Scott, I'm going to copy your message to the Kosciusko County mailing
list, there may be RAPP researchers on the list that can help you.
You are correct, there are no birth records in Kosciusko County before
1882.
Gene Andert
County Coordinator
Kosciusko County, IN USGenWeb Project
gandert(a)mac.com
On Nov 5, 2008, at 6:11 PM, Scott Oppenlander wrote:
Gene -
My name is Scott Oppenlander and I've been trying to get through two
'brick walls' in Indiana for the last several years.
My gggrandfather was Chris Oppenlander, b1837 in Germany, came through
Indiana on his way to Kansas. He married Catherine Rapp (b 1849 IN)
in 1868 in Syracuse.
I've never been able to find much more on Chris Oppenlander before
that - I've got land records where he homesteaded in KS, immigration
records, death records, marriage records, and his obituary, but I've
never been able to find any brothers, sisters, or parents in Germany.
I recently found some other Oppenlanders in Noble and Lagrange
counties, and will look into them - they might be related somehow.
His wife Catherine is even more of a mystery. Family lore says she
was Pennsylvania Dutch. She shows up as a 10-year-old on the 1860
census in the household of Elias Rapp, but he and his wife are in
their mid-60's at that time. Again, I don't know who her parents were
or if she had any siblings. For all I know she could have been an
orphan or could have been visiting grandma and grandpa at the time.
Do you have any suggestions on how I might proceed? I couldn't find
any online census records for Noble county. It doesn't look like K
county kept birth records before 1882 - is that official or were they
just sketchy? Is there someone who is an authority on the Rapps who
is active that I might talk to?
Thanks for your great corner of USGenweb!
Scott Oppenlander
Dallas, TX