JAMES VAN RIPER
(1831—1898)

James, the second son of Richard and Mary Van Riper and a
member of the seventh generation of the family, was born March 16, 1831
in New York City. At the age of twenty-six years, James married a
neighborhood sweetheart, nineteen year old Mary Frazier, who lived at
292 Henry Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. James lived at
284 Henry Street at the time of his marriage to Mary which took place
on June 24, 1858 in the Norfolk Street Baptist Church located on the
east side of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The Rev. Doctor Thomas
Armitage officiated at the wedding.

Following their marriage, James and Mary lived at 8 Cannon Street
in Lower Manhattan and subsequently moved to 17 Scammel Street
within a few blocks of the shipbuilding yards fronting on the East River.

James and Mary Frazier Van Riper had five children, to wit:

1. Richard Frazier, b. April 11, 1860
2. James Henry, b. November 29, 1863
3. Martha Elizabeth, b. July 22, 1866
4. Theodore, b. August 22, 1870
5. Mary, b. February 17, 1879

During the years 1860 to 1870 inclusive, James was associated with
his father, Richard, and brother; Jacob in the trucking buisness. James
was also an expert cabinet maker.

Subsequent to the year 1870, James and his family moved to
Brooklyn, New York taking up his residence at 734 DeKalb Avenue.
After moving to “Brooklyn, James was employed at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard which was located in Brooklyn, New York along the shore
of Wallabout Bay, an arm of the East River, opposite Corlear’s Hook,
Manhattan Boro.

James’ death in March, 1898, at the age of sixty-years followed
that of his wife, Mary, by less than four months. Both were buried in
the family plot at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

James’ brother, Jacob, died January 24, 1899 at the age of
seventy-two years and was buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery. At the
time of his death, Jacob resided at 11 Pulaski Street in Brooklyn, New York.

RICHARD VAN RIPER
(1860—1938)

Richard, the first son of James and Mary Frazier Van Riper, was
born in Lower Manhattan, New York City, April II, 1860. He represented
the eighth generation of the Van Riper family in America. He was educated
in the public schools of New York City and at the age of nineteen, he
married Martha Elizabeth Griffith, a sixteen year old daughter of Welch
parents. They had seven children, three of whom died in infancy and one,
Mildred May, died when slightly less than eight years old. The other
three listed below, lived to adulthood, married and had families:

Richard Warren, b. April 15, 1887
Ethel Louise, b. December 25, 1889
Harold Griffith, b. October 8, 1891-d.Aug. 12,1973.
After his marriage, Richard settled in South Fourth Street in the
Williarmsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. About the middle of the
1890’s, Richard moved to 185 Patchen Avenue in Brooklyn and lived
there with his family until about 1925 when he moved to Freeport, Long
Island, New York. There he and his wife lived until their deaths.

For most of his active business career, Richard was a partner in the
firm of Reeves and Van Riper, importer of teas and coffee, with office and
warehouse at 25 Water Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
Associated with Reeves and Van Riper in the import business was
Herbert L. Doane who had married Josephine Van Riper, daughter of
Jacob, a brother of Richard’s father, James.

Richard’s wife, Martha Elizabeth, was the daughter of Samuel
Harris Griffith and Sarah Amelia Jones Griffith. Samuel was born in
South Wales and Sarah Amelia was born in North Wales. Samuel served
in the United States Navy as a First Class Fireman and was discharged
from the U. S. Receiving Ship, North Carolina, and from the naval
service September 25, 1862. Whenever Samuel sang, the neighborhood
listened. Both of Martha Elizabeth’s parents were buried in the New
York Bay Cemetery in the township of Bergen, Hudson County, New
Jersey, Plot #612, Section K north, located between Hawthorne and
Cypress Avenues.

During their residency at 185 Patchen Avenue, the Van Riper family
were members of the St. Stephens Episcopal Church.

About the year 1900, Richard Van Riper was a member of the
Brooklyn Board of Education.

During the late 1890’s and early 1900’s Richard Van Riper was well
known in Republican political circles in the 25th Ward, Brooklyn, New
York.

Along about the year 1909, Richard built a summer residence at Blue
Point, Long Island, New York and he continued to sojourn there with
his family during the summer seasons enjoying the fishing, sailing and
bathing until about the year 1920 when he sold the place.

Richard died December 17, 1938 and the interment was in the
family plot at the Cypress Hill Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. The
location of the plot is as follows: NE 1/4 87, Section 17, Rear Right Corner.
Martha Elizabeth died nearly two years after her husband’s death,
on November 4, 1940 and her body was interred in the family plot at
the Cypress Hills Cemetery.