Alan,
Thank you for the information. Your Levi Kaup document sounds interesting. I believe the "Anna" referenced in your book may have been Levi's mother. His mother's name was Anna M. Bensinger (Kaup). See the rather lengthy reference below. Interesting to note that Levi's father Christian Kaup settled on a farm that was originally owned by the Dreisbach family of well know gunsmiths.
Mark Loudenslager
John Kaup's Biography
Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania J H Beers & Co, publisher, 1898 (pp 944-945]
JOHN KAUP. A cultured mind and polite manner adorn any calling, and, in the progressive and enterprising agriculturist whose history we now enter upon, they are leading characteristics, and have had no small place in gaining for him the influential place which he holds in the community.
Mr. Kaup is the owner of a fine farm of 127 acres in Buffalo township, Union county - the old Martin Dreisbach estate - and his residence occupies the site of the original dwelling built by Mr. Dreisbach in 1797. As a citizen Mr. Kaup is well known for activity in forwarding various helpful movements, especially those which relate to educational and religious advancement, and his views have weight among all classes. He is of an old Pennsylvanian family; his grandparents, Christian and Anna M. (Bensinger) Kaup, came from Berks county to this section in 1815, locating in West Buffalo township. Christian Kaup was a staunch Whig, and in religious faith was a Lutheran, and he became one of the prominent citizens of his locality in his day. For a time, in early manhood, he followed the weaver's trade, but later he engaged in farming. He died at the age of seventy-six, and his wife passed away in her eighty-ninth year. Of their large family, several died in infancy. The others were: Fred, who died in Oregon; Catherine, who married (first) George Consor, and (second) Mr. Garrett, and died in Illinois; Christian, Jr., who died in Center county; Susan, wife of John Gable, of Osage, Iowa; William, who was a resident of Oak Hall, Penn., died in October, 1897; Elias, who died in West Buffalo township, Union county; Isaac, who died in Kansas; Levi, our subject's father; and Maria, who became Mrs. Jacob Miller, of West Buffalo township, and died in February, 1898.
Levi Kaup, who is now a venerable resident of Union county, was born in West Buffalo township January 31, 1823. During his active years he was a gunsmith, and he also owned and operated a farm in his native township. He was married there to Miss Elizabeth Hoffman, daughter of Joseph Hoffman, a well-known resident of the same locality. She as a devout Lutheran in her religious views, and her death, which occurred April 7, 1890, was deeply mourned. Her remains now rest in the cemetery at Mifflinburg. Two children, William E. and Mary L., did not live to adult age, the latter dying when four years old. Two sons survive, John, our subject, and Alfred, a resident of Mifflinburg, and the father makes his home with them, visiting them alternately.
