Catherine Ropp

Notes:

Catherine Ropp (1835 - 1885) and Daniel Roth (1833 - 1922)
Their Children

Jacobina Roth (1856 - 1924) and Nicholas Staker (1853 - 1941)
Veronica (Fannie) Roth (1856 - 1946) and Joseph Heiser (1854 - 1932)
Joseph Roth (1858 - 1949) & Amelia Ropp (1857 - 1894) & Elizabeth Ropp (1859 - 1940)
Amos Roth (1860 - 1945) and Barbara Augsburger (1861 - 1917)
Jacob Roth (1863 - 1939) and Rosina Ringenberger (1872 - 1938)
Louisa Roth (1866 - 1940) and Joseph Rich (1861 - 1933)
Katie Roth (1869 - 1942) and Edward Rediger (1870 - 1945)
Daniel K. Roth (1872 - 1968) and Leanna Mosiman (1873 - 1958)
Mary Roth (1875 - 1959) and John Teuscher (1875 - 1935)


Catherine Ropp lent truth to the old adage that the first child usually resembles his or her father. Her stature and general appearance together with her personality and mannerisms gave her a right to say that she was Andrew Ropp's daughter. She was born in a two-room log cabin on December 27, 1835. She was given her Grandmother Catherine Ringenberger Werkler Engel's name. Her childhood home was a very busy place. Her father's farm quickly grew to a size that required them to hire farm laborers to help in the fields and young women to help with the cooking and cleaning. They had frequent company. Grandpa Andréas Ropp and her six Ropp uncles lived nearby and her mother's family close enough to visit occasionally. Because father was the bishop of their church, brethren frequently met in their home.

Catherine was the eldest of seven children. Her sister Elizabeth was born about two months before Catherine's second birthday and her youngest sibling Andrew was born when she was fifteen years old. She began doing chores at an early age - there was always work that needed doing. She attended both a private German school - German was the language in her home and church - and a public school where she learned English. When she married, she had the skills to manage a farm home, cook for family and company, and care for children. She was a capable young woman.

Catherine's first pregnancy ended with a surprise - twin daughters Jacobena and Veronica, who soon responded to the names Bena and Fannie, were born February 14, 1856. They were Andréas and Elizabeth Ropp's first great-grandchildren. Catherine and Daniel had three more daughters - Louisa was born in 1866, Katie in 1869, and Mary in 1875. They also had four sons - Joseph was born in 1858, Amos in 1860, Jacob in 1863, and Daniel in 1872. Catherine died February 27, 1885 at the age of forty-nine. Her four older children were married and living nearby. Her five younger children were still at home - her youngest daughter Mary was ten years old.

From Walter Ropp’s writings:
“At one time this area of the county was called “Roppland” because of the many Ropp families who owned approximately 2000 acres of land in this section. The home of Catherine’s parents was located on the Allentown-Pekin Road, approximately one and one-half miles east of Pekin. The house, a brick structure built in 1832, is still standing with many old-fashioned flowers and an old pine tree surrounding it.

“Grandmother Catharine received her education in a nearby school called “The Railroad School.” It was so named because the railroad ran along beside it. It is also interesting that this building was used for Sunday school and that a cemetery dotted with many pine trees, was located at the rear of the school. for many years this was an important landmark until one day the little school burned to the ground. It was thought that a spark from the train perhaps caused the fire. However, the old pine trees still remain, keeping vigil over those loved ones resting in the cemetery.”

Buried:
Pleasant Grove Mennonite Cemetery

Catherine married Daniel K. Roth on 27 Feb 1855 in Tazewell Co., IL. Daniel (son of Niklaus Roth and Verena (Veronica) Zimmermann) was born on 5 Feb 1833 in GR; died on 10 Feb 1922 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Tremont, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
The wedding was at home with her Uncle Christian officiating.

1. Jacobine Roth was born in 1856; died in 1924.
2. Veronica (Fannie) Roth was born on 14 Feb 1856 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; died on 17 Dec 1946 in Tremont, Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Tremont, Tazewell Co., IL.
3. Joseph Roth
4. Amos Roth
5. Jacob Roth
6. Louisa Roth was born on 29 Apr 1866 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; died on 7 Jan 1940 in Washington, Tazewell Co., IL; was buried on 9 Jan 1940 in Washington, Tazewell Co., IL.
7. Catherine (Katie) Roth was born on 15 Dec 1869 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; died on 1 Oct 1942 in Elgin, Cook Co., IL; was buried in Elgin, Cook Co., IL.
8. Daniel K. (D. K.) Roth
9. Mary Ann Roth was born on 29 Sep 1875 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; died on 28 Mar 1959 in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL; was buried on 1 Apr 1959 in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL.
10. Amelia Roth
11. Samuel Roth

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer, minister and bishop
• Religion: Amish
• Census: 1870, Tremont, Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

Ministers at Andrew’s funeral were Joseph Springer, Chr. Naffzinger, Andrew Buerky and Jacob Naffziger of Tazewell County and Joseph Buerky of Bureau Co. in the meetinghouse, and by J.P. Schmitt of Livingston Co. at the grave.

Owned land near Johannes Schrock and family in Tazewell Co., IL. Were the beginning of the Dillon Creek Amish settlement in 1834 when they settled 4 miles southeast of Pekin on Old State Rd.
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“Smoking a pipe was the common lot of men where the Ropp’s came from and each one of the old men did more or less piping. You’d expect energetic Andrew to be the heaviest smoker. He was. When he went on the road it was whip in one hand, reins in the other, the old pipe puffing along. Perhaps part of its companionship was that it gave him something to do.

“He was about average height (about five feet nine inches tall) and apparently never weighed over 165 pounds. His hair and beard were always cut true Amish man style. At that he could always say to the brethren, do as I do, and to the sister, do as mother does, and they would never need to wander away after strange fashion plates....

“When their daughters and sons married, each of them was given a farm....”
———————

According to Steve Estes in Living Stones: A History of the Metamora Mennonite Church, Andréw “served as minister of the Dillon Creek Congregation until about 1840 when he was ordained as bishop. He was described as a person made up on a ‘a large measure of push and energy and prompt decision, driven by a wish to succeed in building up a home and accumulating property.’ Ropp was an agricultural innovator but a religious conservative. His sincerity inspired deep devotion among many, but others criticized him as a minister who did more scolding, fault finding, and preaching on ‘dress,’ than preaching the Gospel. Ropp was assisted in the ministry by Peter Ropp (1815-1893) who became deacon about 1843 and Valentine Birky (1817-1856) who was ordained a minister of the word about 1847. Also known as the Pekin district, the Dillon Creek Congregation became the Pleasant Grove Mennonite Church now part of the First Mennonite Church in Morton, Illinois.”

Census:
Andrew age 63, farmer, born in France; wife Jacobine age 60, keeping house; child Andrew age 19, farmer, born Illinois.

Buried:
ite Cemetery

Andrew married Jacobina Vercler on 10 Apr 1834. Jacobina (daughter of Joseph Verkler, Sr. and Catherine Ringenberg) was born on 27 Apr 1811; died on 24 Jul 1885; was buried in Tremont, Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Pleasant Grove Mennonite Cemetery

Notes:

Married:
by Christian Engel

Other Events and Attributes:

• HEIG: Just Over Six Feet Tall; Lean And Muscular, Weighed About 165 Pounds In His Prime.
• Occupation: Farmer And Miller
• Religion: Amish Mennonite
• USR1: Old Age
• Residence: 1825-26, Altkirch, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, FR
• Immigration: 1826

Notes:

Obit: Herald of Truth, Vol V, No 11, November 1868

On the 14th of October, in McLean county, Illinois, of old age, Andrew Ropp, in the 92nd year of his age. His memory was good and he was rational to the last.

He has seven children living, all of whom were present except one, who was on a journey at the time. He had 82 children, grand-children and great grand-children, who are still living, and 20 which have died.

A large concourse of people were present at the funeral, and a discourse appropriate to the occasion was delivered by Pre Joseph Stuckey, from Rev 21. He was a member of the Amish Mennonite Church.
———————————
• Source: Amish Mennonites in Tazewell County, Illinois by Joseph Staker

"At the time of the marriage [Andreas' marriage to Elizabeth Eiman], Andreas's brother and sister were living at Jettingen. It is located about 10 miles southeast of Froeningen, midway on the 20-mile road between Altkirch and Basel, and less than 10 miles from the Swiss border community of Allschwil. Both Froeningen and Jettingen fall within the canton/department of Altkirch.
Elisabeth Eymann's first two children were born at Jettingen in 1807 and 1809. The birth entry of oldest child André (later bishop Andrew Ropp) describes father Andreas as André Ropp, a
29-year-old Anabaptist farmer and cultivator, married to 'Elisabetha Ayman.' Witnesses included 37-year-old Anabaptist farmer Jacob/Jacques Stauffer and his 21-year-old valet Joseph Burgermeister. Neither birth entry states that Andreas was actually a resident of Jettingen.

Their next three children were born at Falkwiller in 1810, 1812, and 1815.58 (The marriage entry of sister Catharine suggests that Andreas may have been living there as early as 1804). Christian Ropp wrote: “My father lived in Upper Alsace about six miles from Basel, two miles from Dammerkirch, and five miles from Belfort.” These were 'German miles': an hour's walk, or three English miles. The tiny village of Falkwiller is 5.8 miles north of Dannemarie, and the distances west to Belfort and southeast to Basel are approximately 15 and 18 miles. The largest employer in the area of Falkwiller was the Wasserhaus estate in adjacent Linden. 59 The Wasserhaus Château was destroyed after the French Revolution, and Linden no longer exists, but carp are still raised there in clay basins and man-made ponds created in the 16th century. Jean Burÿ [Buri], a witness on one Ropp family birth entry, was a laborer at Wasserhaus.
Andreas' ties to his uncle Joseph Ropp are apparent. Joseph was probably the reason that Andreas, his sister, and his brother are found in the Sundgau Region.

...Andreas may have been influenced just as much by his uncle Christian Rupp, who lived at a far greater distance. A number of coincidences link them:
Christian and Andreas were both very familiar with Amish Mennonite families on the opposite side of the Vosges Mountains in the tiny village of Hellocourt, Moselle (now Maizières-lès-Vic). It is likely Christian met them through his second wife, Magdalena Brechbühl; Brechbühls also married into the Vercler and Mosiman families.
Christian was a witness at the marriage of Peter Engel at Hellocourt in 1804. Peter was a son of elder Christian Engel, who Andreas later considered his 'cousin.'
Christian's children include Barbe, who married André Vercler; Joseph, who married Anne Mosimann; Jean, who married Marie Vercler; Elisabeth, who married Joseph Gerber and Joseph Augspurger; and Madeleine, who married Jean Salzman. Catherine Vercler, an older sister to the Verclers mentioned here, married Christian Bälzli/Belsely and lived at Azoudange; they were the parents of 'Red Joe' Belsley, who may have been the first Amish Mennonite to settle in Tazewell County (in a part that later became Woodford County). See the supplemental genealogy VERCLER.
Andreas Ropp's oldest son Andrew married Jacobina Vercler, from the next generation of this Hellocourt family.
And finally, two of Christian's great-grandchildren emigrated to McLean County, Ill., where they married two of Andreas Ropp's grandchildren (Marie A. Rupp and Peter S. Ropp, 1868; and Marie Anne Valerie Rupp and John S. Ropp, 1872). Andreas lived to see the first marriage."

Residence:
Farm Barthel Hutte

Buried:
Ropp Cemetery

Andréas married Elizabeth Eymann on 20 Mar 1806 in Lubine, Vosges, Bas-Rhin, FR. Elizabeth (daughter of Johannes Eymann and Anna Barbe Goldschmidt) was born in 1784 in Lubine, Vosges, Bas-Rhin, FR; died in 1834 in Butler Co., OH. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Date from Neil Ann Levine

Notes:

Birth:
1777 in the moulin de Sarreck?

Died:
5 Jan 1820 in Azoudange according to source #32

Joseph married Catherine Ringenberg on 9 Feb 1806 in Hellocourt, Maizieres-les-Vic, Moselle, FR. Catherine (daughter of Jean Ringenberg and Marie Engel) was born on 15 Sep 1788 in Imling, Moselle, FR; died on 26 Sep 1863 in IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1819, Hellocourt, Maizieres-les-Vic, Moselle, FR
• Residence: 1819, Azoudange, Moselle, FR
• Immigration: 1831, Baltimore, MD

Notes:

Birth:
LaForge mill. Birth year given as 1793 by source # 683.

Residence:
Farm of Baron Louis Grandjean, at time of her second marriage to Pierre Engel.

Residence:
Ferme de Boule

Immigration:
Catherine Angel, Passenger #41 with the Schrags and Salzmans

Notes:

Married:
At Ferme de Boule at Romecourt, FR according to source #32

Notes:

Birth:
?

Died:
Now Kaysersberg-Vignoble.

Johannes + Barbe Hochstettler. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Pre du Chene

Johannes + Anna Barbe Goldschmidt. Anna (daughter of Joseph Goldschmidt and Bachman) was born in 1750; died on 29 Oct 1819 in Niedernai, Bas-Rhin, FR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Riedhof (or Tauferhof) Obernai

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Meunier

Notes:

Worked at Sarreck mill at Oberstinzel until about 1790 when the family resettled in Hellocourt. Served as municipal official at Hellocourt for several years, signing documents.

Birth:
??18 Mar 1751, Oberstinzel, Fenetrange, Moselle, FR?

Joseph married Marie Abresol on 3 Apr 1777 in Oberstinzel, Fenetrange, Moselle, FR. Marie (daughter of Jacques Abresol and Anne Lichti) was born in 1757 in Diane-Capelle, Moselle, FR; died on 4 Jan 1829 in Azoudange, Moselle, FR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Husband Joseph Verkler worked at Sarreck mill at Oberstinzel until about 1790 when the family resettled in Hellocourt. Served as municipal official at Hellocourt for several years, signing documents.

Died:
near Hellocourt

Notes:

Married:
Moulin de Sarreck

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer at La Forge, Imling

Jean married Marie EngelImling, Moselle, FR. Marie (daughter of Christian Engel) was born about 1747; died on 27 Jan 1813 in Bébing, Moselle, FR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Of Xouaxange.

Died:
Rinting farm. Death reported by son-in-law André Rediger.

Notes:

Married:
At the mill la Forge near “Imlang.”