George Kruskop, Stark County

The family lore of the Kruskop family was that George Kruskop was sent West on the Orphan Trains from New York after his parents were killed in an accident. George's name, in a sort of mangled form -- Kreupa -- does appear in an orphan list in New York in 1880 and interestingly, he is listed as being born in Indiana of Bohemian parentage in that census. The names Henry Kruskop and George Kreupa appear in the New York Juvenile Asylum name book, lending further credence to this family lore. The name George Kruskopf ALSO appears in the New York census in 1880 with parents Charles and Margaretha Kruskopf, but this George is noted to be of New York birth.

The document that ties George Kruskopf of Stark County to the two entries of George Kruskopf/Kreupa of the New York census is a marriage record in Stark County in 1899 when George married Mary Osborn and names his parents: Charles Kruskop and Margaret Weinheimer.

The children from the New York Juvenile Asylum came from all over the United States and from around the world. The caretakers of the asylum wanted to believe that American children were less likely to need the services of the asylum and always linked the American born children back to their immigrant roots in the collected data, suggesting that because they were born of immigrants they were somehow "less than" a "real" American and therefore, less hardy and resilient.

Of course, the only sure way to solve the mystery of Stark County's George Kruskop's roots is to consult with the records of the New York Juvenile Asylum!