We are going to celebrate the 125th anniversary of a couple today. The groom will introduce us to not only a new surname for this blog, but also a new first name. The story begins in Perry County, Missouri but ends up in Illinois. We will start with the bride, who is the reason this couple makes it into our German Family Tree.

Emma Sophia Hoff was born on September 15, 1876, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dippold) Hoff. If you go back far enough, you will find this surname spelled Hof, but would eventually be spelled with a double “f”. Emma was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. For church records from that congregation, we have to depend on transcriptions we have in an Immanuel Lutheran Church binder found in our research library. The one for Emma spells her name as Hof.

Emma is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. She was part of a large Hoff household. There are a dozen children listed in our German Family Tree for John and Elizabeth Hoff. Emma’s father was a farmer in the Bois Brule Township.

That 1880 census entry would be the only one in which we find Emma unmarried. So, we will turn our attention to the man who would become her husband. His name was Orpha Charles Woolbright, who was born on January 18, 1878. Orpha was the son of Samuel and Emaline (Orvis) Woolbright. The Woolbright name had migrated from Virginia to Alabama and Mississippi before landing in Perry County, Missouri. I am not aware of where Orpha would have been baptized. Orpha is found in the 1880 census at the age of 2. He is incorrectly listed as a daughter. Orpha’s father was a farmer in the Bois Brule Township.

Orpha Woolbright married Emma Hoff on October 17, 1898, and as I said before, today would be this couple’s 125th wedding anniversary. This pair was married by a justice of the peace in Claryville, which was located in the Bois Brule Township. We can view their Missouri marriage license.

I think the Woolbright’s had 4 children. When the 1900 census was taken, we find them living in the Bois Brule Township where Orpha was a farmer. The census taker wrote Orpha’s name as Arthur. Right above their entry you find Orpha’s parents. Orpha and Emma had one son born in 1899 that is included in their household. However, we also find a 7 year-old orphan named Dolly Allen living with them. It is quite the coincidence that a man named Orpha was housing an orphan.

During the next decade, the Woolbright’s relocated to Centralia, Illinois. In the 1910 census, we find them with 4 children, and Orpha was a farmer.

In 1918, Orpha had his World War I draft registration completed. He was no longer a farmer. He is called a hoisting engineer for the Marion County Coal Company. That likely meant that he operated the machinery that operated elevators transporting coal or people from down in the coal mines up to the surface.

The 1920 census describes Orpha as an engineer for a coal mine. Two of the Woolbright children were also in the work force. Otis, their son, was a coal miner, and Esther, their daughter, was a grocery store clerk.

The last census in which we find Orpha was the one taken in 1930. Orpha, at the age of 52, had the same job at the coal mine.

Orpha Woolbright died in 1937 at the age of 59. An Illinois death record shown below gives quite a few details about his life.

Emma is found as a widow in the 1940 census. She was still living in Centralia. Just one daughter, Inez, was living with her, and she was a waitress at a restaurant.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Emma and Inez were still living together in Centralia.

Emma Woolbright died in 1960 at the age of 84. Both Orpha and Emma are buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Centralia, but Findagrave.com has no gravestone photos to accompany their grave sites.

Now you know another story that comes out of the Hoff family, one that introduces us to the surname, Woolbright. The Woolbright’s were found living in the Mississippi River bottoms in Perry County for a short time. I have to also admit that I have never known a man named Orpha. Perhaps you have, but I daresay that it is not very common. The location, Centralia, has only appeared once in a previous post on this blog and only got a brief mention. One more thing that was new to me before this story. I had never heard of a hoisting engineer. The bottom line is that I never know where one of these blog posts will lead me or what they will teach me.