We visited several cemeteries while we were in Brown County.  The Old Ripley Cemetery is on the North side of Ripley at what used to be Fifth 
and Cherry Street.  Fifth Street is no longer there.  I looked at an old Ripley Atlas, which had an old map .  We had spent the previous afternoon 
looking for 5th and Cherry Street.  At 4th and Cherry, Cherry turns into a sort of gravel alley.  We were not even sure it was Cherry Street.  But the 
next day, after looking at the atlas we got out of the car, with copy of atlas in hand and figured it out.  The Red Oak Creek had moved over the 
years and the Old Ripley Cemetery is now on its bank.  We walked through the woods down to the riverbank and found one gravestone that had 
fallen over on its face.  We did not even try to turn it over.  I took a picture of it.  One needs to return to this place in the winter when the 
rattlesnakes are asleep and the underbrush has died and try to get a better view.   Luckily, someone did just this in the 1960s.  They took shovels, 
rakes, brushes, and various other tools and recorded everyone buried there.  The book detailing what they found is in the library at Ripley.  I have 
a copy of their results.  The book is Tombstone Inscriptions of Brown County, Ohio Volume I, compiled by Lillian Colletta and Leslie Pucket in 
1963, Published by Lillian Colletta, 40 Seneca Trail, Denville, New Jersey.  This is what it says, “This old cemetery is located on Route 62 and Fifth 
Street, north of the center of Ripley.  Stones may be buried deep or carried away in the floodwaters of the Ohio River and Red Oak Creek, which 
have covered the grounds over the many years past.  The grounds were in a state of neglect.  Copied February 1963.”  The following excerpt is 
taken from The History of Brown County, Ohio", published by W.H. Beers & Co., 1883--Part IV, page 416:  “The remains of many are interred in the 
old burying ground at Ripley have been removed to the new cemetery.  In the old lot and in country yards are buried the remains of many of the 
earliest settlers.  These grounds are enclosed by substantial fences, but the untrimmed trees and undergrowth, with the moss-covered tablets and 
leaning stones, bring sad recollection of how many die and are soon forgotten."  The sir names in the book are:  Allender, Angerbower, Baird, 
Bayless, Baylis, Beatty, Belvel, Bennett, Blanchard, Boggs, Boswell, Bramble, Breckwith, Brockway Burrell, Campbell, Carey, Chambers, Cochran, 
Collins, Creekbaum, Cresar, Culter, Davidson, Denniston, Dugan, Dunn, East, Easterry, Evans, Findley, Gaddis, Gash, Gordon, Grantham, Gray, 
Harlin, Hendry, Henry, Hatman, Hoge, Hudson, Johnson, Johnson, Johnston, Jolly, Kephart, Kirker, Kirkpatrick, Knott, Lang, Lind, Lindsley, 
Lowry, Lyne, Massey, Masterson, McClanahan, McConnaughy, McCoy, Mckinney, McMillin, McNish McMishie, McNoun, Middleton, Mitchell, 
Moore, Morris, Morrison, Mueller, Newlin, Osbon, Palmer, Park, Patterson, Perry, Peters, Poage, Porter, Purnell, Reid, Riggs, Roads, Sharp, Shaw, 
Shelton, Shepherd, Shultz, Simmons, Sniffer, Stout, Taylor, Thompson, Tweed, Whitmore, William, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Woods, Wright."  
The Moores buried here are Elizabeth Moore, wife of John Moore, died July 4 1855; Adaline Moore, daughter of John and Elizabeth Moore, she 
died August 19, 1827; Sarah Ann, daughter of John and Elizabeth, died Dec. 25, 1828; and lastly Mary Ann Moore, daughter of John and Elizabeth, 
died Sept. 19, 1822.  
 
The book,Tombstone Inscriptions of Brown County, Ohio Volume II, copyright 1969 by Lilliam Colletta and Leslie Puckett, has additional 
information about the Old Ripley Cemetery,  “Old Ripley Cemetery (additions & corrections), Union Township.  This cemetery was copied during 
February, 1963 and published in Volume I of Tombstone Inscriptions of Brown County, Ohio page 95-103.  We made notations in that publication 
to the effect that some data was inaccessible, therefore, we returned to the grounds after the spring flood in 1966, aware of some discrepancies.  
Each and every stone was rechecked,  as well as some unearthed and fragments pieced together to get the important information.  In our opinion 
the corrections and additions in this Volume are vital to the accuracy and completeness of records.  We did not copy in the freezing weather any 
other cemetery…We have noticed that a listing of burials in this cemetery was made by David Gray and published in 1965 and appears on page 94 
of Ripley, Ohio- Its History and Families by Eliese Bambach Stivers.  Our notations appear within brackets (   ), omissions & corrections under 
scored”:  There were no corrections for the Moores.  
 
I found another book in the Ripley Public Library which talks about the Old Ripley Cemetery on pages 93 -95.  The book is Ripley, Ohio, Its History 
and Families, 1965, by Eliese.  “When Ripley was still called Staunton, the first cemetery was on a hillside above the present site of the First 
Presbyterian Church.  The second one is the one called the ‘Old Ripley Cemetery’ on Fifth and Cherry Streets east of Main Street
 I looks like to me that some of the graves may now have been washed away or are under the creek.
 
James Thomas Moore