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.

Saturday Night Fun-the Great-Greats

I've been in a real genealogy "funk" lately. DNA test results on a distant cousin that were due July 6th won't be posted for a couple of weeks. I'm waiting with fingers crossed on a report from a genealogist in Delaware doing research on one of my brick walls. Those kinds of things never come quickly enough, do they? And, I just can't translate one more old land record.

To the rescue is Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge: Name and place your 16 great-great grandparents. One thing I love about blogs, and Randy's in particular, is that they focus my attention on what I know, and what I don't. It turns out, there's a lot I don't know about these folks.

Let's get started:

1. John Wesley DeHority, b. 16 Oct 1840, Madison Co., IN, d. 28 Aug 1881, Madison Co., IN. Ethnicity: IRISH.
   
2. Jane W. Moore, b. 14 May 1840, Madison Co., IN, d. 25 Aug 1925, Elwood, IN. Ethnicity: UNK.
   
3. George Washington Hupp, b. 3 Dec 1834, Shenandoah Co., VA, d. 18 Jan 1923, Elwood, IN. Ethnicity: GERMAN.
   
4. Isabelle Stokes, b. 7 May 1843, Butler Co., OH, d. 7 June 1918, Elwood, IN. Ethnicity: ENGLISH.
   
5. Abram Gooding Mauzy, b. Feb 1825, Bourbon Co., KY, d. Aug 1905, Rushville, IN. Ethnicity: FRENCH.
   
6. Emily R. Jamison, b. 29 May 1828, Bourbon Co., KY, d. 12 July 1873, Rushville, IN. Ethnicity: UNK.
   
7. Houston Carr, b. 6 Feb 1821, KY, d.10 Sept 1856, Rushville, IN. Ethnicity: UNK.
   
8. Mary A. Dunnohew, 8 Sept 1834, OH, d. UNK. Ethnicity: UNK.
   

Now, for the other half. These are the folks that I don't know. I do know that in all probability, they are all LITHUANIAN. I just haven't braced myself to tackle "jumping the pond". Since the oldest complete generation that I have are the greats, I'll list them here:

1. John Douglas (Dobrovolskas), Dates UNK, but born and died in Lithuania.
   
2. Anna Urnikas, b. UNK, d. before 1916, Lithuania
   
3. Jacob Wychulis (Vaiculis), b. 3 May 1865, Lithuania, d. 3 Apr 1942, Old Forge, PA. Ethnicity: LITHUANIAN.
   
4. Anna Burke (Bartkeiwicz), b. 1874, Lithuania, d. 10 May 1951, Old Forge, PA. Ethnicity: LITHUANIAN.

So there you have it! I don't know whether to be pleased about what I know, or blue about what I don't know.

It must be something about August......

Surname meme

Craig on GeneaBlogie has a great suggestion for a blog. Of course, I just posted yesterday, but it is such a good idea, I really want to get this out there. The task is to list the surnames I'm researching, their localities and your "Most Wanted Ancestors". Here goes, through 2xgreat-grandparents:

• DeHority/Dehorty and variants: Indiana, Delaware, Ohio, Maryland, Idaho and (someday) Ireland;
• Mauzy: Indiana, Virginia, France;
• Hupp: Indiana, Virginia, Germany;
• Moore: Indiana, Virginia;
• Bobbitt: Indiana, Virginia;
• Huffman: Indiana, Tennessee;
• Carr: Indiana, Virginia;
• Douglas/Dobrovalskas: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Lithuania;
• Wychulis/Vaiculis: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Lithuania;
• Urnikas: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Lithuania;
• Bartkiewicz: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Lithuania;
• Beaulieu: Massachusetts, Quebec, France;
• Landry: Massachusetts, Quebec, France;
• Ducharme: Massachusetts, Quebec, France;
• Filion: Massachusetts, Quebec, France;

Most Wanted: No surprise here, the parents of James Madison DeHority, born 1819 in Delaware, probably Kent County, and died in 1891 in Elwood, Indiana. Second, the parents of Susanna Huffman, said to be born in Kingsport, Tennessee in 1817, died in 1899 in Elwood, Indiana.

What's in a name?

So, I guess the first question is what family names am I following? Most important is my family's name, DeHority. Variants have appeared in documents dating to the 1700's: DeHority, Dehorty, Dougherty, Daugherty, Daggity, Dehortee, and even Dawoughtee. Other surnames include Mauzy, Hupp, Moore, Sillivan, Huffman, and Bobbitt. In researching these folks, I have picked up quite a bit of paper on collateral lines...my stacks are pretty big. Along the way I've corresponded with many other wonderful researchers, each stalking their own ancestors, lurked on a lot of lists hoping for tips, spent hours on Google hoping to sight new contacts, tramped through cemeteries....pretty much the same thing everyone bitten by the genealogy bug does. As hobbies go, it is fascinating, frustrating, enlightening and non-fattening.

But enough philosophizing...next, working on a brick wall.