Daniel C. Ripley, glassmaker
The first Ripley & Co. glassworks was organized by Daniel C. Ripley, Sr. and several partners, including George Duncan, in 1866 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company specialized in flint, cut, and engraved glass. Later, after Daniel Ripley Sr. died, Duncan bought out the partners and renamed the company George Duncan & Sons. In 1874 Daniel Ripley, Jr. established his own company, where he made pressed glassware, bar glass, and lamps, including the famous Ripley double-font “marriage” or “wedding” lamp. In 1891 Ripley & Co. joined the United States Glass trust (a grouping of 18 separate companies), with himself as its first president. The U.S Glass Co. went bankrupt in 1963.
In an interesting sidebar to the first Ripley Co, one of their clerks and top salemen was Augustus Heisey, who married George Duncan’s daughter, and eventually founded the famous Heisey Glass Co. in Newark, Ohio.