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Classification: Query
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One of the little mysteries I encountered while researching Will Cuppy's family
history was exactly where and when his parents' marriage took place. T. J.
Cuppy's biography in Goodspeed and Blanchard's 1882 "History of Whitley and
Noble Counties" states (at p. 246), "Mr. Cuppy was married, January 9, 1881, to
Miss Frances Stahl...." No location is given, and a search of the extant marriage
records of that period for Whitley, DeKalb and other northeastern Indiana counties
produced nothing on the Cuppys.
As it turns out, T.J. Cuppy was a husband who didn't remember his wedding anniversary.
The correct date of the Cuppy-Stahl wedding was March 9, 1881, and it took place in
Auburn.
Official DeKalb County marriage records for 1881 were severely damaged in a 1913 fire; but
the Auburn Courier for Thursday, March 10, 1881 (p. 5, bottom of col. 3), carried the
following item: "--T.J.Cuppy and Miss Frances Stahl were married last evening. We
have no time to spare this morning, and can only wish them a happy future."
I stumbled on this item while searching for lists of couples to whom DeKalb County
marriage licenses were issued, which the Courier printed at irregular intervals.
The Cuppys apparently moved to Whitley County shortly after their marriage, probably
because of T.J.'s farm equipment business there. "Thomas J. Cuppy and
M.F.Cuppy" are listed as residents of Whitley County in a deed dated and recorded
Dec. 23, 1881, which disposed of a property in Auburn purchased by T.J. the previous year
(Deed Record HH, p. 308, DeKalb County Recorder's Office); and of course T.J.'s
biography in the 1882 "History of Whitley and Noble Counties" places them as
residents of Columbia City. By 1883, however, they were again living in Auburn where,
according to a 1903 "Enumeration of School Children" for Auburn and Union
Township, their daughter Anna was born on April 30, 1883. [Note: the 1903 enumeration
covered all dependents under the age of 21, including Will Cuppy himself who was already a
student at the University of Chicago.]