The Mysterious Miller Jopp

Originally written several months ago and for some reason I never posted it.

Miller Jopp has been a long standing brickwall for me.  The Horton line was recently expanded (see the post regarding Barnabas Horton) but I was still left bouncing my head against the brickwall that is/was Miller Jopp.  This case was blown wide open after a tip from Mike Allen about the Stoner family in Green Springs Cemetery.  Let's review the cold hard facts together and see what we can figure out.

Miller Jopp & Augusta Horton were married July 4, 1876 in Seneca County, Ohio.  This was the second known marriage for Augusta.  It seems she had married a Mr. Young sometime previous to her marriage to Mr. Jopp and from this union she had a daughter named Cora Young.  Together Miller & Augusta had one child, Laura Etta.  All of this is "fact" received from the family of Laura Etta, minus the marriage date, but it tells you what family group for which we are searching.

Now, let's start searching sources and see if we can work our way backwards.  In the 1880 census for Clyde, Sandusky County, Ohio we find the family of Benjamin Horton (a 60 year old farmer from New York).

• Benjamin Horton, 60, farmer, New York 
• Phoebe Horton, 60, wife, keeping house, New York 
• Bela J., 23, son of Benjamin & Phoebe, carpenter, New York 
• Elmer E., 17, son of Benjamin & Phoebe, farmer, New York 
• Miller D. Jopp, 50, farmer, New York 
• Augusta M. Jopp, 29, wife of Miller, at home, New York 
• Cora Young, 6, daughter of Miller & Augusta, New York 
• Henrietta L. Jopp, 2, daughter of Miller & Augusta, Ohio

This looks like our family since we have Miller, Augusta, Cora and Etta.  They are living with Augusta's known parents so I have a good feeling about this.  Now to see if we can work backwards from 1880.  While searching for other census records another census from 1880 appeared.  This time we have a census in Willowdale, Dickinson County, Kansas.  This time for M.D. Jopp.  

• M.D. Jopp, 53, farmer, New York
• Augusta, 29, wife of M.D., house keeping,  New York 
• Cora Jopp, 6, daughter of M.D. & Augusta, New York 
• Lauraetta, 1, daughter of M.D. & Augusta, Ohio 
• Elmer Horton, 17, brother in law of M.D. Jopp, farmer, New York

This looks like our family since we have Miller, Augusta, Cora and Etta.  A known sibling of Augusta is living with them and everything just seems too close to be a coincidence.  Well, hmm.  All census information is supposed to be accurate as of June 1st but the information is collected on various dates so I took a closer look.  They were enumerated in Clyde on June 11th and enumerated on June 2nd in Willowdale.  They move fast!  I especially love that there is a three year age difference between M.D. and Miller.  Interesting.  

If we assume the information on the census is accurate which is a gamble depending on various factors we now know that Miller was born somewhere in New York and possibly between 1837 & 1840.  If we attempt to drop back ten and punt we'll find Miller in the 1870 census.  He only appears once this time and in Pleasant, Seneca County, Ohio.

• Miller Jopp, 40, farmer, New York
• Orvan Jopp, 56, farmer, New York 
• Mary Jopp, 17, Ohio 
• Eva Jopp, 15, Ohio 
• Mary Jopp, 76, New York 
• Jarusha Jopp, 49, New York 
• Weathly Jopp, 28, New York

Also listed in the same house but as a separate family are

• Isaac Jopp, 53, farmer, New York 
• Mira Jopp, 46, keeping house, New York 
• Ida Jopp, 18, school teacher, Indiana 
• Bertha Jopp, 12, Wisconsin 

Now you should notice that the 1870 census doesn't list the relationship to the head of household so who on earth are all these people living with Miller?!  You can make assumptions but nothing solid anywhere  Maybe the 1860 census will help clear things up a little.  

Miller is again found in Pleasent, Seneca County, Ohio.  This time the household dynamics looks something like this.

• Miller Jopp, 28, farmer, New York 
• Mary Jopp, 66, New York 
• Orange Jopp, 45, New York 
• Wealthy Jopp, 24, school mistress, Ohio 
• Jerusha Jopp, 28, New York 
• Mary Jopp, 6, Ohio 
• Eva Jopp, 4, Ohio 
• Sarah Cummings, 12, Ohio 

Yep, that made things as clear as mud.  Traditionally the census lists breaks the household down into family groups but these all seem to be intermingled and confusing.  If we are to assume they were grouped Mary & Eva would be the daughtesr of Orvan in the 1870 census but they are listed under Jerusha in the 1860 census.  Maybe Jerusha is the wife of Orvan but then why is Wealthy in the middle.  How did Miller go from 53/50 in 1880 to 40 in 1870 to 28 in 1860?  How did Weathly only age four years when the records are ten years apart?  Poor Jerusha goes from 28 to 49 in ten years and changes genders to boot.  Ugh!  Maybe I'll muddy the water a little more and throw the 1850 census in here too.

 In the 1850 census the Jopp family is again in Pleasent, Seneca County, Ohio.  

• Mary Jopp, 50, farmer, New York 
• Orin Jopp, 39, farmer, New York 
• Elbert Jopp, 29, farmer, New York 
• Luther Jopp, 24, farmer, New York 
• Miller Jopp, 22, farmer, New York 
• Jane Jopp 19, New York 
• Elfa A. Jopp, 18, New York 
• Hudson Jopp, 16, New York 

Who the what!  Well, fiddle dee dee.  That made matters worse.  Who's Hudson?  Luther?  *sigh*  Without solid dates to work with it was hard to track down any firm information.  Was Miller living with an aunt and cousins or maybe his mother and siblings?  I had nothing solid until Mike made a comment about where to find the Stoner family in Green Springs Cemetery.  Cemeteries make excellent sources as the dates are written in stone (literally) so they are usually something solid on which to build your case.  (Getting too punny?  Sorry.)  Since Augusta was buried with the Horton's in the GIANT McPherson Cemetery and not with her spouse I was at a loss.  Then I walked into the Green Springs Cemetery and I might have actually been caught jumping up and down.  There buried among the Stoners was the Jopp family plot and in the Jopp family plot you'll spot:

Miller Jopp born May 13, 1828; Died Mar. 13, 1892

J.M. Jopp, 1820-1894

Mary, wife of D.H. Jopp Died May 1, 1876, Aged 82 years, 8 months

-----

Wealthy Ann Jopp, born Feb. 19, 1832, died Mar. 14, 1887

Daniel H. Jopp died Nov. 26, 1849, Aged 60 years, 5 months & 18 days (text below unreadable)

Full view of the Jopp headstone

John, son of O. & F. Jopp

Mabel, daughter of O. & F. Jopp

Earl, son of O. & F. Jopp

Emeline E. wife of Luther S. Jopp, died May 23, 1874 

Entirety of Emeline Jopp's headstone 

Luther Jopp, died May 8, 1874

From the family plot we can gather that the Mary we've seen in the census records was the wife of Daniel.  Daniel died in November of 1849 and the first of the census records to list members of the households was in 1850.  Since they are all buried together and most of them are all on the same headstone it would imply that Daniel and Mary were the parents of Miller, J.M., Wealthy Ann & Luther and all of those people appear in the census with Mary at one time or another so now with some concrete evidence let's see if we can fill in some gaps.  Since I had done a lot of digging on Miller, I tried following up with Jerusha Jopp, who I believe to be J.M. Jopp.  Lo and behold, Jerusha had a write up in the Stemtown News!  (Click here to see her information).  Sadly it was to be continued and I've yet to be able to find any of the other Stemtown News editions but the one I do have starts out with "Daniel Jopp my Father..." and goes on to say "was born in Winsted, Connecticut, June 8, 1790."  There are lots of interesting stories on the early Ohio life and making the trek to the wilderness.  It also says Daniel married Mary Dumond and they were the parents of 11 children, a lot more than what was implied from the census records.  "Orrin the oldest was born Aug 23 1813 (he was the father of Eva Horton & Mary Emery) the others were Betsy, Isaac, Sarah, Jerusha, Elbert, Luther, Miller, Eliza, Wealth Ann and Hudson".  Well, that accounts for everybody in the census records and explains some of the confusion.  There were THREE generations all living in the same house.  If you have the time I highly recommend you check out Jerusha's article in the Stemtown News.  It's fascinating!

Where it fits:  Miller Jopp married Augusta Horton and together they were the parents of Laura Etta.  Laura Etta married David Stoner and was the mother of Helen Naomi Stoner.  Helen married Dale Allen and they were the parents of LaDonna, Donald, Ralph "Jim" James, Richard, Thomas, Virginia, Robert, Carol & Margaret.  

New Year, New Tree

I've been working on this obsession hobby of mine now for 15 years or so.  Seeing that number in black & white and associated with my research strikes me with awe.  When I started climbing this tree of ancestors I thought it would be a quick project, I'd go back to Adam & Eve (or at least Noah) in a matter of a couple of months, figure out how everybody on the planet was related and hang up my completed and flawless tree and be done with it.  Little did I know that brick walls can appear as early as just a few generations back, the stories would feed a desire to know every little detail available, there would be mysteries to solve and that people you'd never meet could hold such a huge place in your heart (not to mention the book shelves which are now stuffed with documents, photo albums, and historical texts).  It's hard to explain to an outsider the desire to match every name to a face (or in the case of unlabeled photographs the faces to the names), to make sure that nobody in the family goes forgotten no matter how seemingly insignificant their life was or seems.  This little adventure has resulted in a HUGE tree.  I'm talking thousands upon thousands of names, each with dates and locations and notes.  To paraphrase Will Parker from Oklahoma I've gone about as fer as I can go and have been giving myself concussions on brick walls that just won't budge.  While attempting to chip away at these walls I've helped my cousin in law work on her family tree with 4-H, I've started helping my sister in laws husband find his birth family, I've been sorting DNA results (p.s. if you have tested and are willing to share please send me an e-mail) & finding and meeting lots of new cousins/relatives.  In the course of growing the tree I've found a good number of sources and have learned a lot from people who look at my 15 years of research and can still call me a rookie.  One of the tips I have received is now that I have mastered logging my sources, understand primary and secondary sources, have a firm grasp on what can be the useful details, how to work with the tiniest clue, etc that I should go back to square one.  Start over.  Retire my tree and plant new seeds and see if what grows is the same.  Of course I'll be working with the same people so hopefully I will arrive at the same conclusions but I've already found a number of new details on close relatives, new leads and trivia and have some of the thrill of the hunt back instead of being more of a caged researcher held in by my brick walls.  I'm working very hard to water and feed this new baby tree and hope to have it thriving soon but not only is this a new tree from seed but I am no longer working on my dinosaur of a program so I have the learning curve/challenge of a new program and laptop.  I'm hoping that while I nurture this little sapling, the fire inside me will continue to be fanned and I'll be soaring to new heights on the limbs of this tree. In the mean time I hope you will allow me to bore you with my research notes, the little oddities I am uncovering and the notes from interviews.  It might be a while before this blog goes back to looking like what it was originally and honestly it might never return that way again.  It might stay as your little window into the terrifying world of ancestors with intertwined branches but I hope in the process of looking into my mind you will get a glimpse of your ancestors and the interesting lives they led.  So here's to seeing what comes from Tree 2.0 and 2019!  :-)