Matthew Rippy
Born: About 1740, Ireland
Died: 17 Jan 1817, Orange County, NC
Father: ?
Mother: ?
Married: Nancy Ann Holliday About 1759
Our Child: Edward Rippy
The following is from the Sumner County Gen Website
MATTHEW RIPPEY was born Abt. 1740 in Ireland, and died
January 17, 1817 in Orange County, NC. He married NANCY ANN HOLLIDAY
Abt. 1759. She was born 1739.
Children of MATTHEW RIPPEY and NANCY HOLLIDAY are:
FANNY RIPPEY, b. October 18, 1760, Orange County, NC;
d. July 18, 1844, Orange County, NC; m. WILLIAM GANTT.
More About FANNY RIPPEY:
Burial: Providence Christian Chruch, Graham, NC
(2) JOHN RIPPEY, b. May 31, 1762, Orange County, NC;
d. 1839.
(3) THOMAS S. RIPPEY, b. January 13, 1764, Orange
County, NC; d. March 27, 1844, Orange County, NC.
(4) EDWARD RIPPEY, b.
March 13, 1764, Orange County, NC; d. 1828, Sumner County, TN.
SUSANNAH RIPPEY, b. October 17, 1766, Orange County,
NC.
MATTHEW JESSE RIPPEY, b. January 24, 1768, Orange
County, NC.
(5) JESSE RIPPEY, b. 1770, Orange County, NC; d.
1858, Sumner County, TN.
(6) JAMES RIPPEY, b. January 21, 1770, Orange County,
NC; d. August 01, 1860, Sumner County, TN.
JANE RIPPEY, b. November 25, 1771, Orange County, NC;
d. Bef. 1817; m. GANTT.
(7) JOSEPH RIPPEY, b. October 31, 1773, Orange
County, NC; d. May 09, 1851, Alamance County, NC.
VIRGINIA GARRET RIPPEY, b. 1774, Orange County, NC;
d. 1817; m. GANTT.
The following article recounts how our Matthew Rippey may have
contributed to the creation of the First Amendment.
Tuscarora's Journey of Faith Martinsburg, West Virginia
According
to Henry Howe in his Historical Collection of Virginia( 1852),
Tuscarora Presbyterian Church is "the first place where the Gospel was
publicly preached and divine service performed west of the Blue Ridge
Mountains." In keeping with that auspicious beginning, Tuscarora has
been a beacon of light, spreading God's Good News to the world for over
260 years.
In 1737 all of what is now Berkeley
County was part of Orange County, Virginia. On September 22 of that
year, Mr. William Williams, a Presbyterian lay speaker, appeared before
the county court at Orange Court House in Virginia and took the oath of
allegiance and abjuration required of dissenter ministers and declared
his intention to hold meetings at two points in the northern Shenandoah
Valley close to the Potomac River. One of these points turned out to be
this very spot, later to be known as Tuscarora Church.
In
1737 in all of what is now Berkeley County, there were only a few
hundred settlers. There were still a few Indians in the area, enough in
fact that the first settlers to worship here felt it necessary to bring
their weapons to divine services. The settlers in this area were mainly
independent Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, who built a log meeting
house, two in fact which pre-date our present stone structure.
It
was not easy to travel to Tuscarora in the early 1700s for Sunday
service. One surviving record states, "We left Gerrardstown [ ten mile
trek] early on Sunday morning, walked to within site of Tuscarora
Church, then stopped to put on our stockings and shoes before
continuing on."
Tuscarora officially came into existence
in 1740 as a member of the Donegal Presbytery, and Mr. Williams
preached to the people of Tuscarora for twenty-three years before his
death in 1760. Before there was a permanent minister, three supply
ministers served this congregation: Robert Cooper, John Craighead and
John Hoge. But in August 23, 1770, Hugh Vance was ordained and
installed as the first "called" pastor of the united congregation of
Tuscarora and Back Creek (now known as Tomahawk) for the sum of 112
pounds, five shillings, Pennsylvania currency. The elders who served
during Rev. Vance's pastorate were William Campbell, Joseph McKay,
Robert Mercer, John Campbell, Matthew Rippey, Samuel Park, James Riddle
and John Hart. Hugh Vance was born and educated in Donegal, Northern
Ireland.
In 1776 something happened that would change
the course of history for a long time to come. It was a petition signed
by ninety-eight men from Tuscarora and fifty from Back Creek. It was
presented to the Speaker and House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Virginia. In essence the petition said that the
Presbyterians objected to tax money being used to support the church.
They were opposed to a state church. None other than Thomas Jefferson
used that petition and others like it to formulate the Virginia Statute
of Religious Freedom, which was later used as a basis for the First
Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution that
guarantees us, as American citizens, freedom of religion.
Up
until 1804 Tuscarora Church was affiliated with the Presbyteries of
Donegal and Carlisle in Pennsylvania. In October of 1804, Tuscarora was
enrolled in the Winchester Presbytery and remained affiliated with that
Presbytery until 197 4 when Winchester and Lexington Presbyteries
merged to form Shenandoah Presbytery.
At the beginning of the 1800s, new names began to appear in the
congregation,
names like Snodgrass, Miller, Walker, and Cushwa. These were new people
moving into Berkeley County, searching for a place to worship. In the
early 1800s other Presbyterian congregations had been formed by the
core group at Tuscarora such as Middletown (now Gerrardstown), Back
Creek (now Tomahawk), and Falling Waters. The membership of Tuscarora,
which numbered in excess of 150 in 1776, was down to just thirty-one in
1809. But there still existed the zeal and willingness to follow the
precepts of the Great Commission, and by 1819 membership had risen to
seventy-eight.
In 1825 Presbyterians established the First
Presbyterian Church in Martinsburg, and Tuscarora was left with a
membership of just twentyfive. But once again the congregation of
Tuscarora rose to seventy-seven after a great revival in 1836.
In
1861 with the War Between the States, more than a few sons of Tuscarora
Church rode away to what they thought would be a great adventure, never
to return home. After the war, some of these men did return to
Tuscarora and later became elders in the church. Sadly, one father had
to retrieve his son's body from a battlefield in Virginia, and he
buried the young solider in the Tuscarora cemetery, not twenty feet
from the front door of the church.
The stone structure itself
was spared the ravages of war, but families were not. This area was
decimated so much that in 1866, one year after the war, Tuscarora
reported to the Winchester Presbytery membership of only twenty,five.
Once again the congregation had steadfast faith in the Lord, and by
1899 the membership of Tuscarora was up to forty,nine.
In
1890 another change occurred at Tuscarora. The first deacons were
elected to bring procedure in line with the Presbyterian form of
government. Some more new names begin to appear in the records such as
Smith, Catrow, and in the 1920s Noll. Also in the late 1800s Sunday
School began on a regular basis with James H. Smith elected as the
first superintendent.
Another change took place in 1901 with
the first appearance of organized women's work. In the session minutes
of April 8, 1901, this group makes its appearance as the Ladies'
Missionary Society, the forerunner of today's Presbyterian Women.
In
1940 Tuscarora celebrated its 200th anniversary. At that time the
official membership was forty,five. But in 1957 after the retirement of
the Rev. John L. Rogers, who had begun his ministry here thirty,eight
years before, Presbytery officials doubted the necessity of Tuscarora
continuing as a congregation. But Tuscarora was steadfast. Although
Tuscarora was yoked with a small country church, it decided to build a
manse, even though the church was without a minister. This is the mark
of a congregation willing to take a walk in faith.
In the
early 1960s women were elected to both the Session and the Board of
Deacons, some of the first in the Winchester Presbytery to serve as
such. Also, by the end of the decade, membership had passed the 100
mark for the first time since the 1700s. In 1969 during the pastorate
of the Rev. David Coffey, a new educational building was constructed to
house a growing church school and provide much needed office space. A
balcony was also added to the sanctuary, as well as an enlarged narthex
and air, conditioning.
In 1990 Tuscarora celebrated its
250th anniversary. Today we have a congregation which numbers about
150. This church has survived because it has been willing to change,
willing to welcome new members, willing to share leadership roles with
new members, and willing to take a chance on the future at the same
time keeping our roots deep in the rich history of the past: a history
full of danger, war, uncertainty, but with hope in a bright future and
faith in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I hope you enjoyed
this bit of Scots-Irish history in America. I find it pretty
inspirational that this church is still standing today through 3 wars,
and innumerable Blackfoot Indian attacks on its congregation in the
1700 and 1800s. There are people from families that have gone to this
church for generations, and they can tell you stories of how their
grandmothers and grandfathers survived Indian skalpings and raids.
And still, the stubborn Shenandoah Valley Scots Irish would go to
church on Sunday.
The
Ulster Report on Matthew Rippey Matthew Rippy (1735-1818) is thought to have immigrated to
America from
Northern Ireland sometime before 1775. He settled in North Carolina and
was
a veteran of the American Revolution. he was a small landowner and
farmer
and held four slaves. The slaves were set free at his death in 1818 and
took the last name Rippy. Matthew and his children began spelling their
name Rippey sometime after 1775.
All that is known about Edward Rippy is that both he and Matthew were
found
on the tax rolls of Orange County, North Carolina in 1779. What the
relationship was between the two is unknown.
Joseph Ripp(e)y (b. 1775; d. before 1860), the son of Matthew Rippy,
married Hesther hastings (d. before 1860) on September 22, 1798. By
1816,
he lived at Haw River, Orange County, North Carolina and had acquired
100
acres of land and owned assets worth $400 by 1816. The 1820 census lists
him as having five sons and three daughters and five horses but no
slaves.
John Wesley Rippey (1810-1870), the son of Joseph Ripp(e)y was born in
Orange County, North Carolinia in 1810 and died in Carroll County,
Virginia
on August 25, 1870 of kidney disease. He was at various times a cooper a
laborer and a farmer. On July 7, 1834, he married Catharine McAddams (b.
1818 d. ca. 1850-1854). They had seven children. Sometime before 1855,
he
married Mary A Colbert (b. 1819 died after 18800 by whom he had six
children. The value of his property was $200 in 1860 and $125 in 1870.
John's oldest son by his second marriage was a great grandfather of the
author and John' s oldest daughter by his first marriage was a great
grandmother of the author. Sometime between 1863 and 1870, the family
moved
from North Carolina to Carroll, County, Virginia.
Daniel Baxter Rippey (b. 1855; died after 1910), the son of John Wesley
Rippey, was born in Alamance County (formed from Orange County in
1849).,
North Carolina in 1855 and died in Virginia after 1910. In 1874, he
married
Nancy Cattherine Spencer (b. 1848 died after 1910) daughter of Ewell
Spencer 9d. 1864) and Sophia Stockner. They had eight children. The
census
of 1870 shows that age 15 he could not read. However, the 1900 census
indicates that he could now read and write and was a farmer and owned
his
own home which was free of mortgage. The 1910 census shows Daniel and
Nancy
living in the household of their oldest son, James Benjamin Franklin
Rippey.
James Benjamin Franklin Rippey (1878-1955), oldest son of and second
child
of Daniel Baxter Rippey was born in Lambsburg, Carroll Co, Virginia on
April 10, 1878 and died in Staunton, Virginia on January 6, 1955. In
1905
he married Nancy Ellen Surratt (b. June 29, 1882 in Lambsburg, Carroll
Co,
Virginia) and died July 28, 1928 in Kents Store, Fluvanna County, VA(
duaghter of William I Surratt and Annie Eliza Rippey (Adams) (b. 1840).
Annie Eliza Rippey was the daughter of Joseph Wesley Rippey and
Catharine
McAddams (see above). James Benjamin Franklin Rippey's occupation was
farming. However, he served for some time as constable (bailiff) for the
courts in Carroll County. They had seven children of whom six lived to
adulthood.
Walter Carl Rippey (1905-1944) was born in Lambsburg, VA on June 20,
1905 .
He had six children.
Sidney Arnold Rippey (1911-1992) was born in Lambsburg, VA on January
16,
1911. He had four children.
Martha Rippey (1914-1990) was born in Lambsburg, VA on March 12, 1913.
She
had one daughter.
William Wilson Rippey (1918-1992) was born in Lambsburg, VA on June 14,
1918 He had one son.
Greeley Ford Rippey (1921- ) was born in Kents Store, VA on August 29,
1921. He has four children.
Annie Catherine Rippey (Evans) (1924- ) was born in Kents Store, VA on
Dec 16, 1924.
