Every family will have tragedies, trials, and tribulations somewhere along the line but the Haupt family had more than their fair share of difficulties to deal with.
Please take some time to look at the pictures and especially study the information closely to get an understanding of how sad it was for the whole family.

These pictures came from the Alfred & Margaret (Summerville) Spies collection - Margaret was the daughter of William and Isabelle (Shaw) Summerville.
Emma Haupt and William Summerville were siblings...
Margaret & Alfred's children: Russell, Donna Zerwas, Stanley, and Kenneth

Fred & Emma (Summerville) Haupt

MRS. GEORGE CARSTENS

Funeral services will be held Friday for Mrs. George Carstens, 84, former Manning resident who had lived the last several years in Omaha.

Services will take place at 10 a.m. Friday in Omaha, after which the body will be taken to Manning to the Ohde Funeral Home, where it will be shown at 1 p.m. preceding services there at 2 p.m. Burial will take place in the Manning Cemetery.

Survivors include three daughters, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Carstens was the former Emma Summerville. After the death many years ago of her first husband, Mr. Fred Haupt, she was married to George Carstens.

Emma was born in 1883, the daughter of Robert and Mary (Jenkins) Summerville.

FARMER HANGS SELF;
WORRY PROMPTS ACT
Fred Haupt, of Manning, Despondent Over Finances, Takes Own Life.
WRITES NOTE TO WIFE
Advises Her Who to Trust in Settling Affairs - Blames Business Man for Financial Reverses.

Fred Carl Haupt, 40 years old, a well-known farmer, residing about five miles southeast of Manning, committed suicide about 11 o'clock Tuesday morning, October 18, 1921, by hanging himself to a tree at the edge of his corn field where he had been husking corn. Despondency over the death of two children who were killed in an automobile accident two years ago, coupled with possible financial difficulties and worry over the low price of farm products, are thought to have been contributing factors in the suicide.

According to Dr. F.V. Hibbs, County Coroner, who was called to the scene shortly after the discovery of the lifeless body, Mr. Haupt had been working in the field with Carl Carlson, his farm hand, and, about 10:36 o'clock suggested that Carlson go to the house to do some work.

When Mr. Haupt did not return for dinner, Carlson went to the field to look for his employer and found him hanging from a tree, his feet touching the ground. His team had been tied to a tree nearby.

In the suicide's pocket was found a two-page letter addressed to his wife, advising her who, among his, business acquaintances, she should trust to assist in settling financial affairs. It is asserted that in this letter he blamed one of his acquaintances, a business man, for his rash deed, alleging tricky financial dealings.

Mr. and Mrs. Haupt had been farming the Summerville place, the property of Mrs. Haupt's father.

Fred's wife is the former Emma Summerville, and they had four children: Herbert, Ruth, Helen, and Ellen. All three daughters passed away in tragic deaths. Herbert and his wife, Bessie, had one son, David.
Carroll Times October 20, 1921

Note: Emma later married George Carstens.

Below are clippings of the 2 major Haupt family tragedies. I added pertinent information to the articles to clarify which family members were involved.

Coasting Accident Takes Life

Ellen Haupt, 13 year old, daughter of Mrs. George Carstens, of Manning, was killed Friday afternoon, January 22, 1932, when the sled on which she was coasting down a hill ran under a truck loaded with corn, driven by John Wanninger, Jr. The driver was hauling corn to town from the Dammann farm.

Born October 1, 1919, Ellen was the daughter of Fred and Emma (Summerville) Haupt.
Ellen later married George Carstens after Fred committed suicide.

Two sisters, Helen and Ruth, died tragically July 25, 1916 when their mother ran into a rural road ditch while driving the family car. Emma and Ellen were uninjured during this accident.

Back: Amy
Front: Ellen, Emma, Esther

MOTHER SEES TWO DAUGHTERS KILLED
Mrs. Fred Haupt Tries in Vain to Right Tipped Auto Crushing Girls

Emma (Summerville) Haupt saw her two daughters die July 25, 1916, under an overturned automobile after a vain effort to right the machine.

Mrs. Haupt was learning to drive and had taken her three daughters with her.

The machine upset on a steep grade along a lonely road.

Mrs. Haupt and her third daughter, Ellen, were uninjured, but the other two daughters, Helen born in 1915 and Ruth born in 1906 were pinned beneath the car and slowly crushed to death.
Burial was in Manning Cemetery.

Ruth, Amy, Herbert

Fred & Emma with Herbert, Amy, & Ruth

The Haupt family owned this old house

This house was torn down by the Peter Rix family and replaced by the brick one that stands at 57 April Street and owned by Dale & Marcy Ehlers

This 1912 picture postcard came from Helene (Werder) Heithoff's collection that I scanned in 2011. Helene helped me a lot with Manning history and with the Manning Quasqui & School history books and other history projects.
Mary Otto was one of the managers of the Park Hotel and was an aunt to Helene.
This hotel once stood on the east side of Main Street at the highway intersection. It mainly served the passengers who came in on the Milwaukee RR that originally ran down what is today Park Avenue before the tracks were straightened and moved to the north side of Manning in 1915.

I wish Helene was alive so I could show her how her postcard would give more insight into the Haupt family...

Park Hotel

Annie Haupt was married to John Haupt and their only child was Fred who was featured above.

These next 2 autographed messages were in high school scrapbooks I scanned.
Amy Haupt wrote the messages and is one of the daughters of Fred & Emma.

Scanned from Lucille Sinn's high school memory book.

Scanned from Verna Jensen's high school scrapbook - later married Jim Atkins.

1935 Marietta Graves, Esther Haupt, Ruth Lage
West side of the old high school along 141 - today the indoor pool would be on the right.
From the Hazel (Lage) Ehlers collection.

Esther Haupt
From the Judy (Enenbach) collection, daughter of William & Helen (Frahm) Enenbach
Helen & Esther graduated together in 1935

March 20, 1924 Manning Monitor
HERBERT HAUPT WRITES FROM HONDURAS
Amapala Honduras, Central America.
February 15, 1924.
Dearest Mother:
It has been a long time since I last wrote you but we have not been in any port where I could mail any letters. We stopped in Manzanillo, Mexico, to investigate about two days and then went to Acapulco, Mexico, to investigate where we stayed about a day. Then we came down here, got in this a.m., about noon. Not such good weather part of the time. February 13th we were off of the Bay of Tehuantepec about 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. during which time it got so rough that the after mast broke and the wireless aerial tangled up considerably. We made 13 knots from Bremerton to San Diego and 22 from there to Manzanillo, Mexico. From Manzanillo, Mexico, to Acapulco, Mexico, we made 20 knots; and from Acapulco to Honduras we made 20 knots until we hit the rough weather in the Tehuantepec Bay and the mast broke and we floated around out in the sea for a couple of hours until it was tied up again. Then 14 knots until we were through the rough weather and then back to 20 knots again the rest of the way in.

I don't know how long we will be here. They have been having some trouble down here, The Japs tried to unload a cargo of ammunition I hear, and that is why we were sent here. We may be here for anywhere from a day to 6 months or a year, nobody knows. I think that we will leave for the Caribbean Sea for Fleet Maneuvers in about 5 or 10 days at the most.

It is nice and warm down here, about 100 in the shade and plenty of sharks in the bay. Saw two out alongside the ship this evening. I didn't think that I was going to get to write for a couple of weeks yet, but they passed the word tonight that a mail steamer would leave here tomorrow.

This town is not as big as Aspinwall and the others in Mexico were quite as small: We haven't had any liberty since we left San Diego.

I am sweating so much now that I have to put blotter under my hand so the paper won't get soaked, and it is about 8 o'clock. The sun has been down for over an hour. My arms are sunburned quite badly even if I have not been on top side but about an hour since we left Diego.

I don't know of much more to write at the present time, so I guess I will close for this time, hoping that this letter reaches you and that the rest are in the best of health and comfort with nice, warm winter weather.
Lovingly,
Always your boy in Blue
H.J. Haupt.
U.S.S. Milwaukee, New York City.