Henry Meinzen's Sister? In Steubenville?

In a previous post I mentioned that I'd found a newspaper article in which Henry Meinzen, my great-grandfather, was listed as a brother.  (Henry is the one great-grandfather for whom I've been unable to find his parents or any siblings.)  The article was published in the September 9, 1920, issue of the Steubenville Herald.  Until reading this obituary I had no indication that Henry had a sibling living in Steubenville, or in the United States, for that matter. 

This is the obituary.

                  Mrs. Sophia Kropp
         Mrs. Sophia Kropp, widow of Carl
     Kropp entered into rest at the home
     of her daughter Mrs. John Spahn on
     West Market street, at 7:30 o’clock
     Monday morning, September 6.  She
     had celebrated her seventy-eighth
     birthday on Saturday.  Although a
     sufferer from heart trouble for some
     time past and in failing health for
     the past two years, her death came
     suddenly, she being fatally stricken
     on Sunday.  She failed to rally from
     this heart attack and slept peaceful-
     ly away at the hour above mention-
     ed.  The deceased was born in Ger-
     many and was married in that coun-
     try in 1861 to Carl Kropp.  They
     came to America in 1887 and settled
     here.  Her husband passed away about
     fifteen years ago since which
     time Mrs. Kropp has been making
     her home with her daughter.  She
     was a member of Zion Lutheran
     Church, was well known and held in
     high esteem in Steubenville and
     throughout the county.  She is sur-
     vived by two daughters, Mrs. John
     Spahn and Mrs. Minnie Schuetto and
     one son William Kropp, all of this
     city and one brother Henry Meinzen
     also of this city.


Notes, Thoughts, Comments

Granted, little family history information came along from my grandfather Meinzen's side of the family.  His older sister, Mina, was the one to whom he referred when anyone asked about his family.  But my mom visited Aunt Mina on a regular basis and you'd think some mentioned would have been made of Mina's father Henry having a sister living in the same city.  Even in Henry's obituary the only sibling mentioned is a brother, Carl, living in Germany.

Were Henry and Sophia close?  Maybe not.  Just three months before this obituary was published Henry lost his wife, Elizabeth (Armitage) Meinzen.

Zion Lutheran Church was the church Henry attended.  It had been a German language church until sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

In a newspaper article about Isabella Meinzen's marriage I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Carl Cropp attended as well as Messrs. Henry and Will Kropp.  Were members of the Kropp/Cropp family at weddings of Isabella's siblings?  I'll check any marriage announcements to see.

I found Sophia's death certificate.  I'll post that soon.

--Nancy.

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