| Notes |
- Obituary:
Lydia Garber Ropp was born in Monroe County, OH, July 14, 1831, and passed away Jan. 16, 1909, aged 77 years, six months and two days.
She moved to Pekin, Ill., in her youth, at which place she was united in marriage to Moses Ropp, who preceded her to their Heavenly home Aug. 3, 1891.
To his happy union were born eight children, seven of whom are still living, namely: Rosina Heck, Berkley, KY; Lina Miars, Des Moines, Iowa; Edward Ropp, Berkley, Ky: Thomas Ropp, Washington, Ill.; Moses Ropp, Berkley, Ky.; Lydia Ropp, Pekin, Ill., and Pet Beadles, Berkley, Ky.
In 1884 they moved from Pekin, Ill., to Berkley, Ky., where she spent the remainder of her earthly life. In her girlhood she joined the Mennonite church and remained a faithful and devout member to the religion which she professed.
Her sickness and suffering was of short duration. She died as she had lived, in peace with God and men. Endowed with a strong, clear mind, a cheerful, loving disposition, a winning personality, she was honored and loved by all with whom she come in contact. No word of bitterness, no deed of unkindness, no act of unselfishness marred the beauty and harmony of her life.
A sweeter, purer, nobler life we have never known. So unstintedly did she contribute to the happiness of others that the Christly motto, I am among you as one that serveth, seemed to radiate from her presence.
The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Ben T. Huey and the Methodist quartet sang the songs, “Asleep in Jesus,” “The Open Gate,” “The Christian’s Good Night,” and “Nearer My God to Thee,” in a most touching way, after which she was laid away in the Berkley cemetery to await the resurrection. A Friend.
“… Today seven years ago we came to Berkley, Ky. with our family. We left behind us a nice and comfortable home and good society. Our children bid farewell to the school and playmates. All seemed to be sad to leave the pleasant old home where we had lived for 29 years, where our children were born, where so many pleasant incidents were associated with so many efforts in life.
“When we landed here in the midst of a wilderness and world of timber, only enough cleared ground for a house yard and saw mill, it would be in the course of the human events only natural to shed a few tears on such an occasion; it was somewhat like a separation between home and the grave.
“But after seven years of work, worry, and toil, we look back and take a review and feel thankful for the blessings received. Our lives with the exception of one (Rosina's husband Harvey Heck) have been spared. We have had reasonable good health. The wilderness and timber has disappeared. We are now surrounded by wheat and corn fields. We have a good school, a church house, good society, and a nice home.
“We render thanks to the dispenser of all good and hope that each succeeding year may be equally pleasant.
From Walter Ropp’s family stories: “Lydia, the fourth daughter, married Moses Ropp. He was nearly six foot four and fat enough to weigh 160. Garbers were inclined to be rather short. She was very short. When he extended his arm she could stand under it. Before they went to Kentucky they lived one and three quarter miles south and east of the old school house where he built a saw and flour mill in 1857. This became a busy place. By 188? there were several worker's cottages there and the white house where he was "Der Uncle Moses" and she "De Aunt Liddie" to 114 nephews and nieces, nearly all of them at home in Tazewell County–and I'm not counting children that died–only men and women. There were 46 Ropps, 37 Garbers, 10 Kings, 10 Kennels, 6 Schrocks, and 5 Ringenbergers.
“The Tazewell County Court House has a display of photographs of old settlers and men of long ago that has no equal in the United States, the work of a photographer named Cole. When he made a picture of these men he enlarged it to size and kept them till he had nearly one thousand. About 1875 a teacher in the school decided that she wanted a picture of each member of the board, and one morning going to Pekin she came out to the road and asked for one. No, he (Moses) had never had anything like that in the house. Then, would he go to Coles–she made arrangements. He went and his picture is in the display. When the news got home the first thing that Aunt Liddy said was, "Now he had to go just when he didn't have his best suit on."
“When the exhaustion of good timber and the rolling process of milling came, about 1882, he had to either quit or go elsewhere so he bought some heavy timberland in western Kentucky in 1884. The seven little Ropps were Rosina, Lina, Ed, Tom, Mo, Lydia and Pete.” [4]
|
1831 - 1909 (77 years)
