Jake Popp's wife

G'morning!  I'm off soon to have coffee at Kay's Kitchen with Mog, but I wanted to share this first.  It's another treasure from the Pictorial Atlas--the wedding photo of Mary Gottwalt and Jacob Popp (who became the parents of Ilene, Loren, Eugene, Virginia and Marlys Popp...☺).

Mary here was the daughter of Rose Hesch, Grandpa Anton's oldest sibling, and Louis Gottwalt.  If you scroll back to the previous post and check the 1925 photo, Mary's in the back row, next to Jake.

Oh, and see where Mom got my first name?  Marlys Popp married Ray Schlichting, and they lived near Rice.
The day before mom died, she drove to Mayhew Lake to attend Marlys' funeral.  Full circle, huh?

Related (pun intended ☺):  

Isn't this a cool photo?  Since Jake had more than two brothers, I figure this pic was of the two nearest in age to him, namely Ed and Leo, youngest sons of Joseph and Mary Popp.

My dad, Mike

Dad was 68 67 when he died in 1981 1980.  He'd served in WWII, and one of his wartime buddies, Eugene Popp,  was at the funeral.  He was talking with my sister and she mentioned dads' box of souvenirs and how he'd never talked about what he did in the war.  Did they see a lot of combat?  Had they been 'front lines'?

Dad's papers say he took part in battles and campaigns in "Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes & Central Europe".  So yes, a lot of combat, including the Normandy Invasion--but how did they survive such awful conditions?  Eugene said they were not front line soldiers...they were second wave landing at Normandy on day 6.  He said the front lines were made up of city boys and glory seekers...but that the farm boys who came later had upper body strength and ingenuity, and they lasted in a fight.
Dad and Eugene survived and came home.  They married and raised families and tried to forget about the war.  I suspect Eugene never talked about his own part in WWII, but he was willing to speak of dads.  We just never realized dad would have done the same.

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How many ways are we related to Popps?

I just came home from a reunion of the descendants of Wenzel Popp--what a blast!  No, there's no Popp in my veins ☺, but there are several connections by marriage.

First, a little info about Wenzel.  Born in northern Bohemia in 1824, he homesteaded in North Prairie, Mn in 1877, where he died in 1878.  Wenzel had married twice, the second time to a widow with kids, and they had 3 more children together.

One connection-- Wenzel's son Joseph married Mary Klein.  Their son Jake Popp was Eugene's dad, and their daughter Anna was...see below..
(Eugene and Regina Popp had kids who were about our ages, and we visited them often, growing up).

Another connection--Paul Hesch's oldest daughter, Rose, married Louie Gottwalt, and TWO of their daughters married Popps  (Mary Gottwalt married Jake Popp, and Rose Gottwalt married Leo Popp...a two-way link).

More connections:  Uncle Eddie's mom was Anna, daughter of Joseph Popp and Mary Klein.  Eddie Janish, Idella Janish and Irene Janish all married Heschs.  A three way link!

LOL...the other link, I believe, was Eugene's sister Marlys...probably my namesake, as well as his own daughter Marlys.

(A speculative connection might also be thru Mary Klein--was she an aunt to Max, who married Lucy Hesch?  The Klein homeplace was right across the river from Two Rivers township, in Langola, Benton Co--Whew!)

But THIS last link is especially fun, since I just investigated the Minneapolis, St Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad.  The reunion was held at the Bowlus Community Center, in a re-constructed building that sits where the old train depot was--right beside the Rails to Trails Soo Line bikepath.
So how come the sign omits Genola/Pierz, Onamia, and Duluth?
Because now, it directs users of the trail, and the Soo line becomes an ATV trail beyond "Hwy 10".



Pretty cool, huh?