By Ellen C. Phelan
Ellen is a longtime Historic Red Hook member and Elmendorph Innkeeper. She helps welcome and support those who rent the Inn, and she recently made a surprising personal discovery connecting her to one of the Elmendorph’s original innkeepers.
Photo of Julia Elmendorf Hover
My sister-in-law recently sent me an email with information about a long lost relative, Julia Elmendorf. This was an especially interesting and fun fact because I am currently the Innkeeper at the Elmendorph Inn and I wondered – “What are the chances that a distant relative was also an innkeeper at the Elmendorph Inn?” Could I be related to our beloved Cornelius Elmendorph, the first (second?) innkeeper? (or...the man the Friends of Elmendorph named the renovated inn after).
First things first – Julia Elmendorf’s name is spelled with an “f” not a “ph” at the end of the name. Disappointing, but not enough to discourage me from doing some digging – I’ve seen the name spelled both ways. It was a common name on both sides of the Hudson River – in Dutchess County and Ulster County.
Innkeeper Ellen Phelan serves fresh bread from the Elmendorph’s beehive oven during our annual Holiday Open House, carrying forward the spirit of hospitality that has shaped the Inn for generations.
But there were many Elmendorf(ph)s! Julia’s father was Jacob Elmendorf and his father was Samuel Elmendorf – no Cornelius in the immediate family that I could find.
But not to despair! An interesting clue for me was Julia’s mother Maria(h) Loop. Maria Loop was born in 1780 and her father was Josiah Loop. Josiah Loop was an innkeeper at the inn and her mother was Anna Decker, Josiah’s first wife. According to research done for the “Elmendorph Inn Historic Structure Report” written in 1982, “In 1804 the road records show that Josiah Loop is at the location and his will in 1807 shows him to be an INNKEEPER.” The Loops (father and then son Jacob) ran the inn from approximately 1800 to 1819 – a nice long run!
Back to Julia Elmendorf, my relative. Born in 1821, her grandfather was Josiah Loop, INNKEEPER, as listed in 1804. Her father was Jacob Elmendorf (not Cornelius) and her mother was Maria Loop, daughter of innkeeper, Josiah Loop.
Here’s the genealogy of my family connection to the innkeepers of the Elmendorph Inn:
Josiah Loop, INNKEEPER, & Anna Decker
Daughter: Maria Loop Elmendorf
Daughter: Julia Elmendorf Hover
Daughter: Catherine Hover Rockefeller
Daughter: Edith Rockefeller Crawford
Son: Raymond R. Crawford
Daughter: Ellen Crawford Phelan (ME!)
That’s my family connection to the Elmendorph Inn. I volunteer as the Innkeeper to help keep it running and available for community use, just as my ancestors did over 200 years ago!
Note: Contact Ellen at reserve@historicredhook.org if you’d like to rent the inn for an event.