Alice ROPP



Alice ROPP KNIGHT circa 1926

Well, its about time I got something new to share with the family...

Not much has been written here about Alice ROPP.  Alice was the daughter of François and Frederique ROPP, but she did not come to America with the rest of the family in 1893.  I have a photo that was shared by a distant cousin who is also researching this family.

Last summer I received information that Alice was married to Frank KNIGHT on September 5, 1898 as published in the Town Clerks report for Boylston in 1899.  Today I received a copy of the actual marriage certificate which shows Alice's relationship to François and Frederique, and also shows a corrected date of September 5, 1899.

In addition, it proves that Alice was in the United States by 1899.  Did she come before the rest of her family?  Did she come later?  This is still unclear to me.


And, of course, now I know some more information about Alice's husband, Frank as well.  This is not my immediate family, but its interesting to me that I have this information and thought it worth sharing with anyone else who may be researching this family.  My direct line to François and Frederique is through Alice's brother, Ernest, but it is nice to know something about the whole family when trying to piece the story together of this "mystery family" (at least they are to me.) and their relocation from Europe to America.

Thank you to the Boylston Town Clerk who turned around my request for this document in record time.  I'm very appreciative.

Snow?  Seriously?

I thought I had a few more weeks that I could use to schedule a trip down to MA and get some more gravestone photos.  Sounds like I may need to schedule a spring trip now.

Happy Halloween, Everyone! (Can I assume we'll have Tulips by New Year's?)

Still Here. Honest.

I realize it's been a while since my last post, so I wanted to let folks know I am still here.  My research time has been shifted to another family line the later half of this summer, as I made it through another brick wall in early August and have been soaking up as much information about that line as I can.

And in the last week I've taken on a new task altogether. I've decided to try to stop the chaos in my office that is genealogy and organize, sort, and get rid of all the paper. I've started a new blog to journal out the progress on that effort at http://paperlessgenealogy.blogspot.com and invite you all to join me there too.

There are certainly ROPP papers that I have in piles in my office right now that will crop up as I continue my research.  In the mean time, if you're a cousin and have any breakthroughs of your own, feel free to email them to me so I can post them here or add them as a comment.

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!

Frederique ROPP - The wait is over

A BIG Thank you to the Boylston Historical Society and Museum (http://www.boylstonhistory.org/) for the information they recently sent me for a small research fee, which was, in my opinion worth every penny!

Here's some information about the ROPP family of Boylston folks may or may not have known:

1) records of the historical society indicate Frederique owned property on Maine Street Cricle from 1893-1929  In 1901/31 the property is listed as "heirs of F. Ropp"  In 1934 the owner is listed as Marcellus Ropp (or Ropper?) of Worcester.

2) Frederique died at 75 yrs, 10 mths, 20 days of pneumonia on May 4, 1928.  The historical society says she is the daughter of John Ropp and Sophia Roux of France, but I'm not sure about the ROPP, since I assume that is a married name (although I understand its possible to marry someone of the same surname)

3) Frederique's daughter, Alice, was married September 5, 1898 in Boylston to Frank M. Knight (Source: Town clerks' report, 1899)

4) A very interesting article was sent to me about the ROPP family that waspublished in the "Boyston Historical Series" Vol 13. I won't reproduce the whole article here for copyright worries, but here's the gist of the story...

In 1898 a French Canadian man, Anthony Newell, came to Boylston looking for a job. He ended up joining the army and was sent to the Phillipines. (Presumably as part of the Phillipine-American war, though that is conjecture on my part)  In 1902 Mr. Newell came back to Boylston (after apparently having contracted malaria while ooverseas) and was hired by Frederique.  He apparently had a fancy for Frederique's daughter, Marie.  At some point, Frederique took in another hired hand, John Burke.  Newell grew jealous of Marie and Burke and eventually left his job.  He left for Worcester, but eventually jumped back on the trolley headed back to Boylston.  He confided in someone on the trolley that he was planning on killing 2 people and then killing himself...  Needless to say the authorities were notified when the trolley came to a stop, and there was a standoff outside the Ropp home.  Eventually Newell took off, but the Ropps were protected in their home overnight. In the morning, when the police decided to go out and start searching the area for Newell, they noticed a a calf was shot in the head, and Newell's body was found near the edge of the forest with a bullet wound through his chest.

The story ends by saying attempts were made to contact Newel's only known living relative, but were unable.  He was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Boylston with only a few town officials at the burial.

How sad?  I wonder if someone in the NEWELL family is trying to figure out what happened to Anthony?  I wonder if there was anything really going on with Marie and John Burke... I wonder when Alice came to America, since she wasn't listed on the ship manifest with Frederique, François, Eugene, Marie and Ernest...

As always.... a few more answers.... a few more questions...

More Information on Frederique's life in Boylston, MA

I thought the family members watching the blog would like to know I got an email from the Boylston Historical Society earlier this week indicating they are sending me some information pertaining to Frederique and family, including "an interesting story" that appeared in the local paper.

I'm looking forward to seeing what that may be, and I'll definitely share with you whatever I may learn...

Everything I Know About François ROPP

With a post title like "Everything I know about François ROPP" this can only go one of 2 ways.  Either this post is going to be exceedingly long with tons of information, or pretty short, with nothing at all.  Yep.  You guessed it.  I don't know very much...  Here it all is. If anyone knows more, please feel free to share in either a comment, or email and I can post an update with additional information:


Fact #1 - François and Frederique ROPP immigrated to America in 1893 aboard the ship Le Bretagne, which left Port Le Havre, France and arrived at Ellis Island on 03 April 1893.  They had with them 3 children, Eugene (11 years old), Marie (14) and Ernest (19).  According to the ship passenger list, François was 51 at the time of their arrival and listed his occupation as "farmer."  Frederique was 41.  They originated from France and were heading to Woorcester [sic] upon arrival.  (Source: original ship manifest available online at http://www.ellisisland.org)


Fact #2 – In the 1900 Census there is no F. ROPP in Worcester, MA (where I assume the ship manifest is referring) but there is a Frederique ROPP listed as Head of Household in Boylston, MA (Worcester County) who had 2 children: Eugene A. and Marie M.  All are the right age for our family members and all are listed as being born in France and arriving in America in 1892.  Frederique is a farmer. Eugene is a Milk Dealer, and Marie M. is a weaver at a woolen mill. (Source: 1900 Census Boylston, MA available at ancestry.com: http://tiny.cc/ck6dk)


If this is the same family, where are Ernest and François?

Fact #3 – According to "Centennial History of The Town of Millbury Massachusetts Including Vital Statistics 1850-1899" (published 1915) on page 775 under the "Deaths" section,

there was a Francois ROPP who died Nov 12, 1893 in Millbury at age 53. This François was the son of a “Christopher” and “Hannah”  (Source: The book referenced is available online at the internet archive: http://tiny.cc/2azx0)

Millbury is a community just a few miles south of the present day city of Worcester, so this could very well be our François ROPP.  His passing would explain his absence in the home of Frederique in the 1900 census.

Fact #4 – According to the Boylston Historical Society Records (http://www.boylstonhistory.org)  Frederique ROPP died in Boylston in 1926 and was buried in a cemetery in the town of Millbury.  My assumption is, of course, that she was buried with her husband, François who had died and was also buried in Millbury, but I have not confirmed this yet.  Somewhere in my notes, I wrote that the two are both buried in Millbury Central Cemetery, although I didn’t capture a source for this information.  I have an open findagrave.com photo request for these 2 stones in this cemetery that has not been claimed yet.  I may make the trip to MA myself to do some searching.

This is about all I know about François ROPP. I know some of the dates don’t match up exactly, but they are close enough to make me think these are the people I’m looking for, particularly knowing the ROPP family was in the Worcester area based on the stories of current ROPP descendants.

Anyone else have something to share, or correct me on? 

Some Questions:

Does anyone have a death record for François?

Does anyone have documentation and/or family story that would help prove or disprove our François was the son of Christopher and Hannah, or have any general information about where in France this family originally immigrated from?