Amos' Story

The 1850 Census (October 16th) lists Amos (13) as the eighth of ten children living at home with parents Joseph and Sarah Ripple in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. His father Joseph is a farmer and oldest brother Theodore (22) is a broom maker. Parents and children were born in Pennsylvania.The family real estate (farm and home) was valued at $3,900.

Per family history [Rosie] there were eleven named children plus three more unnamed (presumably they did not live long).

The 1860 Census (July 3rd) shows Amos (21) and five other siblings still reside at home and that father Joseph is still a farmer. Older brother Joseph is listed as a farm laborer and it can be presumed that this was also true for Amos and the other brothers living at home (Albert and James). The family real estate is valued at $3500 and personal estate at $1200.

In May/June 1863 Amos and brothers James, Albert, and Joseph registered in Mahoning Township, PA for (were drafted into) the Union Army of the Civil War. Amos (and likely his brothers) paid someone to take his place, which was legal at the time. Amos was 26, a farmer and married.

A federal tax was assessed under the Excise laws of the United States before/during the Civil War on Amos Ripple of Mahoning Township in Division 1, Collection District 24 of Pennsylvania. His "Pe & 2 Horses" are valued at $2,500, but the actual tax levied is on a missing portion of the page. Another line with the same valuation indicates a tax of $8.33 due by January 1866.

In the 1870 Census (June 16th) Amos resides next to his parents in Mahoning Township. Amos (34) is married to Adaline (25) and they have five children: Elmira (8), Sidney (6), Sarah E. (4), Amos J. (2), and Elizabeth (1). Adaline and daughter Elmira were born in Ohio. Amos farms while Adaline keeps house. Their personal estate is valued at $400; with no value listed for real estate it can be presumed that they rented, share cropped or were working their parents farms. Adam (farmer, 53) and Elizabeth (49) Showers (Adaline's parents) were neighbors. The Post Office is located in Edinburgh, PA.

The 1880 Census (June 16th) for Mahowning Township lists Amos Ripple (44), wife Adaline (35), and children: Elmira (17), Amzi S. (15), Sarah E (14), Amos E (12), Elizabeth (11), Adaline (9), Rosa A. (7), Grace L. (5), Evert N. (2), and Ammon S. (born in October). The six older children attended school. Adaline and daughter Elmira were born in Ohio, but the rest of the family were born in Pennsylvania. Amos' and Adaline's parents were also born in Pennsylvania. Adam and Elizabeth Showers still live nearby, but Joseph and Sarah Ripple are not listed (both died in 1877).

Amos tried farming in Mahoning, PA, and then in Woodstock, VA, before moving to Baltimore, where his sons were manufacturing brooms.

Adaline Showers Ripple died in 1891. Youngest son Chauncey (9) mourned the loss of his mother so deeply that he died shortly thereafter. [family story] Adaline is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore.

The 1900 Census (June 2nd) for the 5th Precinct of Baltimore City places 63-year-old, widowed, Amos Ripple in a rented home at 1738 Lexington Street with daughter Eva (32), son Ammon (19), John F. Stidman (wire goods maker, 29), wife Rosa and their two young children. [Rosa is Amos' daughter.] Amos is now listed as having been born in Ohio, his father in Ireland, and his mother in Pennsylvania, but daughter Rosa indicates her father was born in Ireland and her mother in Pennsylvania. Amos has become a broom maker along with sons Sidney, Amos, Everett, and Ammon.

The 1910 Census (April 18th) reveals that widowed Amos Ripple (72) is living in a home owned by his daughter Rosa A Stidman and her husband John along with their three children at 1506 Lexington Street in Baltimore City. Amos is still a broom maker at the factory. He and both his parents are listed as born in Pennsylvania.

Amos died in 1913 and was buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore in the Whatcoat Section, Lot 1015-1016 next to his wife Adaline. An infant, Amos Irving Ripple who lived one month and four days ending July 1904, was buried beside him. Not sure who the parents were yet, but this is likely an infant grandson.

Nine of eleven surviving siblings outside Ammon's house in Cheltenham, about 1915--left to right: Amos, Sidney, Eva Patterson, Everett, Lizzie Laughlin, Myra Troutman, Addie Fairbanks, Rose Stidman, Ammon. Grace and Chauncey were deceased.

Family reunion at South River: 1-Ammon & Kate; 2-Ells, Helen & Jimmy; 3-Franklin & Evelyn; 4-Grace; 5-Kate; 6-Mildred [If you can identify others, please send an email.]