married

after he died she married

married

John’s father migrated from Rockingham County, Virginia to Newark, Licking County, Ohio around 1820. One record from the Boonville Historical Society stated that Aaron Hupp, John T. Hupp’s brother, and his father were living in Ohio prior to moving to Missouri. The 1850 Morgan County, Missouri U. S. Census record finds John Hupp and Aaron Hupp enumerated in the same household, a rural farm a couple miles south of the Cooper County line in central Missouri.

It is pure speculation as to why John and Aaron selected central Missouri as a place to settle except that the migration to the West was beginning, land was cheap, and a railroad passed nearby so it was fairly easy to get to that location. The land was rich and there was plenty of water so the prospects were certainly inviting for raising crops and animals. They probably arrived there around 1845.

John met a young lady by the name of Eliza Grant, the older daughter of Nancy Brannin and George Grant. George and Nancy lived and farmed nearby. John was eleven years older than Eliza but, as you will see, age made little or no difference. John Hupp and Eliza Grant were married 3 April 1851 in Morgan County. (Missouri) John was 31, Eliza was 20. The newly married couple continued to farm and live on the Morgan County property. This land consisted of two large parcels joined at one corner. It would be safe to assume that John and Aaron built separate houses, one on each parcel, after John and Eliza’s marriage. Within a year Aaron met Mary Homan, a girl from across the county line up in Cooper County. They were married 7 Oct 1852. In August of 1855 Aaron and Mary sold to John and Eliza their interest in both properties as well as two smaller parcels in the same general vicinity.

The same Nancy Brannin who was the mother of Eliza and Fannie Grant was previously married to Wallace Eastport Williams. The Wallace Eastport Williams homestead was located two miles south of Otterville in Morgan County. The Williams children were born in Kentucky but the family had moved to Missouri while they were young so they had grown up in the area. Wallace Eastport Williams died in about 1825 and was buried on the family land.

1875-1932

John T. Hupp, his wife, Eliza, and the seven children varying in age from three to twenty-one years, along with others, loaded up their wagons and made the long trek from Missouri to the Estes Valley high up in the Rocky Mountains north of Denver, Colorado. No record has been found telling of their trip but surely there must have been some trying times along the way. It has been said that about fifty in number made that trip together.

As others have reported, the Hupps arrived in Estes Park in 1875. Government land was abundant and available for homesteading. John and his family first settled on a piece of ground in Beaver Flats but not for long. It seems there was an Englishman by the name of Lord Dunraven who had the desire to own and control the whole valley for his own personal use. His methods for acquiring land were a bit unscrupulous. In order to homestead land one had to live on the property for a certain length of time and make certain improvements upon it. When all of the government requirements had been met a Patent to the land was issued and the homesteader became sole owner of the property. It seems that Lord Dunraven sort of skirted some of the requirements by hiring people off the streets to put in homestead claims which he planned to later take off their hands for paltry sums. He had tied up large amounts of land using this questionable approach. One of the parcels in dispute was the land in Beaver Flats which John Hupp had settled on. Rather than fight, John left the Beaver Flats property and moved further north to a place called Beaver Meadows. It turned out to be a very good move as there was a spring which provided plenty of quality water for all the family’s and a farm’s needs plus the setting was beautiful. Who could ask for more?

John and the boys began to build a large log house. Later they enlarged the home and improved the property by fencing, adding corrals, a fruit cellar, a chicken house, and stables. They raised various grain crops, a garden, and managed a small herd of cattle. Before all was completed John died. His date of death is recorded as 29 Dec 1878 (another record shows it as 29 Oct 1877, just two years after arriving in Estes). John was buried on the Beaver Meadows property.

Eliza and the oldest daughter, Frances (Fannie) stayed on and managed the ranch for about twenty years. Frances never married. Eliza applied for the homestead and was granted the Patent February 27, 1889. In 1898 the property was sold to Pieter Hondius. Pieter built a house nearby. It will be assumed he allowed Eliza and Frances to live in the family homestead until their death. After the Rocky Mountain National Park was established all of the private property within the park boundaries was purchased by the U. S. Government. The Government in all of its infinite wisdom desired to return the park to its natural state so decided to demolish all man-made structures within the boundaries of the park and did so thus destroying that portion of the history of those who put their heart and souls into that land. Fortunately someone took a photograph of the Hupp homestead (background picture, and below) before its demise. It is the one of two known photos taken of the property.

Eliza died 17 Sept 1900 after a long illness and Fannie died about four months later on 11 Jan 1901. Frances died of neuralgia of the heart. Eliza was 70 years old and Fannie was only 48. John had already been buried on the homestead property in Beaver Meadows. Although the property no longer was owned by the Hupps permission was obviously granted by the Hondius family to bury Eliza and Fannie near John’s place of burial. In June of 1963 permission was granted for a memorial marker to be placed at the grave sites within the boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National Park and this was done. It may be the only such marker in the park.

No visible evidence of a family ever living there exists today but as time passes a fork, an old tin can, a piece of glass, and other artifacts surface as a reminder that yes, someone did live there in years gone by.

George Tipton Hupp – Born 27 Jan 1852, died 1853. He is most likely buried on the farm two miles south of Otterville, Morgan County, Missouri.

Frances Ann (Fannie) Hupp – Born 24 Sep 1853, died 11 Jan 1901. She never married. She applied for a homestead adjacent to her mother’s and received a Patent on the land.

Mary Elizabeth (Mollie) Hupp – Born 10 Sep 1856, died 15 June 1917. She married John J. Jones around 1811. They homesteaded in the Estes Valley around 1885 by Marys Lake. She and John operated the Jones Inn there.

Ellen Truitt Hupp – Born 20 Sep 1859, died 11 Jan 1916. Ellen never married. She and her sister-in-law, Josephine Hupp, developed hotel properties in the town of Estes Park.

John Wallace Hupp – Born 13 Sep 1860, died 10 Feb 1863. No record has been found of his place of burial but it is most likely he is also buried on the farm south of Otterville, Missouri.

Henry Aaron Hupp – Born 29 Aug 1862. Henry was a butcher. He must have been a rather good one as Charles Edwin Hughes was inspired to write a poem about him. He married Josephine Blinn.

Nancy Maria Hupp – Born 16 June 1864, died 9 Aug 1964. Nancy answered to either Nannie or Nan. She married Harold Mortimer Ely. Nan and Mort homesteaded near the Hupp homestead. In 1895 they moved to Jackson, Wyoming where they remained the rest of their lives.

William Horace Hupp – Born 16 Nov 1867. On the 18^th of January, 1895, William married Grace Elizabeth Hunter. She died, leaving him with four small children. On March 29, 1905 Bill married Myral Heck.

Charles Richard Hupp – Born 24 Jan 1872, died 3 April 1926. He never married. He applied for and received a Patent on homestead property near the old Hupp homestead.