Rippey, William F.

RIPPEY, ARNSWORTH, JEFFRIES, ARMSWORTH, CLIFTON, LOWE, PARKER, HANSEN, BYALL, BLACKWOOD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 12/3/2008 at 10:01:03

RIPPEY, William F.

Farmer and stock raiser; Sec. 32; P. O. Baxter; born in Indiana, April 9, 1838. Married Anna ARNSWORTH in Indiana in April, 1838; they have six children - Fannie, Elizabeth, Edna, Martha, Francis J., Jessie. He has 500 acres of land, all improved, valued at $25 per acre; has good buildings, and all good improvements; 100 acres of wheat, and abundant groves, etc. He enlisted in Aug., 1861, in the 10th I. V. I.; was in the battles of Island No. 10, New Madrid, Corinth, Farmington, siege and battle of Corinth, Iuka, Vicksburg, Yazoo Pass, Jackson, Miss., Reynolds, Miss., Champion Hills, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge and Decatur, Alabama, and several small battles; was promoted to Sergeant; guarded the Atlanta & Chattanooga Railroad for some time, and was discharged at the close of the war with his regiment. He has held the offices of Justice of the Peace and School Director. Has given liberally to schools and churches. He came to Iowa in 1856, in limited circumstances; has farmed very extensively, and been very successful; he now has one of the best farms in Independence Tp. ~ "Independence Township Biographies," The History of Jasper County, Iowa, (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)
===============================================
Rippey, William F.

The best history of a community or state is the one that deals most with the lives and activities of its people, especially those who, by their own endeavor and indomitable energy, have forged to the front and placed themselves where they well deserve the title of progressive men. In the following paragraph will be found the record of one who has outstripped the less active plodders on the highway of life and achieved a career surpassed by few of his contemporaries, a career of marked success in agricultural affairs and a name which all who know him delight to honor owing to his upright life and habits of thrift and industry.

William F. Rippey, one of Jasper County's leading pioneer citizens, living on his beautiful farmstead near the village of Ira, was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, April 9, 1838, and there he grew up and received what education he could in the schools of the early days. He is the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Jeffries) Rippey. The father, born in Henry County, Indiana, died in Kosciusko County, that state, at the early age of thirty-four years. The mother, who was born in Rush County, that state, came to Iowa late in life and her death occurred in Independence Township, Jasper County, at the age of seventy-six years. Their family consisted of five sons, four of whom fought for the preservation of the Union during the Civil War, William F., of this review, being the eldest; Matthew J. was killed at the battle of Champion's Hill; James Allen received wounds at the battle of Jonesboro from which he died a few days later; John was captured during the service, but was paroled, after the war he came to Iowa and became owner of the land where the town of Baxter now stands, and finally died while in Indiana on a visit; Milton D. died when twenty-two years of age. The four stepbrothers, Wilson, Charles, Winfield and Allen, were all Union soldiers, and they are now all deceased but the youngest who lives at Manchester, Indiana, and Winfield, who lives in Kosciusko County, Indiana.

When a young man William F. Rippey came to Iowa, reaching Jasper County in March 1854, and he located on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he entered from the government, and established his permanent home near the town of Marietta, when this country was all a wild prairie, his nearest neighbor being four miles distant, but, being a man of excellent foresight, he knew that this was to be a rich and populous country as the years advanced. He traded his first farm for one hundred and sixty acres where the village of Ira now stands. He was at this time only seventeen years old. Not many youngsters would have displayed so much courage and business sagacity. In order to get a start he went to Greene County, this state, where he worked two years. In 1857 he began breaking prairie, and he hauled the timber that went into the construction of the first courthouse in Greene County. He then returned to Indiana and attended school, but his funds becoming exhausted he went back to Iowa, where he has since made his home continuously. Working hard and economizing and managing well, he prospered and added to his original purchase as the years advanced until he at one time owned one thousand acres of valuable land. Not caring to be burdened in his declining years with the care of so much land, he now retains six hundred and fifty acres, all well improved and well cultivated; in fact, his home place is one of the model farms of this part of the county. The rest of his land he gave to his children, to each eighty acres. He has a modern, substantial and beautiful home, among its equipment being one of the best private libraries in the county. He has kept well abreast of the times in all matters relating to the world's affairs.

William F. Rippey was one of the patriotic sons of the North who gave his services to the Union in the great conflict between the states, having enlisted at Newton, Iowa, in Company I, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served with much credit for a period of three years under Generals Sullivan, Logan and Sherman. His regiment was among the troops that captured five thousand prisoners at Tiptonville, and he was in the siege of Vicksburg and the following battles: Shiloh, Corinth, Champion's Hill, Big Black River, Jackson, Iuka, Raymond, Missionary Ridge, Decatur, New Madrid, Charleston, Bloomfield, Holly Springs. Upon his retirement from the service he received an honorable discharge.

Mr. Rippey was united in marriage on July 6, 1859, to Ann Armsworth, who was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, April 11, 1838, there being but one intervening day between her birth and that of Mr. Rippey. She was the daughter of Willis and Ann (Clifton) Armsworth, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The father died in Indiana and the mother came to Jasper County, Iowa, and lived in Independence Township until her death. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters, all now deceased except the youngest daughter, Mary Crawford, Mrs. Rippey having passed away on June 23, 1908.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rippey, namely: Mrs. Fannie E. Lowe, born February 18, 1861, died May 2, 1886, at Salubra, Idaho; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Parker, born June 30, 1865, lives in Sherman Township, this County; Mrs. Edna Hansen, of Clear Creek Township, born March 7, 1867; Mrs. Martha Byall, born December 3, 1868, lives in Clear Creek township, this county; Francis J., born March 18, 1870, lives near Ira, this County; Frederick Grant, born September 10, 1872, died February 9, 1873; Mary, born December 18, 1873, died in September 1874; Jessie M., born February 12, 1874, died February 23, 1907. They were all born in this township, and those reaching maturity grew up here.

Mr. Rippey was again married in November 1910 to Eva Blackwood, who was born in Jasper County, Iowa, May 25, 1867. Her father, Birch Blackwood, resides at Newton, her mother having died near that city.

Politically, Mr. Rippey is a Republican, a member of the Methodist Church and of Lodge No. 520, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Baxter. He has held all the local township offices, having been township trustee for sixteen years. He has always taken a deep interest in any public enterprise and his duties as a public servant reflected much credit, upon himself and elicited the hearty approval of all concerned. He is a man of straightforward, generous and wholesome impulses, whom to know is to respect and admire. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1264