Louis Ropson, the son of Joseph Ropson and Mary Collins, was born on June 8, 1903, in Red River Township, Kewaunee, Wisconsin, about a mile east of Dyckesville. He lived on the same farm, and in the same house, his entire life. His father and brother were killed by lightning in 1907. In 1927, he married Elsie Vandermuelen who died in 1974. They had no children. The spelling of the name varies in many of the records. It appears as both Robson and Ropson throughout the collection.
Mr. Ropson saw himself as a farmer but he had many other interests and activities. For fifty years, he was church organist at Dyckesville, Wisconsin for St. Louis Catholic Church. He walked fourteen miles to take music lessons from a priest (see Belgian-American Oral History Tape BT 5/1976) and paid for the lessons with money he earned as church organist. When the priest could teach him no more, he enrolled in counterpoint correspondence courses through the University of Wisconsin Extension. Because he lacked knowledge of the English language (Walloon, a French patois, was his first language) he also took a correspondence course in English grammar.
Mr. Ropson started building violins and later violas and cellos, approximately 1934-1936. He continued building them until his death in July 1979. When his wife was alive, she helped him with the finishing of the instruments. He started building grandfather and grandmother clocks in the 1960s. He told an interviewer that he only sold clocks to people he trusted.
Mr. Ropson spoke and read both French and Walloon and was very fond of the literature and music of Belgium, particularly in Walloon. He subscribed to a number of Walloon publications, which are a part of this collection.
