SQUIRE HENRY CUPPY, [pages 1252-1254] a native of Wayne township, Montgomery county, Ohio, was born on the farm on which he still lives, July 4, 1825, and descends from ancestors who came to America prior to the Revolutionary war.
John Cuppy, his grandfather, was a native of Prussia, came to America a young man and landed in New York in 1750. He went to Canada as a soldier in the French and Indian war of 1754, and after his return married Elizabeth Devore. He then settled in New Jersey, near Morristown, where he combined his trade of stonemason with the vocation of farming. His children were named Abraham, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Catherine, John and Ann. From New Jersey Mr. Cuppy moved to Hampshire county, then in Virginia, but now in West Virginia, and settled near Romney, where he died at the age of eighty-six years, and where he had been a substantial farmer and, for a number of years, served as a justice of the peace.
John Cuppy, his son, and father of ‘Squire Cuppy, was born in New Jersey March 11, 1761. He received as good an education as the common schools of that early day afforded, and was reared a farmer. He grew to manhood in Virginia and there married, in Hampshire county, Rachel Caxton, the union resulting in the birth of Abraham, Benjamin, Daniel, Elizabeth, Catherine and Hannah. The mother of these children died in Virginia in 1820, and Mr. Cuppy again married, his second wife being Miss Lydia Oilar, whom he married in Montgomery county, Ohio, in October, 1823. She was born in Greenbrier county, Va., February 8, 1798, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Hanks) Oilar, her maternal grandmother being a relative of the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Henry Oilar was of German descent, was a carpenter and farmer, came to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1808, and settled on Mud creek, but died at the age of seventy-eight years, in Lafayette, Ind. To the second marriage of Mr. Cuppy were born three children—Henry, Fletcher and John A.
John Cuppy, father of ‘Squire Cuppy, when a young man, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and served under Gen. Greene; also fought at the battle of the Brandywine and afterward was a scout for Gen. Wayne on the Ohio river, and had many encounters with the Indians. He was later captain of a Virginia militia company, and took part in the famous whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794. The same year he passed the spot where Dayton now stands, being at that time a bearer of dispatches from Cincinnati to Gen.Wayne, who was encamped on Mad river, near where the town of Osborn now stands. Simon Kenton, the famous Indian fighter, scout and backwoodsman, was a frequent visitor to Mr. Cuppy in his old age in Ohio. On coming to the Buckeye state, Mr. Cuppy bought 320 acres of land from Daniel Sunderland, in Wayne township, Montgomery county, a small spot only being cleared; but he brought eighty acres under cultivation and made a comfortable pioneer home, and this land now belongs to Henry Cuppy. Mr. Cuppy also bought tracts of land in Tippecanoe, Wabash and Dearborn counties, Ind., and at his death was converted and baptized by the eccentric pioneer preacher, Lorenzo Dow. In politics he was successively a Jackson democrat, a whig and a republican. He voted for Washington for president, and thereafter voted at each presidential election until the time of Fremont, in 1856. He was awarded a section of land for his services as scout, which he located in Virginia, on the Ohio river, and in his old age he received a land warrant for his services in the Revolution, which he located in Wapello county, Iowa. He reached the patriarchal age of 100 years, three months and seventeen days, dying June 8, 1861.
Henry Cuppy received the usual instruction to be obtained in the pioneer schools of Ohio, and was reared a farmer. While still young he taught school in Wayne township for seven months, and among his pupils were the now famous Gen. Geo. W. Crook and his brothers, Capt. Walter Crook and Chas. Crook. He married in Dayton, in 1878, Sarah A. Cuppy, a very distant relative, who was born near Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, a daughter of Abraham and Susan (Perrin) Cuppy. Abraham was a farmer and coal miner on his own land; he was a son of Abraham Cuppy, who was a son of John, the founder of the family in America. To the parents of Mrs. Henry Cuppy were born seven children, viz: John, William, Caroline, Mary, Sarah A., Elthiza and Margaret. To “Squire Cuppy and wife were born three children, the only survivor being Emma, a teacher in the public schools. Mrs. Cuppy died June 18, 1887, a member of the Protestant Methodist church, and Mr. Cuppy married for his second wife Mary Griffin. In politics Mr. Cuppy is an independent democrat and was elected a justice of the peace three years ago. This office he has administered to the entire satisfaction of the public and with much credit to himself. He is hale and hearty at the age of seventy-two years, has lived an honorable, upright and useful life, and stands to-day among the most respected of the citizens of Wayne township.
