Copenhaver

What Copenhaver does

The Copenhaver Family Organization is a private, non-profit family genealogical society rather than a commercial enterprise. It serves descendants of Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver, who settled in Smyth County, Virginia around 1800, tracing their American lineage to Wolfgang Koppenhofer's arrival at the Port of Philadelphia in 1732. The organization's primary activities are coordinating annual family reunions (held at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA since 1975), publishing the annual "Copenhaver Cousins Newsletter" to approximately 300 recipients via mail and email, and preserving family history through archival collections and the Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver Memorial Library within the Smyth-Bland Regional Library. The Memorial Library Fund, established by Declaration of Trust in 1986, has channeled over $35,000 into the library room and furnishings.

The underlying technology is minimal: a static informational website (copenhaver.org) hosted by SmythNet, a local Smyth County ISP owned by family webmaster Michael V. Perdue. There is no mobile application, no public API, and no proprietary software platform. The organization is currently working with Emory & Henry College to digitize documents, microfilm, and photographs for archival preservation. Day-to-day operations are managed by elected family officers (President Katy Copenhaver Davidson, Vice President Mark Copenhaver, Secretary Karen Copenhaver, Treasurer Mike Davidson) along with committee volunteers handling newsletter distribution, genealogy charts, and library stewardship.

The business model is donation-funded with no commercial revenue. There are no dues, no subscription fees, and no products or services sold; reunion costs (shelter rental, catering, name tags, awards) are covered by voluntary family donations, and attendees bear most personal travel costs out of pocket. The website explicitly encourages email newsletter subscriptions to reduce printing and postage expenses. Distribution is entirely through community-led channels: the annual newsletter, the website, word-of-mouth among family members, and the in-person reunion itself. The organization serves a single segment — Copenhaver descendants — across multiple U.S. states, with documented attendance from as many as eight states plus the District of Columbia at recent reunions.

Name

Copenhaver

Legal name

Copenhaver Family Organization

Website

https://copenhaver.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1800

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Copenhaver Family Organization is a private, non-profit genealogical society serving descendants of Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver of Smyth County, Virginia. It coordinates annual family reunions at Hungry Mother State Park, publishes an annual newsletter, and preserves family archives through a memorial library fund.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: The family reunion is funded through voluntary donations from family members. There are no dues or newsletter subscription fees. Donations are used to cover reunion costs including shelter rental at Hungry Mother State Park, catering, name tags, and gifts for award winners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Copenhaver Family Organization preserves and shares family genealogy through an annual Copenhaver Cousins Newsletter (distributed free by email and traditional mail), annual family reunions held at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia, and maintenance of the Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver Memorial Library within the Southwest Virginia Heritage Library. The organization coordinates ancestral home site tours, genealogy charts, and family history documentation for descendants of Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver who settled in Smyth County, Virginia around 1800.

Product overview

Copenhaver (copenhaver.org) is a family genealogy and reunion organization, not a commercial product company. The organization maintains a website that provides informational content about the Copenhaver family history, publishes newsletters (Copenhaver Cousins Newsletter), coordinates annual family reunions held at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia, and supports the Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver Memorial Library within the Southwest Virginia Heritage Library. No commercial products or services are offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Copenhaver Cousins Newsletter

Quantifiable outcome

• 321 people visited the Heritage Library from 20 states in 2008 for genealogical research

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hungry Mother State ParkcoreOthersHungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA is the venue for the annual Copenhaver Family Reunion. The park provides shelter rental and camping facilities for family members attending the reunion.
• Smyth-Bland Regional Library / Southwest Virginia Heritage LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe family established and funds the Frederick and Eve Phillippi Copenhaver Memorial Library within the Smyth-Bland Regional Library. The collection houses family history documents, bibles, photographs, and genealogical resources. The family has contributed over $35,000 for the room and furnishings.
• Comfort Inn (Atkins, VA)minorOthersThe Comfort Inn in Atkins, VA reserves a block of 15 rooms at a discounted rate ($70 per night) for family members attending the reunion.
• Emory & Henry CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Copenhaver Library Committee is working jointly with Emory & Henry College to digitize important documents, microfilm, and photographs in the archives for preservation.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Daughters of the American Revolution: DAR is a lineage-based service organization that documents and celebrates American family heritage dating to the Revolutionary era. It is thematically related to Copenhaver's multi-generational American heritage focus (tracing back to 1732) and operates a national library system, but at vastly greater scale and with formal membership criteria.
• National Genealogical Society: The National Genealogical Society is a U.S. nonprofit supporting genealogical research, education, and record preservation. It is thematically related to Copenhaver's mission of family heritage preservation, serving as an industry/advisory body rather than a direct competitor.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society: NEHGS (AmericanAncestors.org) is one of the oldest genealogical societies in the U.S., operating a research library and publishing heritage records. It is comparable to Copenhaver's library-and-archive function but operates as a paid-membership institution serving the broader public rather than a single family.

Regional players

• Smyth County Historical Society: The Smyth County Historical Society preserves and presents local history in the same Marion, VA region where Copenhaver operates. It is comparable as a regional heritage-preservation organization with overlapping geographic footprint, library/archive function, and community-engagement model.

Broad incumbents

• MyHeritage: MyHeritage is a global genealogy platform offering family trees, historical records, and DNA testing across multiple countries. It overlaps with Copenhaver's core function of preserving and distributing family heritage information, but operates as a commercial subscription service rather than a donation-funded family association.
• FamilySearch: FamilySearch is a free, nonprofit genealogy organization operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, maintaining the world's largest shared family-tree collection. It is the closest non-commercial peer to Copenhaver in mission — preserving and sharing genealogical records at no cost to users — though at vastly greater scale and institutional backing.
• Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com is the largest commercial genealogy platform, offering family-tree building, historical record access, and DNA testing. It is comparable to Copenhaver as the broad incumbent in family heritage research, though it operates at massive scale and as a for-profit subscription business rather than a volunteer family organization.

Emerging players

• WikiTree: WikiTree is a free, collaborative family-tree platform where individuals contribute and connect ancestral records. It is comparable to Copenhaver's collaborative genealogy effort and newsletter-driven family coordination, but operates as an open web community rather than a single-family organization.
• Find A Grave: Find A Grave is a crowdsourced memorial and cemetery-record platform that connects family members through shared ancestor information. It overlaps with Copenhaver's archival and family-connection mission, particularly for genealogical research, but is structured around memorials rather than living-family reunions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Copenhaver