[Newspaper]
Publication: The Pittsburgh Commercial
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
vol. 9, no. 41, p. 4, col. 2
OBITUARY.
Daniel C. Ripley, Sr.
On Saturday last we noticed briefly the death of Mr. Daniel Campbell Ripley, Sr., the well known glass manufacturer of Birmingham, at his handsome residence, at Hazelwood. Mr. Ripley was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1824, and consequently was in the forty-seventh year of his age. Ten years ago he came to Pittsburgh, and after remaining here a while visited Covington, Kentucky, where he assumed the management of Hemingray and Co.'s glass house, continuing in that position for three years. Returning to the old Iron City, of which he cherished the pleasantest recollections, he five years located in Birmingham, and then embarked in the flint glass manufacturing. Associated with him were Messrs. George Duncan and Jacob Strickle, well known citizens of the South Side, each of whom bear testimony to his many excellent qualities. The firm built a factory on Tenth St. and Mr. Ripley, having an intimate and thorough knowledge of the business and all its details, took the management upon his shoulders. How successfully his efforts have been rewarded is indisputably attested by the fact of his having placed the firm upon a solid financial basis not to be shaken, and with a business comparing favorably if not exceeding that of similar firms with an established reputation of twenty years.
About two years since Mr. Ripley became indisposed, and consequence of a cold settling on his lungs, and very soon thereafter he was compelled to resign the active pursuits of life, in order, to if possible, recuperate his health. But his family, friends, relatives, associates and acquaintances saw the decline of life, as manifested by the hold of him that the fell destroyer consumption had taken, and acting upon his own judgment and with the advice of his friends, he visited other localities — East, West, North and South, but without avail. Some months previous to his death he visited New York on business, intending on his return, to embark again for the far West, but his hopes in this direction never came to be realized, for on his return, he was too much enfeebled to undertake the journey. Last April he removed to his handsome residence at Hazelwood, hoping to benefit his condition by being away from the soot and smoke, but the change, sad to relate, did not improve him in the least. A few weeks before his death he became entirely prostrated, and although he had up to this time entertained the hope that he might possibly recover, he resigned all, and although he was attended by the best medical skill, and watched by a kind family, the slender thread which held life finally parted, and on Thursday, January 19, his spirit left its mortal tenement of clay and winged its way to its maker.
Mr. Ripley was not only successful in the glass business in his lifetime, but in whatever he engaged fortune favored him. He was identified with the first movement to have the Ormsby Passenger Railway incorporated, and urged his claims until sickness compelled him to desist. He was the first to propose and labored zealously to organize the Temperance Lodge in Birmingham, which now has two hundred members, and has accomplished an astonishing amount of good. He was instrumental in getting up the Young Men's Literary Association of Birmingham, two years ago, which he placed upon a successful basis, and was a charter member and stockholder in the Co-Operative Life Insurance Company. So it will be seen from the foregoing that Mr. Ripley endeavored to live a useful life, and to no one but himself was he indebted for the course pursued, having left home when a mere youth to seek his fortune.
He was a kind and affectionate husband and father, and not only will a widow and two children lament his loss, but the entire community sustains irreparable loss by his early demise. His family is left in comfortable circumstances, a consolation no doubt to him in his dying hours. Mr. D. C. Ripley, Jr., and Messrs. Duncan and Strickle will continue the business, and if the son can only bring half the energy, enterprise and vigor of his father to his command, there can be no doubt of the success of the business.
