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Note: e Dutch language cuyp also means head, and in the Dutch script the �yp� looks like �pp.� So are we Dutch? Every possibility. The English-speaking immigration clerks were pretty good at goofing up immigrant�s names. Usually they Anglicized names by spelling them as sounded to the clerk�s ears. Cupp, as simple as it is has many forms, such as Cap, Capp, Capps, Cup, Cups, Cupps, Kupp, Kup, Kups, Kupps, Copf, Koepp, Koepf, Koff, Kapp, Kapps, Copp, Kipp and on and on .... Such a simple name. The variations are amazing. Cup, a drinking cup, originated from drinking out of the top part of a skull. With the jaws removed and the rest of the bones below the brain cavity removed, it was used by primitive man as a drinking vessel and/or an eating bowl or food dish. It is perfectly formed. So cup has been around a long time in the language of Germany, England, Holland, France, Italy and Spain. The word, cup and its many variations are throughout English, such as the cup in golf, the drinking cup, the awarded prize cup, coffee cup, on and on we could go. Even cap, capital, captain derive from it. Other variations are cape meaning a head land, or cape meaning a cloak with a head cover. In the romance languages there are the same variations with the typical Latin spellings: cabo, cabeza, capo, capo di tutti capos, capa capote, capitan, capataz (foreman), capilla, capa, etc are all related to head. In German for instance we have Headman, Blackhead, Schoolhead and many other surname designations with �Head� as the defining prefix or suffix. Some ancestor could have been called a Schwartzkopf, and over a few generations it simply became Kopf and then Kupp or Kopp. When they got to America, then Cupp. The old ship�s manifests that I have checked do not ever show a Cupp. �Cupp� began to show up when the ancient ones began to buy land. That, however, does not make a lot of difference: the clerks in Germany, or Holland, or England were not any better at writing names the same every time than were the clerks in the colonies. Who knows how we got stuck with it. � I.B. Cupp [Cupp5] [Berg] has Peter Cupp (b. 1750; d. 1835). He may have been a son of George Frederick Cupp, or a grandson (son of John Frederick Cupp) of Lancaster County.
The 1752 tax list of Berks County shows Peter Kop, a single man [Winger]. Peter Capp/Copp lived in Somerset Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania together with his wife, three sons and three daughters in 1790 and four sons and four daughters in 1800 [Allen]. The 1810 census has Peter Capp in Somerset Township (and also a Peter Cope in Londonderry Township) [Kondratieff]. A Peter Kupp and his wife Christina baptized their children at Samuels Lutheran Church in Somerset County [Cupp1, Kondratieff]. This may be the man listed in the Milford Township (then-Bedford County) tax list in 1783, counted there in the census of 1784, and who paid tax on 300 acres of farm land in Milford Township in 1785. Also, it may be the man who went before the Justice of the Peace in June 1795 seeking claims due in two debts [Bedford]. (Somerset County was formed from the western part of Bedford County on April 17, 1795 [Somerset].) Peter Copp is listed on the tax list of 1796 for Milford Township, Somerset County and the 1884 �History of Milford Township� lists his occupation then as that of storekeeper [Somerset]. There are probate records in Somerset County for two Peter Cupp�s a Peter Capp and Peter Capp Jr. Those records, and also land records, reveal the existence of at least four Peter Cupp�s in Somerset County between 1800 and 1830 [Cupp1, Somerset].
Peter Cupp d. Jun. 23, 1818, having lived in Greenville Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. His estate was probated Jun. 27, 1818. He left behind no known will and the bulk of his estate was spent transacting the settlement. Papers were filed Jul. 1, 1818 with the county registrar showing disposition of $109.57 worth of assets, including �75� cash found on the person of the deceased� by Christian Shockey, an accountant. The most valuable tangible asset listed on the appraisal of Peter�s property was �1 Bay Mair� at $25.00; the other $21-some comprised 17 line items such as a saddle, a blanket, testament and songbook, and chaff tick and two shirts. No land ownership is indicated. (It seems that in February 1833 Peter�s son Martin Cupp challenged the disposition of his property none passed to family members and entries at the county registrar in May and September 1833 affirm the settlement as originally filed.) Family stories relate that Peter came from Holland or Germany c1793, but this may relate to the lineage; Peter may have immigrated from Lancaster County [Simpson, Somerset]. The family relationships are likely, but not confirmed.
I have tentatively considered Peter Cupp as one of the sons of John Frederick Kapp (b. cNov. 24, 1740; d. Apr. 17, 1823), who himself is one of the sons of George Frederick Cupp an immigrant from Germany. (Possibly Peter Cupp is a son of George Frederick, a brother of John Frederick.) Thus, I consider John Frederick Kapp�s children to possibly include: � Mary Cupp (b. after 1740) � Georg Michael Cupp (b. 1745) � Leonard Cupp (b. Jan.17, 1755; d. Aug.17, 1834) With only three children known over a fifteen year time period, there�s ample room for unlisted siblings in this household. Some researchers list Andrew Cupp (Copp/Capp) (b. c1740/1; d. c1801) also as a son of this John Frederick Kapp, but I list him rather as a son of John Michael Cupp/Kapp (b. 1705; d. 1762). For one thing, this John Michael Cupp definitely had a son Peter, one Peter Kapp who m. Christina Neff in 1775 in Lebanon County. Considering the date it is unlikely this is the Peter Cupp of Somerset County; however, having a sibling named Peter would definitely add to the confusion. Thus, Andrew and his brother Peter were sons of John Michael Cupp, but there is another Peter, the son of John Frederick Kapp just listed. (For comparison, John Frederick Kapp, son of George Frederick Cupp, was a nephew of John Michael Cupp.) Now consider the following information concerning the establishment of Pennsylvania�s counties around the time of the revolution. � Somerset was formed from Bedford County in 1795. � (Huntingdon was formed from Bedford County in 1787.) � Bedford was formed from Cumberland County in 1771. � Cumberland was formed from Lancaster County in 1750. � Lancaster was formed from Chester County in 1729. With some consideration, you�ll find people given above �born in� counties that didn�t even exist yet on the day of their birth! Such is the wonderful confusion that comes with the passage of time. Here is one plausible scenario: although it is comprised largely of conjecture, it does not contradict any known facts. George Frederick Cupp (b. c1703 in Germany) moved into central-western Pennsylvania. His children were born in the 1740's and �50's, during which time vast regions are part of Lancaster County, later partly carved off into Cumberland County. Possibly one of his children is Peter Cupp who is listed a single man in the 1752 tax list of Berks County (so he may have been born as early as the late 1730's), or else Peter may have been a grandson through John Frederick Cupp. Later Peter moved to the area which became Somerset County, settling in western Cumberland County, and watching as it is carved into Bedford County, then later into Somerset County. The 1790 census shows him together with his wife, three sons and three daughters in 1790 and four sons and four daughters in 1800. We know that Peter Kupp and his wife Christina baptized their children at Samuels Lutheran Church in Somerset County, and that Peter Cupp went before the Justice of the Peace in June 1795 in Bedford County. We also know that Peter Cupp died a pauper in Greenville Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania on Jun. 23, 1818. His son John Martin Cupp challenged the disposition of the estate, but not until February 1833 � hardly a close-knit family! My thoughts are that Peter Cupp never did well for himself or his family. He wandered from the close family home (possibly heading west?) and seems to have not done well in keeping his family together. Maybe Peter � who was never really well off � was somewhat devastated by his wife�s passing (sometime between 1790 and 1800) and as a widower watched his children being passed out among kinfolk and neighbors for raising. A number of strands fit. In 1790 (in then-Bedford County), Peter and Christina would have had Frederick (b. Aug. 6, 1778), Maria Margaret Cupp (b. Aug. 7, 1785), John Michael Cupp (b. Jan. 15, 1790), two other daughters and one other son � maybe Ludwig (b. 1770) � living at home. Peter Capp, Jr. (b. 1759/60, age 31) would have been out of the house. Later, by 1800, Christina has passed away, and at home are Frederick (now 21 years), Maria Margaret Cupp (now 15 years), John Michael Cupp (now 10 years), possibly John Martin Cupp, along with three other daughters and one other son. Peter died in 1818, in his late 60's or early 70's. With the family fragmented, and there being no estate, little notice seems to have been taken. (Who knows why John Martin contested the settlement 15 years later.) This scenario also fits with the family lore that �Frederick Cupp�s father was Peter Cupp, and his grandfather was another Frederick Cupp who came from Holland [Cupp]� � George Frederick Cupp sailed from Rotterdam in 1709 as a young boy. In this scenario, Frederick Cupp may have taken up with the Shultz�s about 1800/01 when he was 22/23 years old. He caught up with 15 year old Mary Shultz and the Shultz family fairly took him in. He certainly didn�t have any family to connect back to, and seems to have done quite well with his in-laws� clan. Anyway, the evidence suggests that Frederick and Mary�s ten children maintained a family home. They lived together for about 17 years before she died, then Frederick did what most widowers of the day did (and which Peter failed to do) � he took a second wife. There�s no evidence that Frederick owned any property in Somerset County [Kondratieff]. Perhaps he farmed part of the land belonging his father-in-law, Michael Shultz. Notice that Frederick lived in Milford Township (at that time comprised of modern day Milford and Black Townships) and some of his children and grandchildren are buried in cemeteries there. After Mary died and Frederick married Susan Shafer, they seem to have moved farther north in Somerset County; they show up in successive censuses living Somerset Township with or near various (older) children, yet Frederick apparently never owned any of these lands, either. In any case, the continued closeness of Frederick with his grown children and eleven more children by Susan Shafer indicates a closer family than Peter may have maintained. It seems likely that one of them � either Frederick or his father Peter � was something of a black sheep, family outcast. My inclinations are to think it was Peter because this helps explain the several seemingly unconnected Cupp families in the Somerset County area (Peter didn�t hold his family together) and also fits better with Frederick later being shown a respectable head-of-household. What I can�t figure out is what would have prompted him to up and move to Iowa at age 86! He followed one of his sons, but he left a more of them behind in Pennsylvania. Possibly, the lure of finally owning land of his own was what drew him west.
Note: It�s doubtful that anyone will ever know for certain just where the Cupp name came from, or just how it originated and how our ancient ancestors got stuck with it. My father told me that it was originally k�opf which means head in German. In th
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