I love this group photo of my great-grandfather Clyde L. Stroup (third from right on the second row) and his fellow Cleveland and Nottingham Equipment Works Supervisors Club members. It was taken a few days after Joan's 12th birthday (the one where she received the piano I mentioned earlier this week).
We have plans to hang this photo in our powder room along with several other vintage group photos of various family members and their coworkers and friends. It should be cool!
For this week's installment of family stories, we're taking a look at my great-great grandparents, Joseph and Belle Stroup of Columbus, Ohio. I didn't even know my great-great grandmother's name until I discovered a treasure trove of history on the internet last week. My great-great grandmother was Belle M. Dunn before she married Joseph. Joseph was born in January 1866 to Anthony Jackson Stroup and Martha Caroline Puckett. He was a locomotive engineer. He died sometime between the 1900 and 1910 census.
He married Belle, who was born in April 1863 (an older woman!), in either 1884 or 1885. They had four children: one who died prior to 1900, Clyde (my great-grandfather who was born in May 1890), Howard F. Stroup (who was born in June 1892) and Joseph Earl P. Stroup (who was born on July 18, 1899).
After Joseph passed away, Belle became a laundress. My mother said she was responsible for our beautiful family quilts, although she kept them in a drawer and didn't share them with anyone. After her death, my great-grandmother inherited two that are now in my mother's care. Her hoarding ways turned out to be a positive, as they are in perfect condition today!
Here are the family photos:
My great-great grandfather Joseph Stroup
This is a photo of Joseph and Belle and two of their children. It is labeled Clyde and Earl, but after considering their birth years, I think the younger boy is Howard.
This is a photo of Joseph Stroup and Beecher Dumm, my grandmother's grandfathers. As Joseph died before 1910 and my great-grandmother Elsie didn't marry Clyde until 1920, I would assume their were either friends or business associates. It is a lovely photo.
Family history...isn't it fascinating?
My great-grandfather, Clyde L. Stroup, suffered from polio and died before my mother was two years old. Joan told her that he taught her to walk by luring her along with his cane. After his death, my great-grandmother remarried, and she and her second husband moved from Ohio to California. We don't really know much about my great-grandfather, as everyone who knew him is gone. I hope that by digging through the boxes of old photos and papers that I'll be able to learn more about him. I also did a Google search and found out a little more about his parents. The internet can be such a marvel sometimes!
Here are the photos I've found and scanned so far:
Clyde and Elsie with their first granddaughter, Kathryn Elizabeth (Kathy) Stroup.
The sweet program from Clyde's memorial service in 1958.
Clyde L. Stroup in 1900 at age 10!
My very favorite photo of him. He has a sparkle in his eyes, and I like his polka dot tie!
