BIO: Benjamin F. RIPPLE, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 322, 325-326.
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  BENJAMIN F. RIPPLE, Orbisonia, Huntingdon county, Pa., was born in 
Cromwell township, Huntingdon county, April 20, 1855. He is a son of 
Capt. John L. and Eliza J. (Cloyd) Ripple. Four generations back, in 
colonial days, Philip Ripple, a farmer, native and denizen of Germany, 
removed from that country to Virginia, where he continued throughout 
life in the business of tilling the soil. His son, Peter Ripple, great-
grandfather of Benjamin F., was born during a short residence of the 
family in Maryland. This Peter Ripple resided, at least for a time, in 
Maryland; but his son, also named Peter, was born in Jefferson county, 
Va., July 28, 1806, and passed the first six years of his life there. 
In 1812 the family removed to Maryland, and in 1813 again took up their 
northward course, ending it in Huntingdon county. There Peter Ripple, 
Jr., grew up, and became a farmer, like his progenitors. The family is 
of German origin, and from that sturdy ancestry Peter Ripple inherited 
not only a robust constitution, with an almost inexhaustible capacity 
for work, but decided opinions, warm feelings and a passion for liberty 
as well. These traits, combined with the intense national feeling that 
characterized our whole country during his boyhood, in the early days 
of this century, produced in him a great love and veneration for the 
"Stars and Stripes," and no doubt it was with a full and glad heart 
that, on the Decoration Day of his seventy-ninth year, he acted as 
color-bearer in a soldier's parade. Peter Ripple belonged to the old 
Whig party, and in the change of party lines and names, became a warm 
Republican. He was elected to many local offices. Mr. Ripple was three 
times married. His second wife, Catherine (Long) Ripple, a sister of 
Judge Long, of Shirleysburg, Pa., became the mother of Capt. John L. 
Ripple, and of a large family besides. She died about 1865. A few years 
after, Mr. Ripple married a widow, Mrs. Rohrer. He died in Cromwell 
township, July 26, 1886, and was buried on his eightieth birthday.
  John L. Ripple, born in Cromwell township, in 1883, was a farmer 
until the war of the Rebellion broke out. He then abandoned the plow 
for the sword, enlisting as sergeant in Company E, Thirty-ninth 
Illinois Volunteers, of which company he afterwards became captain. He 
was mustered out in August, 1865, having spent one weary year of his 
term of enlistment in the prisons of Andersonville and the Belle Isle, 
and the Libby prison. For ten years after the close of the war, Captain 
Ripple served as an officer in the United States Regulars. He was 
married in 1853, in Cromwell township, to Eliza J. Cloyd. Their 
children are: Benjamin F.; Harry H., born July 19, 1856; Thomas 
Jefferson C., born October, 20, 1858, is in the lumber business at Rock 
Hill, Huntingdon county, married Miss Bell; H. Ella, born October 4, 
1865, married G. Lloyd Owens, an attorney of Tyrone, Pa. Captain Ripple 
died February 16, 1883, at Orbisonia, where he is buried, and where his 
wife still resides.
  The eldest son of this family, Benjamin F. Ripple, was educated in 
the common schools. From twelve to fourteen years of age he acquired 
some mercantile experience, by occupying the position of clerk in a 
general store at Orbisonia for a short time, and by an engagement as 
salesman in a wholesale notion store in Philadelphia. At the early age 
of fourteen he became a teacher, being accepted for a school in 
Cromwell township, which he taught for two terms. In 1871 he entered 
the office of Royer & Dewees, at their Rockhill charcoal furnace; in 
1872 he was employed as chief accountant and paymaster by the Rockhill 
Iron and Coal Company, and held that position until October 1, 1897. 
Being a man of much executive ability, Mr. Ripple is carrying on 
successfully several other branches of business. He is accountant and 
general passenger agent of the East Broad Top Railroad. In September, 
1891, having in connection with Mr. Stackpole purchased The Leader, a 
seven-column weekly of Orbisonia, Mr. Ripple became owner and editor, 
changing the title of the paper to that of the Orbisonia Dispatch, and 
soon after enlarging and improving it. His connection with this journal 
continued for several years. In 1892 he engaged in the insurance 
business, and now represents a number of fire, life and accident 
insurance companies. He has been secretary of the Home Building and 
Loan Association, and is a director in the Board of Trade, and a member 
of the coal and lumber firm of Puckey & Co., Rockhill Furnace, 
Huntingdon county.
  Mr. Ripple aided in the organization of Cromwell Lodge, No. 572, F. 
and A.M., and was master of the lodge; he was also a member of 
Orbisonia Lodge, No. 640, I.O.O.F., of which he served as vice grand. 
He has always been an ardent Republican; he served four times as 
chairman of the Republican county convention. He has been president and 
secretary of the board of school directors for fifteen years; also 
chief burgess and member of the town council of Orbisonia. In 1882 a 
nomination for the State legislature was tendered him, which he 
declined. He has never held any but local offices.
  Benjamin F. Ripple was married in Philadelphia, in 1876, to Florence 
M., daughter of William B. Hahn, of that city. They have had two 
children: Sarah Ethel, died in 1878, aged one year; and Paul Woodman, 
born May 8, 1879, who was graduated from the high school in Orbisonia 
in 1896 and entered the insurance business. Mr. Ripple is a member of 
the Protestant Episcopal church of Orbisonia; he is its treasurer, and 
was one of a number who raised the sum requisite for building a church 
and rectory in that borough, costing $5,000. In 1897 Mr. Ripple opened 
a real estate and insurance office in Pittsburg, Pa.
  Having begun life with limited educational advantages and slender 
financial resources, Mr. Ripple's own ability and perseverance, his 
tact and his personal worth, have secured for him his present 
comfortable and influential position. He has well earned the beautiful 
home built by him in Orbisonia in 1876, with its pleasant surroundings, 
its domestic conveniences, and last but by no means least, its 
extensive and judiciously selected library.