Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Who's That Girl?


Several months ago, my dad sent me this photo which was labeled "Margaret Catherine Coppenbarger." But, there's a problem: we don't have anyone on our family tree named Margaret Catherine Coppenbarger. So, who was this young lady?



Thankfully, my dad recently realized he had another copy of the same photo! And, this one was labeled slightly different. It is labeled "Matilda Katherine Coppenbarger Bro. to Josiah." Of course, it should say she's Josiah's sister, not brother, but we do know the identities of both Josiah and Matilda.

Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger (1844-1934) was my great, great grandfather. He was the son of Peter Coppenbarger (1817-1847) and Mary "Polly" Randolph (1818-1885). Since Peter died at the young age of 30, he and Polly only had 3 children: Josiah, Matilda Katherine who also went by Kate (who is the girl photographed), and William Frank who also went by Cottie. Polly was married two more times - once before Peter and once after Peter - so Josiah also had step-siblings.

Matilda Katherine Coppenbarger (1848-1899) married Robert F Barnett (1843-1912) in DeWitt County, Illinois in 1868. She and her husband had three children and were living in Sumner County, Kansas by 1875. She is buried in Grant County, Oklahoma, where she was likely living at the end of her life.


My dad put the photos side-by-side for comparison. Isn't it interesting how two copies of the photo aged differently?

Are we related? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

6 comments:

  1. Two copies of the photo, very different in the way Matilda looks, and two different captions. Hmmmm. Do you know what happened to this lady's children?

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    1. Marian, I'm working on it! Thanks for asking. Maybe one of her direct descendants will have more photos. Or, just appreciate seeing these.

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  2. My ancestors were in DeWitt County in that time frame. In fact, my 2x great grandfather, Salmon Waller, died in 1868. I like to think my ancestors and yours were friends!

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    1. How neat, Debi! I had a LOT of Coppenbargers in DeWitt County. Catherine's parents had a dozen children who lived to adulthood and, I believe, all had families of their own. Unfortunately, I don't see any Wallers at my tree... yet. :)

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    2. I have McAboys and a few other surnames that aren't coming to mind right now in DeWitt County. My great grandmother was born there in 1883 and was the youngest of 5 children - they moved to California sometime after she was born. We need to compare notes - maybe they were neighbors.

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    3. Would love to! You can email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

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Color Clustering: Top 25 Fourth Cousins

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