A special thank you to all those who have participated in our “I Remember Rippey” series. Your remembrances have allowed readers to share in our town’s history, activities, sports, school, church, and daily life covering 150 years.
We will continue posting online here, using “I Remember Rippey” remembrances received, though those received after April, 2020 will not be in the printed history book. If you would like to read more Rippey history, you may also click on the History tab of the Rippey Library website: https://www.rippey.lib.ia.us .
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Some Early Settlers Of The Rippey Area By Roger L. Crumley MD May 10, 2020
Doing some family genealogy while being self-quarantined for coronavirus mitigation, I discovered some interesting facts about the earliest days of Greene County, Iowa. Greene County was created out of Dallas County in the 1850’s. While Truman Davis was the first settler of the new County, at least one account has it that Sylvanus G. Crumley was the second (1850). Both lived near the Raccoon (“Coon”) River between the subsequent sites of Jefferson and Old Rippey. (Another account has Enos Buttrick and Richard Hardin, to have arrived next after Davis.) (Buttrick’s creek, Hardin creek)
Sylvanus Crumley’s father was Rev Isaac D. Crumley, whose wife Rachel had died in Virginia earlier that same year (1850). It is not known if Rev. Isaac had decided to make the move to Iowa because the Methodist Church asked him to, whether he felt adventurous (he was 53 years old in 1850), or possibly just wanting to re-start his life after his wife died.
In any event, Rev Isaac Crumley decided to move to the frontier land’s Greene County, IA. He came to Iowa via a “prairie schooner” (covered wagon) drawn by 5 oxen (or horses). His travelling group also included his son Sylvanus, his first son William P. Crumley, his 2 married daughters, Lydia and Hannah Crumley, and their 2 husbands (Babb) who were brothers. Another son (Isaac D. Crumley, Jr) arrived at the same time, or shortly thereafter. Lydia Crumley was married to Valentine S. Babb, and Hannah Crumley’s husband was Kelley S. Babb. One of the Babb couples also had a baby who apparently made and survived the arduous trip. Imagine the rigors of that 850-mile trip by covered wagon from Virginia to Greene County, Iowa with very few bridges and only a few roads, at least for the last 400 miles. They found that their new area had only 1 or 2 other “white” settlers, while Indians, wigwams, elk, and deer were abundant. (Rev. Isaac Crumley was my great, great grandfather, and his son William P. Crumley my great grandfather.)
The group stopped for a few days in the area of current Dallas County, ostensibly for supplies, and then moved on to Greene County. The 2 Babb families, and 3 Crumley boys/young men began to settle in the area near the Coon River, southeast of Jefferson, and thought to be near (if not actually in) the site of what was to become Old Rippey. Having arrived in 1850, these early settlers were there before either Jefferson or Rippey were surveyed and platted (Jefferson, 1854; Rippey (1855).
The subsequent surveyors/planners of Jefferson were George S. Walton and Robert M Rippey, and surveyors/planners of Old Rippey were Judge Norman S. Daniels and William P Crumley, with survey signed by Robert M. Rippey.
But times were hard, winters severe, and no amenities were nearby. The nearest post office was 50 miles away at Fort Des Moines, and they had to travel to Warren, Marion and Mahaska counties for provisions and supplies, with no roads to mark their course or bridges to cross the many creeks and rivers.
Deer and elk were plentiful, but only until the winter of 1855-56. That year the snow was so heavy that these deer and elk could not escape various predators, many of which included the settlers with clubs. It is said that ever since that winter the Greene County area has had relatively few deer and elk.
The County began organizing in 1854. The first officers were William Phillips, county judge; Sylvanus G. Crumley, county clerk; Treasurer and Recorder, James H. Phillips; Sheriff, Rev. Isaac D. Crumley; County Attorney, Norman S. Daniels. So interestingly Greene County’s first Sheriff was a Methodist minister (Isaac D. Crumley, Sr.)
In any event, the Crumleys were active in the new county order. Not long thereafter came the Civil War. Isaac D. Crumley Jr. was killed in the war, and William P. Crumley (my great grandfather), also fighting with the Union Army, came home to Old Rippey on furlough from the Civil War in April, 1861. He got sick and died of “black measles” (prob. either smallpox or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) at his home in Old Rippey on April 15, 1861. He was only 37 years old. His son William Halsey Crumley (my grandfather) was born 3 days later. Wm. Halsey operated mercantile/grocery stores in Rippey until he died in May 1935.
George S. Walton and Sylvanus G. Crumley jointly operated the Walton and Crumley General Store in Jefferson. Rev Isaac Crumley lived to the ripe old age of 90 (died in 1887), as did his daughter Hannah, who died in 1918 after subsequently moving to Jefferson. (Hannah H Smith). So Rev. Isaac Crumley and his 5 offspring arrived in Greene County together in May 1850, and many subsequent Crumleys remained in the Rippey/Jefferson area for many generations thereafter.