Johann Jacob Straub

I wanted to update everybody on what I’m doing currently. I am now rewriting Jacobs’s book that I wrote in 2007 with a lot of new updates. In 2007 I was excited and in a hurry when I wrote this book and I used Ethel’s notes with some corrections. Some of you may know that I am a “type a” and do things with a great sense of urgency and not a whole lot of thought. In retrospect I did a poor job on the first book. Now that my health has slowed me down I have plenty of time for thinking. Since that time we have discovered a lot of new information, including German church records and a diary from the voyage to the New World. I have also expanded the chapter on Jacobs’s life in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In my haste to get this book done in 2007 I omitted a lot of good material. This new version will be at least double if not more in size.

Some of you may not be aware of this but my ancestor Daniel (son of Jacob) first settled in the Cherryville area in 1814. So 2014 will be the 200th anniversary of this event and for his descendents a reunion will be held in Cherryville. Daniel is buried at Mount Zion in Cherryville and his headstone is lying on the ground and in need of repair. We are tentatively planning a big reunion in Cherryville for this event. For this event we have planned to have his headstone repaired and preserved also we want to erect a monument for him. As all of you know I hate to charge for any of my material. I do my best to make them available for free. However I am considering selling this new book maybe even on Ebay to reach some of our northern cousins and all proceeds will go to preserving Daniels headstone and the new monument. The selling of the book is something that I am just considering to defer some of the cost. Currently all of this is tentative.
Mike Stroupe

New Name on Ancestry

When I started my tree on Ancestry I had no clue it was going to evolve into what it is today. As time went on several branches felt “put out” by the name “Stroups of Cherryville”. So, this morning I have changed the name to “Jacob Stroup/Straub Descendents” which I feel is more fitting. As Pam says “All roads lead back to Jacob Stroup”.
Mike

Early Reunion Thoughts

Wow it took me a full day to recover. I want to start by saying I want to thank from the bottom of my heart those who traveled a great distant to attend. I am not going to name names because I will surely forget one of my dear friends. I had a fabulous time and pretty sure everyone else did. We are pretty sure the attendance increased from the previous year. Of course the food was fabulous as usual. My problem with the food is I get so excited my appetite is gone once the action starts. Gosh it is hard to put all my feelings into words. I’m pretty sure everyone enjoyed the early morning cemetery tour. I know I did.
Ok I lied because I want to thank Sid for the great job he did. He continuously had a crowd checking out his family trees. I got more Stroup hugs Sunday than I have had in years. Hope it’s enough to last me until next year. As a lot of you know some of us met on Saturday in Cherryville and we went to the museum and Mt Zion Cemetery, so we spent a half a day together. Then on Sunday my sister and I arrived at Alexis Church at 9:30 and were the last to leave that afternoon, so that means I spent 12 hours with dear friends. What I’m getting at here is it was too damn short!
A special thanks to my sister Jane for driving me to all these events. She is a sweetheart for putting up with this blind in one eye fellow. I will be posting more as I get the minutes and photos. I love all my dear cousins.
Mike Stroupe

Straub Family Crest

Straub Coat of Arms Research

THE NOBLE FAMILY OF STRAUB OF BADEN AND THEIR COAT OF ARMS

Heraldry and the use of coats-of-arms date generally to medieval times, and relate directly to knighthood, chivalry and tournaments. With a knight covered from head to toe in a suit of plate armor, it was imperative that a heraldic device could easily identify him on his shield. This identifying mark was also placed by the front door of his castle, on the sleeve of his coat, on the dress of his wife, on the letterhead of his stationary, on his silver-ware, carved on his church-pew and gravestone, and stamped with a seal in wax on documents he signed.

Each item of the heraldic device had some special meaning, such as an animal or flower that was the family mascot or emblem. When a man married a lady of noble family, her father's arms were combined with her husband's in the arms borne by her sons.

The first hint that the Straubs were a noble family came in finding them, in medieval times, with the name ending -bent, -bait, -bold, and -bald, Teutonic endings denoting "of noble birth". The actual arms were found in J.B. Rietstap's ARMORIAL GENERAL, TOME XII, which shows four coats of arms for the STRAUB family in Germany, one of which is for Baden Province, from which our own family originates. Let all understand clearly, however, that at this point we do not claim this coat-of-arms connects to our own family. All we know at present is that our family and the arms originate in Baden Province. Our immigrant ancestors could have borne these arms or could have been from an entirely separate branch of the Straub family in Baden from the owners of the arms. They are presented here, properly, as part of a study of the family in general.

The evidence learned from the arms is firmer ground. They are most ancient; being very simple forms of arms, that is, without mottoes, crests, supporting figures or other late medieval additions. The Straub arms are found in the form used by a knight on his shield, and they remain in the simple shield shape, in the original silver metal color, for the escutcheon. Across this running diagonally from the lower left corner to the upper right (non-heraldic terms are used here for simplicity) is a bar of azure blue, and in the two corners (upper right and lower left) are two leafy, green branches. Evidently the knight who first used the Straub arms identified himself simply wait a sky blue bar diagonally across his silver shield. Later, he or his son married a lady of noble family, and her family sign was a leafy branch, placed in two corners of the shield, and then the two were combined (quartered).

A still later form of the arms has Straub of Argovie, Baden and this form of the arms has the upper part of a man (head and shoulders only). He wears an azure robe with a stiff, flaring collar bordered with silver (a later medieval form of dress). In each hand he carries a branch of rose tree, which has leaves on the left and four roses placed two above the hand and two below, on either side of the branch. One of the popular ways of choosing a device was to portray the man whom the family traditionally descends, its founder or hero. Another was to make a pun upon the family name. It is possible that this rose tree branch might be a pun on STAB or "staff or even that "rose‑tree" might be a very old meaning for Straub. We can be sure that it once had some meaning for the man who put it on the early Straub arms, and, if we can unravel the meaning, we will, through heraldry, get another glimpse into the inaccessible period in which we can hardly hope to find written family records.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COAT OF ARMS, STRAUB OF BADEN, ARGOVIE

The following from the Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa. Taken from Tome XII of Armorial General by J.B. Rietstap, page 853.

Straub (Baden - Argovie)
"D'ARGENT A LA BARRE D'AZUR, (Silver (shield) with a bar of azure)
"COTEYEE DE DEUZ BRANCHES FEUILLES DE SIN., (Going down the left side (or wife's) side two leafy branches)
"CELLE EN CHEF RENV.
(Those in the chief (area of the escutcheon) reversed)
"CQ. COUR. (Believe this stands for: COQUERELLES-noisettes daps leur gousses et reunites au nombre de trios. COU RONN E- ornament exterior de 1'ecu.)
(Hazelnuts in their shells, united to number three, outside ornament)
"C.: UN HOMME ISS., HAB. D'AZUR
(C: a man, issuant (with only upper part visible, heraldic term), in azure habit.)
"REBR. D'ARG., AU RABAT DU MEME
(Embroidered - or bordered-with silver, at the rabat (a stiff, flaring medieval collar, as of lace) of the same.)
"TENANT DE CHAQUE MAIN UNE BRANCHE DE ROSIER (Carrying in each hand a branch of rose-tree)
"FEUILLE DE SIN., FLEURIE DE QUATRE ROSES DE CU., (Leafy on the sinister (left) side, flowered with four red roses,)
"DON'T DEUX AU-DESSUS DE LA MAIN ET DEUX AU-DESSOUS, (Of which two are above the hand and two below,)
"LES ROSES DE CHAQUE BRANCHE L'UNE SUR L'AUTRE. (The roses of each branch one on the other.)
"L.: D'AR. ET D'AZUR." (L.: of silver and azure.)

The arms pictured in the copy of Rietstap in the San Francisco Library is without the figure of a man, having simply the bar and two branches. It would, therefore, be the most ancient form.

The above is quoted directly from Ethel Stroupe's notes, dated Jan. 3, 1967 1 also found this same information in my Aunt Velda's notes dated 1948.

Mike Stroupe