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Its not much, but this little death announcement confirmed something that I believed. This is the obituary of my 3rd-great grandmother, Helena Grupp (Garrison side).
Several sources listed John Grupp’s wife as Elizabeth Schelling, born England – 1849, but this information conflicted with other, more consistent, information:
- -Every census listed the mother of John’s first 8 children as being born in Germany, not England.
- -Every census for John listed his arrival as being from Germany about 1866. (his oldest 3 children were born in Germany).
- -1870 census listed John’s wife as “Laney”, 34 years old, born in Hessen-Darmstadt (Germany). (Also John’s POB.)
- -Every census after 1870 listed John’s wife as Elizabeth (some said born, England)
- -1877 Charles Grupp was born; his parents were both listed as born in Germany. The children born after Charles were listed as Father-Germany, Mother-England.
- -Daughter Helena’s (Wigley) 1925 death certificate listed her mother as “Elizabeth Schelling, born England”. This conflicted with every census on which Helena appeared.
All this led me to believe John’s first wife, “Laney”, died between the Nov. 1877 birth of Charles and Jun 5, 1880 (date the census was recorded). And, because John’s second daughter’s name was Helena (my 2nd g.g.), I surmised that “Laney” could be short for Helena and maybe mother and daughter shared the same name. But without confirmation all I had was a theory — until Friday.
The obituary confirmed my belief. On May 23, 1879, Helena Grupp, age 37, died. Unfortunately, the death notice didn’t include the name of her parents. Indications are that there is no death record for Helena, although I am still going to submit a query to the State Archives. The cemetery where she is buried is very small; only 1 city block square and located in a Chambersburg neighborhood. The cemetery looks to be full and there is no on site office, so the burial records may no longer exist.
