The Written Word About Ripley's Underground Railroad

Now, I don't know exactly how many people are out there reading this blog, but I am happy to say that one reader is a fellow Ripley enthusiast and author of two books about the Rankin family.  Stephanie Reed contacted me after reading some of this blog to share her love of Ripley history.  When she was a young girl, her family traveled through Ripley on their way to visit her Kentucky grandparents.  Her curiosity of and fascination with the information on the Rankin House historical marker stayed with her as an adult and prompted her to write her stories of Lowry and Johnny Rankin.  Being one who can never pass up a good book, especially one so close to my family history,  I immediately ordered her two books, Across the Wide River and The Light Across the River.  

I am now in the middle of her first one, Across the Wide River and find it a fascinating look at the history of Ripley and the Rankin family.  Her descriptions of early Ripley with the hogs running in the streets, the steamboats on the river, and the town's layout have given me a glance into the early 1800's when my Gates and Guy families lived in the area.  Stephanie's ability to capture the feelings and attitudes of pre-Civil War Ripley through her characters, most of whom are factual,  paint a picture of what it must have been to experience that place during that time.  While the book is labeled as teen fiction, I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn of Ripley and the Rankin family's part in the history of the Underground Railroad.  I can't wait to read the second book which tells the story of Johnny Rankin and the escaping slave, Eliza, upon whose story Harriet Beecher Stowe based her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Those of you who know me, know that up until this year, I was the teacher of third graders.  While South Carolina third graders learn the state's history, I believe that children must also understand that the history of one state is influenced by the history of the country as a whole.  Therefore, each spring, when we studied the antebellum period in South Carolina, I would read Doreen Rappaport's children's book, Freedom River.  Freedom River tells a story of John Parker, another of Ripley's abolitionists.  Parker, a freed slave, owned an iron foundry in town and worked with the Reverend Rankin, Thomas McCague, and others as they hid and helped slaves on their journey to freedom.  

Rappaport's story is exciting and, after hearing it, I would often see my third graders playing the parts of John Parker and Master Shrofe at recess as they re-enacted the story of the daring rescue of the slave family and their baby.  It was through that story that quite a few South Carolina children came to know the story of an ex-slave who rescued other slaves in a little town that they would have probably never even heard of if I hadn't been their teacher.  It's a great book for children and, especially if you have ties to Ohio or Kentucky, the children in your life deserve to hear the story of John Parker.

There are, of course, other great books that deal with the subject of Ripley, her anti-slavery citizens, and the Underground Railroad.  I will share some of those at a later date.  Until then, I hope you take the time to find Stephanie Reed's and Doreen Rappaport's books.  They will be well worth your time to read!

Postal Service - Yesterday and Today

With all the talk in the news about the United States Postal Service cutting Saturday deliveries has started me thinking about mail delivery and the Postal Service in the past.  

As you know, I only lived in Ripley until I was three years old which was when my father rejoined the Army and we moved.  I lived there again during my seventh grade school year in 1969 - 70 while my dad was in Vietnam so most of my earlier memories of Ripley come from those vacation weeks spent with my grandparents.  

The postal service is probably not high on anyone's list of favorite childhood memories, but, once again, it is the differences from one's normal life and routine which is what stands out and is remembered.  I DO remember mail delivery in Ripley during the 1960's.  Now I can't tell you the exact years this happened or the name of the mailman, but I can tell you it was a man who brought the letters and packages to my grandparents' house.  You are probably thinking that this poor Army kid didn't have a mailman which is why she remembers it so fondly, but that is not it.  What was so different is that the mailman in Ripley climbed that Fourth Street hill with his bag of mail TWO times each day!  Once in the morning and then once again in the afternoon!  And...he walked!  

Now, I don't really remember if my mailman in wherever I happened to be living at the time actually walked or drove to deliver the mail, but I can tell you that it was delivered only once a day.  Why Ripley had two deliveries is a mystery to me.  Maybe they really enjoyed writing letters to people or maybe they ordered a lot of goodies through the mail.  Maybe a lot of small towns during those days had two mail deliveries.  I don't know, but it sure made an impression on me.

I own Carl Thompson's book, Historical Collections of Brown County, Ohio which is a great book with a lot of different kinds of information about the county in it.  There is a section about the postal service in Ripley which I found interesting enough to share.  

It seems that the Postal Service in Ripley goes back to 1816 when Alexander Campbell was the Postmaster.   From 1887 to 1891, and then again from 1895 to 1899, a Mary Beyersdorfer was the Postmaster or, I guess today, we would call her the Postmistress.  I don't know if she is related to my Beyersdoerfer's, but chances are she is in some way.  The spelling is lacking that extra "e", but that doesn't really mean anything.  I've seen it spelled both ways for the same person.  

In the early days, the salary of the Postmaster depended on how many stamps they sold or canceled.  In 1885, the salary of Ripley's Postmaster was $1,300.  I imagine that was a lot of stamps that Henry Biehn, who the Postmaster at the time, sold and canceled!

With all our technology, stamps do not sell as well as they used to and UPS and FedEx deliver a lot of our packages.  Letter writing is quickly becoming a lost art so maybe we don't really need the Saturday delivery.  If it comes to that, I, for one, would probably miss going to the mailbox on Saturday for a while, but when I think about it, who needs all that junk mail anyway!