JOHN LOOP AND MARGARET REBECCA SPOHR


John was born on 23 Jun 1811 in Augusta County, Virginia,1,2 the first child of the five daughters and three sons of Christian Loop Jr. and Eva Airhart.3,4  Margaret, daughter of Jacob Spohr,5 is thought to have been born about 1807 in Virginia6 (probably in Augusta County) but perhaps in Pennsylvania.  John and Margaret married in 1829 in Rockbridge County, Virginia.7,8

They moved to Indiana in 1832, two years before his parents followed, and probably lived near the Boone-Montgomery Counties line.  They are thought to have moved to somewhere in Missouri in the early 1840's, leaving the earlier generations behind, and to Fannin County, Texas about 1843, in the last few years that Texas was an independent republic before annexation to the United States.  By 1850 they were in Henderson County, Texas.  John farmed, was a mechanic, and, as then was everyone else in Texas, was a Democrat.9,10,11

A site in the center of newly-created Henderson County was chosen as the county seat and was named Athens.  The county commissioners contracted with John to build the first courthouse, which he delivered to the county on November 19, 1850 for $65, of which $15 was attributed to the stick-and-dirt chimney.12

Their residence in Henderson County has not been located.   Margaret died there in 1853 and John two years later.  The sites of their graves are unknown.

John and Margaret had eight children:

Christianna Loop, who was born on 24 Jul 1830 in Virginia, married James H. Painter on 3 Mar 1846 in Henderson County, Texas, married James A. Naudain on 6 Apr 1851, married his brother, John Wesley Naudain, on 10 Sep 1870, and died 16 Jan 1916 in Navarro County, Texas

William Washington Loop, who was born on 20 Mar 1836 in Boone County, Indiana, married Sarah Catherine Naudain on 22 May 1853 in Henderson County, Texas, and died on 4 Jun 1913 in Navarro County, Texas

Josiah Marion Loop, who was born about 1839 in Indiana, was unmarried and died on 10 Mar 1862 in Arkansas while serving with the Confederate Army

David Franklin Loop, who was born circa 1840 in Missouri, was unmarried, and probably died about 1862 in service with the Confederate Army in the Civil War

George Riley Loop, who was born circa 1843 in Fannin County, Texas, married Jane Patterson on 24 Nov 1867 in Henderson County, Texas, married Amelia Miller, and died in 1874 in Chatfield, Navarro County, Texas

Kate Loop, who may have been named Malinda and who died young

A child of unknown sex who died in infancy

Another child of unknown sex who died in infancy

Notes:

1. Kellie Loop, Rice, Tex., miscellaneous papers, pp. 24, 28.  Miss Loop collected family data for decades, probably from the 1930s to the 1970s.  Some of it is in her handwriting, and much of it appears to have been written by others and sent to her, but very little of it contains source attribution.   Occasionally there are inconsistencies within the papers.  The papers are now in the possession of Roger Bartlett, Austin, Tex., who assigned the page numbers for ease of reference.
2. 1850-1860 Census of Henderson County, Texas Including Slave Schedule and 1846 Tax List, comp. by Mrs. Claude Corder (Athens, Tex.: Henderson County Hist. Soc'y, 1984), 1850 census, p. 22 (giving his age and stating that he was born in Virginia).
3. History of Montgomery County, Indiana, with Personal Sketches of Representative Citizens (Indianapolis, Ind.: A. W. Bowen, 1913), p. 721.
4. Mrs. Peggy Loop, 1743 Marion, Wheaton, Ill. 60187, letter to Anna May Mossman, 1705 Dianne Ave., Bellevue, Neb. 68005, postmarked 16 Sep 1975.
5. Marriage bond for John Loop and Peggy Spohr, 30 Sep 1829, Marriage Register No. 1, p. 248, Rockbridge County, Va. (naming Jacob Spohr as her father).
6. 1850-1860 Census of Henderson County, Texas, above,1850 census, p. 22 (giving her age and stating that she was born in Virginia).
7. Kellie Loop, miscellaneous papers, above, pp. 24, 26 (giving only the date).
8. Marriage bond for John Loop and Peggy Spohr, 30 Sep 1829, Marriage Register No. 1, p. 248, Rockbridge County, Va. (suggesting that their marriage would have been in Rockbridge County soon after 30 Sep 1829).
9. Kellie Loop, miscellaneous papers, above, p. 27.
10. Omer Loop, 1302 N. 21st St., Superior, Wis., letter to Kellie Loop, 5507 Bryan St., Dallas, Tex., 22 Apr 1957 (attributing most information to a 1909 typewritten Loop history written by Andrew Loop) (quoting Andrew Loop as describing his brother John as being "of a roving disposition").
11. 1850-1860 Census of Henderson County, Texas, above, 1850 census, p. 23 (giving his occupation as farmer).
12. J. J. Faulk, History of Henderson County, Texas (n.p.: n.pub., 1929), p. 36.