Family Ties - Part I

Standing l-r: May CUPP, "Robin" CUPP, "Josie" (nee Cupp) MORRIS
Seated, their parents Wm Cornwell CUPP & Sarah (nee DENHAM) Cupp
(From Wordless Wednesday: CUPP Family Portrait)

On my mother's side, the CUPP, MORRIS and DENHAM families
intermarried repeatedly during migrations westward from
Pennsylvania to Illinois, Iowa, and after the Civil War,
to Kansas. At the beginning of the 1900s, several moved
en masse to California, but remained intertwined.

The journey through the family archives begins with
Wm "Will" Cornwell CUPP's paternal grandparents,
James & Abigail (nee CORNWELL) McCLELLAN.

When this photo was made about 1870,
James and Abigail had been married for 55 years.
Perhaps he was amused because she so obviously wasn't?

In Feb 1846, James & Abigail's daughter Mary Weaver McCLELLAN married Michael R. CUPP in Preston Co, Virginia (now WV). Read about their life in Illinois and Kansas, and then the trouble greedy son Jerry heaped on Mary after Micheal's death.

Now we backtrack a bit to the DENHAMs.

Sarah Amanda "Sallie" DENHAM was the youngest daughter and last of the nine children of Obed William DENHAM and first wife Elizabeth LANGLEY (or Langdon).

The story of Obed and second wife Nancy bringing little Sarah to Kansas is included in my quest to find Elizabeth's grave in Iowa (as well as the grave of Obed's sister).

Sarah DENHAM married Will CUPP in Coffey Co, KS. In 1890, their oldest daughter Eunice Josephine "Josie" CUPP married Samuel Grant MORRIS, son of "Capt. John" Turner MORRIS.

In 1860, Sarah's sister Mary Ellen DENHAM had married William Edward KERBY, and their son Clark Edward KERBY married Sam MORRIS's sister Addie in 1885. The families became even more intertwined when another of Sam's sisters, Jennie May, married Albert Isaac CUPP, oldest son of Sarah and Will Cupp as well as being Josie Morris's brother.

Is it any wonder then that I had quite a time figuring
out the relationship of these girls to each other?

(back) Clara "Ettie" CUPP, Florence MORRIS
(middle) Orel N., Ethel Gladys MORRIS
(front) Carrie Ellen KERBY
(The answer is in Tale of Two Florences)

Sam Grant MORRIS died in 1925, and "Aunt Josie" focused on helping mother Sarah with the now-invalid Will CUPP until his death in 1932.
Sarah, Will, Sam and Josie had been in the migration from KS to CA.
After Will's death, Sarah decided - at the age of 83 - that
she "didn't know enough" and enrolled in college!

Are you totally confused now?
Be glad I haven't tried to explain how this bunch
is related to Revolutionary War patriot Isaac WEAVER!

No comments: