Festival of Postcards - Faces from the Box

This edition of the Festival of Postcards features all things white. I have scrambled through my treasures to find a submission, but, alas, nothing quite fits the bill.

BUT, since black and white postcards are acceptable, I submit these lovely ladies...two of my unknown "strangers in the box"...dressed in their winter finery. It seems at some time around the turn of the 20th century, it was popular to print pictures on postcards for easy mailing. I know, as I have a number of these mementos, lovely pictures on the front and a postcard on the back. Unfortunately, it is blank, never mailed, with no clue who these folks might be. Maybe they were residents of Elwood, Indiana, where my Hupp and DeHority ancestors lived. Maybe they are from somewhere else entirely. But here they are for your viewing enjoyment.

Blog Carol 2009

The footnoteMaven has called all Geneabloggers to join in for the annual caroling. Picking a favorite carol is difficult…Silent Night is great for a reflective evening, Deck the Halls gets the energy going for the shopping and decorating, cooking while Little Drummer Boy plays in the background. But the one below is one that I look forward to singing along with every year, not exactly a carol, more of a song, and a melancholy reminder to remember the less fortunate.

Mary's first Christmas

Pretty Paper
By: Willie Nelson

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue

Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him.
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh.
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won’t pass him by.

Should you stop? Better not, much too busy .
You’re in a hurry, my how time does fly!
In the distance, the ringing of laughter,
And in the midst of the laughter he cries

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue!
Wrap your presents to your darling from you.
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.

Friday's Focus Family: the Hupps of Elwood

Above is a picture of the family of George Washington Hupp and Elizabeth Stokes Hupp, the source of whatever German genes I have. Based on what I know about birth and death dates, in the photo are:

Top row, left to right
Lola M. Hupp (my great grandmother, 1870-1951)
Albert A. Hupp (1878-1947)
Maude Hupp (1882- )
William A. Hupp (1868-1904)
Samuel S. Hupp (1871-1911)

Bottom row, left to right :
George Washington Hupp (1834-1923)
Isabelle Stokes Hupp (1843-1918)

George W. Hupp was born on December 3, 1834, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near New Market, the son of Samuel A. Hupp and Mary Kipps. Isabelle Stokes was born on May 7, 1843, in Butler County, Ohio, to Jesse Stokes and Elizabeth Hineman. According to George’s obituary, he came as a young man to Indiana in 1859, moving to Elwood in 1862 where he lived the rest of his life. I think this picture must have been from around that time. He does look like a young man headed west looking for adventure.


George and Isabelle were married in 1867. He established the first tinning and plumbing company in Elwood, later opened a hardware store, and much later went into the insurance business. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Odd Fellows Lodge. His home, with much changing and addition, is the current Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood.

It seems the family, like all families had its share of happy and sad times. They apparently liked to travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as shown in this picture.



Five children are shown, but three died in infancy. And their son Samuel must have suffered from some type of depression, as a note in the family bible indicates that he committed suicide.

Isabelle’s obituary shows her to have been an active member of the community:

Mrs. Hupp was a lifelong member of the M.E. Church, a worker in its Aid and other societies and a Christian woman who found much for her hands to do and willingly contributed to every good cause. She will be missed in the community where she was so long known and so much beloved.