ROPP Family plot; Millbury Central Cemetery, Millbury MA

It's been 2 years since my last post about the ROPP family history, but research continues...  The following pictures were sent to me by a volunteer in 2013 and I'm just getting to post them now.  For those ROPP relatives from away, I hope you find these images a helpful addition to your research:

ROPP Family plot

François and Frederique

Ernest J. and Francis D.

Another ROPP Success story.

Sorry it's been so long between posts. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to write anything great now either except to share some new news I got via email today.This fall I will be giving a talk at the Maine Genealogical Society's Fall Conference on using social web sites for accelerating your genealogy research and findagrave.com is a great example of just that.

A few months ago I asked for photos from the Milbury cemetery where François and Frederique are buried.  Today I got the following email from findagrave:

Great News!

Find A Grave contributor, patricia wade has fulfilled your photo request for
François Ropp. To see the new photo(s), visit François Ropp's online memorial by
clicking on the link below:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=68622717

If you'd like to thank patricia wade, click on the following link to leave them a
message:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=leaveMessage&cid=47582291

A successful photo request is a great example of the Find A Grave system working. If
you're happy with the services provided by Find A Grave, please consider removing
the ads from the François Ropp Online Memorial. Please click on the following link
to learn about sponsoring memorial pages:
https://secure.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=ra&RAid=68622717

Thanks,
Find A Grave
http://www.findagrave.com


If you're so inclined take a few minutes to look at these photos a very kind (and new) findagrave volunteer took and posted online for our family, and thank her for her efforts.  This is a great service!

Finally! The ROPP Connection - Helen A. ROPP

My first few posts were more or less background for getting into the ROPP family, which I will start today.

A few days ago, I mentioned my grandfather,Vaughn INGERSON.  What's the connection with François and Frederique ROPP?  Here it is:

Vaughn's mother was Helen ROPP.  Helen's father was Ernest ROPP. Ernest's Father was François ROPP.

Helen ROPP has been an interesting story for me, and a bit of a brick wall, despite her daughter, my great aunt, ML, helping me with what information she knows.


For anyone else researching this ROPP family of François and Frederique, you may not recognize the name "Mattie Carolina Kelley" as being Ernest ROPP's wife and/or mother to Helen.  ML told me years ago the story that Helen was born in Baltimore, MD to Ernest and Mattie (Martha?), but that Mattie left soon after Helen was born. The story as I recall it is that Mattie wanted to pursue an acting career and may have gone to New York to make it big.

1910 Household Containing  Helen ROPP

By 1910, Helen ROPP is living in Boylston, MA with her grandmother, Frederique. (By this time François had already passed away).   But her father Ernest is not listed as a member of the household at this time.

1920 Household Containing Helen ROPP

By 1920, Ernest is back in the picture and the ROPP family is renting an apartment on East Kendall St. in Worcester, MA according to the U.S. Federal Census for that year.  At this time, Ernest has a wife, Mary, and 2 more children, Irene and Francis D.  I believe Mary's surname before marrying Ernest was HOLLERAN, though I am not sure why I have that in my notes. I don't seem to have a source for that bit of information.  At this time, Helen ROPP was 13.  Irene was 5, and Francis D. was 2.

We learn from the 1920 census that Ernest's wife, Mary and the 5 year old, Irene were born in Canada.  Francis D. was born in Massachusetts, which means Ernest was probably in Canada in 1910 (possibly following mill work) where he met and eventually married Mary.  If Irense was 5 and born in Canada and Francis was 2  and born in Massachusetts, Ernest and his new family must have returned to Massachusetts sometime between 1915 and 1918 or thereabouts.


Frederique was still living in Boylston in 1920, though Ernest was now in Worcester, about a half hour drive today on MA-70 (according to Google Maps)  Ernest's occupation at this time is listed as a machinist working in construction.

More to come on Helen and All the ROPPs I know about in upcoming posts.