When your name is Hopfer and you marry a Rabold, then have a bunch of children who take spouses names Frentzel, Bock, Bultmann, Franke, and Telle, you can be quite confident that your family was actively involved in the congregation of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Those surnames are ones that are included in a list that I would call “Uniontown Names”. Today’s tale begins with the birthday of a son whose parents arrived in America as part of the Gruber Group at the end of 1839. Rev. Gruber and quite a few of the passengers who were part of the Gruber Group established the congregation which eventually became named Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. However, in the early years of that church and the community in which it existed was known as Paitzdorf.

Johann Emanuel Hopfer was born on March 21, 1843, the son of Michael and Justine Christiane (Quaas) Hopfer. His baptism record from the books of Grace, Uniontown is displayed below. I have to show two images.

There are 11 children listed in our German Family Tree for the Michael Hopfer family. By the time of the 1850 census, we see this household with 7 children. Four more children would enter this family after this census, including a set of twins born in 1851. Emanuel is shown as being 8 years old, although I think he was only 7. His father was a cooper. Back in the first year of this blog, I wrote two posts about Emanuel’s parents, Cooper Hopfer and Frau Cooper Hopfer.

We find the Hopfer’s in the 1860 census where we see Emanuel at the age of 17. Two of the children born after the previous census died before this census was taken, including one of the twins.

Emanuel Hopfer served the Union Army during the Civil War. His older brother, Gotthold, also served during that war in the same unit. Here is a record of Emanuel’s military service.

Now, we need to turn our attention to Emanuel’s future bride. Her name was Amalie Caroline Rabold, who was born on January 3, 1847. Her parents were Johann Michael and Amelia (Schotte) Rabold. Let me backtrack a little to talk about how Caroline’s father came to America. We find her father on the passenger list for the ship, Favorite, that arrived in New Orleans in 1842. Aboard that ship was a young woman by the name of Johanna Caroline Richenbecker. These two are highlighted on the passenger list shown here.

Later in 1842, the two highlighted people got married at Grace, Uniontown. However, Johanna Caroline died in 1845. Michael Rabold then married Amalie Schotte in 1846. Caroline was the first child born to that couple. Her baptism record can be found in the Grace, Uniontown books.

Caroline Rabold is found in her first census in 1850. Caroline was shown as being 4 years old, but I think she was just 3. Her father was a farmer.

Next, we find Caroline in the 1860 census at the age of 13.

On June 24, 1867, Emanuel Hopfer married Caroline Rabold at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. We can view the church record for that wedding.

Our German Family Tree says 10 children were born to Emanuel and Caroline, but sadly, only 4 of them lived to adulthood. We find the Hopfer family in the 1870 census with one daughter. Emanuel’s parents were part of their household.

You have to look in the long-lost Union Township pages from the 1880 census to find the Hopfer household. Three children were included in this entry along with Emanuel’s mother.

We have to wait until 1900 to find the next census we can view. Three of their children were still in their household.

The last census in which we find Emanuel was the one taken in 1910. This time, a grandson by the name of Paul Bultmann was living with them.

Emanuel Hopfer died in 1914 at the age of 71. His death certificate says that typhoid fever was his cause of death.

Even though Emanuel died in 1914, the 1915 plat maps show a parcel of land in Emanuel Hopfer’s name. You can see that his farm was located not far from Uniontown.

The youngest Hopfer child, Rudolph, married Frieda Frentzel in 1915, and we find Caroline living in his household when the 1920 census was taken.

Caroline Hopfer died in 1925 at the age of 78. We can also view her death certificate.

The death certificates of both Emanuel and Caroline say that these two were buried in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown. However, neither one of them is found on the Findagrave.com website. That congregation has three separate cemeteries. One of those cemeteries is not very well documented. Findagrave only has 15 graves listed, and I know there are quite a few more located there. Emanuel’s parents are 2 of the 15 included in that cemetery, and I am reasonably sure that Emanuel and Caroline’s grave sites and gravestones can be found there.

Emanuel and Caroline Hopfer are yet another one of those couples whose records for birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death are found in the books of the same church. They spent their entire lives in the Uniontown area.