Daniel Israel Rupp

Background

Israel Daniel Pupp was born in East Pennsboro (now Hampden) Township, Cumberland County, Pa. , the fourth of the fourteen children of George and Christina (Boeshor) Rupp, and was a grandson of Johann Jonas Rupp, a native of Reihen, near Sinsheim, Baden, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1751 and in 1772 bought the land on which Israel Daniel was born. He was baptized in the Reformed faith by the Rev. John Winebrenner.

Education

Rupp got his first taste of book-learning from a pious German schoolmaster, Peter Blaeser. He learned English a few years later; Dutch he picked up from his maternal grandfather; and from a Rev. Mr. Vorhoof he acquired the rudiments of French and Latin. Altogether he learned to read eight or nine languages. A German biography of Franklin first awoke his interest in history, which, fed by strong family feeling and love for his native soil, became the preoccupation of his life. He studied for a while with his physician, Asa Herring.

Career

In August 1823 Rupp was prostrated by a severe illness, and on his recovery his father allowed him to leave the farm and map out a career for himself. In 1825 he opened a subscription school first at Silver Spring and then at Mechanicsburg. In 1827 he formed his plan for a great history of Pennsylvania and began his long quest for materials.

For some twenty of the next thirty-three years he was a schoolmaster, and according to tradition a very good one, in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, and Lancaster counties, and perhaps elsewhere; but whenever teaching was not sufficiently peripatetic for his purposes he took to the road in other capacities. At one time he was an itinerant bookseller, and at various times he was an insurance agent. He was a delegate to political conventions, electioneered for John Quincy Adams throughout the German counties in 1828, and, after his hero's defeat, took to the stump in behalf of James Brown's magnificently complicated "American system of syntax"--probably with even less success. Later he went about the state with Josiah Holbrook organizing county, township, and family lyceums. In 1830 he wandered as far west as Cincinnati and there published his "Geschichte der Märtyrer, nach dem ausführlichen Original des Ehrw. Johann Fox und anderer kurz gefasst, besonders für den gemeinen deutschen Mann in den Ver. Staaten von Nord-America. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt" (new ed. , 1832), the first of the eleven works, several of great bulk, that he translated from English into German or from German and Dutch into English.

The next year saw him ensconced as postmaster at Rupp's, Pleasant Township, Marion County, Ohio, but in 1832 he was back in his native state. He edited the Carlisle Herald in 1833 and the Practical Farmer in 1837. At Harrisburg, whither he was frequently drawn by the state library and archives, he not only taught school but reported the doings of the Senate for the newspapers and wrote speeches for members of both houses of the legislature. All the while he lost no opportunity to consult books, documents, and public records of all kinds, and he was a constant practitioner of the genial art of pumping information out of magistrates, parsons, and old inhabitants with long memories. His affability and his willingness to receive as well as to impart information made him welcome everywhere.

His History of Lancaster County (1844) was the first of six volumes devoted to the history of twenty-three counties of the state. His other historical works were an Early History of Western Pennsylvania (1846), A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German Immigrants in Pennsylvania 1727 to 1776 (1856; rev. ed. , 1876; a new ed. in prep. by W. J. Hinke), and A Brief Biographic Memorial of Joh. Jonas Rupp (1875).

His textbooks were The Lyceum Spelling-Book (1836), The Geographical Catechism of Pennsylvania and the Western States (1836), and The Farmer's Complete Farrier (1843; 1847). He edited The Practical Farmer (Mechanicsburg, 1837) and He Pasa Ekklesia: An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States (1844).

In April 1860 he removed to Philadelphia, where he spent the rest of his life. With his simple tastes, industrious habits, and rugged health, he was able by his writing to keep his family in decent comfort and to find much leisure for historical studies. In 1866 he visited Colorado, which he described in delightful letters to the Reformed Church Messenger. A week before his death he suffered an apoplectic stroke.

Achievements

• Rupp was considered as the "father of local history in the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania". During his lifetime his publications were rare and were much sought after. He laid an enduring foundation for the study of Pennsylvania local history and made the subject popular. Though his books are written in a rough, homespun style, are sometimes poorly arranged, and are peppered with some of the most fantastic of typographical errors, they are generally accurate, show much acumen in separating fact from fancy, and preserve a vast quantity of information that would otherwise have been lost or left all but inaccessible in widely scattered archives. Among his unpublished writings is a diary kept with conscientious care for half a century.

Works

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  • History Of All The Religious Denominations In The United States: Containing Authentic Accounts Of The Rise And Progress, Faith And Practice, Localities And Statistics, Of The Different Persuasions

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Geographical Catechism of Pennsylvania, and the Western States: Designed As a Guide and Pocket Companion, for Travellers and Emigrants, to ... a Geographical and Early Historical Acc

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII. By a gentleman of the bar i.e. I. D. Rupp. With an appendix, etc.

    ( Title: Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of th...)

  • Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants in Pennsylvania

    (The body of this work consists of 319 ship passenger list...)

  • A collection of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, Portuguese and other immigrants in Pennsylvania

    (A collection of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, D...)

  • History of the Counties of Berks and Lebanon (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from History of the Counties of Berks and Lebanon...)

  • He pasa ekklesia; an original history of the religious denominations at present existing in the United States

    (He pasa ekklesia; an original history of the religious de...)

  • The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties Pennsylvania

    (The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Frankl...)

  • The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry Counties Pennsylvania: Containing a Brief History of the Firs

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • History of Lancaster County

    (History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 544 Pages.)

Connections

On July 19, 1827, Rupp married Caroline Aristide, daughter of a French physician. They had five daughters and three sons.

Father:

George Rupp

Mother:

Christina (Boeshor) Rupp

Spouse:

Caroline Aristide

Grandfather:

Johann Jonas Rupp