Rupipers of Iowa

From Prussia to Iowa
Heinrich Wilhelm Rupiper was born 23 Apr 1811 in Suderwich, Westfalen, Prussia, the son of Joannes Georgius Rupiper and Anna Catharina Elisabetha Panterink. On 7 May 1837 in Suderwich, Heinrich married Maria Catharina Hoevener. The couple emigrated to American about 1845, bringing with them the few children they had at the time. They would have ten children in all, three of whom died in infancy. The 1870 census shows that Heinrich and Mary Rupiper had settled on a farm in Colony Township, Delaware County, Iowa, not far from Dubuque. Heinrich died in 1885. His wife Mary, who survived him by a decade, moved into the home of her son William Rupiper in New Vienna, Dubuque County, Iowa.

On to Carroll County and Beyond
Three years after the death of Heinrich Wilhelm Rupiper, his son William Rupiper moved his family, mother included, to Roselle Township, Carroll County, Iowa, where he purchased a 280-acre farm. By 1899 he had added another 40 acres. His obituary in Carroll County’s German-language newspaper, Der Carroll Demokrat, stated that William’s farm was notable for its fine location and good buildings, and William and his family were highly respected and popular among all their acquaintances.

In 1868 a group of siblings, all sons and daughters of Heinrich Wilhelm Rupiper, left their homes in Iowa to homestead in Nebraska, although not all of them made it that far. They headed west by train with their spouses and families. When they arrived in the town of Wiley, near Carroll, IA, two of the siblings, Antoinette Rupiper (married to William Riesburg) and William Rupiper (married to Mary Ann Riesburg), decided to stay. Moving further west, two sisters, Elizabeth Rupiper (married to Gerhard Naber) and Frances Rupiper (married to Henry Schumacher), disembarked in Bancroft, NE. The rest of the family—Gertrude Rupiper (married to Herman Witte), Clara Rupiper (married to Henry Backman), and John Rupiper (married to Elizabeth Lammers)—continued by train to Sioux City, IA, where they bought wagons and teams. They rode to St. Helena, NE, where they decided to homestead about one and a half miles east of Menominee, NE.

Seven Sibling Settlers
Seven of Heinrich and Maria’s ten children lived to adulthood. The oldest of these, Elizabeth Rupiper, was born 8 Jul 1839. She married Gerhard John Naber, and they settled on a farm in Bremen, Delaware County, Iowa. Elizabeth had five children before dying at the age of 30.

Frances Mary Rupiper, born 20 Feb 1845 in Suderwich, married Henry Schumacher in Iowa about 1864. In 1868, they got off the train in Bancroft, Cuming County, Nebraska, but may have eventually moved back to Dyersville in Dubuque County, Iowa. They had at least six children: John Henry, John Wilhelm, (just plain) John, Anna Frances, Francisca Mary Elisabeth, and Anthony Joseph. Francisca Mary Elisabeth Schumacher married a Canadian, Marcus Franciscus Studer. Their children were born in Kossuth, Iowa, but the couple eventually moved to Saskatchewan. 

William Rupiper was born 4 Feb 1848 in New Vienna, IA where he married Anna Mary Riesburg in 1871. William’s family got off the Rupiper train in Carroll County, IA and settled on a farm in Roselle Township. They had thirteen children, but only 9 of them survived to adulthood. The family was struck by a tragic illness in 1877 when two sons and one daughter died of diphtheria within one week. One notable descendant of William and Mary was Father Darrell Rupiper, a Catholic priest who among his many accomplishments served as a Peace Ambassador to the US Hostages in Iran in 1980.

The youngest of Heinrich Wilhelm and Maria Catharina Rupiper’s children, Antoinette (Nettie) Rupiper, was born about 1856. At the time of her siblings’ mass migration westward, Antoinette was too young to live on her own, and likely lived with brother William until marrying William Riesberg around 1882. They lived on a farm in Roselle Township, Carroll County, IA. I only know of two children, but they may have had more.

The three remaining siblings—Anna Maria Gertrude Rupiper Witte, John Rupiper, and Mary Clara Rupiper Backman moved on to Nebraska. Read more about them in my page on the Rupipers of Nebraska and South Dakota.

Learn More
For a more extensive and detailed history of the Iowa Rupipers, download this pdf file: The Descendants of Heinrich Wilhelm Rupiper and Maria Catharina Hoevener

I have not included any footnotes within these historical essays. For information on my sources look up the names of individuals in my genealogical database. All source information is listed there.