Levi L Stroup
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Levi L Stroup

 

Born- 7 Nov 1812 

At- Hoyles Creek, Lincoln County, North Carolina

Died- 12 Jan 1907

At- Verona, Collin County, Texas

Buried- Old Verona Cemetery, northeast of Mc Kinney. 

 

(1) Married- Olivia Dell Robertson

Marriage Date- 3 Oct 1837 in Lincoln Co., NC

Born- Dec 1812 Lincoln County, North Carolina

Died- 19 Aug 1883

At- Verona, Collin County, Texas

Levi Home.jpg (114435 bytes)

Levi's Home place in Texas

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Levi and Lavia's Marker in Texas. Note the spelling of Levi's name

 

LEVI L. STROUP, born Nov 7, 1812, said his birthplace was "a few miles from the Old Lincoln County Courthouse" in North Carolina.

Levi was the eldest son of PHILIP STROUP, Sr. by his second wife CATHERINE MASTER. He was raised on his father’s farm that "faced the old road to Lincolnton", on upper Hoyle's Creek between High Shoals and Alexis, in old Lincoln (now Gaston) County, North Carolina. 

FAMILY  LEVI was born into a huge family, his father having had nine children by his first wife, and LEVI was a middle child as nine more born after him.  Even after some of the elder children married, the PHILIP STROUP household remained crowded and busy.  However, LEVI never knew his grandfather, JACOB STROUP, Sr., who died seven years before his birth, but he knew his grandmother, NANCY STROUP quite well because she first lived next door, then moved into his father’s home in her old age. 

RELIGION  LEVI was raised Lutheran, his family being members of Christ Lutheran Church at Stanley, a few miles south of Hoyle's Creek.

HOME PLACE  The farm where LEVI grew up adjoined the farm of his late grandfather, an old home now owned by his Uncle MIKE STROUP who had many children.  On the northwest side of Uncle Mike’s place was the farm of Levi’s eldest uncle, ADAM STROUP, who had seven sons and five daughters.  He also grew up among kinsmen of the RHYNE, DELLINGER, CLONINGER, EDDLEMAN, REEL and MASTER families. 

HOYLE'S CREEK COMMUNITY   Although LEVI was a fourth generation American, his family still spoke German, "cooked German", "married German" and read aloud from German Bibles.  Their community was made up mainly of German farmers with a scattering of English.  The Germans were clannish, and most of Levi’s family socialized mainly with Germans.  When LEVI was a growing up times were changing because the young people were attending public school, learning English and socializing with English friends met through school. Many young Germans were eager to leave the old ways while others fought to maintain the "old country" traditions, and these differences of opinion caused frictions, especially when some of the young ones changed their life styles and religious affiliations. There was surely much discussion and perhaps some disapproval in the family when LEVI and his brother JOE courted non-Lutheran girls from English families. 

1836 BOND FOR BROTHER  On Nov. 8, 1836, LEVI STROUP went with his younger brother JOSEPH FRANKLIN STROUP to the Lincoln County North Carolina Courthouse and stood Surety for the Marriage Bond for him to marry REBECCA LONG, from an English family. Apparently LEVI and JOE were boyhood pals because a "marriage bondsmen" was in some ways similar to a modern "best man", a relative about the groom's age to whom he felt especially "close". 

FATHER'S DEATH  On April 13, 1837 Levi’s father, PHILIP STROUP, Sr., died at the age of 72. His will was proved in the July session of the Lincoln County court, with LEVI and his brother HENRY as Executors. By the terms of the will, the farm and all it contained were to be left intact until the youngest child came of age, due to occur about 1851 when his sister NANCY Stroup became 21 or a year or two later when sister DICY Stroup was of age.  As Executor, LEVI knew the estate's value, and that about 15 to 18 years later he was due a 10th share from the estate sale, but, lacking any prospects of immediate inheritance, he struck out for himself. 

LEVI "MARRIES ENGLISH"     Six months after his father's death, on Oct. 3, 1837, twenty-five year old LEVI STROUP married LIVIA DELL ROBERTSON, born June 12, 1812 in North Carolina.  Since there is no Lincoln County Marriage Bond for their marriage, they undoubtedly married in the bride's church by publication of the marriage banns on several successive Sundays. This may mean LIVIA's parents were Episcopalian or Presbyterian, churches that often performed Banns marriages.  This was the cheapest form of legal marriage, and, because no license or bond was required, and the only records of banns marriages were kept in the church's Parish Registry.  Baptists did not use this marriage form, as they kept few, if any, church registers.  The bride's full name was probably OLIVIA CORDELIA ROBERTSON, and she was perhaps a younger daughter of ALEXANDER ROBERTSON who married ELIZABETH --- with a Lincoln County North Carolina Marriage Bond purchased Sept 18 1797.      The Surety for the Marriage Bond of Olivia’s (presumed parents) ALEXANDER and ELIZABETH ROBERTSON was ROBERT GIVENS.  Since Sureties for Marriage Bonds were most often brothers or brothers-in-law of the bride or groom, ROBERT GIVENS was perhaps LIVIA's uncle. 

GERMAN IN-LAWS  It's likely that Levi’s family was not overjoyed with his marriage because the old Germans distained the English, and joked about "The German boy who 'married English' and starved to death before she learned to cook."  The old Germans were proud of being cleaner, harder working and more pious than the English, and looked down on them, saying Englishmen were lazy farmers and Englishwomen "terrible bad cooks" and English houses poorly built and dirty.  They sniffed that "German cows have better barns than English houses".  So, when their children married outside the German community, the parents often considered this a rejection of the "old world" traditions and the values of their parents and grandparents. 

TENNESSEE, NORTH CAROLINA THEN ON TO GAFFNEY, S.C.  Like many of the STROUPS, LEVI seems a very energetic and ambitious man, because he and LIVIA moved so often.  Their son O. J. STROUP, said "My father first moved to Tennessee but did not stay long, moved back to N.C., then moved a third time and settled at Limestone Springs near Gaffney", and "most of their children born and reared in South Carolina."    Actually, O.J.' parents moved five times in five years: 1. Married in N.C. Oct. 1837 and moved to Tennessee; 2. Quickly moved back to N.C.  3. Moved before 1838 from N.C. to S.C., being at Limestone Springs near Gaffney, South Carolina when a child was born;  4. In 1840 they were back in Lincoln Co., N.C. when the census was taken;  5. In 1842 they were back in S.C. when another child was born. 

SMALL INHERITANCE  About 1853/5 LEVI STROUP's youngest sisters came of age, and the family farm was sold, as directed in his father's will.  LEVI would have inherited 1/10th of the proceeds from the estate sale. 

GEORGIA  LEVI had grown up next door to his Uncle ADAM STROUP whose eldest son, JACOB (b. 1771) lived for several years near Spartanburg, South Carolina and built iron foundry there before moving to Georgia where he become very prosperous, owning thousands of acres of land, a large iron foundry and flour mill on Stamp Creek near Cassville, Cass (later Bartow) County, Georgia.  He had died in Oct. 1846, but left a large family at Cassville.   LEVI and LIVIA's 6th move apparently was to live near his cousin Jacob’s family.  They were in Georgia on Dec. 27, 1857 when their son OTHENILE JEROME was born. This move to Georgia may have been to buy a farm with his small inheritance, Georgia land being relatively cheap after the Cherokees were driven off their ancestral lands which were seized by the whites and auctioned off in huge land lotteries. LEVI apparently did not gain land through the Georgia Lotteries because he didn't stay long.  His 7th move brought them back to Spartanburg, South Carolina  Perhaps he had noticed his STROUP cousins' business ventures in the 1850's around Cassville were going sour due to the lack of good roads to transport goods to market, making them unable to sell their products as low as their competitors in the iron and flour trades.  However, Levi’s brief stay in Georgia shows he was in contact with these cousins and that, he, like them, was extremely ambitious.  His move back to S.C. shows he was smart enough to realize the business ventures that once boomed at Cassville were now on the decline. 

SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA  LEVI and LEVIA apparently lived in Spartanburg during the chaotic Civil War years, the 1860's. "At the close of the War Between the States when the slaves were freed, the STROUPS of Spartanburg were able to survive because they had learned carpentry from ancestors who learned the trade in Spartenberg, Germany."  (4)   

TEXAS  Sometime after the Civil War ended in 1865, and before the 1870 census, LEVI and LIVIA STROUP made their 8th and final move, traveling west by covered wagon across the Great Plains to Texas, undoubtedly to get good farm land at a lower price. Levi’s last settlement was at Verona, near McKinney, Collin County, Texas on a large ranch where they spent the rest of their lives. (The South Fork ranch of the TV show "Dallas" is in Collin County.) "The STROUPS of Collin County were farmers and carpenters."

BROTHER PHILIP, 1880 TEXAS   In 1880, LEVI STROUP was overlooked by the Texas census, although it listed his brother, PHILIP STROUP, Jr, b. ca 1816, and 4 years his junior.  PHILIP, Jr. lived Hoyle's Creek until the 1850's when their father's farm was sold, then moved to Benton County, Mississippi, where he bought a farm.  Later, he moved to Texas with part of his children.  He didn't settle near LEVI but went to Gregg County, where in 1880 he was listed, aged 60.  PHIL STROUP, Jr. stayed in Texas a few years, then moved with some of his children in Paris, Arkansas.  Although LEVI and PHILIP hadn't been in the same place since they were boys, they apparently stayed in touch, because LEVI's children knew their Uncle PHIL moved to Arkansas. 

LIVIA'S DEATH  LIVIA DELL ROBERTSON STROUP died at age 81 on Aug. 19, 1893 at Verona, Texas, and was buried in the Old Verona Cemetery, northeast of Mc Kinney. 

1900 CENSUS  The Federal Census of 1900 for Precinct #1 Collin Co.: "LEVI STROUP, 87, born Nov. 1812, N.C.  Father of MINNIE GRESHAM, whom residing."  Since LEVI was patriarch of the family in Collin County, all the others listed here in the 1900 census were either his sons or grandsons. 

LEVI'S DEATH   LEVI L. STROUP died at the age of 95 on Jan. 12, 1907 at Verona, Texas, and was buried next to his wife.

LEVI'S PERSONALITY   LEVI STROUP was an unusually vigorous, healthy and active man.  One indication of this is his changing his residence so many times, in the days when moving a farm household was a much heavier physical task than it is today, as each time he had to set up a new farm and household each time for a very large family.  Just the loading and unloading of farm and household equipment and the wagon trips over bad roads was arduous.  Levi’s farms provided for a household of ten people.  From his living to age 95, his physical health was excellent, and the stories he related to his granddaughter NETTIE show that his mind remained clear, his memory keen.  All in all, LEVI STROUP was a very remarkable man who is rightly remembered with great respect by his many descendants. 

LEVI AND LIVIA'S CHILDREN  LEVI L. and LIVIA STROUP had at least eight children, seven of whom have been identified.  The name of one daughter, if reporting is correct, married TOM BAILEY but her name has been forgotten.  LEVI and LIVIA STROUP's children:             

1. MARCUS AURELIUS STROUP, b. ca 1838.  C.S.A. soldier in Civil War.  Taken P.O. W. and died in federal prison at Elmyra, N.Y.

2. ANN ELIZA STROUP, b. Feb ll, 1840, S. C., d. Dec 3, 1916.  Married BLOOMFIELD DUNCAN LITTLEJOHN.  Verona, Collin Co.

3. MINNIE ROBERTSON STROUP, born Jan 22, 1841, died 1935.  Married THOMAS GRISHAM (GRESHAM); 1880 lived Precinct #2, Collin Co. and father LEVI lived with her.      

4. MALCOLM NAPOLEON STROUP, b. Nov 29, 1842, South Carolina, died Dec. 4, 1924. Married 1st ca 1869 LAURA SENA BAILEY; married 2nd ISABELLE BAILEY, b. July 1847, Miss.  (5) 1880 census: M. N. STROUP, 38, b. S.C., Collin County Precinct #2. Wife L. S., 32, b. Tenn. ca 1848; 1900 census Precinct #2, Collin Co.: wife BELLE, 52, b. July 1847 Miss.  MALCOLN N.'s Collin Co. Death Certificate #17319 should contain more information.  From 'Texas Death Index 1903-40'.

5. MARTHA CHARLOTTE STROUP, b Oct 19, 1846; d. Jan 7, 1925; married WILEY BAILEY.              

6. R. D. STROUP, b. Nov. 1852, Georgia.  Wife: J. F.             

7. OTHENILE JEROME "O.J." STROUP, "youngest son" (5); born Dec 27, 1857 in South Carolina (1880 census) or Georgia (1900 census). Died Mar 24, 1919, age 62, New Life, Collin Co., Tex. Married MARY ALICE DOUGLAS WARREN b Mar 1861, Tx.  1880 census, O.J. STROUP, 31, b. S.C.; wife M.A.D., 19, Born Texas.  1900, lived Precinct #3, Collin Co.             

8. Dau. ---     Married TOM BAILEY and lived in North Dallas.

LEVI'S FAMILY STORIES  Because LEVI L. STROUP lived to be 95 years old, the family tales he told are especially valuable.  He related several stories to his granddaughter, NETTIE, born in 1884, and he was perfectly clear and alert, because everything he said corresponds to records for the family of PHILIP STROUP, Sr., b. Aug. 16, 1764: LINCOLN COUNTY COURTHOUSE: "I was born near the Lincoln Court House in 1812".  This is correct.  However, LEVI was not referring to the "new" Courthouse at Lincolnton.  Perhaps he meant the famous "Old Lincoln Court House" at the Christian Mauney home that was five miles north of Bessemer City on the road to Cherryville. (2) This Old Lincoln Courthouse was a few miles west of the home of Levi’s father, PHILIP on Hoyle's Creek.  In 1812, this area was Lincoln County, but became Gaston County in 1846, formed from south Lincoln.  TWELVE BROTHERS WITH BIBLICAL NAMES:  "I was one of 12 brothers with Biblical names."   This also is correct.  PHILIP Sr.'s sons: 1. JOHN, 2. JACOB, 3. MOSES, 4. DAVID, 5. JONAS, 6. ELI, 7. LEVI L., 8. HENRY, 9. PHILIP, JR., 10. JOSEPH, 11. PETER and 12. SOLOMON.  "TWO WERE NAMED PHILIP and JOSEPH STROUP".  These were the two brothers who were closest to him: JOSEPH was his boyhood pal and the one for whom he stood as Marriage Surety, while his brother PHILIP had moved to Gregg Co., Texas. 'I HAD TWO SISTERS NAMES JOANNA and ROSEANNA who married two brothers named PHILLIPS."  This is correct:  His sister JOANNA STROUP married SILAS H. PHILIPS and his ROSANNA STROUP married ISAIAH W. PHILLIPS, after which they moved together to Mississippi, where their children were 'double first cousins.'  PARENTS FROM PENNSYLVANIA: "My parents came to N.C. from Pennsylvania." This is correct: Both PHILIP and his wife CATHERINE MASTER wife were born in York Co., Pa. and came to N.C. as small children when the STROUP and MASTER families moved south ca 1768.             "WILL" WAS REALLY "PHIL":  NETTIE STROUP thought her grandfather said his father's name was "WILL," but her memory played a trick.  "WILL" and "PHIL" sound alike, but Levi’s father was "PHIL".  The Lincoln Co., N.C. will of PHILIP, STROUP, Sr. names LEVI as one of his sons.  Also, the early STROUPS did never use the name WILLIAM, "all their children having Biblical names except for GEORGE."   "WE WERE DUTCH":  NETTIE remembered correctly that her grandfather said his family was "Dutch", and the early N.C. and Georgia STROUPS called themselves "Pennsylvania Dutch".  Also, "Dutch" is "Deutch", meaning "German" in that language, not "Holland Dutch".   O.J.'S GERMAN BIBLE:  Levi’s son, O.J. STROUP, b. 1848. owned a German Bible in which he recorded the family name as "STROBE".