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- “Daniel Ropp was Joseph and Catherine Ropp's second son and their fifth child. He was born August 20, 1855 in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois. His parent's farm was his childhood home. Here he acquired the skills to be a successful farmer in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He helped his father care for their animals - the horses, cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. He learned how to care for the leather tack needed to harness the horses to the buggies, wagons, and farm implements. Dan soon knew how to care for the orchard and garden. As he matured, he helped with the heavy work - plowing and harvesting. In the winter he chopped and split wood for the fires. There was work for all seasons.
Dan attended Railroad School - by his accounts and those of others, he was a mischievous boy, but certainly not the only one. School and work on the farm occupied most of his time - but there was time for play and other social activities. He learned to hunt and fish. Once or twice a year, several families would meet at the Mackinaw River Dells and spend the day socializing and fishing. Butchering was sometimes a joint venture with several families sharing the work. Dan and the other children enjoyed these gatherings - there was always a good meal and time to play corner ball or some other game.
In 1866, his mother decorated eggs for Easter. She wrote “D Ropp 1866” on one of the eggs. His cousin Mary (Uncle Peter's daughter) saw the egg and commented on how pretty it was. Dan gave it to her. She kept it her entire life. Dan was born into a close-knit Amish community. Uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents lived nearby. It was a good place to grow up.
When Dan was nineteen, the family moved to the Amish community northeast of Washington, Illinois. For the next five or six years, he worked there. In 1880 Sarah Garber, a former schoolmate who had moved with her family to Missouri in 1870, returned to Illinois for a visit. Sara had driven a mule-pulled wagon loaded with household furnishings from southeastern Missouri to Illinois for her cousins Lydia and Fred Metz. When she had moved to Missouri, Sarah was eight years old and of little interest to Dan. Now she was eighteen and she attracted his attention. Soon they were making wedding plans. On January 6, 1882, Dan and Sarah were married.
Dan and Sarah Ropp lived on a farm in the Grandview, MO area. After Dan died, Sarah moved to Grandview and lived across the street from the President Truman family. [1, 4]
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1855 - 1946 (90 years)
