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CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ZUPP

(CHRISTIAN ZUPP)

History


Read the actual account in the "Biographical History of Crawford, Ida & Sac Counties, Iowa". Then return for an analysis of it.

One thing, whenever we read one of these fascinating county histories, we need to remember that rarely is anything first hand. The information given is frequently from a child - or even a grandchild - of the subject. The length of time between events can be longer or shorter, depending on who was doing the remembering. Even when the subject was still living, he had often reached the time in his life that he had told so many tales and things had happened so long ago that it might be difficult to recall the plain, bare, facts.

And then, the writer / editor must pull together a story and make it interesting reading to sell the books. This particular book was produced in 1893. There were no tape recorders. The person writing the vignettes needed to travel around to talk to many people and usually was not able to complete one subject, but needed to juggle the notes on several subjects.

Also, the grammatical conventions that were strictly adhered to in 1893 are in little use, today. The comma and semicolon when used and understood correctly can greatly increase the understanding of the meaning of the writer.

"... son of George Peter Zupp, a native of Paris, France. The latter was a veterinary surgeon by profession, and was a soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte, also in the Mexican war." We, as we read this, must be careful that we do not run all of these items together and think he was a blacksmith in Napoleon's army fighting the Mexican war. Not so!! We are not, really, able to tell just what was meant by "Mexican war" as it was understood by the writer. What is usually meant by "Mexican War" in the United States is the War between the two countries in the 1840's. It is unlikely a man in his 50's would have been involved - but we don't know, for sure. And, there was another "Mexican War" that did involve a man named Napoleon but that was much later - in the 1860's.

His wife's name is given as "Elizabeth Zeuder". Actually, it was Mary Elizabeth and what the last name was is a bit uncertain. The name "Zeuder" is from the Germany/Holland area. The name "Zender / Zehner" is from the Swiss or Swiss/German area. The article definitely states that they were married before they came to America.

"... The mother died in Ohio leaving a family of seven children, viz..." Mary Elizabeth Zupp was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery, Tymochtee, Wyandot, Ohio. Then proceeds to list the children. Let's count them: (1) W.Z. - (2) George P - (3) Christiana - (4) Margaret - (5) Caroline - (6) Henry - (7) C.C. - (8) John. How many did you get?

On the list of children, note carefully the punctuation.

    First child "W.Z." This is the little girl who died shortly before and is buried next to Elizabeth.

    Second child "George P." He is further identified as having served in an Ohio regiment in the Civil War. Other than the confusion over his middle initial as a "P" or a "W" (see Civil War page) , this tells us a good bit about him. If he was in an Ohio regiment, he did not move to Michigan.

    Third, fourth & fifth children are daughters "Christiana, Margaret and Caroline" . No further information is given on them. We do know that Christiana and Margaret married and stayed in Ohio.

    The sixth child "Henry" is noted as a resident of Michigan. This tells us that Henry was still alive as of the preparation of the book.

    The seventh child "C.C." has no more identification there. None was needed at that point as the whole article was about him.

    The eighth child "John" is noted as having served in the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry and is now deceased. John had actually died in the Civil War.

"... he enlisted in the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry, and after its close returned to Michigan..." "He was first married at the age of nineteen years, to Jennie Crawfoot ..." He married Mary Jane Crofoot (Jennie) on November 18, 1856 in Hillsdale, Hill, Michigan. He was 24 and she was about 16/17. They had moved to Iowa to claim land before their son, Almond Decatur, was born May 10, 1858. The Civil War started in 1861. He was in Iowa, proving up his land. His daughter, Ida had just been born in June and his wife, Jennie was about to die. They were living in Iowa - not Michigan.

"In 1867 Mr. Zupp was united in marriage with Julia Crawfoot, a sister of his former wife ...." February 4, 1863 he married Jennie's sister, Juliette and their first child, Mary Jennie was born March 18, 1863. Again, they were in Iowa.

(We can certainly see why there might be some forgetfulness about those dates! Remember, Chris' father, Peter remarried only 3 months after Chris' mother died.)

The sisters, Jennie & Julia were Mary Jane and Juliette Matilda Crofoot.

".. Belle, now Mrs. Mertell; .." Abbie Belle married Soren Christian Andersen Myrtue