The Tandrop Family

Ulrich Christian Tandrop was born on March 15, 1819 in Faaborg, Denmark. He was a muralist, painting churches and ballrooms. He traveled while painting, and in Munich he met and married Francesca Sperl.

Francesca Sperl was born on March 9, 1820, in Munich, Germany. Her family had a large, prosperous farm with servants, outside of Munich. They were Catholic.

The couple's first daughter, Catherine Tandrop (nicknamed Kate) was born on December 13, 1845 in Munich, Germany. The following year the family emigrated to America, bringing a cow on board the ship with them to be used for feeding their infant daughter, Kate. The cow died on the way over. The story is that since there was a lot of champagne on the ship, that Kate was given champagne. She was jokingly called 'Champagne Kate.' Landing in America, the family went by land as far as Pittsburgh, then descended the Ohio River by barge, settling in Cinncinnati. Their other two daughters, Frances Tandrop, born June 5, 1852; and Anna Tandrop, born August 28, 1857 were born in the states. They also had a brother who died of yellow fever in New Orleans while he was fairly young.

Frances married Seran Nelson and had three children.

Francesca Sperl died on December 4, 1889, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ulrich Tandrop died almost ten years later on July 19, 1899 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Catherine Tandrop married a man sixteen years her senior, Wilhelm Clement Theodor Blomberg, on July 11, 1863.

At right: Catherine Tandrop