I could call today’s main character Kaspar or Kasper or Casper or Caspar. A variety of spellings show up for this man’s first name. I am going to use the one that is carved on his tombstone…Kasper. He is today’s main character because he is also today’s birthday boy.

Kasper Ruppel was born on December 3, 1824. That means that today would be his 201st birthday. It also means that I must have missed him a year ago when he had his bicentennial birthday. Perhaps that is because he did not appear in our German Family Tree until the Trinity, Friedheim books were added to that document. Kasper was the son of Friedrich and Appolonia (Frank) Ruppel. Kasper was born in Rodheim, Germany, and I located his baptism record from the books of the parish found in that city. His name, which can be found in the right margin in this image, was spelled Kaspar.

Kasper would get married in Germany before he brought his family to America. His wife was Margaretha Schaefer, who was born on May 4, 1822. Margaretha was the daughter of George and Brigitta (Becker) Schaefer. Like her future husband, Margaretha was born and baptized in Rodheim, Germany. Her baptism record is pictured here.

By the way, I did a search on our blog for the name, Rodheim, and I discovered that two other surnames I have written about on this blog have hailed from that city. Those names are Schaefer and Ludwig. Now, we can add Ruppel to that list.

Family Search says that Kasper Ruppel married Margaretha Schaefer on June 6, 1847, but there is no documentation for it. Four children were born to the Ruppel’s in Germany. Then in 1855, the Ruppel’s made the voyage to the United States aboard the ship, Nuremberg. The passenger list showing the Ruppel family is displayed here. Included on the image below, you will find Margaretha’s mother, Brigitta Schaefer, as well as the Johann Ludwig family, who also settled in this area.

The Ruppel family settled in the Apple Creek Township in the northern part of Cape Girardeau County. Four more children were born in America, but I did not find any baptism records for them in the German Family Tree. When the 1860 census was enumerated, we find the Ruppel household that included 5 children. Kasper was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Kasper spent some time in the Union Army during the Civil War. His military record is found below.

In the 1870 census, the Ruppel’s had all 8 of their children in their household. Kasper and several of his older sons were doing the farming. You can also see that the first 4 children were born in Hesse, Germany, and the last 4 were born in Missouri.

Margaretha Ruppel died in 1873 at the age of 50. I found her death record in the books of the Arnsberg Lutheran Church. I have to display it in 2 images.

So, when the 1880 census was taken, we find Kasper as a widower. Just two sons were living with their father.

The last census in which can view Kasper is the one taken in 1900. His son, Henry, had married Marie Lydia Bodenschatz in 1892, and that couple had several children prior to this census. That family was living with Kasper. They were still farming in the Apple Creek Township.

In a later plat map produced in 1915, we find the Henry Ruppel land located in an area between Friedheim and Arnsberg. I have to think that this is the land that was farmed by Kasper during his lifetime.

Kasper Ruppel died in 1905 at the age of 80. Kasper and Margaretha are each buried in the Arnsberg Lutheran Cemetery. However, Findagrave.com only includes a gravestone for Kasper.

Of all the Ruppel children, it is the Henry Ruppel family that has plenty of church records found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. Friedheim is just down the road from Arnsberg. I also have to think that there is a good chance that Margaretha may have been related to the many other Schaefer’s that once lived in the Old Appleton vicinity.