My Genealogy Hound

JOHN C. VAN RIPER, Cashier of the People’s Bank of Sedalia, is one of the prominent and progressive young business men of this city. At a meeting of some citizens who assembled at the Third National Bank he was appointed Chairman of a committee to draw up a constitution for the Board of Trade. He ably met the requirements of the situation, as was shown when the articles he had drawn were adopted at a citizens’ meeting held in the court house. He was chosen to serve as a Director, and is now Vice-President of the Board of Trade. In January, 1892, he helped to organize the People’s Bank, which has a capital stock of $50,000, and was made its Cashier. Besides, he was one of the promoters and is now Secretary and Treasurer of the Morey & Crawford Abstract and Title Guarantee Company, which has a capital stock of $20,000. He is also Vice-President of the Porter Real-estate Company.

The grandfather of our subject, John A. Van Riper, a native of New York, was a manufacturer of woolen goods, as were his ancestors for about two hundred years. George Van Riper, the father of John C., was born in the city of New York, and on arriving at man’s estate married Parthenia Crowell, whose birth occurred in Clyde, N. Y. His father had built a woolen-mill and carried on an extensive business in La Grange, Mich., and of him George learned the trade. He was a strong Union man and a Republican. When the Civil War came on he volunteered for service, and was rejected, but nevertheless organized a company. His brother, Jacob J., was Attorney General of Michigan for a number of years, and a Regent of the State University. Mr. Van Riper abandoned the woolen business in 1890 and took charge of several large tracts of land in southwestern Missouri for our subject, and is now living at Aurora.

Born February 22, 1863, at La Grange, Cass County, Mich., J. C. Van Riper is the only son in a family of three children. Until he was twelve years old he lived near his birthplace, and then, removing to Ypsilanti, learned the woolen trade, subsequently being employed in the woolen-mills at Delhi Mills, Mich. He was educated in the schools at La Grange, and in the Ypsilanti (Mich.) and St. Mary’s (Ohio) High Schools. For a short time he was engaged in the woolen business with his father, and after an interruption of a winter’s term of teaching school, went to Decatur, Ill. When only eighteen years of age he was made Assistant Superintendent of a large woolen-mill, employing sixty men, but it became apparent that there was small profit in the trade, and he retired from that occupation. Obtaining a position as traveling salesman, he next spent some time in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri on the road.

In 1886 Mr. Van Riper came to Sedalia, and a year later entered into partnership with W. S. Huffman in the abstract and insurance business, with office in the Porter Building. In 1888 the firm of Porter, Van Riper & Huffman was formed and their business extended, the additional interests of real estate and loans being added to their former branches. At the end of two years they were made general agents for the Employers’ Liability Assurance Corporation of London, and general agents for the Knoxville Fire Insurance Company at Knoxville, Tenn. A force of nine men was found necessary to manage these varied departments, and the responsibility of the general supervision proving too much for our subject’s health, he left the city and went to Aurora. There he engaged in the real-estate business as a member of the firm of Porter & Van Riper, buying up mineral lands and organizing mining companies.

In May, 1886, Mr. Van Riper married Anna Moore, daughter of Judge William Prather, her birth occurring in Decatur, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Van Riper have four children: Walker, Leah Mildred, John C., Jr., and George P. The family occupy a pleasant home at the southwest corner of Broadway and Grand Avenue. Mr. Van Riper is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the order of Elks, and is a Trustee of the Royal Tribe of Joseph. In politics he is a stanch Republican.