Welcome to Darrell's Genealogy Stories

January 11, 2021 - Chicago, Illinois:  Cameron Lee Strellner was born to Erin (Coppock) and Ben Strellner.  Both baby and mother are healthy and doing well, and Ben is a happy Dad.  Congratulations!   I'm not sure what makes us feel older:  being great-grandparents, or David being a grandfather!!  Wow! Ben and Erin were married on August 11, 2018, in Marion, Iowa.  They are both 2009 graduates of Linn-Mar High School in Marion.  Erin received her Bachelor's Degree from Iowa State University in 2013.  She was a 4-year member of the Iowa State Dance Team.  Ben is a graduate of Coe College, where he was a pitcher for the baseball team.   They lived for a time in Scottsdale, AZ, before moving to Chicago. Kathy and I are so looking forward to meeting our new great-grandson, but we will wait for warmer weather in the Midwest, along with hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic will ease up in the months ahead.   In conclusion, Cameron now ...

Janice Kay Coppock was born on this date 75 years ago in Le Mars, Iowa, to Helen (Kern) and Clyde Coppock .  She joined her brother Darrell at their home at 608 3rd Avenue, SE.   The family later moved to 809 2nd Avenue, SE, where they lived until Jan was 12 years old.  The photos below range from about 1950 - 1956.   In elementary school, she was quite tall for her age.  Jan enjoyed all types of games and sports.  She took piano lessons for several years, and she enjoyed reading and playing outside with friends.  We both enjoyed music, and one year, we sold Christmas cards to the neighbors, earning enough money to buy our own pink and gray 45 rpm record player.  Elvis was our favorite! In junior high and high school, she was a cheerleader, drum majorette for the marching band, and a member of the Sparkettes drill team.  Jan graduated from LCHS in 1964, and she graduated from Stephens College in Columbia, MO, in 1966, with an Associate of Ar...

CAPTAIN OLIVER HORTON (1829-1918), our Great-Grandfather, was a decorated Civil War veteran as well as serving in the Iowa House of Representatives and in various community leadership positions in and around Carroll County, Iowa.  Today is Veteran's Day, and this blog will recognize the services of Captain Horton and others in our family heritage who served our country during wartime. Oliver Horton enlisted as an infantryman on August 2, 1862, part of Company D of the Pennsylvania 138th Infantry division.  He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on December 16, 1862, and was later promoted to Captain on February 14, 1865, for "valor in action".   He mustered out on June 23, 1865.  Captain Horton was wounded in the Battle of Cedar Creek, by a shell which killed 7 men in his unit.  He was part of the raid on the Spottsylvania Court House, where he took a sword from a Confederate officer.  That sword was laid on his casket and buried with him.   On December 30,...

 Let's start with a question.  "How does Coppock ancestry, Darrell's genealogy stories, and Hawkeye football all have something in common?"  Anyone? Well, believe it or not, this story starts with Great Grandmother Mary Jane Horton Coppock .  That's right, Grandpa Arnold's mother.   You see, Mary Jane had a younger sister, Anna Louisa Horton.  In 1893, near Carroll, Iowa, sister Anna married Lawrence (Larry) Zenner.  They later moved to South Dakota, and they had 4 boys.  The third oldest of the boys, Linn, had one son:  Bob Zenner.  Bob graduated from the University of Iowa, and he went on to become a sports announcer for WSUI in Iowa City.  In October of 1955, Linn and his wife Helen invited me to go to Iowa City with them to the football game against the Minnesota Gophers.  Unbeknownst to me, as an extra treat, I got to sit in the press box for the first half and during halftime ceremonies.  Wow is right!!  12 year...

 Labor Day weekend has traditionally been "the end of summer".  Corporate America goes back to work (well, that remains to be seen in 2020!), schools are back in full swing (for how long remains to be seen!), and those vacations and summer activities are but memories (2020 will be long remembered, right?).   In an earlier blog, I wrote about long-ago memories of Battle Lake and the many summers spent at our cottage.  Labor Day was the weekend when Clyde and/or Ashton would journey to northern Minnesota to remove the dock, store it in sections on the lawn, and bring the boat lifts far enough inland to avoid the ice that would inevitably come to rest on the shoreline.  Obviously, they brought a crew with them. Another major activity during Labor Day weekend was "boarding up" all the windows, shutting off the water, and "winterizing" the cottage.  It was important to plug any openings so that animals wouldn't "invade" our living areas during the...

My very first car, a 16th birthday present from my parents, was like a "dream come true".  Not only was it a Hudson (my very favorite automobile for obvious reasons), but it was a convertible  as well.  Alas, the gift was "de-activated" two days later, after a speeding ticket in downtown Le Mars.  (Needless to say, my Dad was not happy!)  So, for two whole gut-wrenching weeks, the car sat in the showroom at "the shop" if only to remind me of my transgression.  (Grandpa secretly paid the fine, which to this day, I don't think anyone else ever knew!  😀 Well, that was my first "story" about my fabulous Hudson Hornet.  Story #2 didn't have quite the happy ending as the first.  The above photo is my car parked in our driveway in SE Le Mars.  Notice that hill that it's parked on?  Well, that "little incline" caused quite a ruckus in our neighborhood in the spring of 1961.   Forgetting my saxophone, I quickly drove home to retriev...

Other than Le Mars, there is probably no location that would invoke long-ago memories for our small Coppock family as would Battle Lake, Minnesota.  Located about 65 miles SE of Fargo, ND, our "summer place" was 250 miles north of Le Mars.  For 20+ summers, beginning in 1953, it was our family getaway. Why Battle Lake?  Well, one of Arnold's cousins (Merlin Zenner) lived in nearby Fergus Falls, MN, and he and his family owned a cottage on Otter Tail Lake.  Grandma and Grandpa would visit them occasionally, and they enjoyed the area.  They loved to fish, and they began searching for a small cottage in and around Fergus Falls.  Ashton and Clyde joined the search, and in 1953, the 3 families purchased 50' of lakefront and a cottage on West Battle Lake (shown above after remodeling).  Oh, the purchase price was a whopping $2,400!!!  (yes, the comma is in the right place - DAC) It was very basic, meaning that it had no indoor plumbing.  Tha...

Note from Darrell:  This story was told several times by my Mother, Helen Kern Coppock.  I will leave it to the reader to determine your belief or interpretation.  In order to make it more interesting, I've taken the liberty to create an imaginary dialogue in Part 1 between Ada and my Mother.  Even so, that "dialogue" remains true to what was told to me over the years. PART I:  The Summer of 1943, Le Mars, Iowa Like all Iowa summers, 1943 was hot and humid.  The world was ravaged by World War II and the Allies were slowly gaining ground on Germany and Japan, but it was long from being over.  The Coppock brothers, Ashton and Clyde, were in the Navy and Army, respectively, a long way from their hometown of Le Mars. Like most weekday mornings, Helen reported to work as Secretary and Receptionist at the Meares Insurance Agency.  Not only the heat was uncomfortable, but she was six months pregnant with her first chil...

The legacy of Arnold and Ethel began with the birth of their two sons Ashton and Clyde, continued with three grandchildren (Darrell, Janice, and Connie), and expanded again during the 1960's.  Their first two great-grandchildren were born in 1964 and 1969; and, lo and behold, they both celebrate wedding anniversaries this week!  Hence, let's introduce  David Alan Coppock and Kim Bates Scott . Our son  David  was born February 4, 1964, in Wayne, Nebraska, while Kathy and I were living in married student housing at Wayne State College.  David attended grade school at Wapsie Valley in Readlyn, Iowa, and then in Indianola, Iowa.  He graduated from Indianola H.S. in 1982, where he played baseball, football and tennis. Attending Buena Vista College from 1982 -1986, he lettered in both football and tennis all 4 years.  He met Julie Lauck in college, and they were married in 1986.  David began a long career as a sales rep and sales manager w...