William Wilt Rippey

FARMER | MERCHANT

BIRTH
WEDNESDAY | 29 FEB 1804
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, USA

DEATH
WEDNESDAY | 16 AUG 1882
Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, USA

Joe McFarland

The Far-Land Legacy
The Publishing Legacy Company

April 5, 2024

BIOGRAPHY

LANCASTER – Born in the leap year of 1804, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, William Wilt Rippey was welcomed to the union of Dr. John C. and Mary (Wilt) Rippey on Wednesday, February 29th. After growing up in Cumberland County, William married Sarah Ann Ware and together they had a daughter, Emma, in 1828. They lived in Pittsburgh sometime prior to January 18, 1831, where he was listed in the local newspaper as a tobacco inspector. He then engaged in his own business venture as a merchant before he moved to Ohio and settled in Zanesville for a time after the death of his wife in 1835. While in Zanesville, he married Mary Caroline Bliss on Thursday, May 19, 1836. His obituary revealed he had relocated again by 1840 to Logan, in Hocking County, which his son, Charles Hendee’s birth on February 19, 1839, in Logan confirms. These were the days during the construction and rise of the canals to expand enterprise throughout Ohio. There he set up a dry goods business and continued business for a number of years. He and Mary had three children: Charles Hendee, Mary, and Ruth Bliss, and then three and one half years after Ruth’s birth, in October 1848, William lost his second wife as death passed over her.

The following year he remarried on Wednesday, October 17, 1849, to Matilda Curtiss in Hocking County. Together they had seven girls: Sarah Caroline, who went by Carrie; one who died in infancy; Matilda Curtiss; Ida; Katherine, who went by both Kate and Kitty; Naomi; and Florence M., who died at only a decade old.

William took up farming sometime before the summer of 1850 where he operated a successful farm worth $12,000 ($477,424.62 when converted to April 2024 dollars). As time progressed, his attention shifted to the grain industry where he connected with the Steam Flouring Mill. This may have been due to a decrease in his farm production, as a decade later his farm value had been cut in half to $6,000. Or perhaps he saw the same type of opportunity that took Robert William Keynes to take part in the abundant growth of the grain industry in the area. As the canal system connected Logan to the Ohio River, via the Hock-Hocking River, Logan began to emerge as an integral part of the grain industry. Prior to men carving the canal through the landscape, the only mill positioned at the Hocking Falls was constructed by Governor Thomas Worthington in 1819.

In 1852, Joseph Parker purchased the Friesner warehouse, a woolen mill at the time, and converted it into a flour mill. The following year, Logan hosted their first fair on October 18 and 19, where William remained among those who served the community as judges. He judged domestic products, those included in Class H, along with his first daughter, Emma, Dr. Brown’s wife, and James Dewar’s wife. The following year, in 1854, William Rippey purchased the mill along with his investment partner, Thomas Dewar. Together they operated the transformed site as Rippey & Dewar. Keynes came back to the site and joined the staff as a miller by 1855.

MARRIAGE

Matilda Curtiss

HOCKING COUNTY – William married Matilda on Wednesday, October 17, 1849.

Due to the successful surplus of grain crops, brought by the local farmers, a decision surfaced to erect a new extension of the mill to increase production. They completed the new addition by 1866 and renamed the firm The Logan Steam Flouring Mills. Keynes showed an interest in taking over operations and combined his resources with John Wellman, who shared his English origin. The two purchased the mill and changed the name to Keynes & Wellman. After Keynes and Wellman experienced increased success, doubled their capacity, and installed a roller process system, their product shipped through the canal to Cleveland and Baltimore, Maryland. However, by 1886, fire ignited from the fifth floor and burnt the structure to the ground since they lacked appropriate fire equipment. As the Civil War reached its conclusion with General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant, and the sale of the Logan Steam Flouring Mill, William continued on the move and relocated again to take up residency in Lancaster where he purchased a farm and successfully cultivated the land until summer’s end in 1882. At the time, William switched gears with perfect timing as the industrial revolution soon brought a decline in the need for milling as the newly acquired and formed Keynes Brothers realized a decline in operations by the early 1920s. Between 1920 and 1950 Ohio’s flour mills dwindled from 300 to 40 as the industry began to fade into the backdrop of new industrialized bakeries. Continuing to 1870, William’s farm had amassed to $40,000 with both real estate and personal assets ($947,560.31 in April 2024’s dollars). By the beginning of 1866 the Lancaster Gazette included William as subscriber to the newspaper for $2.00.

William lived in the fifth ward of Lancaster positioned between the East Mulberry and King streets. He and Matilda’s two daughters Ida (21) and Kate (18) still lived with them as they approached adulthood. Already retired from the merchant business, death then relieved William of his farming duties at his residence the morning of Wednesday, August 16, 1882. He had suffered an illness for 10 days and passed away in his 79th year. His obituary further honored his life mentioning him as “one of the best known and most successful businessmen in the Hocking Valley, and in all his transactions he sustained an untarnished reputation for truth and integrity. He was a generous neighbor and to the deserving, a firm friend. During life he was respected and loved for his many Christian virtues, and in death he is deeply mourned by our whole community. He died looking back without regret, and forward without fear.” As William lived to an advanced age his funeral, officiated by Reverend Keene of the Methodist Episcopal Church, widely attracted many family and friends to attend from both Logan and Lancaster. There they paid their respect as they wept and mourned William’s passing alongside his family at the grave during the burial at the Forest Rose cemetery.

ZONED PROPERTIES FROM LOT 182

C C HAMMITTS Sub Lots:

Lot 1: 635 East Mulberry Street
Lot 2: 637 East Mulberry Street
Lot 3: 639 East Mulberry Street
Lot 4: 643 East Mulberry Street
Lot 5: 652 East King Street
Lot 6: 648 King Street
Lot 7: 644 King Street
Lot 8: 640 King Street. Rear Frontage

HOP CO’s 3rd Addition Corner Lot:

Lot 182 NW: 654 King Street
Lot 182 SW: 645 East Mulberry Street
Lot 182 SE: 649 East Mulberry Street

HOP CO’s 3rd Addition Lot:

Lot 182 NE: 660 King Street
Lot 182 SM: 647 East Mulberry Street
Lot 182 NM: 658 King Street

BURIAL

FOREST ROSE CEMETERY – William Wilt Rippey lies buried in the Forest Rose cemetery, in Section A3 along with his wife, Matilda, located in the front, older part of the cemetery.