Descendents of Bertha Koppelman

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Bertha Anna (Bertie) Koppelman (b. March 16,1902, Baltimore Co., Maryland; d. June 19911), the second-youngest daughter of John Harman Koppelman (1862-1929), m.  John Elmer Bopp on Easter Sunday 1922 at Jerusalem Lutheran Church, Gardenville, MD (b. June 11, 1895; d. September 1974) BertieÕs younger sister Charlotte was maid of honor, and George Bopp was best man. They honeymooned in Atlantic City. They are buried in Parkwood Cemetery, Parkville, MD.

 

At least three generations of Baltimore Bopp men were named John and George. John E. BoppÕs grandfather John Bopp (b. approx. 1844) immigrated to Maryland from Bavaria. In Baltimore, he worked as a coal dealer.2 He and Elizabeth Bopp (b. approx. 1854, Hannover, Germany), had two sons, John E. BoppÕs father John Bopp (b. March 1869, Baltimore Co., MD) and George Bopp (b. approx. 1871, Baltimore Co., MD). John and Barbara Bopp (b. August 1873, MD) had two sons and a daughters: John E. Bopp, George H. Bopp (b. September 1896), Emma Bopp (b. October 1898).3 Both their grandparents and parents lived in the vicinity of Mt. Olivet Cemetery: his grandparents lived on Frederick Road in a village called Millington in1880, and in 1900, his parents lived on Stinson Street in the same neighborhood. By 1917, when he registered for the draft, John E. Bopp lived with his widowed mother and his sister Emma on Furley Avenue, in Gardenville, near Jerusalem Lutheran Church.4    After his marriage to Bertie Koppelman, he and Bertie moved to a large, old wood-frame on Althea Avenue, a few blocks closer to Belair Road, that had belonged to the Gontrum family.                        

 

John E. Bopp served in the Army during World War I. From 1918 to 1919, he was with  Company M of the 5th Maryland Infantry, then with Company M of the 115th Infantry, in the Meuse-Argonne region of France. He was awarded the Serbian Order of St. Sava, and discharged with the rank of Private 1st Class in May of 1919.5 After returning home, he went to work delivering ice. Johnny, as he was called, was a good natured, dependable, gregarious man who was well-liked in the community and among his customers. Likewise good-natured and fun-loving, Bertie Koppelman Bopp was a life-long member of the Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church and a dedicated participant in its Ladies Aid Society. John and BertieÕs children are:

 

1. John Bopp, Jr. (b. 1922, Baltimore Co., Maryland) m. Virginia Storm Felz. John Bopp Jr., known as Johnny, followed his father into the ice business:

 

     a. Darlene Bopp m. David Hicks

 

     b. Joanne Bopp m. Roland Gover:

 

          1. Ronald Gover

          2. Timothy Gover

          3. Jason Gover

 

2. George Bopp (b. 1924, Baltimore Co., Maryland) m. Audry M.(b.   

September 18, 1928; d. November 5, 2002, Linthicum Heights, MD):

 

     a. Leslie Bopp m. Robert Sexton:

 

          1. Robert Sexton, Jr.

          2. Heather Sexton

 

     b. Sandra Bopp

 

3. Mildred Bopp (b. 1928, Baltimore Co., Maryland) m. Harry Dutton (b. October 1, 1906; d. June 1981, Woodbine, Maryland)

 

1Source: Social Security Death Index.

2Source: 1880 Federal Census.

3Source: 1900 Federal Census.

4Source:  Draft Registration Card.

5Source:  Maryland in the World War, 1917-1919; Military and Naval Service Records, Vol. I-II (Baltimore, MD: Twentieth Century Press, 1933)