Welcome to Darrell's Genealogy Stories

Even in the depths of the Great Depression, people prepared for Christmas as best they could.  Trees were decorated, Christmas carols could be heard on the radio or home record players, and churches celebrated with choral music and children's programs.  The First Baptist Church in Le Mars, Iowa, was no exception.  The choir was practicing for their Christmas cantata and candy had been purchased to give to the parishioners at the upcoming Christmas Eve service. The Reverend S. A. Jones lived next door to the church, in the parsonage the church provided for him and his wife.  Wednesday afternoon, December 16, 1936, was a normal day for him.  He had finished for the day and was at home when Doris Coppock stopped to ask for the key to the church.  This was not unusual as Doris filled in as church musician at times, and she wanted to practice on the piano for the upcoming Christmas concert. Doris and her husband Harold had 3 small children, one just 3 months old.  When she didn't co

Meredith Wilson, an Iowa native, wrote "The Music Man" for Broadway, and it starred Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill.  It later became a movie, also starring Preston; and last year, Hugh Jackman took the lead in a Broadway revival.  The show starts out on a train in the early 1900's in Iowa.  The riders are all traveling salesmen.  (Yes, they were all men in those days, sad to say.) Anyway, they are all grumbling about this upstart salesman that cons people in to buying band instruments for their kids.  Once the instruments arrive, he disappears.  Unbeknownst to the others, Harold Hill was aboard that train.  Just before he quietly slipped off the train in River City, Iowa, one of the salesman said, "But he doesn't know the territory".  That became the title of a Meredith Wilson biography. It always reminded me of my great-grandfather Harvey J Coppock, a traveling salesman in the early years of the 20th century.  Harvey would be gone for days, even we