Rosa Holpp nee Schmitt
16 Feb 1860 to 13 Nov 1948
Rosa Schmitt was the third child of Joseph and Margaretha Schmitt. It appears that she had a pretty comfortable childhood as Joseph was a property owner and a well to do businessman (Schmitt & Storm Segar company, later became the well known Owl Cigar Company).
There is a tin type of Rosa with her mother and all of her sisters except for Anna who was already married. I think that the photo is probably from the 1880’s based on the relative ages of the girls and their clothing (quite fancy). There are actually quite a few tin types of Rosa as a young married woman so they were well enough off to afford getting their pictures taken.
Rosa married Heinrick Georg Friedrich Holpp (Henry Holpp) on 12 September 1883 (when she was 23 years old). The marriage was witnessed by Mary K. Pauly, Henry’s sister, and Joseph Schmitt (Jr.), Rosa’s brother. A first son was born dead 11 December 1884 (Long Island City, Queens, NY). Rosa must have gotten pregnant shortly after that as her next child was born 21 October 1885 (Emily Agusta Holpp, known to my mother as “Aunt Emily”). Rosa’s father Joseph died of stomach cancer 28 January 1887 and her next daughter was born later that year, Hilda Marie Holpp, 23 April 1887. Alvin Frederick Holpp was born 31 July 1889. Rosa didn’t fare well after that birth and was sickly for quite a while—a tin type photo of Rosa and Alvin shows them both looking rather peaked. Heinrick Carl Holpp was both 15 Jan 1891 (Uncle Carl). Unfortunately, Alvin died the following month, 6 Feb 1891. There is quite a long gap before the birth of Margaret Vollmer Holpp on 5 July 1897. Rosa was 37 when Margaret (also known as Gretchen) was born. Margaret’s middle name of Vollmer references Rosa’s mother’s maiden name.
Henry Holpp was also in the cigar business at some point and also seems to have had a store which sold prints. He was in partnership with Frederick Storm who is probably the grandson of George Storm that was Joseph Schmitt Sr.’s partner. Things didn’t go well—the family story is that the partnership between Henry Holpp and Frederick Storm was dissolved—Frederick Storm was supposed to pay off the creditors but instead took the money and his family off to Europe. A photograph identified as Frederick Storm includes my grandmother’s note “cheated my father.”
The 1900 Census shows the family living on Bloomfield Ave in Passaic, with Henry listed as a cigar manufacturer and Rosa having the occupation of “Canvasser.” Emily was 15, Hilda was 13, Carl was 9, and Margaret (Gretchen) was 3.
Henry Holpp died 17 August 1901 in Morris Plans, NJ. Cause of death is listed as “convulsions” in the undertaker’s record. His street address was Sherman Ave. and his funeral was conducted by his Masonic lodge brothers. My mother never shared any information about Henry Holpp, probably because her mother was only 4 when he died. I don’t think he was much of a businessman but whether there was anything more unsavory than that remains a mystery. There are quite a few photos of Henry as a younger man, and also some of Henry and Rosa early in their marriage, including one that looks like a Niagara Falls background.
In the 1910 census, Rosa and her children now own a home on Paulison Ave in a swanky neighborhood in Passaic. Emily is a telephone operator, Hilda is a stenographer, and Carl is a clerk in a florist shop. Rosa is listed as having her own income—was that from some kind of settlement or insurance policy from Henry? There is also the interesting note that when Rosa’s mother Margaretha died in 1904, a very nice gravestone was put on the plot in the Greenwood Cemetery (the one that Joseph bought for his family members). Margaretha’s deceased stepsister in law Barbara Magenheimer was moved to the same plot at that point. The Magenheimers had a prosperous candy store in Brooklyn so there might have been some money from that side as well.
Rosa and the children were living at the Paulison Ave. address in 1907—a newspaper article outlines an incident where several houses including Rosa’s were burgled. It doesn’t seem like the criminals got away with much—one gentleman’s trousers were taken but otherwise not much. It was probably quite unsettling.
The 1915 NJ Census shows the family still at 74 Paulison Ave. Hilda married Christian Asmus Hansen in 1915 so she has left. Emily is 29 and her occupation is listed as “Business”—Carl is 23 and is listed as a florist. They still own the house. In the summer of 1915 Rosa (having been in ill health) and Margaret go on the famous trip out west (where Margaret rides a burro down into the Grand Canyon). They are presumably visiting all the relatives in San Francisco including Rosa’s sister Anna and her family, one branch of the Magenheimer’s that went west (“Uncle Magenheimer’s house in California”), and maybe the Hugs, or even some Vollmers. There are Vollmers in San Francisco at this point but I can’t confirm that they are the same Vollmers as our family.
WW 1 affected the family in several ways. Margaret was in love with a young man from West Point who went to war (after having been warned off by Hilda for which Margaret never really forgave her). Carl went to Europe and was listed as killed in action. This triggered a stroke from which Rosa never properly recovered (never walked again). He was later found to be alive and returned home. He went on to marry Neva Nixon who was the sister of a young man that was in the trenches with Carl. The story was that his dead body was on top of Carl when the Germans came through polishing off the survivors and they didn’t see that Carl was still alive.
The 1920 Census finds the family back together living at 158 Gregory Ave, Apartment 108. I wonder why they left the Paulison Ave. house? Perhaps they could no longer afford the mortgage with Carl gone to war and Rosa having become an invalid. Margaret (22) graduated from Trenton Normal School in 1910 so she is now a teacher. Carl (27) is a florist and Emily (32) is a telephone operator.
By 1925, Carl is now married to Neva and Rosa is living with them in Mamaroneck, NY (74 Boston Post Road, multiple family dwelling). Carl and Neva have a 3 year old daughter named Georgia.
In 1930 they have moved to 20 Spruce Road in Larchmont, in a house worth $12500. Carl has a florist shop and the family lives comfortably. This situation continues through 1940. Interestingly, the house value drops to $11000 and the address is Glenn Road but it appears to be adjacent to Spruce Road so I think it’s the same house.
Margaret married Ray Woodruff Dutcher in 1926. They lived in Ridgewood in Bergen County NJ. Ray’s mother Sarah Ella lived with them through their whole married life (not very happily) until sometime in the late 40’s when Neva said that she couldn’t take care of Rosa anymore and Rosa had to go to live with the Dutchers. Grandma Dutcher was sent to live with her daughter Ella Romig but that didn’t last long as she was such a difficult woman. She ended up in a nursing home and Ray visited her regularly (long bicycle ride).
Rosa had a stroke which caused her to die 13 November 1948. My father once said that he knew her and that she was a very sweet lady. This is confusing to me as my parents didn’t marry until 1954 and I don’t know when he would have been able to meet Rosa. He would have had to be on good enough terms with Mom to have visited her home before Rosa’s death in 1948 which does not seem possible because I don’t think they met until after Mom graduated from Cornell in 1952. I don’t think my dad ever met her. I suspect that the sweet lady was actually my grandmother Margaret, Rosa’s daughter.