How Many Maytors? (Corrected on June 30)

Edited at 7:07 p.m. on Tuesday:

My cousin, Carey, is interested in just how many Maytor's are there and is her father (my uncle) really the IV?

Well, he is and he isn't. It all depends on how you want to count.

My uncle was born Maytor Charles McKinley. He is now Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley IV. How did he go from "Junior" to "IV?"

Try and follow this:

1) Mather (seen in bold in the post below) would eventually change his name to Maytor and eventually to Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley (taking his wife's maiden name).

2) His son, Maytor, would change his name to Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley as well (thus, in an odd way, staying as a "Junior" although he may never have been legally been known as such; the only conflicting evidence appears to be the 1920 Census of Ashland, WI that lists him as a "Jr."). He is listed as Maytor H. McKinley, Jr on his father's (my grandfather's) will.

3) His son (my uncle) would eventually have his name changed which would allow him to be Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley III (although I do not think he was ever legally known as such).

4) So how does he get to IV? My Dad, the product of the Maytor H. McKinley's first marriage was born and named Maytor as well. His name was changed after the divorce of his parents (note: his middle name was never Hoppenyan; he is listed in the 1930 cenus as Maytor John Hoppenyan II, and his father's will notes that his original name was Maytor John Hoppenyan; however, he was born as Maytor CHARLES Hoppenyan - thus, the middle name of John seems to have been made up for the purpose of the census for some odd reason, but in this family odd is normal). Thus, if you add my dad (now John McGeehan McKinley) to the Maytor count, then my uncle is Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley the fourth.

This certainly is not a traditional way of doing it since so many changes were made after the fact; but given the number of name changes (including the changing of the family name from Hoppenjan to Hoppenyan to McKinley) this creative way of counting seems to fit our family well!

Barney Hoppenyan

Barney Hoppenyan was allegedly married three times. Although I cannot confirm this, his wives were Anne O'Neil, Catherine Sullivan and Mary Bridget Healy (b. 1847, d. 1928 in Ashland, WI and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery next to her husband in Ashland).

The earliest record I can find about Barney has him married to Mary with children. My best guess is that Mary is the mother of all of Barney's children. She is definitely the mother of their child, Mather, who is my great-grandfather (direct blood relation).

In total, there were seven children:

Mary (b. 1864)

Catherine (b. 1866)

Edward J. (b. 1868)

Thomas Bernard (b. 1870)

Anna (1870)

Mather Bernard (b. 2 October 1878, d. 1 April 1952, and is interred in the Chapel of the Chimes at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, CA)

Bernard (b. 1879)

Bernhard Johann Hoppenjan

Bernhard Johann Hoppenjan married Anna Maria BOOssE (b. 17 FEb 1792, d. USA) on 26 November 1816 in Emsbüren, Prussia. They had five children who survived to adulthood:

Hermann Bernhard (b. 24 Dec 1817, d. USA)

Gerhard "Gerry" Bernhard (b. 15 Sep 1821)

Johann "John" Gerhard (10 May 1824, d. 1911 in Hazel Green, WI)

Gerhard Bernhard (b. 19 Aug 1827, d. USA)

Susanna Adelheid (b. 30 April 1832, d. 4 June 1832)

Bernhard "Barney" Hoppenyan (b. 1 April 1833, d. 1914 Ashland, WI) - for some unknown reason, Barney begins spelling his last name with a "y" rather than a "j."

Hermann Hoppenjan

Hermann Hoppenjan appears to have spent most, if not all, of his life in Emsbüren Drievorden. He married Susanna Maria FLöDDER (b. 15 Nov 1757, d. 22 Dec 1808) in 1786. They had five children:

Anna Margeretha (b. 3 Feb 1788)

Bernhard Johann Hoppenjan (b. 29 July 1789); this Hoppenjan would emigrate to the United States of America after his marriage and the birth of his children.

Johann Heinrich (b. 4 Sep 1791)

Gerhard William (b. 30 Dec 1793)

Euphemia Adelheid (b. 16 Nov 1798)

Johann Hermann Hoppenjan

Johann (born 8 Oct 1730 in Emsbüren Drievorden, died 22 March 1785 E.D.) married Margaretha Fehring (b. 11 Oct 1725, d. 17 July 1793) in 1750 in Emsbüren. They had eight children:

Johann Hoppenjan (b. and d. 1753)

Hermann Heinrich (b. 1755, d. 1834)

Hermann (b. 1757, d. 1832)

Euphemia Christina (b. 1760, d. 1767)

William (b. and d. 1763)

Bernhard Wessel (b. and d. 1764)

William (b. 1766, d. sometime after 1804)

Johann Gerhard (b. 1766, d. 1827)

Some of William's children emigrated to the States as well, so I am likely to try and search for them soon. Given the mortality rates on this particular branch, it is lucky that I am even hear to write about it!

Update: I wasn't able to find any other relative on this particular branch who emigrated to America (once they got here that is).

Lambert Hoppenjan

Lambert married Anna Jeckering (b. 19 Aug 1691) on 28 Nov 1870. They had four children:

Gesina (19 May 1721)
Christina (27 July 1727)
Johann Hermann (8 Oct 1730)
Angela (7 Jan 1733)

I've decided to put the name in bold that is the direct paternal line to MH.

I am currently trying to trace back the Jeckering line as it may take me further than the Hoppenjan line. More when I get it!

Wedding Bells

Johann Hoppenjan (b. around 1629 in Emsbüren Ahlde, Prussia) married Angela (b. around 1641 in Emsbüren Ahlde, maiden name unknown) around 1675 in Emsbüren in a Roman Catholic cermony according to the church records of Emsbüren and the diocese of Osnabrück. A picture of the cathedral can be found here, but it is not the family church. (Note: you may have seen in on television as the diocese was part of the World Youth Day 2005 and the Papal visit). Here is a Catholic church in Emsbüren that may the one of interest to us, but I cannot be sure.

The couple had four children:

Gebbula (b. around 1677)
Johann (b. around 1681)
Lambert (b. around 1686)
Lukretia (b. around 1690)

At this time I can only find descendants of Lambert, which is a good thing since he is part of the direct line leading to MH. More as I get time!

Hoppenjan Family Crest

The Direct Line

Here is the direct line starting with Johann and ending with Maytor H. McKinley. I have not included various siblings or other marriages in this brief summary regardless of where they occurred along the line.

Johann Hoppenjan married Angela UNKNOWN.

Their son, Lambert, marrried Anne Jeckering.

Their son, Johan Hermann, married Margaretha Fehring.

Their son, Hermann, married Susanna Maria Flodder.

Their son, Bernard J., married Anna Maria Bosse.

Their son, Bernard Hermann, Hoppenjan married Mary Bridget Healy (and the "j" was changed to a "y" upon emmigration to the United States).

Their son, Mather Bernard Hoppenyan, married Lillian Maude McKinley.

Their son is Maytor Charles Hoppenyan a.k.a. Maytor Hoppenyan McKinley.

Johann Hoppenjan

Well, I've gone back as far as I can go:

Johann Hoppenjan was born around 1629 and died sometime after 1709 in Emsburen Ahlde in what I think was the Prussian territory of Pommern (or Pomerania in some translations). He was married to Angela (1641-1709 approximately) whose last name is unknown. They four children, two boys and two girls. One of the boys, Lambert, links all the way down to yours truly. Since I have gone back as far as I can up a straight line, so to speak, I shall now tackle the task of filling in all the other branches as far as I am able.

Of note: 1) no Von Hoppen referneces have been found, and 2) it appears that one distant relative, Johann Heinrich Hoppenjan, fought and perhaps perished with the Prussian forces at Waterloo against Napoleon.

More on Barney

I've come across another researcher of the Hoppenyan clan who also happens to be a history teacher in L.A. County! Anyway, it appears that Barney was born Bernard Hoppenjan (with a "j") and was married three times. His third wife was Mary Bridget Healy (MH's grandmother). His other two wives were Ann O'Neil and Catherine Sullivan. I have yet to figure out if either of these two other women are the mothers of any of Mather's siblings that I have currently attributed to Mary.

I'll keep digging!

Mary and Bernard Hoppenyan

The Ashland Historical Society has published some interesting information about Mary and Bernard Hoppenyan. One thing that is missing from this little blurb is the fact that Barney also received a patent for the "improvment in methods of making ice" while still living in Michigan.

Okay... insert your cold storage/mortician jokes here.

The problem is that the information is not entirely accurate. Maytor's parents were Mather B. and Lillian. Mather B. did move to California as well and also changed his name to Maytor McKinley. Confused yet?

And what about "Maytor?"

I, my siblings and my father as well, always thought that the name "Maytor" was of Dutch or Germanic origin and could be traced, if anyone ever bothered, directly up the Hoppenyan family line.

We were all wrong.

Maytor can be traced back in the family, but it eventually takes a maternal turn and ends up in IRELAND!

My grandfather, Maytor H. McKinley, was born Maytor Charles Hoppenyan. His father's name, according to U.S. Census records, was Mather Hoppenyan. I assumed that Maytor was either simply a translated version or that the census taker made a mistake. Upon further digging, I found that MH/MC's father's maternal grandfather (or MH/MC's great grandfather) was named Maytor Healey (and he also had a son named Maytor).

Thus both the names "Maytor" and "McKinley" have Irish roots (although the McKinley may, arguably, have Scots-Irish connections). "Maytor" may be traceable to Dutch-Germanic roots in theory, but I cannot find any reliable information to date that would confirm that.

BTW: Maytor Healy was born in Ireland in 1817.