Virginia Sanders  Mylius

<gmylius@charter.net>   ·
Birmingham, AL    



Complete notes and sources available upon request.

HOPKINS FAMILY


HOPKINS FAMILY, (pdf file)

Our Hopkins ancestors are still something of a mystery.   We know that THOMAS, born ca 1814, and JOHN J. HOPKINS, born ca 1823, were brothers, and they were from Maryland.   Both ended up in Georgia, but none of our family records have the names of their parents.     A descendant is currently undertaking a DNA test which we hope will lead us to our Hopkins ancestors in Maryland!    

Thomas Hopkins was born ca 1814, in Maryland.  Thomas Hopkins married Rebecca Lambeth 2 Nov 1837 in Richmond County, GA.   In 1840 he is the owner of the Augusta Iron and Brass Foundry.   In 1846, Gideon Hotchkiss announced that he had  “sold his entire interest in the [Hotchkiss Vertical Premium Water Wheel] Patent,  and Water Wheels, in the State of Georgia, to Thomas Hopkins and Lyman S. Catlin, of Augusta, and Collins Potter, Mill Wright, and he confidently recommends them as fully competent to apply the improvement to all kinds of water power.”   Thomas Hopkins, Cailtin and Potter announced that “having purchased the Patent of the above celebrated wheels for the State of Georgia, are prepared to receive proposals for the sale of rights for counties prior single rights.”  He lived on Walker Street in Augusta, GA.  In 1847, right before his death, his business was purchased by C.C. Taliaferro and D.R. Torbett, who continued to advertise the business, as the "Augusta Foundry, Millwright and Machine Shop."    Thomas Hopkins died 16 Apr 1848 in Augusta, GA of consumption at age 33, and is buried in Magnolia Cemetery - where his wife Rebecca is also buried at his side.     His will, as on record in the Richmond County Courthouse in Augusta was dated Oct 22, 1847, and after directing all his debts to be paid, directed:  “All the rest and residue of my estate, real and personal, in possession and in action, I give and bequest to George M. Newton of Augusta, his heirs, successors, and assigns forever In Trust for the sole and separate use of my Beloved Wife, REBECCA HOPKINS wholly free from all control of any other person whatever, during her natural life.    And on the death of my said wife, my will and desire is that said estate be divided by said trustee, or his successors, among my children, and their lineal representatives.”    

"Sacred to the memory of
Thomas Hopkins
who departed this life
on the 16th of April 1848
in the 34th year of his age
He was a native of Maryland
but for the last 10 years a resident
of Augusta.  His life was honorable
and he died rejoicing in the hope of a
glorious immortality.
Such was his end a calm release
No clinging to this mortal clod
He closed his eyes and stood in peace
before a smiling God."

Thomas and Rebecca had the following children.   (note:  Dr. George M. Newton was guardian for the minor children, a Professor of Anatomy and Dean of Faculty at Medical College of Georgia.  Dr. Newton died in 1859)

See below for pictures of the home of Rebecca Lambeth Hopkins, where she lived after Thomas’s death in 1848
(from 1859 to 1867)  

JOHN J. HOPKINS was born ca 1823 in Maryland.   He married Margaret Martin on 6 Aug 1850 in Petersburg, Dinwiddie, VA.   Ann Geil provided copies of the entries in their Family Bible, which provided most of the dates of births, deaths, and marriages in the immediate family.  And Robert Commagere provided the following information:  “John was in Petersburg, VA from c. 1850-1857; Charlotte, NC from c. 1858-186?; Savannah, GA from 1870-1876.   Since Isaac Stiles HOPKINS was a prominent person (founder of Georgia Tech; leading Methodist Minister) I thought that there would be biographical data in encyclopedias.  I did find his name mentioned several times but it never said more than the names of his parents and that he was of Irish descent.   I have no idea when my HOPKINS progenitor came from Ireland to MD but I assume it was somewhere between the 1770s and 1813.”  

John died 27 Sep 1876 in Savannah, GA and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery there.  There was a severe outbreak of yellow fever that summer of 1876.   His wife Margaret wrote the following in the family Bible:  

“On Thursday 27th of Sept 1876 my dearly devoted husband after an illness of four days of yellow fever, most calmly and with christian resignation gave up his spirit to our blessed Lord and Savior Who now has it in His keeping,and will on the morning of the resurrection reanimate his dear lifeless body now sleeping in the grave.  "He is not dead but sleepeth."
"Safe in the arms of Jesus.  Safe from carroding (Not sure of this spelling)care."
Oh! never shall I forget that heavenly smile which lit up his countenance as he stood on the verge of the river of Death.  Death to my dear husband seemed to be a bright and blessed passport to eternal glory.  In life he was in heart and practice a true Christian.  The duty and privilege of prayer he much enjoyed.  I have often observed him after rising from his knees continue for sometime afterward in prayer with his dear lips moving and almost audibly blessing himself  with a seeming unconsciousness that none but God was near.  Prayer breathed from his lips at the gate of death.  He entered heaven with prayer.
M. Hopkins”

John and Margaret had the following children:  

1)   James Robert HOPKINS (b.30 Jun 1852-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.1933)
 | sp: Anna Theresa MEHRTENS (b.16 Mar 1855-Savannah,GA m.23 Feb 1876 d.29 Aug 1920-New Orleans,LA)
2)   Jeanette Elizabeth HOPKINS (b.29 Aug 1855-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.5/15/1935 ?-Jacksonville,FL)
 | sp: Thomas J. BROWN (b.Sept/1857 ?-Maryland m.16 Jun 1879 d.19 Apr 1913-Jacksonville,FL)
3)   Rabena HOPKINS (b.Circa 1857-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA)
4)   John HOPKINS (never married) (b.19 May 1860-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.28 Dec 1944-Savannah,GA)
5)   Madge Rebecca HOPKINS (never married) (b.21 Oct 1861-Charlotte,North Carolina d.4 Sep 1948-Duval,FL  (86 yrs))

I have some further information on his descendants, but only post these 3 generations so as not to include any information on living descendants.  I thank both Ann Geil and Robert Commagere - cousins - for all of the information on John and his family.  

1. John J. HOPKINS (b.1823-Baltimore,Maryland d.27 Sep 1876-Savannah,GA)
sp: Margaret MARTIN (m.6 Aug 1850)
 |-2. James Robert HOPKINS (b.30 Jun 1852-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.1933)
 | sp: Anna Theresa MEHRTENS (b.16 Mar 1855-Savannah,GA m.23 Feb 1876 d.29 Aug 1920-New Orleans,LA)
 |  |-3. Martha Elizabeth HOPKINS (b.24 Dec 1876-Savannah,GA d.24 Mar 1924-New Orleans,LA)
 |  | sp: Louis Ernest COMMAGERE (b.17 Oct 1881-New Orleans,LA m.Jun 1900 d.20 Jun 1956-New Orleans,LA)
 |  |-3. John Robert HOPKINS (b.24 Nov 1879-Savannah,GA d.22 Jun 1935-New Orleans,LA)
 |  |-3. Catherine Genieve HOPKINS (died a baby) (b.26 Oct 1881-Savannah,GA d.9 Jun 1883-Savannah,GA)
 |  |-3. James Leo HOPKINS (b.26 Oct 1883-Savannah,GA d.Circa 1966)
 |  | sp: Lillian SEEGAR
 |  |-3. Leo Martin HOPKINS (b.11 Dec 1885-New Orleans,LA d.15 Jun 1979-New Orleans,LA)
 |  | sp: Cecile HEIDER
 |  |-3. Albert Thomas HOPKINS (b.7 Mar 1888-New Orleans,LA d.Circa 1965)
 |  | sp: Hazel VON EHREN (b.Circa 1888-LA)
 |  |-3. Edith Margaret HOPKINS (b.21 Sep 1890-New Orleans,LA d.12 Apr 1977-New Orleans,LA)
 |  | sp: Albert Joseph HEBERT (b.5 Jul 1882 m.12 Apr 1977 d.23 Jan 1973-New Orleans,LA)
 |  |-3. Robert Alexander HOPKINS (b.23 Sep 1892-New Orleans,LA d.7 Apr 1971-New Orleans,LA)
 |  |-3. Anna Gerard HOPKINS (b.9 Jun 1894-New Orleans,LA d.10 Dec 1968-New Orleans,LA)
 |  | sp: William Joseph TALLANT (b.10 Feb 1895-New Orleans,LA m.1 Jun 1920 d.8 Mar 1943-New Orleans,LA)
 |  +-3. Lillian Ernestine HOPKINS (b.12 Feb 1899-New Orleans,LA d.3 Mar 1988-New Orleans,LA)
 |    sp: William M. EHRHARD
 |-2. Jeanette Elizabeth HOPKINS (b.29 Aug 1855-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.5/15/1935 ?-Jacksonville,FL)
 | sp: Thomas J. BROWN (b.Sept/1857 ?-Maryland m.16 Jun 1879 d.19 Apr 1913-Jacksonville,FL)
 |  |-3. Birdie Margaret BROWN (b.Oct 1881-Savannah,GA d.Nov 1926-Jacksonville,FL)
 |  | sp: Walter G. KNIGHT (m.1 Jan 1908)
 |  |-3. Ada Genevieve BROWN (b.Dec 1883-Savannah,GA d.21 May 1955-Jacksonville,FL)
 |  | sp: William Herbert ROMEDY (b.Winnsboro,Deuel,SC m.1 Jan 1908 d.Mar 1937-Jackson,Mississippi)
 |  |-3. Jeanette Elizabeth BROWN (b.Aug 1885-Augusta,Ga d.26 May 1932-Richland,Stewart,GA)
 |  | sp: Azariah J. BOSTWICK (m.1904;  bu.Harmony Cemetery,Stewart,GA)
 |  |-3. Robert T. BROWN (died young) (b.Oct 1887-Savannah,GA d.1910-Jacksonville,FL)
 |  |-3. Thomas H. BROWN (died a baby) (b.Dec 1888-Savannah,GA d.14 May 1889-Savannah,GA)
 |  +-3. Ethel M. BROWN (b.Jun 1890-Savannah,GA d.Dec 1924-Duval,FL)
 |-2. Rabena HOPKINS (b.Circa 1857-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA)
 |-2. John HOPKINS (never married) (b.19 May 1860-Petersburg,Dinwiddie,VA d.28 Dec 1944-Savannah,GA)
 +-2. Madge Rebecca HOPKINS (never married) (b.21 Oct 1861-Charlotte,North Carolina d.4 Sep 1948-Duval,FL  (86 yrs))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In May 2007, while in Augusta for a DeLaigle family reunion, we had dinner at La Maison on Telfair.   It was such a delight to discover that the old home, now a wonderful restaurant, was once a Hopkins’ home!    We were allowed to tour the house, from top to bottom.   The history of the house was provided by the current owner:   The 400 block of Telfair Street is bordered by Elbert Street on the east, Walker Street on the south, and Centre Street on the West.   In the center of the block is what is now known as “The Old Government House,” originally the Richmond County Courthouse, built in 1801.   In the late 1840’s Green Hill Jordan, a wealthy planter of Baldwin Co., GA purchased the block and the building to provide a residence for his daughter Martha, who married James Gardner, Jr., an attorney and editor of the Augusta newspaper.   Mr. Gardner began selling off lots around Old Government House in 1854, and sold the eastern end of the block to Mr. Jesse Osmond, who apparently constructed the house on the corner, purchasing the lot of $2,500.    In 1855, he sold the back half of his property to William M. Hight.   On February 2, 1858 Osmond the property to George M. Newton, who was “Executor of the estate of Thomas Hopkins, late of Richmond County, deceased.”   Augusta city directories list Mrs. R. Hopkins (Rebecca) as the home owner at that location from 1859 to 1867.   Living with her were her children, including Thomas N. Hopkins, clerk, and Isaac S. Hopkins, who was with the firm of Day and Hopkins.”  (Isaac, of course, went on to be a founder of Georgia Tech.)  

My great-great-grandfather Thomas N. Hopkins was living here when he married his bride, Virginia DeLaigle..  The DeLaigle home was only a couple of short blocks away in the early 1860’s (that home has since been torn down).  It’s very easy to imagine the family sitting on the porch on hot summer nights, chatting with neighbors as they strode by!      

Further notes on the house state that on October 24, 1868, Isaac S. Hopkins, “the lawful successor of George M. Newton, former executor of the estate of Thomas Hopkins,”  sold the property to Samuel B. Ham in trust for Abbey A. Emery, wife of Caleb Emery and her children.”    George Newton had been trustee for the estate of Thomas Hopkins, and Isaac was acting as the next trustee of his father’s estate when he sold the house.    These families lived there until 1880, when Samuel Ham sold the property to Albert Howell.   Howell sold the property on December 22, 1884 to Louis A. Gardelle, a druggist, and a descendant of Marguerite R. LeGarde DeLaigle by her first husband, Pierre Antoine Jacques LeGarde.  Clio LeGarde, their daughter, married Joseph Bignon; and their daughter Emma married Adolphus Gardelle.  Louis was their son.    “The Gardelle’s lived in the house for over 80 years, the last member of the family to reside there being Annie D. Gardelle.”    Marguerite’s 2nd husband was Nicolas de l’Aigle (gx4 grandparents).

So the house has two connections to my families.   Perhaps, eventually, we’ll have pictures of other Hopkins’ homes!  

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