A. Max Coppage, Dr. John (Jack) E. Manahan and Harold Ellsworth Coppage were original founders of the Coppage-Coppedge Family Association in September 1947. Max (1915-1998) was a school teacher in Hale, Missouri. Jack (1920-1990) was a professor at Radford College in Virginia. Harold (1913-1968) was Regional Passenger Sales Manager for the C&O/B&O Railroad from Hyattsville, Maryland.
The stated purpose of the Association was to: preserve and foster an appreciation of the history, traditions, and records of the Family; give opportunity to the members of the Family for social contacts through the annual reunions of the Association; and provide financial assistance to consolidate the genealogical data into a written history to be published in book form.
Raney Coppadge (yes with an “a”) drafted the first version of the Association’s constitution in 1948 titled “Coppedge Family Association,” by 1949 the name evolved to “Coppage-Coppedge Family Association.” Membership was, and is open to anyone who is a lineal descendent or collateral relative, including spouses.
The first reunion was held in 1948 at the Tide’s Inn, Irvington, Virginia. Jack was President, Max served as Vice President and Harold was Secretary. We are fortunate that reunions have been held each year since. All but one reunion, Little Rock, Arkansas (1951), were held east of the Mississippi River, with the state of Virginia hosting the most reunions to date. A reunion location history and presiding president is shown below.
The Association’s first documentation of family history was in the “Coppage-Coppedge Family (1542-1955)”, published by Jack Manahan and Max Coppage in 1955, with an update published in 1956. This accomplished one of the major objectives for the Association. Jack and Max continued work for the next twenty years and published significant accomplishment in documenting the family history, “Coppage-Coppedge Chronicle (1542-1975).” Since the job of documenting family history is never done, work on the next chronicle began soon after publication. With the research help of many family members, Walter Edwin Overstreet published the “Coppage-Coppedge Chronicle II (1542-1998),” research continues on Chronicle III.
If you are a Coppage-Coppedge descendent, please join the Association and become part of the family’s history.
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