First found in Yorkshire where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the census rolls taken by the ancient Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America bore the name Ripley, or a variant listed above: William, Mary, Sarah and John Ripley who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1638; William Ripley settled in Hingham Massachusetts in 1630; William Ripley settled in Carolina in 1774.

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