Curiosity about the first two husbands led me on a search for the bigger missing pieces to the puzzle. Luckily, there was a marriage record to the first husband whose name was Lorenzo Cupro whom Emma married in June 1912. Their first child, Niklas, was born in December 1913. Just fourteen months later, the second child of Emma was born in February 1915 and the father was listed as Mike Cupro. In that short length of time, Emma had remarried and had a second child. Two and a half years later, the third child was born in November 1917 and the father was listed as Frank Fink. Finally, my client's grandfather and his younger brother were the last two children born to Emma, in 1919 and in 1921. In the space of five years, Emma had married three times and had four children.
My question then was "What happened to Lorenzo Cupro and Mike Cupro*? Were they brothers? One was born in about 1881, the other in 1886, both in Austria and both were miners in Miami, Arizona. What added more confusion to this puzzle was the fact that Emma married a fourth time after the death of Frank Fink and the name of her fourth and last husband was Lawrence Cupich, very similar to the name of her first husband Lorenzo Cupro--in fact it could be an Americanized version of the name! At first thought, I believed that they were the same person but the following facts would indicate otherwise:
1. The 1930 Census where Emma and Lawrence are listed with her children, Nicklas, her first child, was listed as a stepson to Lawrence. According to the census, Lawrence was born about 1891 ten years later than the "Lorenzo Cupro" mentioned above.
2. The birth record of Niklas Cupro indicates that Lorenzo Cupro was 32 years old, placing his year of birth as about 1881.
3. Naturalization records for Lawrence Cupich indicated that he was the father of one child and listed that child as Martha--no mention of Niklas.
4. Lorenzo Cupro was a miner in 1913
5. Lawrence Cupich since 1914 was in the fishing industry
I could not find a death record for Lorenzo Cupro, but I assume he divorced Emma or died prior to her marriage to Mike Cupro. Researching the name "Lorenzo Cupro," along with its variation of spellings, brings up the name "Lawrence Cupich" in numerous documents which all relate to the fourth husband of Emma. These pieces of evidence are almost convincing enough--other than the ten year age difference--to believe that indeed her first and fourth husbands could be the same person but until further evidence is found, I will assume that they are two different people. Something else to ponder is that there is a relationship between the city of Wilkeson, Washington and Emma. Emma's fourth husband, Lawrence Cupich, was living in Wilkeson by 1914 (possibly earlier), having arrived in the U.S. in October 1910. Anton Cupro, supposed brother of Mike, was living in the same town in 1914. Emma's older sister Kate was married in late 1910 in Enumclaw, near Wilkeson, Washington, placing Emma and her family there after the 1910 Census of South Dakota. There is a strong tie between the town of Wilkeson, the Cupro surname, and Emma's family. In addition, Lawrence Cupich, Emma's fourth husband, moves from Wilkeson to San Pedro, California in the year 1924 where Emma and Frank Fink were living in 1926.
Now what about Mike Cupro? An "M. Cupich" is listed as a miner in the 1910 Census of Calaveras County, California, having arrived in the U.S. in 1906. Second, both the 1911 and the 1912 City Directories of Gray Harbor, Washington list a Mike Cupich working in that area--perhaps in the mining industry which was quite prevalent in that time period in that area. In 1911, he was living with Anton Cupich, probably his older brother, who left the states in 1914 for Canada. Did Mike go to Arizona around that same time period to work in the mines and become the second husband of Emma? They would have divorced after their child was born in 1914 and before her marriage to Frank and her third child born in 1917. Mike was still in the Miami, Arizona area in 1916 when he had a mining accident. Here is his mug shot from the year 1917 just before he was sentenced to prison on McNeill Island.
The World War I Draft Registration from McNeill Island shows his birth date as May 23, 1886 in Austria and his permanent residence in Miami, Arizona, where Emma and Frank resided which ties him into being the second husband of Emma and father to her second child. Mike was arrested in October 1917 for transporting and smoking opium in San Diego and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. In the summer of 1919, he was deported to Laredo, Texas returning in 1923. I haven't been able to track him after that time.
Though I don't know the whole life story of Lorenzo or Mike Cupro, I was able to add a few missing pieces to the puzzle, adding to the big picture. Someday I would like to solve the whole puzzle!
*The name Cupich has variations in spellings including Cupic, Cupich, Chupich, and Cupro, adding more confusion to the research.
