THE REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY SAMUEL RIPLEY 1783 March 11, Tuesday: Samuel Ripley was born in Concord, elder brother of Daniel Bliss Ripley, son of the Reverend Ezra Ripley, D.D. General George Washington forbade meetings at Newburgh of the discontented officers who had not received their back pay. AMERICAN REVOLUTION HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY 1804 Samuel Ripley of Concord, son of the Reverend Ezra Ripley, D.D., graduated from Harvard College. He would become the minister of the first religious society in Waltham, Massachusetts. SAMUEL RIPLEY [of Concord], son of the Rev. Ezra Ripley, D.D., was born March 11, 1783, graduated [at Harvard College] in 1804, and was ordained over the first religious society in Waltham November 22, 1809, where he still [1835] resides.1 At the age of about 17 Cynthia Dunbar produced a piece of needlework –a mourning picture– that is now in the collection of the Concord Museum. In this year, possibly, or by 1806, this Concord family visited the studio of the Boston hollow-cut profile-taker William King, who was said to have a knack for “seeing people agreeably,” and the three silhouettes that were produced are also now in the Museum’s collection — one of Cynthia, one of her mother Mary Jones Dunbar Minot, and one of her step-father Captain Jonas Minott:2 THE GRADUATING CLASS Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1642 John Bulkeley Minister Medicine 1643 John Jones Minister 1. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake buried in the body of the text.) 2. At the time Cynthia was attending the Bridgewater Academy, 20 miles inland from Plymouth, in the south parish of Bridgewater. This institution of education had been established when on February 28, 1799 the half township of land granted by the General Court as an endowment had been sold for $5,000 and individuals had subscribed $3,000 toward the erection of a schoolhouse. The school had a reputation of training toward the ministry and Bridgewater had a reputation for forwarding many of its sons to Harvard College. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1645 Samuel Stow Minister 1655 Gershom Bulkeley Minister Minister 1659 Samuel Willard Soldier, Merchant Minister 1660 Peter Bulkeley Minister Lawyer 1664 Joseph Estabrook Farmer Minister 1690 Benjamin Estabrook Minister Minister 1695 Joseph Smith Minister 1696 Samuel Estabrook Minister Minister 1709 Benjamin Prescott Minister Minister 1718 Timothy Minott Minister Minister 1727 Jonathan Miles 1727 John Prescott Medicine Medicine 1730 Peter Prescott Medicine Law 1730 Nathaniel Whitaker Minister 1733 Ephraim Flint Farmer 1734 Aaron Whittemore Minister 1740 Jonathan Hoar Army Officer 1747 Timothy Minott Teacher Teacher 1749 Israel Cheever Minister 1749 Oliver Merriam Minister 1749 Samuel Brooks Register of Deeds 1751 Stephen Minott Teacher Minister 1751 George Farrar Minister 1751 John Monroe Minister 1755 William H. Wheeler Minister 1757 Joseph Wheeler Minister HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1760 Daniel Bliss Minister Lawyer 1765 Joseph Lee Physician Minister 1770 Joseph Hunt Farmer Medicine 1772 Nathan Bond Trader Merchant 1773 Tilly Merrick Teacher Trader 1775 Thomas Whiting Magistrate Teacher 1776 Samuel Lee Physician Teacher 1777 Peter Clark Lawyer 1777 Ebenezer Hubbard Minister 1781 Abiel Haywood Farmer Medicine 1781 Timothy Swan Medicine 1784 Ezra Conant Minister 1784 Silas Lee Physician Lawyer 1784 John Merrick Trader Lawyer 1789 William Emerson Minister Minister 1793 William Jones Blacksmith Law 1794 James Temple (Dartmouth) Farmer Lawyer 1798 Samuel P.P. Fay Lawyer Lawyer 1800 Rufus Hosmer Farmer Law 1801 Stephen Minott Farmer Lawyer 1804 Samuel Ripley Minister Minister 1805 Daniel Bliss Ripley Minister Lawyer 1805 Benjamin W. Hildreth Trader Medicine 1805 John White Trader Minister 1810 Jonas Wheeler Lawyer 1810 John Barrett (Williams) Farmer Minister HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1810 Joshua Barrett (Dartmouth) Farmer Minister 1813 John Brown Farmer Medicine 1819 Ephraim Buttrick Farmer Lawyer 1819 Benjamin Barrett Farmer Medicine 1821 Charles Jarvis Baker/Farmer Medicine 1821 John M. Cheney Farmer Lawyer 1826 George W. Hosmer Farmer Minister 1826 Edward Jarvis Baker/Farmer Medicine 1829 Reuben Bates Sea Captain Minister 1829 Jonathan Thomas Davis Trader Teacher 1829 Horatio C. Merriam Farmer Lawyer 1833 Marshall Merriam (Yale) Farmer Medicine 1833 William M. Prichard Trader Lawyer 1833 William Whiting Carriagemaker Lawyer 1834 George Moore Sheriff Minister, Mason 1835 Hiram Barrett Dennis Farmer Editor, “died a drunkard’s death when about 30” 1835 Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar Lawyer Lawyer 1836 J. Gardner Davis (Yale) Trader Minister 1837 Henry David Thoreau Pencil Maker Author 1841 John Shepard Keyes Lawyer Lawyer 1844 Edward Hoar Lawyer 1844 George M. Brooks Lawyer Lawyer 1845 Gorham Bartlett Medicine Medicine 1845 George Frisbie Hoar Lawyer Lawyer 1848 George Heywood Medicine Lawyer HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1849 Joseph Boyden Keyes Lawyer Lawyer 1850 Ephraim Merriam Ball Trader 1850 Sam Barn (Bowdoin) Trader 1851 Nathan Henry Barrett Farmer Government Clerk 1851 Francis Charles Browne Merchant 1851 William Watson Goodwin Minister Greek Professor 1854 Charles Pickerig Gerrish Teacher Merchant 1856 Nehemiah Ball Trader 1858 Henry Walker Frost Minister Lawyer 1862 Charles Follen Folsom Minister Doctor 1863 William Brown (Amherst) Farmer Minister 1864 G.W. Lawrence Farmer Lawyer 1864 Charles F. Hildreth Trader Lawyer 1866 Edward W. Emerson Author/Minister Medicine 1867 Samuel Hoar Lawyer Lawyer 1867 George C. Mann Lawyer Teacher 1869 William H. Simmons Minister Medicine 1870 Charles E. Hoar Lawyer Engineer 1870 Charles H. Walcott Trader Lawyer 1870 Benjamin P. Mann Lawyer Naturalist 1871 Henry W. Wheeler Farmer Tutor 1871 William Wheeler Farmer Engineer (Agricultural college) 1873 Francis H. Bigelow Blacksmith Minister 1874 Edward E. Simmons Minister 1876 Frank W. Barrett Secretary of Lawyer Insurance Company HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY Year Occupation Occupation of Student after of Father Departure Graduation 1874 Prescott Keyes Lawyer Lawyer 1874 Woodward Hudson Editor Lawyer 1882 Sherman Hoar Lawyer 1882 Ivan Parriss 1882 Herbert Myrick Teacher (American Agricultural) 1882 Mary B. King (Vassar) Lawyer HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY 1809 November 22, Wednesday: The Reverend Samuel Ripley was ordained over the first religious society in Waltham. Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 4th day 22nd of 11 Mo// The day has again passed & perhaps I may say a little of the divine life has moved on my mind especially this evening — Sister mary spent the day & evening with us ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY 1811 May: John Edleston died while George Gordon, Lord Byron was on the island of Malta. “The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity,” a group which since 1806 had published Boston’s The Christian Monitor, included among other members the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. of Boston (who was dying), the Reverend President Professor John T. Kirkland of Harvard College in Cambridge, the Reverend Professor Henry Ware, Sr., D.D. of Harvard College in Cambridge, Samuel Edmund Sewall, A.M. of Cambridge, Andrews Norton of Cambridge, the Reverend Samuel Ripley of Waltham, and Francis Parkman, Sr., A.M. of Boston. The members of this society from Concord, Massachusetts were the Reverend Ezra Ripley, Tilly Merrick, esq., Mr. John Thoreau, Mrs. Rebecca Kettell Thoreau, Mr. John Vose and Mr. David Vose, Deacon John White, Dr. Isaac Hurd, Jr., and Deacon Francis Jarvis. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY 1818 Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley got married with the Reverend Samuel Ripley, the half-brother of Mary Moody Emerson, and moved into his new home in Waltham. She took with her 3 younger sisters and a brother, because their mother had died of “lung fever” in the previous year and because she was providing these children with their education. Her nephews William Emerson and Waldo Emerson took turns as her teaching assistant. Between 1819 and 1833, as she was giving birth to 9 infants 7 of which would survive, she heard the students’ recitations in Latin and Greek. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CONCORD: REVEREND SAMUEL RIPLEY 1819 June 23, Wednesday: Under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, Washington Irving put out the 1st American installment of his THE SKETCH BOOK, including “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”3 In this text this racist author (the same racist author who announced that a Negro was “an abomination”) regurgitated our “Philip of Pokanoket” legend dating to “King Phillip’s War,” titillating us yet again with our very precious memory of a dead Indian chief. READ THE FULL TEXT At Concord, John D. Folsom of Concord got married with Betsy W. Dakin of Concord. The newly minted Reverend Convers Francis, Jr. became the pastor of the 1st Parish Congregational (Unitarian) Church in Watertown. 3. There is in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER a literary reference to Irving’s headless horseman figure: THE SCARLET LETTER: Meanwhile, the press had taken up my affair, and kept me for a week or two careering through the public prints, in my decapitated state, like Irving’s Headless Horseman, ghastly and grim, and longing to be buried, as a political dead man ought.