Henry Holpp (Heinrich Georg Fredrich Holpp)

B. 10 July 1846, D. 17 Aug 1901

Third child of Adam Holpp (1808-) and Elizabeth Graulach (1810-1849)

Siblings: Mathilde  Friedrerike Holpp Kiehn (8 Jun 1839-1885), Carl Friedrich Holpp (3 Oct 1842), Maria Fredericke Holpp Pauly (7 Jan 1845-1925), Conrad Friedrich Holpp (23 Sept 1848-14 Jan 1849).  The family lived in Stuttgart, Wurttemberg, Germany although Carl Is listed as being born in Calw, Schwartzwaldkreis, Wurttemberg so there might have been a move between 1846 and 1848.

Henry is listed in the 1870 census, aged 24, living in New York and in the same rooming house with a Frederic Holpp, aged 59.  Both are listed as born in Prussia and Henry’s occupation is “Segar Maker” which fits.  Was Frederic a relative?  Seems likely but I haven’t been able to identify him.  His year of birth would have been 1808 so it’s always possible that he’s actually Adam Holpp, or maybe a brother of Adam’s.

Henry became a naturalized citizen on 10 Oct 1868—his address is 95 Eldridge St., NYC.  The naturalization papers show his signature which matches examples from other documents.

I can’t find Henry in the 1880 census (yet).  He married Rosa Schmitt on 12 Sep 1883 in Manhattan with his sister Maria Fredericke Holpp Pauly as one of the witnesses (along with Rosa’s brother Joseph Schitt, Jr.) Joseph Schmitt Sr. had retired from his cigar manufacturing business in 1872, but there were probably still close ties within the community that would have perhaps led to Rosa and Henry becoming acquainted and deciding to marry.

The next census appearance for Henry is 1900, living Rosa and his children Emily, Hilda, Carl, and Margaret (Gretchen).  They are renting a house at 76 Bloomfield Ave. in Passaic, NJ.

Henry is listed consistently in the Jersey City/Hoboken directory from 1875 through 1901 so it’s possible to track his addresses and businesses.

*These two listings are for a Henry G. Holpp, so might be a different person.

Henry was in business with a man called William M. Greve in the early 1880’s, right around the time of his marriage.  Mr. Greve’s health appears to have deteriorated.  He died in 1897 and Henry was one of the witnesses to his will (dated 1887).  Henry had to sign the probate papers to confirm that he was a witness when Mr. Greve died in 1897—it’s interesting to see that Henry’s signature is a bit shaky by now, suggesting that his own health was declining.

There are some news articles about Henry and his shop.  The Passaic Daily News had a report on 14 July 1891 about a boat that was being displayed in Henry’s cigar store on Main Ave. On 23 Apr 1896 there is a little snippet about Henry moving his family to Oradel in Bergen County but continuing his business in Passaic.  An advertisement from 26 March 1895 shows that his store also sold engravings, etchings, and fine mezzo tints. On 8 March 1898 there is a note that he has opened a cigar store at 241 Passaic St.  An article from 28 December 1893 lists Henry as Tiler in the New York Lodge of the Masons (New York Times).  A look back article from 1946 suggests that he retired from his store at 160 Main Ave. in 1896 (Passaic Herald-News). Some articles from the time of his death show that the local Passaic Lodge took care of his funeral although they indicate that he was a member of Lodge 330 in NYC.

There is a family story about Henry being in business with a man called Frederick Storm. I think that Frederick was the grandson of the Frederick that was in business with Joseph Schmitt and later John Straiton (Straiton and Storm, later the Owl Cigar Company).  The story is that the partnership between Henry and Frederick dissolved and that Frederick took all the money, ostensibly to pay off the creditors of the business, but instead he went to Europe with his family and left Henry holding the bag.  I wonder a bit if it had to do with the store that Henry opened in 1898.   The annotation on the picture of Frederick Storm that was kept with the family photos is that he “committed suicide” although I can’t find any information to support this.  It’s a little weird that the photo of the man that “cheated my father” was kept all these years along with the family pictures, kind of like picking at a sore.  Henry’s last photo shows him at 55 years old and not looking very well. He died in 17 August 1901 in Morris Plains, NJ, of “convulsions,” whatever that means.  He was buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Passaic, NJ on 20 August 1901.  The remains of his little son Alvin who had died in 1891 were removed from where they had been interred in Valleau Cemetery in Passaic (with Christian Pauly, Henry’s brother in law) and reburied in the plot with Henry.  Later, Rosa would also be buried with him at Cedar Lawn, and still later his daughters Emily and Margaret, along with Ray W. Dutcher, Margaret’s husband.

I have always had the impression that there was something not quite ok about Henry Holpp, like maybe he was a bad businessman, or kind of gullible to allow himself to be rooked.  In reviewing all of the material presented here, I’ve come to think of him as a bit of a go getter. He had the business on Montgomery for at least 6 years and the Holpp and Greve business for at least a couple of years which may have led him back to NYC in the early 1880s. His Main Ave. business was good for at least 5 years (1891-1896).  He was astute enough to get himself listed in the directories in Jersey City and NYC so he had some kind of sense of marketing.  I just wish there had been more stories about him, something that my grandmother might have had to say.  Margaret was born in n1897 so she was a very little girl when her father died in 1901 and her mother was left in a possibly precarious situation so it could be that Henry’s name was under a cloud since he appears to have died after losing his shirt.  I wonder how Rosa managed to keep things together.  There might have been insurance money or something because she was able to buy the house on Paulison Ave. by 1910 so something must have worked out for her. 

Henry’s two sisters, Matilde and Maria both lived in the same area and it appears that the families had some contact.  There are two pastels of Maria and her husband Christian Pauly in beautiful oval gilt frames with convex glass which hung in my grandparents’ house in great honor for many years so there must have been some good attachments there.