The Scripps family was notable in Cape Girardeau in the early 19th Century. William Scripps, head of the family, was born in England in 1749, married Grace Locke, and worked as a shoemaker. The couple were parents of 19 children, 5 of whom lived to adulthood.
Sons George H. and John become successful businessmen. Both operated tanneries, and John became a very successful pioneer minister in the Methodist Church. A grandson of William A. Scripps, the eldest brother, founded what became United Press International and the Scripps-Howard News Service. Many local people know the unusual triple grave marker for the parents and their daughter in old Lorimier Cemetery, This marker is one piece of stone, which once formed one end of three brick box graves.
The Scripps immigrated to America in 1791, leaving their eldest son William A. in England. Scripps resumed his profession and opened a successful general store in Alexandria, Virginia. He purchased a large tract near Morgantown, Virginia, intending to found a colony on his estate. Unfortunately, the seller swindled him, and the land was unsuitable for cultivation. The family lived in poor circumstances thereafter.
So why did they come to Cape Girardeau? Their second son, Benjamin, left to seek his fortune in 1800. He found work in Cape Girardeau, which was then a Spanish post. Along with many local men, Benjamin served in a militia expedition to New Madrid against hostile Creek Indians in 1802. He traveled in spring 1804, reaching eastern Texas and ending in November in New Orleans. Benjamin partnered in a tavern in New Orleans until 1806, then entered into trading on the Red River. By 1809 Benjamin owned a farm in Catahoula Parish, just west of Natchez. The entire time he was corresponding with his parents, and as their plight became bleaker, he finally urged them to join him at his farm.
The family agreed to meet Benjamin in Cape Girardeau. He had some debts to collect in town, and Cape was a convenient site to rest and obtain more supplies if needed. The family promised to notify Benjamin when they reached Cape Girardeau, and he would journey to meet them. William, Grace, their other two sons, and daughter Nancy left Morgantown early in 1809, and arrived in Cape Girardeau on June 29. They quickly sent a letter to Benjamin, followed by another, and a third on August 28. Meanwhile, the almost ubiquitous fever, probably malaria, struck the family, and Grace nearly died.
Apparently Benjamin received at least one of their letters in late autumn, and started on horseback for Missouri. He crossed the Mississippi to its west bank near the mouth of St. Francis River on Christmas Day, 1809. No one heard from him again. Many assumed thieves murdered and robbed him of the money he carried with him, but it is possible he became lost and then died from exposure in the swampy wilderness of eastern Arkansas. By February, 1810, the family assumed Benjamin was dead, and abandoned the idea of proceeding to Louisiana.
Son John purchased a tan yard, and father William likely returned to his shoemaker trade, using leather produced in the tannery. Tragically, a year later, an epidemic struck Cape, and Grace and Nancy, called Ann, perished in July, 1811. William removed to Jackson, where George had relocated in 1819, and lived another 4 years. So, the Scripps family never intended to settle in Missouri, but tragic circumstances resulted in their decision to do so. However, their fortunes brightened as future generations prospered.
