JOSEPH SILAS "JOE" STROUP.
(16 Nov 1882, Dec 31, 1973)
ORIGINS
Joseph Silas Stroup was born Nov. 16 1882 at Bull Creek, Riceville Twp., 5th child and 3rd son of Samuel Alexander Stroup and wife Charlotte Johnson.
CHILDHOOD
Joe Silas's father farm on Bull Creek included land his grandfather, Silas inherited in 1851 from his father, Joseph, so the little boy was named "Joseph Silas Stroup" for his great-grandfather and grandfather, usually called "Joe", but in the family "Joe Silas".
His mother, Charlotte, worked hard helping her husband run the farm, aided by eldest daughters, Sue Lizzie and Sallie. Joe's older brothers, Elmo and Clarence, were close to him in age. He was four when his brother Sam Bradley was born.
These six children were part of a happy household, but all "did their chores", because much work was needed to run a successful farm before farming became mechanized.
HIS MOTHER'S DEATH
When Joe was five, his family moved from Bull Creek to a farm in Limestone Twp. across Cane Creek from his grandfather, Silas Stroup. That April, his mother delivered her seventh infant, David, who died in a few weeks. His mother did not recover and was critically ill for the next nine months. From her minister's description of extreme suffering, she probably died of cancer on Jan. 11, 1889. Joe was six when she was buried at Camp Ground Methodist Cemetery near Hendersonville.
FATHER'S REMARRIAGE
A year later, little Joe's father, Sam Stroup married Ellen Garren (his third cousin through Whitaker grandmothers). Although she was kind to the Stroup boys, she came from a home with Negro servants and a live-in housekeeper, and, trained in Baltimore as a seamstress, knew nothing of housework or cooking.
Also, she was unwilling to carry out any of her wifely duties, so that after a stormy, six year marriage, she deserted Sam, and took her two sons by him, Fred and Vernon, aged five and three, to her father's home, next door on Cane Creek. This again left Joe's father trying to run his farm while caring for six children.
CHRIST SCHOOL
About this time, the northern Episcopalians were building a day school and boarding school at Arden, their object being to convert local children while educating them. Joe's father, although a Methodist, was desperate for help with his boys, so sent Joe Silas and Sam Bradley to Christ School, where they settled happily into the boy's dormitory. Both were intelligent, and enjoyed the mental stimulation of this excellent school's scholastic atmosphere.
Since there was no wife at home to care for them, their father paid the Superintendent Wetmore to board the boys in his home when boarding school was not in session.
Superintendent Wetmore and his wife were ardent Episcopalians and kindly people who took the motherless boys under their wing, "all but adopting them", so that, in addition to receiving education, Joe Silas and his brother Sam Bradley converted from their parent's Methodist faith to the Episcopalians.
Since Christ School was an expensive private school, the Stroup boys had to work to help pay their tuition and board. They grubbed stumps, haul rock and did other manual labor to helped clear the new school's heavily forested campus.
One day Joe Silas was hauling the first load of stone to build the school's new chapel, but he misunderstood his instructions and unloaded his wheelbarrow under the wrong tree. The boy was quite upset at the thought of having to remove this heavy load, so kindly Mr. Wetmore consoled him saying, "Joe, it's all right, we'll just put the building right where you dumped those rocks." Christ School's chapel stands where young Joe Silas Stroup made a mistake when hauling the first load of stone.
CANE CREEK FARM
After Joe Silas graduated, his father Sam tried to induce him to stay home by deeding him 97 acres of land on Cane Creek (Buncombe County Deed Book 122, page 339, Samuel A. Stroup to Joseph S. Stroup).
TO ASHEVILLE
In 1901, when Joe Silas was 19, determined to go to Asheville, he deeded this tract back to his father, and at age twenty he was employed by his Uncle Hugh Johnson, a retailer who owned the Asheville Grocery Company. While living in Asheville, Joe met and courted Carrie Dunlap, an attractive young lady who worked in town for a dentist.
WIFE CARRIE
Caroline Reese Dunlap had been born Sept. 13, 1880 on a farm near Hendersonville, daughter of James Henry Dunlap and wife, nee Mary Reese. In April 1903 Joe Silas Stroup and Carrie Dunlap married in Asheville, receiving from his father a new horse and buggy as a wedding present. Their honeymoon was buggy ride to Greenville, S.C. to visit kinfolks.
Unfortunately, soon after their return home, his uncle Hugh Johnson's business, the Asheville Grocery, "went wholesale", leaves Joe unemployed with his wife expecting their first child. Fortunately, his father, Sam Stroup, who was living alone, invited them to stay with him on his Cane Creek farm.
Carrie's widowed mother, Mary Reese Dunlap, also moved to the Sam Stroup home place after her son, Hall Dunlap, took a job in Chicago, a living arrangement that met everyone's needs. Carrie and her mother ran the household, freeing Joe and his father to run the farm, which included shipping crates of Sam Stroup's excellent apples by train to hotels in outlying places such as Charlotte. On Grandfather Sam Stroup's birthday, Joe and Carrie's son, Tom Bradley Stroup, was born Dec. 21, 1903.
FLETCHER FARM
However, three years later, in 1906, Sam Stroup remarried, and his new wife was a young widow, Lillie (Souther) Young, who brought her brood of teenaged daughters to the Cane Creek home so there was no longer room for Joe, Carrie and her mother.
Also, about this time, Joe and Carrie Stroup were expecting their second child, and so they moved, along with her mother, to an old farm that had belonged to his maternal grandfather, Bradley Johnson, on Howard's Gap road (modern Rt. 5), about four miles from Hendersonville. Their second child, Mary Isabel, was born here in December 1906, an unusually lively, happy and beautiful little thing, so joyful and loving that she soon became the family pet.
Three years later, Carrie presented Joe with yet another sweet and lovely daughter whom they named Susannah, for his sister.
Joe Silas, like his father and grandfather, was hardworking and became a successful farmer. The home that he and Carrie made for their little family was exceptionally happy and peaceful, partly because they truly cared about each other, and partly because both had sunny dispositions. They were also educated people who gave their children so much support and encouragement that all three graduated with honors from universities, and went on to become teachers.
After Joe and Carrie's children left the nest, their latter years were spent living quietly on their farm. Ibby and her husband, O.S. Clark, visited often. Both taught in the Asheville schools, and had a happy but childless marriage.
Joe and Carrie were extremely proud of their only son Tom, who had continued his higher education and whose achievements as Professor of English Literature were bringing him many scholastic honors. However, son Tom's teaching duties sent him far a field, to Georgia, Florida and London, so that their contacts with him were mainly through his regular letters home.
Their youngest child, Susannah, had married and lived not far away on a farm at Horse Shoe. Sue taught Home Economics in the County School system, and her frequent visits, bringing her children, were a great pleasure in Joe and Carrie's latter years, as was their regular attendance at Calvary Episcopal Church.
WIFE'S DEATH
Carrie Dunlap Stroup was 84 when she died Dec. 6, 1964. She was buried at Calvary Episcopal church cemetery in Arden. After losing his life's companion, Joe lived alone for a while, until, no longer able to cook for himself, he moved to a local retirement home. He died at the age of 91 at midnight, Dec. 31, 1973, and was buried beside his wife.
JOE AND CARRIE'S CHILDREN
1. Thomas Bradley "Tom" Stroup, Ph. D., (Dec. 21, 1903 - Dec. 17, 1992); educated Christ School, Arden, N.C. and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Professor English Literature at U.N.C., University of Florida and University of Kentucky. Lt., U.S. Navy, WW II. He is a well-published author and poet. Married Annie Mary Foster, Dec. 30, 1927 at Christ School Chapel, Arden. One child:
(1) Joseph Bradley Stroup, Ph. D., b. 1929;
a. Douglas Bradley Stroup.
2. Mary Isabel "Ibby" Stroup (5 Dec 1906 Cane Cr. - Nov. 1992); m. Ohel Sheppard "O.S." Clark, 2 June 1937, principal, Asheville City Schools; Isabel taught in Asheville city schools; no children; d. Nov. 1992; both buried Calvary Episcopal church cemetery, Arden. 3. "Susannah" Reese Stroup, b ca 1909; married Albert Black Corpening; lived Rt. 1, Horseshoe; teacher of Home Economics, Buncombe Co. School System. Died Dec. 1, 1977, buried Calvary Episcopal Church cemetery, Arden.
(16 Nov 1882, Dec 31, 1973)
ORIGINS
Joseph Silas Stroup was born Nov. 16 1882 at Bull Creek, Riceville Twp., 5th child and 3rd son of Samuel Alexander Stroup and wife Charlotte Johnson.
CHILDHOOD
Joe Silas's father farm on Bull Creek included land his grandfather, Silas inherited in 1851 from his father, Joseph, so the little boy was named "Joseph Silas Stroup" for his great-grandfather and grandfather, usually called "Joe", but in the family "Joe Silas".
His mother, Charlotte, worked hard helping her husband run the farm, aided by eldest daughters, Sue Lizzie and Sallie. Joe's older brothers, Elmo and Clarence, were close to him in age. He was four when his brother Sam Bradley was born.
These six children were part of a happy household, but all "did their chores", because much work was needed to run a successful farm before farming became mechanized.
HIS MOTHER'S DEATH
When Joe was five, his family moved from Bull Creek to a farm in Limestone Twp. across Cane Creek from his grandfather, Silas Stroup. That April, his mother delivered her seventh infant, David, who died in a few weeks. His mother did not recover and was critically ill for the next nine months. From her minister's description of extreme suffering, she probably died of cancer on Jan. 11, 1889. Joe was six when she was buried at Camp Ground Methodist Cemetery near Hendersonville.
FATHER'S REMARRIAGE
A year later, little Joe's father, Sam Stroup married Ellen Garren (his third cousin through Whitaker grandmothers). Although she was kind to the Stroup boys, she came from a home with Negro servants and a live-in housekeeper, and, trained in Baltimore as a seamstress, knew nothing of housework or cooking.
Also, she was unwilling to carry out any of her wifely duties, so that after a stormy, six year marriage, she deserted Sam, and took her two sons by him, Fred and Vernon, aged five and three, to her father's home, next door on Cane Creek. This again left Joe's father trying to run his farm while caring for six children.
CHRIST SCHOOL
About this time, the northern Episcopalians were building a day school and boarding school at Arden, their object being to convert local children while educating them. Joe's father, although a Methodist, was desperate for help with his boys, so sent Joe Silas and Sam Bradley to Christ School, where they settled happily into the boy's dormitory. Both were intelligent, and enjoyed the mental stimulation of this excellent school's scholastic atmosphere.
Since there was no wife at home to care for them, their father paid the Superintendent Wetmore to board the boys in his home when boarding school was not in session.
Superintendent Wetmore and his wife were ardent Episcopalians and kindly people who took the motherless boys under their wing, "all but adopting them", so that, in addition to receiving education, Joe Silas and his brother Sam Bradley converted from their parent's Methodist faith to the Episcopalians.
Since Christ School was an expensive private school, the Stroup boys had to work to help pay their tuition and board. They grubbed stumps, haul rock and did other manual labor to helped clear the new school's heavily forested campus.
One day Joe Silas was hauling the first load of stone to build the school's new chapel, but he misunderstood his instructions and unloaded his wheelbarrow under the wrong tree. The boy was quite upset at the thought of having to remove this heavy load, so kindly Mr. Wetmore consoled him saying, "Joe, it's all right, we'll just put the building right where you dumped those rocks." Christ School's chapel stands where young Joe Silas Stroup made a mistake when hauling the first load of stone.
CANE CREEK FARM
After Joe Silas graduated, his father Sam tried to induce him to stay home by deeding him 97 acres of land on Cane Creek (Buncombe County Deed Book 122, page 339, Samuel A. Stroup to Joseph S. Stroup).
TO ASHEVILLE
In 1901, when Joe Silas was 19, determined to go to Asheville, he deeded this tract back to his father, and at age twenty he was employed by his Uncle Hugh Johnson, a retailer who owned the Asheville Grocery Company. While living in Asheville, Joe met and courted Carrie Dunlap, an attractive young lady who worked in town for a dentist.
WIFE CARRIE
Caroline Reese Dunlap had been born Sept. 13, 1880 on a farm near Hendersonville, daughter of James Henry Dunlap and wife, nee Mary Reese. In April 1903 Joe Silas Stroup and Carrie Dunlap married in Asheville, receiving from his father a new horse and buggy as a wedding present. Their honeymoon was buggy ride to Greenville, S.C. to visit kinfolks.
Unfortunately, soon after their return home, his uncle Hugh Johnson's business, the Asheville Grocery, "went wholesale", leaves Joe unemployed with his wife expecting their first child. Fortunately, his father, Sam Stroup, who was living alone, invited them to stay with him on his Cane Creek farm.
Carrie's widowed mother, Mary Reese Dunlap, also moved to the Sam Stroup home place after her son, Hall Dunlap, took a job in Chicago, a living arrangement that met everyone's needs. Carrie and her mother ran the household, freeing Joe and his father to run the farm, which included shipping crates of Sam Stroup's excellent apples by train to hotels in outlying places such as Charlotte. On Grandfather Sam Stroup's birthday, Joe and Carrie's son, Tom Bradley Stroup, was born Dec. 21, 1903.
FLETCHER FARM
However, three years later, in 1906, Sam Stroup remarried, and his new wife was a young widow, Lillie (Souther) Young, who brought her brood of teenaged daughters to the Cane Creek home so there was no longer room for Joe, Carrie and her mother.
Also, about this time, Joe and Carrie Stroup were expecting their second child, and so they moved, along with her mother, to an old farm that had belonged to his maternal grandfather, Bradley Johnson, on Howard's Gap road (modern Rt. 5), about four miles from Hendersonville. Their second child, Mary Isabel, was born here in December 1906, an unusually lively, happy and beautiful little thing, so joyful and loving that she soon became the family pet.
Three years later, Carrie presented Joe with yet another sweet and lovely daughter whom they named Susannah, for his sister.
Joe Silas, like his father and grandfather, was hardworking and became a successful farmer. The home that he and Carrie made for their little family was exceptionally happy and peaceful, partly because they truly cared about each other, and partly because both had sunny dispositions. They were also educated people who gave their children so much support and encouragement that all three graduated with honors from universities, and went on to become teachers.
After Joe and Carrie's children left the nest, their latter years were spent living quietly on their farm. Ibby and her husband, O.S. Clark, visited often. Both taught in the Asheville schools, and had a happy but childless marriage.
Joe and Carrie were extremely proud of their only son Tom, who had continued his higher education and whose achievements as Professor of English Literature were bringing him many scholastic honors. However, son Tom's teaching duties sent him far a field, to Georgia, Florida and London, so that their contacts with him were mainly through his regular letters home.
Their youngest child, Susannah, had married and lived not far away on a farm at Horse Shoe. Sue taught Home Economics in the County School system, and her frequent visits, bringing her children, were a great pleasure in Joe and Carrie's latter years, as was their regular attendance at Calvary Episcopal Church.
WIFE'S DEATH
Carrie Dunlap Stroup was 84 when she died Dec. 6, 1964. She was buried at Calvary Episcopal church cemetery in Arden. After losing his life's companion, Joe lived alone for a while, until, no longer able to cook for himself, he moved to a local retirement home. He died at the age of 91 at midnight, Dec. 31, 1973, and was buried beside his wife.
JOE AND CARRIE'S CHILDREN
1. Thomas Bradley "Tom" Stroup, Ph. D., (Dec. 21, 1903 - Dec. 17, 1992); educated Christ School, Arden, N.C. and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Professor English Literature at U.N.C., University of Florida and University of Kentucky. Lt., U.S. Navy, WW II. He is a well-published author and poet. Married Annie Mary Foster, Dec. 30, 1927 at Christ School Chapel, Arden. One child:
(1) Joseph Bradley Stroup, Ph. D., b. 1929;
a. Douglas Bradley Stroup.
2. Mary Isabel "Ibby" Stroup (5 Dec 1906 Cane Cr. - Nov. 1992); m. Ohel Sheppard "O.S." Clark, 2 June 1937, principal, Asheville City Schools; Isabel taught in Asheville city schools; no children; d. Nov. 1992; both buried Calvary Episcopal church cemetery, Arden. 3. "Susannah" Reese Stroup, b ca 1909; married Albert Black Corpening; lived Rt. 1, Horseshoe; teacher of Home Economics, Buncombe Co. School System. Died Dec. 1, 1977, buried Calvary Episcopal Church cemetery, Arden.
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