The Atnip family traces its roots back to a man named Hildebrand ‘Hiltbrand’ InAebnit.  Because many of our ancestors were German-speaking Swiss who didn’t speak English, they spoke with a heavy accent.  As they interacted with others, this language issue resulted in a variation of names heard and written down. Many census takers spelled phonetically and often times wrote down what they heard.  Add to that handwriting was sometimes very difficult to read, it is easy to understand how it may have been transcribed incorrectly and as a result, that particular branch of the family continued on with that spelling, hence the name Atnip from InAebnit.

There are places on this site where you can trace the Atnip line back to Hildebrand InAebnit, but this site is dedicated to the descendants of Orley Eugene and Eva (pronounced Evie) Mae (Davis) Atnip and their children.

Orley Eugene Atnip was born on September 26, 1906, in Greenville, Missouri. They were married on September 11, 1927 and had 10 children over 22 years. Orley was a sharecropper who spent most of his adult life in the cotton fields or ginning the stuff.  Orley loved to tell stories about his growing up years in the foothills of Missouri.  He would sing at the drop of a hat and everyone who knew him thought he was a wonderful bass singer.  He studied the bible so much; he could find almost any scripture quickly with the flip of a few pages.

Eva Mae Davis was born on November 2, 1907, in Wayne County, Missouri.  Eva was the homemaker and a nurturing figure in the Atnip family. Eva never worked in the field but she used to bring the family water when they were close enough to the house and she always had dinner ready when they went home at noon.  Eva had a great ability to laugh and tell funny stories about when she was young.

One of the most important lessons that Eva and Orley taught their children was that there were always people who were worse off than they were and that they should feel grateful for what they had, even if it was very little.

Like most families, the Atnips have experienced tremendous personal loss over the years but their enduring love for each other, the life lessons instilled into them as children, and their unshakable faith in God, continues to carry them forward today.

This site is an attempt to record the Atnip family history for future generations.