WILLIAM
YOUNG RIPLEY (1797-1875) was a civic leader during the
1800's and presided over the first large well-organized marble business
in Rutland County. In 1844 he built two mills for sawing marble
on Otter Creek near his home in Center Rutland. From 1846 to 1850
he was in partnership with William F. Barnes, who provided marble
for the business from his quarries in West Rutland. Ripley continued
in the business until 1865 when he turned his interests over to
his three sons, William, Edward and Charles. The business then became
known as Ripley and Sons.
Ripley
served as president of the Rutland County Bank which he helped organize
in 1861. He built the Rutland Opera House in 1868 adjacent to the
bank. It burned in 1875. The Methodist Troy Conference Academy in
Poultney was a long-time focus of his philanthropy and the school
was, for a time, known as the Ripley Female College. [Now Green
Mountain College]
William
Ripley was born in Middlebury December 13, 1797, to Nathaniel Ripley
and Sybil Huntington. He grew up on a farm in Weybridge and was
largely self-educated. He started in the mercantile business in
Middlebury at a young age and moved on in this business to Charleston
SC and New York City. By 1830, at the age of 32, he had become a
wealthy man and was able to retire to Vermont. Settling first in
the Farmingdale section of Middlebury, he was briefly interested
in the Lake Dunmore Glass Works, but soon (1837) moved to Rutland
to begin his second career.
Ripley
was first married to Charlestonian Zulma Thomas who died in 1826
leaving him with a young daughter, Julia. In 1831 he married Jane
Betsy Warren of Middlebury. His children were:
Mrs.
Seneca Dorr (Julia); Maj.Gen. William Y.W. Ripley; Brig. Gen. Edward
F. Ripley; Charles F. Ripley; Mrs.Charles Parker (Agnes); Mrs. John
J. Myers (Helen); and Mrs. C.M. Fisher (Mary).
Elaine
Purdy
Rutland
Historical Society
Sources:
- Edward
Ripley Memorial Book.
- Hance,
Dawn D. , The History of Rutland, Vermont 1761-1861.
-
Hemenway, Abby Maria, ed. The Vermont Historical Gazetteer
, Vol. 3, pp. 1099-1101.
- Steele,
Robert G., With Pen or Sword.
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