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Moses Harrison RIPLEY

Male 1840 - 1892  (51 years)


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  • Name Moses Harrison RIPLEY 
    Birth 29 Aug 1840  Chesterville, Franklin County, Maine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • OneWorld Tree. Other sources say 24 August.
    Gender Male 
    Death 19 Jan 1892  Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • “died at the Rochester asylum”
    Burial Hillside Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • C 102 2, “Vet. GAR” (Grand Army of the Republic). Initially buried at Layman’s Cemetery.
    Notes 
    • He was his parents’ second child.

      One Ancestry source has him as Moses Harrison Ripley, born 29 Aug 1840 in Civil, Chesterville, Maine.

      In the 1860 census, he is Moses H Ripley, a farmer in Maple Grove Twp in Hennepin County.

      In the 1865 state census, he is listed in Minneapolis, Hennepin County. As Bonnie points out, Moses would have been still serving with Hatch’s battalion at the time the census was taken if, indeed, Moses was mustered out of service in January of 1866. Moses and Ophelia’s son Charles was born in 1865 or 1866 so Charles must not have been away from home for the whole two-and-a-half years. There is no indication in the 1865 census that Moses is absent. Bonnie notes that Moses may have been injured during his military service because an 1883 list of pensioners in Anoka County includes Moses who is receiving $4 per month pension for a spine injury.

      In the 1870 census, he and his family live in West St. Paul, Dakota County. His occupation is carpenter.

      In the 1873 Minneapolis city directory, he is a carpenter residing at “19th Av S betw 2½ and 3d.”

      In the 1875 state census, he and his family are listed in Minneapolis, Hennepin County.

      In the 1880 census, he and his family lived in Blaine Twp, Anoka County, Minnesota. Moses was a farmer.

      According to Bonnie, Moses was elected the first chairman of the Blaine Township Board of Supervisors at that body’s first election in the summer of 1877 when Blaine Township was organized. Moses is credited with giving Blaine its name when he persuaded fellow board members to name the new township in honor of James G. Blaine, a popular senator from Maine.

      In the 1885 state census, they were farmers in Fridley.

      On 21 April 1887, the Taylors Falls Land Office granted Moses H Ripley a 160 acre homestead at 1 NE 4th PM No Township 31 N, Range 23 W, Section 22, in Anoka County. Its official description on the record over Grover Cleveland’s “signature,” was “northeast quarter of section twenty-two in township thirty-one north of range twenty-three west of the Fourth Principal Meridian in Minnesota, containing 160 acres.”

      In the 1890 veterans schedule, Moses H Ripley is listed as living in Blaine and Fridley in Anoka County. He was a Private in the “Hatches Ind Battery” from August 4, 1863, to January 27, 1866, a period of service of 2 years, 5 months, and 28 days.

      In the Civil War Soldiers Records and Profiles, Moses H Ripley is shown as having enlisted, as a blacksmith, in Company B, Minnesota Hatch’s Cavalry Battalion. (It was also called Hatch’s Independent Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry.) Here is the description of that battalion:

      Regimental History
      MINNESOTA
      HATCH'S CAVALRY BATTALION
      (Three Years)

      Hatch's Cavalry Battalion.--Maj., E. A. C. Hatch. This battalion was organized during Aug. and Sept., 1863, and left for Pembina Oct. 5, for Indian duty, accompanied by one section of the 3d Minn. light battery. It acted as escort for a transportation train from St. Cloud, and from Pomme de Terre Oct. 24 the major portion of the troops were sent to Fort Abercrombie to obtain additional ordnance, the rest of the command under Lieut. Charles Mix, continuing with the train, a junction to be effected at Georgetown.

      A sudden thaw compelled the train to rest days and travel nights and the road was lost, the command being thus several days late in reaching Georgetown. Animals and men suffered greatly, owing to the failure of contractors to deliver hay and grain as agreed, and only by most determined work did the expedition continue. Two hundred and fifty horses, mules and oxen died between Georgetown and Pembina, and as much of the stores as could be spared were left at Georgetown.

      In December a small detachment surprised and captured a party of Indians and soon afterward some 200 of Little Crow's band surrendered. Others came in until Maj. Hatch had nearly 400, and early in Jan., 1864, the Sioux chiefs, Little Six and Medicine Bottle, were captured, sent to Fort Snelling and after trial were hung for their crimes in the massacre of 1862, Little Six confessing to having personally killed 50 people. In February the battalion was joined by Maj. Joseph R. Brown, with over 40 friendly Indians. Maj. Brown left for Fort Snelling with the prisoners and on April 10, Lieut. Mix and party left for Fort Abercrombie. On May 5, the entire command moved for Fort Abercrombie. Co. C was detailed to Alexandria and Pomme de Terre and Co. D to patrol duty from Fort Abercrombie to Pembina. Maj. Hatch resigned in June because of ill health, being succeeded by Lieut.-Col. C. Powell Adams, and Cos. E and F were mustered in during Aug. and Sept., 1864. Post and patrol duty was the order until 1866, when the regiment was mustered out by companies during April, May and June.

      Battles Fought
      Fought on 28 Sep 1864.

      From an article called The Man Who Named the City by Karen Klinkenberg.

      Moses Harrison Ripley was born on August 24, 1840 in Franklin County Maine, to Charles Ripley and Martha Dunsmoor Ripley. They had 6 children, born between 1838 and 1859—Moses was second-born. At age 15, his family moved to Dakota County, Minnesota and a few months later to Minneapolis. He married Ophelia M. Lightbourn, of the West Indies, on June 2, 1859. They had ten children between about 1861 and 1883, seven of whom survived them.

      On August 4, 1863 Moses Ripley enlisted in Hatch’s Independent Battalion, formed in response to the 1862 Sioux Uprising. The battalion was dispatched to Pembina near the Red River on the Canadian border on October 5, 1863 and arrived on November 13, 1863, the men having marched the entire distance. After enduring a harsh Dakota winter, food shortage and the loss of most of their horses, the battalion received orders to dispatch to Fort Abercrombie in Dakota Territory. Ripley was discharged on January 27, 1866 and returned to Minneapolis.

      Census records for the years 1860 and 1870 list Moses Ripley as residing in various towns around the St. Paul and Minneapolis area. His occupations included carpentry and farming.

      In November, 1875 he settled on a farm in Anoka County. In 1877, Blaine Township was established and, at the suggestion of Moses Ripley, was named in honor of James Gillespie Blaine, a politician from Ripley’s home state of Maine. At the first township election Ripley was named chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He served in subsequent township offices before moving to Fridley sometime later.

      In the summer of 1891, Moses contested his father’s will which left his portion of his father’s estate to Moses’s wife for the protection of Moses as well as Moses’s family. The father had concluded that “since the war [Moses] had developed intemperate habits.”

      A brief article in the 24 October 1891 edition of the Tribune, p. 8, titled “A Mad Pater Familias”: Moses H. Ripley, a son of the late Charles Ripley, who died some time ago leaving property worth many thousands of dollars, was up for examination before Judge Corrigan yesterday. Some four weeks ago he developed acute symptoms of insanity and threatened to kill his family. The judge ordered Moses to be sent to Rochester. He is a married man with seven children and is 51 years of age.

      Moses Ripley died in Rochester, Minnesota of influenza and pneumonia at the age of 51 on January 19, 1892 and was buried at Layman’s Cemetery in Minneapolis. In 1896, his grave was relocated to Hillside Cemetery. Ophelia died on December 12, 1893, also from pneumonia, in Minneapolis. She was buried at Hillside Cemetery along with Moses and his parents.
    Person ID I4082  Don Carlson's Tree
    Last Modified 30 Nov 2018 

    Father Charles John RIPLEY,   b. 3 Jan 1815, Farmington, Franklin County, Maine Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Jun 1891, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years) 
    Mother Martha DUNSMOOR,   b. Abt 1817, Temple, Franklin County, Maine Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Feb 1891, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years) 
    Marriage 1837 
    Family ID F11880  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ophelia LIGHTBOURN,   b. 27 May 1840, Turks and Caicos Islands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Dec 1893, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 53 years) 
    Marriage 2 Jun 1859  Ramsey County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • per Bonnie K
    Children 
     1. Martha Emma RIPLEY,   b. 1860, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Almira RIPLEY,   b. Abt 1862, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Charles RIPLEY,   b. Abt 1866, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1881 (Age 15 years)
     4. Lila May RIPLEY,   b. Nov 1868, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Jan 1928, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 59 years)
     5. William A RIPLEY,   b. 27 Feb 1871, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Feb 1957, Los Angeles County, California Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years)
     6. Edward Grant RIPLEY,   b. 9 Sep 1873, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Oct 1972, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 99 years)
     7. Walter C RIPLEY,   b. Feb 1877, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Jan 1952, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years)
     8. George H RIPLEY,   b. 25 Oct 1883, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Oct 1959, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years)
    Family ID F3266  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 14 Oct 2014