Hopper, Harry E.

HOPPER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 12:04:55

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.412

HARRY E. HOPPER
Harry E. Hopper, who has made a success of the real-estate business and is now extensively handling Canada lands, maintaining his office in Indianola, was born in Henderson County, Illinois, in 1862. His father, John Wesley Hopper, was a native of the state of New York and was descended from Hol­land ancestry. In his boyhood days he removed westward to Illinois with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lambert Hopper. His father was a merchant and mil­ler and in Illinois established his home in Henderson County. It was in that locality that John Wesley Hopper was reared and after attaining manhood he engaged in merchandising. He also conducted a gristmill, a woolen-mill, and a sawmill. He was distinctively a man of affairs and one who wielded a wide influence. He died at La Harpe, Illinois, to which place he had removed his store, although his family were still residents of Henderson County. Dur­ing the greater part of his life he was quite prosperous in his undertakings. He was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a member of that denomination at the time of his death.
His father, Lambert Hopper, was a leading Methodist of his section and served in the church as a class leader, while his home was always the place of entertainment for the circuit riders. In his fraternal relations John W. Hopper was a Mason, while in political faith he was a Republican. He mar­ried Caroline Elliott, who was born in Henderson County, Illinois, and is of Irish lineage. She, too, is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Hop­per died at the comparatively early age of thirty-nine years but his widow still survives and has now reached the age of seventy years. They were the parents of six children, of whom two are deceased. Those still living are: Eugene, who is the wife of L. F. McFadon, a merchant of Emerson, Iowa; Donzella, residing in Indianola and formerly a teacher; Harry E., of this review; and Nellie, the wife of C. F. Enos, who is connected with the Sigler Lumber Company of Indianola.
Harry E. Hopper was only eight years of age at the time of his father's demise. He attended the schools of his native county and afterward became a student in the Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, completing the scientific course by graduation in 1893, at which time the degree of Bachelor of Sci­ence was conferred upon him. He had come to this state in the spring of 1880 with his mother and the other children of the family and they located upon a farm in Montgomery County. By the united labors of all, the farm was soon paid for and when it was possible to be released from the work of the fields, Mr. Hopper, of this review, resumed his education as a student in Indianola in November, 1889, matriculating in Simpson College as previously indicated.
During the periods of vacation he bought and sold cattle and horses. In the spring of 1893, while in college, he made investment in a tract of forty acres of land in the northwestern part of Indianola and laid off the Homedale Place addition, in which enterprise he was associated with J. M. Kittleman. He then turned his attention to the real-estate business in connection with Mr. Kittleman and J. L. Brown and in 1894 they laid out the Kenwood addi­tion to Indianola. Mr. Hopper was thus connected with general real-estate interests until 1902, when he turned his attention to Canada lands and is now handling several hundred thousand acres of land in western Canada and also British Columbia timber. He likewise owns property in this coun­try and since his college days has been numbered among the representative and progressive real-estate men of Warren County.
He has a farm of one thousand acres, and recently his name figured prominently before the public as purchaser of the entire stud of C. W. Wil­liams, of Galesburg, Illinois, headed by Allerton, with a record of 2:09 1/4, and Expedition, 2:15%, two of the most famous of living trotting sires. These stallions were bred and trained by Mr. Williams, their former owner, who, without any experience or expert knowledge, started in to train, drive and raise them himself. Although his methods were diametrically opposed to those then most approved, he deferred not at all to the opinions of others but followed his own ideas, and Allerton made a record of 2:091/4. The stud which Mr. Hopper has purchased comprises about fifty head and includes, in addition to the stallions mentioned, a number of richly bred brood mares. Mr. Hopper has been engaged in breeding horses for a number of years and will not only keep the stud intact but increase its magnitude. This is but one department of the extensive business interests which claim the attention of Mr. Hopper and which, carefully controlled by him, are placing him in the front rank among Iowa's substantial citizens.
On the 1st of January, 1895, Mr. Hopper was married to Miss Edith Car­penter, who was born in Indianola in 1872 and was a daughter of Professor George C. and Frances Carpenter. Her father was connected with Simp­son College in a professional capacity for twenty-five years. He died in 1894 and his widow afterward became the wife of William Buxton, presi­dent of the Warren County Bank, now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Hopper have two children, Byron C. and Dorothy, born in 1899 and 1903, respectively. The parents are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Hopper is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, while his poli­tical support is given to the republican party. In his business career he has advanced through consecutive stages as the result of his close application and unfaltering energy. At all times he has made good use of his opportu­nities and it is by reason of his well directed diligence that he occupies the creditable position which is now accorded him in business circles.