Welcome

These pages are dedicated to the genealogy of the Ripley family of Nova Scotia. The detail comes from Ernest Coates (1910-1997) of Fenwick, Nova Scotia, and Lawson Smith (1899-1984), of Nappan, both of whom spent many years collecting information about the pioneer families of Cumberland County. They were painstaking amateur historians, and their sources were anecdotal, for the most part. They lived among the families whose lives they were recording, and their work can never be repeated. My contribution has been to trace the Yorkshire ancestors of Robert and Isabella (Beane) Ripley. Errors and misinterpretations are likely to be found, my best efforts notwithstanding. When a source is cited, please verify it for yourself. When there is no source, proceed carefully.

Building on the body of work by Ernest Coates, Ronald Elliott (1930-2017) of Ottawa devoted years to creating a Ripley family tree, a copy of which can be found at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, in Halifax. Our cousin Mallory Burton also has a Ripley site at http://ripleyresearch.weebly.com/. It adds flesh to the bare bones you will find here, and is well worth visiting.

A note on naming: Names like Catherine and Elizabeth have been entered in a standard format, with the informal form (as it appears on official documents and in the censuses) following in parentheses. For example, Catherine (Katy), Robert (Bob) or Euphemia (Effy).

Abbreviations used: aft (after), b (born), bfr (before), ca (circa, or 'about'), d (died), m (married), n.d. (no date), pp. (pages). Months are abbreviated as follows: Jan, Feb Mar, Apr, May, Jun Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov Dec.

In order to respect the privacy of living persons, individuals born after 1923 are not included in the database.

Gord Ripley
Teeswater, Ontario


1. The Ripley Family of Ingleby Greenhow, Yorkshire

The Parish of Ingleby Greenhow lies in what was formerly the North Riding of Yorkshire and is now the District of Cleveland. It comprises seven thousand acres, and includes the modern townships of Ingleby, Battersby and Greenhow, as well as the villages of Ingleby and Battersby. In 1801 there were sixty-two houses in the parish, and in 1881 the population stood at three hundred and ninety-one. Much of Ingleby Greenhow is situated in a valley rimmed by the western flank of the Cleveland Hills. The giant industrial city of Middlesbrough is twenty miles to the north; in 1800 it was a tiny and peaceful fishing village. The North Sea coast is fifteen miles eastward. London is a distant two hundred and fifty miles south.[1]

Ingleby Greenhow has a history of habitation of over three and a half thousand years. The Bronze Age people buried their dead in Greenhow around 1550 BC. Later, Norsemen such as Ingialldr and Bothvar inhabited the area. Ingleby was valued at no more than 40£ in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it occurs as Englebi, Badresbi and Camisdale (Greenhow), in the soke of Stokesley. The manor was owned by Malgrin and Siward Barn, but Guy de Balliol was later granted the barony by William I. The Knights Templar held land around 1120. In 1151, Ingleby Church and mill were given by Adam de Aengelby, son of Veil, to Whitby Abbey for free and perpetual alms. Bernard de Balliol confirmed this gift between 1155 and 1175. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Hugh de Balliol again confirmed this gift and the monks later leased them back to him. Hugh's daughter, Ada was Aunt to the King of Scotland, John de Balliol, and married John de Fitz Robert Lord Eure in 1220. Wilks de Wrelton was incumbent of the parish in 1292, but was imprisoned in Durham Castle by Order of Bishop Bek. His effigy can still be seen in St Andrew's Church.[2]

The church is of Saxon or Norman origin and the Chancel was added in the thirteenth century. The fourteenth century saw the installation of the bells, which are still rung today. In 1536, Thomas Lord D'Arcy, the proprietor of Greenhow, was beheaded on Tower Hill for his involvement in the Pilgrimage of Grace and his estate was forfeited to the crown. Three years later, the parish registers of Ingleby began. Henry, 8th Earl of Northumberland, died in 1585, still in possession of lands at Battersby and the Eure family later owned the land.[3]

Ingleby School was begun by prescription in 1757. Sir William Foulis, 8th Baronet, died in 1845, leaving the estate to his only child Mary, who married Phillip Sidney, 2nd Lord De L'Isle and Dudley in 1850. Ingleby had two inns, 'The Fox and Hounds' and 'The Shoulder of Mutton', which was renamed 'The Dudley Arms' and remains today. The 'lock up' still exists next to the Butcher's shop. The Village School and master's house was built in 1846, with money from the parishioners and Sir William Foulis.[4]

The earliest Ripley entry in the Ingleby Greenhow registers (1539-1800)[5] is the christening of James Ripley, son of Robert Ripley, on September 21, 1600. That Robert and his wife might have had children before their arrival in Ingleby Greenhow is possible, but we can only guess at who these might be. We do know that his family grew with the addition of five more children in 1603, 1604, 1606, 1608 and 1611.[6]

Within the space of a few years children are also born to William Ripley Senior, William Ripley Junior, John Ripley, Roger Ripley and Rowland Ripley. Roger Ripley married Ann Wode (Wood) in 1606,[7] and Elizabeth Ripley married John Harrison in 1605.[8] It is not known whether these Ripleys were related, but their arrival in the parish at the same time makes this seem very likely. Where did they come from? Why did they settle in Ingleby Greenhow? At present, we do not know. It may or may not be coincidental that Ralph, Lord Eure started work on Ingleby Manor circa 1595.

As far as can be determined from the Ingleby registers, the descent of Robert Ripley of Maccan, N.S. is as follows:

Rowland Ripley, b ca 1590 d 1659, of Ingleby m Phillipa fflunders[9]
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Henry Ripley, b 1616 d 1688, of Ingleby m Frances Trowsdaile[10]
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Robert Ripley, b 1655 d 1739, of Ingleby m Esther Lee (?-1750)[11]
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Henry Ripley, b 1694 d 1762, m Elizabeth Corney[12] (?-1759)[13]
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Robert Ripley, b ca 1734 d 1797, of Battersby, Yorkshire m Isabella Beane.

2. The Ripley Family in Nova Scotia

In the spring of 1774 Robert Ripley emigrated from Ingleby Greenhow to Nova Scotia. He and his family booked passage on the ship Providence out of Newcastle. This was a vessel of one hundred and fifty tons, the sixth of nine ships to arrive at Halifax from Britain in 1774.[14] The Providence reached Halifax on June 1, 1774, carrying seventy-one passengers and ten crew.

Nothing is known for certain of conditions on the voyage, though contemporary accounts of other emigrants paint a fairly gloomy picture. The Ripleys likely boarded at Whitby, a port only fifteen miles from Ingleby Greenhow. With Robert were his wife Isabella (Beane) and six children, Henry, Mary, Robert, Elizabeth, John and Jane. Henry, the oldest boy, was twelve years old. His brother John was four. William Ripley (1774-1845) was born either during the voyage or shortly after the family arrived in Nova Scotia. Travelling with the Ripleys was twenty-year-old Jane Calvert of Battersby in Ingleby Greenhow. She was the daughter of John Calvert of Battersby, uncle of Isabella (Beane) Ripley.[15] Jane may have been engaged to help Isabella, or perhaps she was simply travelling with her relatives.

From Halifax the Ripleys travelled, probably by schooner, to Fort Cumberland. Eventually they settled some miles to the east, along the Nappan River in Amherst Township, Nova Scotia.[16] Robert purchased at least one farm before his death (from Luke Harrison), and his name appears on the draft of a petition for land near River Philip, Nova Scotia in 1785. Like other Yorkshire settlers the Ripleys may have found the summer of 1774 'particularly fine' and the ensuing winter harsh. Doubtless they were plagued by insects, and doubtless they discovered commodities in Nova Scotia were scarce and expensive. They contended with wild animals, hostile natives, poor crops and extremes of climate. Nevertheless, they made a home and prospered.

Why did they emigrate? It may be that, like other Yorkshire folk of the period, Robert Ripley was enticed by the promise of freehold land in the New World. It is also possible that as Methodists the Ripleys were 'encouraged' to leave by William Foulis, the Ingleby landlord. William Ripley, a disciple of John Wesley and a relative of Robert, states in his memoirs that

[About 1765] Sir William Foulis, Lord of the Manor, under whom we had our farm and worked in building much for him gave notice wither to give up Methodism or leave my livelihood.[17]

In all, more than 1,000 people emigrated from Yorkshire and Northumberland to Nova Scotia (including parts of what later became New Brunswick) between 1771 and 1776. As a group, they comprise the Yorkshire Emigration, a significant event in the history of the Maritime provinces. The settlers shared a common language and dialect, a pioneering spirit and as the years passed, strong bonds created by intermarriage.

When Robert emigrated to Nova Scotia he left behind a son Thomas Ripley, two brothers (Henry[18] and William) and two sisters (Mary and Esther). His family had lived in the parish since the 1590s, but by 1840 there were no Ripleys remaining in Ingleby Greenhow.