Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of Josiah Melvin RIPPLE, Jr. ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 66 JOSIAH MELVIN RIPPLE, JR., who is one of the progressive merchants in the City of Martinsburg, Berkeley County, was born at Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1883, and is a son of Josiah Melvin Ripple, Sr., and Virginia (Smeltz) Ripple. The father was born at Marlowe, Berk- eley County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and was a son of William Ripple, who is supposed to have been born in the same county, where the family was founded when this sec- tion of West Virginia represented the western frontier of Virginia. William Ripple was a man of superior education and was for many years a successful teacher in the schools of Berkeley County, he having been a venerable and honored citizen of Marlowe, this county, at the time of his death. Josiah M. Ripple, Sr., gained much of his youthful educa- tion under the effective tutorship of his father, and through apprenticeship he became a skilled workman at the trade of carriage maker. In connection with his trade he was for several years foreman of the Thrush & Stoughs carriage factory at Hagerstown, Maryland. He was successful in his business activities, and from 1904 until his death, in 1910, he lived virtually retired at Martinsburg., His marriage to Miss Virginia Smeltz was solemnized in 1880, and Mrs. Ripple still maintains her home at Martinsburg. She was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, as were also her parents, John and Susanna (Dinkle) Smeltz, the former of whom died at the venerable age of eighty-eight years and the latter of whom passed away at the age of sixty-nine years. Their children were eight in number. John Smeltz, whose father was a successful planter and slave-owner in Rockingham County, Virginia, was there reared and edu- cated, and after the close of the Civil war he came to Berkeley County, West Virginia, where he became a sub- stantial farmer and where he passed the remainder of his life on his old homestead farm, not far distant from the road leading from Marlowe to Williamsport. Josiah M, Ripple, Jr., the only child of his parents, gained his preliminary education in rural schools and thereafter attended the public schools and also a business college at Hagerstown, Maryland. Thereafter he made a record of marked success as a traveling salesman for the Hess Car- riage Company, which he represented in the states of Penn- sylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. After having been thus engaged five years he engaged in the book and stationery business at Martinsburg, and in 1920 he purchased the building in which his well equipped store is now established, on South Queen Street. The Mar- tinsburg Bank formerly occupied a part of the building, and since its removal to other quarters in 1922 Mr. Ripple has utilized the entire ground floor of the building of his substantial and constantly expanding business. He is a director of the Shenandoah Valley Bank & Trust Company, and is one of the loyal and progressive members of the Martinsburg Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Ripple is a re- publican in political allegiance, he and his wife are com- municants of St. John's Lutheran Church in their home city, and he is affiliated with Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias; Aghar Temple No. 226, Dramatic Order Knights of Khorassan; and the local camp of the Woodmen of the World. In 1910 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ripple and Miss Clandia May Schill, who was born and reared at Mar- tinsburg, a daughter of George W. and Mary Ellen Sehill. Mr. and Mrs. Ripple have one son, Melvin Harold.