* *S* *

 

 

 

MARTIN DORANCE STROPE (1826-1910) was born in Rome, Pennsylvania to William and Abigail Strope.  He married Jannette Park (1830-1910) in 1848.  Their five children were born in Pennsylvania.  In 1865, the family moved to Wisconsin where they farmed until 1879 when they moved to Knox, County, Nebraska.  Their children were:  Alonzo, a batchelor;  William (leaving his wife, Ella,  and two children to the care of her parents, B F and Jane Gerry); John and his wife; Sam and Nettie Strope Brown; and Emma, in her teens.  This group traveled by wagon.  In 1881, Ella and the children, Ervie and Frank, came by train to Sioux City where William met them.  They continued by boat to Niobrara, then William sent the family by stage to the homestead while he walked home.  Ella’s parents came later and settled near by.  Jane Gerry died in 1884 and B F died in the blizzard of 1888.  John’s infant son died in 1880;  Emma married James Canning in 1886;  Samuel Brown died in 1892.  After this, these three members of the Strope family and their spouses moved to Oregon.  Alonzo (1849-1934) took a homestead and timber claim south of his brother William’s homestead.  In 1884, Alonzo married Sarah Parks (1848-1940) who had homesteaded near Venus.  She was the first teacher.  Their three children did not reach adulthood.  They moved to Orchard in 1903.  Here Martin and Jannette lived and died in the home of their oldest son.  The homestead of William (Billy) Strope (1851-1934) is the only one to remain in  the family and is operated by a grandson, Merlin Strope.  Ella (1852-1935) was the first teacher in the Enterprise School.  William built houses for other people in addition to farming.  William and Ella had seven children:  Bert (1884);  Ervie May (1877-1951) married Charles T Anson; Franklin D (1879-1944) married Bessie Fraim; Maude (1882-1971) married Andrew Olson; William Wallace (1888-1964) married Dora Ickler; Merwin G (1889-1970) married Octavia Anson; and Floyd R (1891-1973) married Mary E Collins.  Mary J, an adopted daughter (1891-1954) married Oscar Whitaker.

Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in Mar 2008