Two members of the Lipe family came from Germany to the American colonies prior to the revolution. Johnannes (John), born 1764, settled on a farm in Montgomery county near Sprakers. During the revolution he owned the land on which the defences of Fort Plains [i.e., Fort Plain] were built. The property descended to his son David; later to his grandson, Seeber Lipe. With the consent of the owner, the Montgomery county Historical Society erected small marble monuments in August, 1882, marking the site of the original fort erected 1776, and another the block house built in 1781. John engaged both in farming and in trade at Sand Hill, at that time in the town of Minden. He passed through the trying scenes of the revolution safely, although Minden suffered much from the Indians and Tories. After the war was over John married, November 11, 1788, Elizabeth Lambert, and left numerous descendants. He continued in business until his death.
The ancestor of Ephraim Lipe, of Canajoharie, is also John Lipe, of the town of Root, Montgomery county, New York. He was a farmer and was killed by a running horse while attempting to cross the road. He lived in the troublous times of the revolution and served with the militia against the Indians. He married a Miss Hays and had four children:
- Delia, married Adam Dockstader;
- Eva, married John Burns;
- Mary, married John Vancroast;
- Adam I., of whom further.
(II) Adam I., son of John and ———— (Hays) Lipe, was born in the town of Root, Montgomery county, New York, June 28, 1794, died June 28, 1872. He grew up on the homestead farm, and later became a land owner and farmer. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; was a Whig in politics and a man of influence in his town. He married, about 1816, Catherine Rickard, of German and revolutionary ancestry, born March 17, 1796, died November 19, 1884. Children:
- John L., born October, 1817, died December 28, 1883; he married Elizabeth Wormuth; children:
- Martin;
- Adam, married Margaret Pullman, of Johnstown, New York, and had Earl;
- Jeanette, married Charles Snow.
- Kate, born May 29, 1821, died December 31, 1908; she married Jacob Bellinger, a descendant of William Bellinger, born in Germany; children: William and Adam.
- Delilah, born March 2, 1824, married Jacob Mowers; children: Wesley and Edna.
- Hiram, born February 9, 1828.
- Eve, born March 1, 1831, married, March 7, 1849, Charles H. Hubbs, born September 3, 1824, died November 20, 1892, son of Charles Root Hubbs, of Long Island, New York, settled in the town of Root in 1802 near Rural Grove; he married Miriam Coffin and had ten children. Children of Charles H. Hubbs:
- Catherine, born July 3, 1851, died November 16, 1851;
- David, March 4, 1855, married Addie Burroughs;
- Carrie, October 20, 1857, married, June, 1893, Simon Van Buren;
- Adam, June 4, 1860, died November 24, 1889;
- A. Seymour, December 9, 1862, married Hope Conover;
- Lillian, July 5, 1866, married, October 19, 1892, Dorris Carr; children:
- Edwin J., born August 17, 1889;
- Leland, November 1, 1891;
- Raymond B., August 16, 1871, married, October 17, 1889, ————;
- Iva A., May 19, 1875.
- Harriet, born February 16, 1834; married Samuel Jamison and has son Mortimer.
- Ephraim, see forward.
(III) Ephraim, youngest son and child of Adam I. and Catherine (Rickard) Lipe, was born in the town of Root, Montgomery county, New York, July 14, 1837. He was educated in the public school and reared on the farm, succeeding to ownership of the homestead on the death of his father. Here he lived until after the birth of all his children, a period covering twenty-five years of ownership. The farm contained one hundred and fifty-five acres and he managed it profitably. In 1868 he began buying and selling hay in rather a small way but the business soon took on large porportions, and in 1883 he left the farm and located in the village of Sprakers and carried on business on a much larger scale. In February, 1889, he removed to the village of Canajoharie, which has since been his home. He remained in active business until 1909, when he retired. He became a very large dealer in hay and was well known throughout the valley where for forty-one years he bought hay from the farmers, doing business with some of them for nearly the entire period. About 1878 he admitted his eldest son to a partnership, the firm name being E. & W. H. Lipe. He is held in the highest regard in the community where his entire life has been spent with the exception of seven years he spent in New York City taking charge of and marketing the hay shipments. During his residence in the town of Root he was much in the public service, serving as town collector of taxes and highway commissioner. In Canajoharie he has served as trustee and auditor of the village. He is a Republican in politics. He has been for many years a devoted active worker in the Dutch Reformed church which he serves as trustee.
He married, February 23, 1860, in St. Mark's Lutheran Church, (Rev. Lewiston Hippee officiating) Eliza Anne Wood, born in Canajoharie, New York, August 16, 1840. They began their married life on the farm near Sprakers, their home until 1883. Mrs. Lipe is a devoted member of the Dutch Reformed church, and with her husband has contributed much to the church and social life of the community. On Wednesday, February 23, 1910, Ephraim and Eliza Anne (Wood) Lipe celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day, an occasion that will long live in the memories of the one hundred and seventy-five guests present, including every living son and daughter. Eliza A. Wood is a daughter of Abram and Ann (Wiles) Wood, granddaughter of David and Elizabeth (Vanderberker) Wood, and maternal granddaughter of Joseph Wiles, old Montgomery county families. Children of Abram and Ann Wood:
- John, married Elizabeth Moguin;
- Isaac, married Elizabeth Platner;
- Eliza Anne, married Ephraim Lipe;
- Mary, married De Witt Davis;
- Boyd, married Elizabeth Wills;
- David, married Ella Harp;
- Richard;
- Margaret, married Charles H. Burdick;
- Jennie, married William Lausen.
Children of Ephraim and Eliza Anne (Wood) Lipe:
- Walter H., born December 4, 1860; educated in the public schools, engaged for many years in business as junior member of E. & W. H. Lipe; in 1890 he organized the Imperial Packing Company and for ten years was engaged in curing and packing the well known "Beech Nut" products; in 1900 Bartlett Arkell became a partner and as the Beech Nut Packing Company, the business continued with Walter H. Lipe as treasurer and general manager; he married, July 20, 1896, Christina A. Goodall; children:
- Virginia, born May 24, 1900;
- Rose Ann, March 5, 1906.
- Mary Estelle, born April 10, 1864; married, October 3, 1889, William E. Tompkins, a hay and grain merchant of Toledo, Ohio; child,
- Anna Eliza, born September 25, 1890.
- Fred Willard, born March 1, 1866; a hay and grain merchant of Toledo, Ohio; married, May, 1899, Sadie Allen.
- Raymond P., born October 6, 1870; a hay and grain merchant of Toledo, Ohio; he married, March 3, 1893, Maude Vosburgh; children:
- Katherine Vosburgh, born March 14, 1896,
- Elizabeth Bartlett, November, 1898.
- Bertha Virginia, born September 25, 1874; married, June 25, 1902, Lyell T. Hallett, assistant treasurer of the Beech Nut Packing Company; children:
- Walter Wellington, born March 11, 1906;
- Florence Elizabeth, May 11, 1908.
Two children died in infancy, Anna and Ephraim (2), and Jennie, who died in her nineteenth year.