HISTORY.

            This is a  short History about the times that affected our forefathers , and which had a great influence on their lives and subsequently on all of us today. It is a fact , that the nucleus of the family left England in the 1600's and because the Rippeth males produce mainly female children ,  the reduced Family in England have been struggling to keep the name alive. There are eight males today , four of us are over sixty , which means that over the last 100 years we haven't increased at all.

            By my calculations there are approximately 20 males in America , so in three hundred years , the numbers have only trebled . When one considers how large some of the early families were , it shows again that there was a predominance of girls in those families and therefore it continues to be difficult for the Family to grow .

 

           THE RIPPETH FAMILY HISTORY.

PART ONE

The historians tell us that our name is a derivative of REDPATH , and was commonly pronounced "RIPPATH" in the Borders counties , and of course as time went by those who first learned to read and write determined that it would be spelt as Rippath or Rippeth , and so it has been since the beginning of the 16^th Century .This we are sure of , because of the records at Ryton parish Church , which is still the Parish Church today, for the majority of the English Rippeths. 

Like so many British family names , people were originally called after the town or village that they lived in, our village was called Redpath , in turn named after William de Redepathe a local Berwickshire Laird or Lord ,who did homage to Edward I in 1296 .

By the beginning of the early 16^th Century the family had relocated 60 miles South from Redpath in the Parish of Ryton and mainly living in the Village of Winlaton. By the 17^th Century the village was a well known center for chain and anchor making . Most of our ancestors were employed as chain makers, Blacksmiths and also coal miners. Today none of those early occupations have survived and Winlaton today is a large town, almost a suburb of Newcastle , with many people working in the City.

 

PART TWO

    1657. Thirteen members of the Rippeth family landed in America .We are almost certain that this family emigrated from Ryton in England .It is thought that like many others they fled England to find freedom from Religious persecution , under the Rule of Oliver Cromwell.

   James Rippeth Snr. was born in 1674 , almost certainly the son of one of the early 13 settlers , and the Father of the Family tree in America . There are now over Four hundred descendants detailed on our family Tree in America and one hundred and twenty one in the U.K.

   May 1995 was a significant date for the Rippeths on either side of the Atlantic , this is the date when we first new that each other existed. Harold Rippeth from Coalton , first started me off trying to put a family Tree together, with information that he supplied,  followed shortly afterwards by Olin’s contribution, which is a major work and  forms the backbone of the Family Tree as we now see it . Mrs Sylvia Reebel also had a particular interest in the Rippeth Family Tree and she  provided  substance and confirmation of the details, that form a basis for the U.S.A. Tree .

    The U.K. Family Tree was compiled and coordinated by Brian M. Rippeth and Mildred Ashworth and is probably as comprehensive as records can allow now , as any other information that could be added is mainly unreadable due to the condition of the old records.

 

PART THREE.

ADDITIONAL HISTORY.

From a British point of view it is fascinating to think of all those early Rippeth settlers arriving in America , wondering about their reasons for leaving and in hindsight , so to speak , putting the reality of the history of their times, indicated below, back around them and then imagining  how they managed to adapt to Their New Country.

The Dates and Times of American History -- The Rippeths.

APRIL 1606 – Permission given by James I to Colonize Virginia.

            MAY 1607 – 100 Settlers arrived aboard 3 ships, The Susan Constant, The Discovery , The Godspeed , they reached Chesapeake Bay Area and founded Jamestown.

1612 - John Rolfe married Pocahontas. 

1620 - Mayflower landed at Plymouth.

       1625 – James I died , Charles I succeeded him , he was executed by Oliver Cromwell in 1649.

       1630 – 1,000 Puritans landed and founded Boston.

       1634 – St. Mary’s and Maryland Colony – 1^st Settlers arrived .

       1636 – Hartford founded by the Rev. Thomas Hooker .

       1640 – over 10,000 people had arrived in Massachusetts .

 1664 – New York colony Settled .

           1670 – Charleston Settled .

        1674 – James Rippeth Snr. Born.

        1680 – New Hampshire became a Royal Colony.

        1681 – Philadelphia Settled.

        1696 – College of William and Mary founded in Williamsburg , Virginia.

        The average life expectancy in Chesapeake and Maryland area in the early 1700’s , was no more than 45 years.

        1720 – James Rippeth Jnr. Born.

The richest landowner Robert ( King ) Carter of Lancaster County – Virginia died in 1732, he owned 1,000 slaves and 300,000 acres of land. By 1770 there was a total population in the Colonies of approx. 250,000 settlers , but only 10 % had populated the "back country".

1744 – James Rippeth Snr – died

1748 – William Rippeth Snr. Born.

 

           ENGLISH HISTORY  1600's.          

                 Oliver Cromwell 1599 –1658 .

 Commanded anti - Royalist troops 1642 – Victories at Edge Hill,Marston Moor,

        and Naseby.1645. 

        Cromwell declared England a Republic after executing Charles I in 1649

        Defeated loyalist Scots under Charles II in 1651.

        Ruled as lord Protector from 1653 – 1658 .Refused Crown in 1657.

        Succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell 1626 – 1712. He resigned in 1659, when the

         Commonwealth was re established.                    

        Compiled by Brian M. Rippeth.  

           28th JAN. 2002