Lafayette mystery solved: Tombstone returned to owner's gravesite
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — William Kopp was all but forgotten and relegated to a mysterious name carved on a tombstone that some how turned up in a Lafayette apartment in 1997.
“Whoever was cleaning out the apartment found this headstone and brought it to the coroner’s office," Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello said last week. "No one knew where it went. They couldn’t figure out who it belonged to.”
Fortunately for Mr. Kopp, Nov. 28 ended 26 years of his grave marker languishing unclaimed at the coroner's office.
“This was our last step, actually," Deputy Coroner Jaime Bray said. "The historical association said there’s actually a proper way you can dispose of these, and we were one away from that if we couldn’t figure it out.”
Costello suggested calling the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. Maybe they could help find where the tombstone belonged.
That's where the mystery begins to unravel.
One more chance to find William Kopp's grave
Amy Harbor of the county's historical association answered Bray's call.
“She said, ‘Let me try one more thing,’” Bray said.
“We knew he wasn’t from Tippecanoe County because people had checked that before in 1997 and recently,” Harbor said, adding she began by digging into U.S. Census records and found him in Attica.
“I found him in 1900," Harbor said. "He was living with his daughter in 1900, and in 1910, he was no longer with his daughter. So I figured he must have died between 1900 and 1910.”
Mr. Kopp actually died on March 7, 1907, according to his death certificate, which was not easy to find, either.
“We wondered why we couldn’t find a death certificate because death certificates started in Indiana in 1882," Harbor said. "It shouldn’t have been hard to find.
"Turns out it was indexed incorrectly. They had indexed his last name as Ropp, not Kopp, because the K looked a little bit funny,” she said.
Someone from the Fountain County Historical Society found Mr. Kopp's obituary in the microfilm of the Attica newspaper.
“It belonged actually in the Riverside Cemetery in Attica," Costello said about Mr. Kopp's tombstone. "Maus Funeral Homes in Attica is going to find the plot for it and reset it.”
“The funeral home said they would make sure it gets put where it needs to be, probably with his brother,” Harbor said. “Maus Funeral Home has all the records of who is buried in what plot.”
It's now known where the tombstone belongs, and it will soon be placed atop Mr. Kopp's final resting site.
William Kopp built canal boats
Mr. Kopp's life is no longer a mystery.
He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 5, 1825, and the family moved to Ohio.
Mr. Kopp moved to Fountain County in 1853, living first in Covington. During the Civil War, Mr. Kopp moved to Attica and became a canal boat builder.
According to his obituary, Mr. Kopp fathered three daughters — Sallie Thomas of Newark, Ohio, Alwilda Kopp of Detroit, and Mrs. Frank Bennamire of Fountain. His son, George Kopp, lived in Dayton, Ohio, at the time of Mr. Kopp's death from kidney disease in 1907.
"Mr. Kopp was known by practically every one in Attica," his obituary states. "He was fair in all his dealings with his friends and no one can say a word against his reputation.
"To his companions, those who knew him best, there was revealed a sympathetic and kind nature that is rare; while to the casual acquaintance he was always cordial and willing to lend a helping hand as occasion demanded," his obituary states. "He had many friends, all of whom testify to his goodness of heart and kindliness of spirit."
One mystery remains: How marker found its way to Lafayette
How did a tombstone from Attica end up in an apartment in Lafayette, and why was it left by the tenants in 1997?
“How it went from Attica to Lafayette, and why it was brought here, nobody knows,” Bray said.
Previous coroners tried to search for where the tombstone belong, but gave up with searches that hit dead ends, Costello said.
The headstone was first displayed at the coroner's office and then put in storage.
“We’ve got to find a home for this,” Costello said describing how they were reorganizing the office and tidying up the storage rooms.
“How it ended up here, I don’t know,” Harbor said.
One final mystery of Mr. Kopp's tombstone might not be intolerable given that so much has been overcome to return the stone to his gravesite.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Attica tombstone returned to grave 26 years after found in Lafayette
