Greenbrier County, WV - The LIPPS, LIPPE, LEAPS Family by George SMITH, ca. 1900 ************************************************************************** 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. Transcribed and submitted by Carolyn (Anderson) Clark, EMAIL: April, 1999. ************************************************************************** This biography was written Circa 1900 by George S. Smith who appears to have been a pastor, apparently to and for his daughter, to acknowledge her family heritage. We do not have knowledge that this has ever been published. (Items) have been added for clarification or as information not available to Mr. Smith. See also bio. for The ANDERSON Family written at the same time by Mr. Smith. Furnished by Ann (Lipps) Huff and Barbara (Lipps) Tabor The LIPPS, LIPPE, LEAPS (John I and II) There is a part of Germany known as Lippe-Stadt and one of the old Counts was name Count LIPPE. Carlyle mentions him in his Federick the Great as having met Federick in his youth and forming a pleasant aquaintance with him, which resulted in Federick joining the Masons. In the early part of the eighteenth century (1732) Henrich LIPPS came to Pennsylvania, later (1752) Johannes LIPPS, Jacob LIPPS, Henry LIPPS, Casper LEAP, Johannes LEAP, all came from Rotterdam, Holland to Philadelphia. From one of these descends my wife’s paternal ancestors. Henry LIPPS came from the Shendandoah Valley to Greenbrier about 1790 and settled on the farm now owned by Mr. WILSON and for a long time owned by the TUCKWILLER family. He died in 1820. He was born in 1756 evidently after his father came to Pennsylvania, but whether Henry LIPPS was born in Virginia or Pennsylvania, I have no way of finding out. He is buried in the old graveyard near Mr. WILSON’S, the old TUCKWILLER farm and a neat brownstone slab is over his grave. He made no will, but the appraisement of his estate shows that he had - one negro, four horses, eight cows, twenty hogs, fourteen sheep and sundry carpenter tools, beside his household furniture and his farm. His children as given to me by John LIPPS his grandson were - Jacob who lived in Greenbrier - ancestor Aquilla, George who moved to Indiana, Daniel who died young, John who married Nancy HEDRICK, Betsey and Vance removed to Missouri and died there. Of these children, Jacob Lipps lived near Williamsburg, Aquilla LIPPS lived in Lewisburg, and John LIPPS of the BRUSH family, a family now in Washington are descendants of Jacob. John LIPPS I Was the son of Henry LIPPS, was born about 1780. He grew up in Greenbrier. Having inherited the TUCKWILLER place, he sold it and moved his family to a very narrow but fertile valley between two lofty hills, now known as the Rich Hollow. Before his removal about 1811, he married Nancy HEDRICK, she was an intelligent , neat, industrious woman, whose father and mother were both Germans. German was her mother tongue and she read her German Bible to the last. John LIPPS was a very thrifty man, who had quite a family. He made property rapidly and would have been a man of wealth if he had not died a comparatively young man for that section where so many live beyond 80. He died in 1832 leaving as children........................ Born 1810 Elizabeth who married FLESHMAN 1812 Andrew who married HAYMAKER 1814 Mary who married CARRAWAY 1816 Henry who married HERN 1818 John (II) who married Mary Jane ANDERSON 1820 Joseph who married HANAH 1822 Campbell who married LIVESAY 1830 Archibald who married HUNTER John LIPPS (I), when he died had two sons grown, Andrew and Henry. They were neither married. He made a will and gave the farm to his two oldest sons, Andrew and Henry, who were to take care of the helpless little ones and their mother. He left to his son John $100. to buy a set of blacksmith tools. The older brothers did a noble part by the younger children. Andrew married and moved to a home of his own and Henry bought his farm and remained with his sister and mother. One of the sisters married a man named FLESHMAN, and lived in the Irish Corner. For years after the death of Mrs. LIPPS the family remained in the Hollow. Henry LIPPS was the head of the household. Campbell married Kate LIVESAY and Joseph married sometime before that a Miss Hanah HARROW. When Henry was over seventy he married a Miss HERN and she had one child. Archibald remained a bachelor for many years and then married a Miss HUNTER. When Mary was an old maid she married a widower whose name was CARRAWAY, she died childless. Of this family my wife’s father was John (II). John LIPPS (II), my wife’s father was born in Rich Hollow, near Lewisburg in 1818. His father was John LIPPS and his mother was Nancy HEDRICK. His parents were of that worthy German stock whose thrift, integrity, and personal piety have been proverbial. He grew up on the farm until he was old enough to enter as an apprentice and begin to learn a trade. He took a place in a blacksmith shop in Lewisburg and for five years he worked for his employer. When he was just out of his apprenticeship his father died. As he had had five years of his time given him to learn a trade, his father only left him $100. to buy a set of tools. The young blacksmith when he was twenty-five years old married a charming, pious country girl, of whom I shall speak elsewhere, Mary Jane ANDERSON. The two young people began life in a hewed log house near where the old Methodist Church is and here my wife was born December 7, 1849. Mr. LIPPS was an industrious, pushing, competent blacksmith who had almost a monopoly of the business of Lewisburg and of Greenbrier County. He was quite enterprising and bought a lot on Main Street where he erected a comfortable brick house in which he brought up his family. He was a man of great enterprise for the small town and entered with Uriah WARREN on the work of manufacturing wagons, carriages and buggies. The business proved, as far as WARREN was concerned, disastrous and as Mr. LIPPS was WARREN’S endorser, he found himself at the beginning of the war, 1861, badly hampered by security debts, by close economy and great industry he finally extricated himself from these debt which threatened him, but found himself in debt to his brothers. He bought some beautiful land near the valley and while running his shop, carried on quite a farm. He was very popular and very prosperous. He was the Squire of the District as the Justice of Peace was called, the overseer of the poor, and a member of the County Commission. He was a man of steady ways, never drank nor swore, was fond of his orchard of which he had a remarkable choice one and of his vineyard and of his farm. He bought a beautiful lot near him and erected on it a large and costly barn, and farming extensively he became somewhat involved. He entered upon mercantile trade to relieve himself of debt, but became more and more embarrassed. In order to stave off his troubles he borrowed money at high interest and gave mortgages. He was a lenient creditor and a poor collector, and became more and more involved when the time of depression came between 1893 - 1900 he could sell nothing to pay his debts which he had gathered about him. His sons had grown up. His daughter Nannie had married me in 1870 and he had no one dependent on him but one daughter, Rebecca. His faithful wife who had so bravely stood by him was stricken with paralysis and after lingering in almost blindness for some two years, had died in 1893. He found himself in his old age greatly embarrassed but nobly strove to pay all his creditors. He was very much humiliated by his inability to meet his obligations and very lonely after the death of his wife. In a gracious revival of religion he was happily converted. His health now finally gave way and on November 28, 1897 he died at his old homestead. His children were left penniless, and the estate comparatively large he had gathered was swept away. His children were however all married and provided for except one, Rebecca. His children were.................... Born December 7, 1849 Nannie Lynn married George G. Smith October 10 1851 William Henry married Emma Lewis March 6, 1854 Anderson Boyd married Lou Hudson January 15, 1856 Rebecca Ann August 27, 1857 Mary Elizabeth married Anderson September 14, 1859 John Watts married Sallie Wright August 18, 1861 Robert Hough married Livesay December 25, 1863 Susie Jane married William Nelson George G. SMITH Macon (Vineville) Georgia