Let me start by telling what I have known for decades. As a young boy of 12 or 13 I started my working career with a newspaper route. On my first Saturday collection I went to one of my customer's residence. After knocking, I was greeted by two elderly ladies, who it came to appear were anticipating my visit. They soon informed me that they were related to me through my mother. They even were so kind to have a written page detailing exactly how they were related. I took the paper but have no idea what happened to it. We will come back to these two women.
My mother is Dorothy Leppert Stelmaszek and one day she was greeted by a Borough of Sayreville employee named Joseph (Skinny) Kupsch. He also informed Dorothy he was related to her. She does not remember the details of that relationship.
Two seemingly lost genealogical clues. Yet perhaps this can all be reconstructed over time. Let me start by noting an interesting fact. The two women referenced above lived on Kupsch Street. That provides a connection of sorts to Joseph Kupsch.
Now let us consider some geography. I grew up on Dane Street in Sayreville, New Jersey. Dane Street ran perpendicular (90 degrees) off of Main Street, in what was commonly called tangletown. (Named due to many narrow streets.). Kupsch Street also ran perpendicular off of Main Street, two blocks down from Dane Street. There was one block inbetween Dane and Kupsch Streets, and that was named Hart Street.
Both Hart and Kupsch Street were named after families who owned farms in that area before Sayreville was incorporated. Although I have yet to obtain the real property records, both farms were bought when the area was part of South Amboy. Sayreville was incorporated in 1876 and both families then became residents of Sayreville. For those interested, I hage copied a timeline of the Sayreville area from the Sayreville Historical Society. You can read that timeline here.
So for decades I suspected that the Hart family from Sayreville was somehow related to the Mary Hart, the wife of Aaron Leppert Senior. I just did not know the specifics of this relationship. That all changed on March 6, 2019 when I came across an interesting newspaper article. This article was published in The Daily Times, a New Brunswick newspaper, on September 18, 1900. This article really excited me. I put that article in a webpage in the appropriate place. I have a copy of that page here.This article provided many clues that could be investigated, and I was off to the races.
Soon I will put this page on the back-burner while I concentrate on adding the Kupsch family information to my website. While I cannot exactly match them yet, this work is important when I look for DNA matches. But I do want to briefly discuss two other things that I found. I will start by referencing a 1926 City Directory for Sayreville. You can view a copy of the pertinent page here.As you can see there are a number of Kupsch's living at 138 Main Street in Sayreville, New Jersey. Susan, whose husband Wenzel has passed away is residing at 134 Main Street.
I have taken the liberty to do a screen-shot of Google Earth showing the location of 138 Main Street in Sayreville. You can view this screenshop here.It appears the Kupsch's were living right there on the cornor of Main Street and Kupsch Street. I suspect this was a parcel on their farm, but admit I have yet to obtain the property records which will show all the pertinent activity as well as the ownership records. That must wait until I can get to New Brunswick. But if you look down Kupsch Street one can view a parking lot on the righthand side of Kupsch Street. That very next house on the right hand side of the street is where those two sweet ladies lived years ago. Yes, it certainly is a small world.
Return to Leppert Family Page.