though I'm relying on an increasingly unreliable memory, I saw some mention in the Pennsylvania archives of his possibly acting as a supply officer. (An unglamorous job, but someone has to do it. )

There's another possibility, maybe even more unglamorous but equally essential.

Prison guard.

See this post at Universal York for very good background on the prison camp in the York. The York militia definitely were guards for the camp, but no specific mention of one John Rippey.

Officers and Ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church

Google Books enables one to look up a lot of 19th century publications. Here's one that lists the officers and ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, with which Michael Harshaw was affiliated until 1870.
The Presbyterian Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer of the Church By Joseph M. Wilson: ""

History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania And Its Centennial Celebration By Joseph Henderson Bausman, John Samuel Duss

History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania And Its Centennial Celebration By Joseph Henderson Bausman, John Samuel Duss: ""

Is This a Cousin?

George Rippey Stewart, that is? See this Slate post rediscovering his book.