The Whipples of Ipswich and Its Hamlet / as written and compiled by Raymond A. Whipple Jr. — 2d ed. — Beverly, MA : Minuteman Press, c2009. — 72 p. : ill. (some col.), coats of arms, facsimiles, genealogical tables, maps ; 28 cm. — ISBN 978-1-60402-000-7.

Yesterday I received my copy of a brand new Whipple Genealogy about the Whipples of Ipswich, Massachusetts. This isn’t just any book on the Ipswich Whipples. I can think of at least two things that set it apart from other Whipple genealogies:

1. The book focuses entirely on Whipples who have been born and died in Ipswich and the town of Hamilton (incorporated from Ipswich hamlet in 1793). (Exceptions are made for the English ancestors of Matthew and John, the earliest known Whipples with “connections” to U.S. Whipples. Additionally, two descendancy charts–on a single short page–show the Ipswich Whipple ancestry of two U.S. presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Calvin Coolidge.)
2. The book’s author, 72-year-old Raymond “Ray” Whipple, is the youngest of the three remaining male Whipples still living in Ipswich. (The others are Alvin Whipple–Ray’s 79-year-old brother–and David Whipple–Ray’s 73-year-0ld cousin.) In an email Ray sent me earlier, he noted that the 2001 birth of his grandson in Montana marked the first time in 363 years that a child in his line had been born more than ten miles from where the [Ipswich] Whipples first settled in 1638! Eleven generations of Ray’s Whipple ancestors lived in Ipswich (including Hamilton), starting with Matthew Whipple, who settled in Ipswich in 1638!

The table of contents gives a flavor of the book:

1. The Author’s Lineage
2. The Grant
3. The Early Years (1475-1638)
4. The First Three Generations (1638-1750)
5. The Next One-Hundred & Fifty Years (1750-1900)
6. The Twentieth Century (1900-2000)
7. The Church
8. The Schools
9. The Military
10. Community Service
11. The Presidential Connection
12. Whipple Marrying Whipple
13. The Family Clock
14. The Land
15. The Cemetery
16. Bibliography

You can purchase your own copy of the book from the author for $26.00 ($23.00 + $3.00 shipping). Mail your request to:

Raymond Whipple
49 Mill Street
South Hamilton, MA 01982

As I have time to go through the book more, I will post additional observations. Thank you Ray, and congratulations on your new book!!