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Three Men Named Lewis Kopp of Tower City Area
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 29, 2016
There are now known to be three men named Lewis Kopp who had some connection to the Tower City area and to Civil War service.
Two of them served in the Civil War and one was the son of a Civil War veteran:
- Lewis Kopp (or Ludwig Kopp), born about 1846 in Germany. Served in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, as a Private. He died of disease on 1 October 1864 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
- Lewis Kopp (or Lewis Kupp), was born in Schuylkill County about 1845. He served in the 27th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company C and/or Company I, as a Private. He died on 9 January 1931 and is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery, Tower City.
- Lewis Kopp (1846-1923) was the son of Civil War veteran Daniel Kopp (or Daniel Kopps), a Prussian immigrant who served in the Regimental Band of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. This Lewis Kopp had no known Civil War service.
The main point to be made here is that the Lewis Kopp honored on the Tower City Veterans’ Memorial and honored by a memorial brick at the same memorial is the one who served in the 27th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863). The Lewis Kopp who died in the war and who served as a Private in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, is not honored on the Tower City Veterans’ Memorial, but should be honored because he has a connection to Tower City.
On 25 January 2011, in a post entitled “Tower City – Porter Township Centennial – Civil War Veterans List,” the name of “Lewis Kopp” was mentioned as a veteran.
Then, on 23 July 2012, in a post entitled “Tower City, Porter and Rush Township Civil War Veterans – Part 6,” gave the following information:
LEWIS W. KOPP (1846-1864), also known as “Ludwig Kopp” and “Louis Kopp,” died during the Civil War but that fact is not noted on his nameplate on the Tower City Memorial (a “*” before the name indicates a war death). He was German immigrant who joined the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, as a Private on 2 March 1864 with his death occurring just seven months later, 1 October 1864. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
Family members of Lewis Kopp also provided a memorial brick which is located on the terrace in front of the Tower City Memorial.
And, on 25 September 2012, the following was reported here as part of a post on Greenwood Cemetery, Tower City:
This stone and its dates of 1845-1931, confirms that this is for a different Lewis Kopp than previously thought who served in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, was from Schuylkill County and who died in the Civil War. The Lewis Kopp who is buried here served in the 27th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company C, as a Private, and died in 1931. His wife’s name was Margaret…. This Lewis Kopp was a mine laborer. It should also be noted that the memorial brick at the Tower City Veterans’ Memorial as well as the name plate there, probably refer to the Lewis Kopp who is buried in Greenwood Cemetery and not to the Lewis Kopp who died in the Civil War.
Now, since the above postings, a third person named Lewis Kopp has been located. That Lewis Kopp did not serve in the Civil War, but his father, Daniel Kopp did serve.
Daniel Kopp (or Kopps), was born in Prussia about 1816 and served as a Musician in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, Regimental Band, from 24 August 1861 through 17 August 1862, when he was discharged by General Order. Daniel was about 45 when he enrolled in Schuylkill County, his occupation was miner and his residence was Pottsville.
On 4 December 1879, Daniel Kopp applied for a pension and was awarded benefits which he collected until his death. There was no widow. Source: Pension Index Card, Fold3.
Information on Ancestry.com indicates Daniel’s wife’s name was Catherine.
For most of his life after emigrating to the United States, Daniel Kopp lived in Tremont, Schuylkill County, which is not far from Tower City. Daniel and Catherine had at least 6 children, the oldest of whom appears to be Lewis W. Kopp, who was born 11 December 1846, lived most of his life in Tremont, and died there on 7 October 1923. Early on, Lewis worked as a coal miner, but by 1900 he was a tax collector and by 1910, he was an insurance agent. Census records give his wife’s name as Alice. However, no Civil War records have been located for him.
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