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The Erwin and Geupel Family Album Proudly Presents
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The Johann Heinrich and Barbara Geupel Family
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The GEUPEL Coat Of Arms
click for the oldest known GEUPEL
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A photograph
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Photo left - A photo of the Geupel's is not available at this time.
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Johann Heinrich Geupel 
1788 -to- 1834 - (Geupel is pronounced GUY - PULL). Johann Heinrich was born on the 9th of October in the year 1788 at Wunsiedel, Bavaria (Germany) and his parents were Gotthelf and Maria Geupel <- click to view Gotthelf's web site.
Heinrich was a stone mason by trade having built many of the structures in the Wunsiedel area. What was the custom of many residents was to operate a small beer brewery in or around their homes. Breweries served as additional income to the family and for personal consumption. He located his brewery in the barn behind the house. Other family stories had recorded his brewery to have been located in the basement or cellar under their home.
Photo right - The city of Wunsiedel, Germany - home of the Geupel family.
The following is one version of the family story as quoted from a letter (click here to read the full letter) written by Heinrich's granddaughter, Marie (Lillie) Geupel Bromm to her daughter Helen; "When he (John Martin Geupel) was a boy nearly the whole town burned away. His father (Heinrich) had a (cellar) under their house and they put their valuables down there and neighbors brought their valuables too and put them there also, then his father, who was a mason closed up all the openings, so the fire could not get down there. After the fire was over, his father went down to see if all was safe. When he did not
return, they looked for him and found him leaning on a table, dead from the fumes that
had collected down there."
Another version of the family story as quoted from a The Geupel Story (click to read this story) This version of the family story depicts Johann Henrich's death by a fire related accident in another village or town nearby.
Barbara Grimm Geupel - 1792 -to- 183?. Barbara was born on the 22nd of August in the year 1792 at Wunsiedel, Bavaria (Germany). The following is a quote of a letter (click to read this letter) from Heinrich's granddaughter, Marie (Lillie) Geupel Bromm;
"Then his mother (Barbara Grimm) tried to get some clothes out of a burning barn caught on fire and died of burns. That was a later fire."
In other accounts, Barbara and Heinrich's fire tragedies were reversed (see above). It wasn't Heinrich but Barbara who lost her life in the basement fire while retreiving neighbors clothes from a trunk. The story goes that Barbara ironed clothes for the neighbors as supplementary income after the death of Heinrich. The Geupel Story (click to read this story)
These are the verbal accounts as handed down from two seperate families thousands of miles apart and more than a hundred years distant. The GEUPEL STORY was told to six generations of one brother, Martin Geupel from Indiana, -- and the same story was told to six generations of the other brother, Andrew Geupel from Texas. The two version of the same story were nearly identical.
To fully appreciate this phenomenon, you must realize how many times the story was told and retold from one generation to the next. The extended relatives never meet until October of 1998. It was then that the two family members compared their versions of the GEUPEL STORY for the first time in more than 125 years. The facts of the story were so very close, it is amazing that the only difference was the location of the fires.
Heinrich and Barbara were married on the 5th of May 1822 and had three children;
(1) Johann Martin Geupel <- click to view Martin Geupel's web site.
(2) Katherina Geupel - Born on the 2nd of February in the year 1825 at Wunsiedel, Bavaria (Germany). When orphaned, she came to America where Katherina lived with her brother Martin at Evansville, Indiana. Whom she married is not known, but he drowned in the Ohio River as told by family stories. Nearly blind and wanting a new start, she came to live with her brother, Andrew in Palo Pinto County, Texas circa 1875. She passed away on the 15th of August in the year 1903 and was interred at Landreth cemetery in Palo Pinto County, Texas. Her grave lies on the right side by her brother, John Andrew's.
(3)
Johann Andrew Geupel <- click to view Andrew Geupel's web site
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