Ripley is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2020 census. Ripley …Ripley is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2020 census. Ripley was originally owned and settled by William, John, and Lewis Rodgers. They received a grant of 400 acres in 1768 where "Sycamore Creek joins Big Mill Creek". The land was later sold to Jacob Starcher, most probably in 1803. Jacob Starcher erected a grist mill in 1824 and laid out the town in 1830, naming it in honor of Harry Ripley, a young minister who was to be married, but drowned in Big Mill Creek, about one and a half miles north of the town, shortly before the ceremony took place.