From the 1874 DuPage Atlas – The Stolps

Highlighted in this atlas are three farms owned by families named “Stolp.” The name may be familiar to people who have been to the Paramount Theatre or Hollywood Casino in Aurora, Illinois as both of them are located on Stolp Island. It turns out that DuPage and Kane counties have a wealth of Stolps in their histories. 

The Stolp ancestors were originally from Germany and immigrated to New York in the late 1700s, serving in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, before sending roots westward. They had large families and often named their children for parents and grandparents, so it gets pretty tricky to sort them all out. Several times over the past decades Stolp family members have recorded histories, many of which are available online, but there is still some confusion.

Just trying to focus on the DuPage Stolps was a challenge! Of the three that are depicted in the atlas, it seems Henry P. and Chas. W. were brothers, the sons of Frederick. Frederick walked from New York to Naperville in 1833, which is just a couple of years after it was founded. He was 52 years old, a brickmaker by trade, and decided the area around Big Woods was suitable for his needs. So Frederick walked back to get his wife and nine children. 

 

Frederick, apparently a champion walker, lived until he was 91 years old. He was married to Jannetje Peper, (the “P” in “Henry P.” stands for “Peper) who was the mother of all those children, for 24 years. A couple years after her death in 1837, he remarried, sharing 34 years with Amanda Rosier. In the 1870 census, which was taken just before this atlas was published, Frederick is listed as a “retired farmer” with his son Henry in charge. Presumably, this is the farm shown in the engraving. 

 

One of Frederick’s other sons was Charles West, the Chas. W. mentioned in the atlas. He and his wife Sarah had six children and apparently lived their last years in Kansas with daughter Harriet, although they are both buried in Aurora. Alfred, yet another son, is listed on a county land map. His property, west of downtown Naperville, is bordered by land labeled “Thatcher,” which should be explored since Alfred married Roxanna Thatcher. 

 

Peter M. was the son of Johan, Frederick’s brother, and Margaret Marlett, which is his middle name. He was married to Mary Jane Briggs in 1841 and they raised their family in DuPage, but by the time of the 1880 census, Peter and Mary Jane were farming in Crawford County, Wisconsin, which is only a few years after the atlas was published.

 

Another brother of Johan and Frederick was George Stolp. George and his wife Katharine started their family of eleven children back in New York. Some stayed, some moved out to Illinois, and some traveled even farther across the country. Son John was among the first of the family to settle in the area, farming in Naperville, so that’s where his brother Joseph stayed when he arrived. It was Uncle Frederick who secured the island for Joseph.

 

The twenty-five-year-old Joseph was apprenticed in wool manufacturing and was planning to start a woolen mill empire. The island location was perfect because he was counting on the Fox River to power the mill. Joseph was enormously successful, at one point employing 150 people, mainly women. Milling stopped in 1887 and the mill burned down in 1906, but the Woolen Mills Store and the Dye House buildings are still standing on Stolp Island if you want to see them. 

 

This only scratches the surface of the Stolps who were numerous and active. If you do any poking around in local history books, you are bound to find a Stolp!