Iva May Hopkins

HOPKINS MOREY BENSCOTER MOOR

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/22/2010 at 17:05:31

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Iva May (Morey) Hopkins
By Jeanenne Leedom

Iva May is the first daughter and sixth child of George and Mary Ellen (Benscoter) Morey. She was born April 4, 1889, in a sod house in Hitchcock County, Nebraska. Her family moved quite often when she was a child and by the late 1890’s they had come to Luton, Woodbury County, Iowa. She remembers as a young girl going to ice cream socials and church doings.

As a young girl, she had a close friend, Rose (Hickman) Polly, from Lakeport City, Woodbury County, Iowa. They kept in touch all their lives until Rose’s death in 1973.

While her parents were living and working in Stafford, Holt County, Nebraska, Iva met Willis Hopkins, the son of Albert and Flora (Moor) Hopkins. Willis had been born on June 17, 1889, in Stafford. Iva’s father and Willis both worked for John Carr, a rancher in Stafford.

After the season, Iva’s parents moved the family back to Luton and Willis followed shortly. He had come for Iva and they were married in her family home on January 6, 1909. They then moved to the Stafford and Inman area where they farmed.

Their first daughter, Edna, was born west of Stafford, on March 11, 1910, and their second daughter, Estella, was born north of Ewing, Nebraska, on May 12, 1912.

In June 1914, Willis was stabbed in Ewing and on July 10th he died, at the age of twenty-five. Shortly after, on August 7th, Iva gave birth to their third daughter, Willys Iva. Iva and the girls continued to live on the Albert Hopkins homestead in Stafford, living in a small house built for them.

In May 1917, Iva became engaged to Willis’ brother, James. Jim had been born on June 30, 1884, in Stafford. Iva, the three girls, and Jim came to Luton to visit her parents. There on June 2, 1917, she and Jim were married. They lived in Luton for a short while, where Jim worked on a farm, before going back to Inman in December 1917.

On March 14, 1918, a daughter, Flora Ellen, was born; on Christmas Day 1919, a son, Kemp, was born; and on September 10, 1921, a son, Donald, was born.

On December 21, 1923, the coldest day of the year, the family lost nearly everything to a house fire. The children were taken to the barn so the hay could keep them warm, but some of them had frostbite on their hands and feet before being taken to a neighbor.

On May 10, 1924, a daughter, Virginia, was born; on April 20, 1927, a daughter, Jeanette, was born; and on November 5, 1931, a son, Larry, was born.

During the time they lived in Inman, Jim worked in the hay fields and his pride was his hay stacks. Some of his great grandchildren ask yet if some of the hay stacks they see are Grandpa’s. We all laugh and say, ‘No, if Grandpa could see the way hay stacks are done now, he wouldn’t believe it, nor would he call them hay stacks!’ Jim also worked for the Inman Cemetery, caring for and digging graves.

Jim died on November 18, 1948. All the children were called home from their various dwellings and were stranded en route by a terrible blizzard. They arrived home too late to see him alive, but they arrived safely.

In the fall of 1949, Iva and her son, Larry, come to Sioux City to live. They lived there until 1951 when they moved to O’Neill, Nebraska. Iva lives there yet and she has always had a small garden and lovely flower beds.

Just last year she gave up her home to live in the O’Neill Senior Citizen Home. Lots of friends and relatives visit often and she often spends the day with her daughter and son-in-law, Dale and Virginia Perry, who also live in O’Neill.

At the age of 95, she is also into genealogy, although she may not think so. She has kept pictures of her grandparents, kept notes and dates of different events and kept in touch with cousins she hasn’t seen in years. She has also visited places where her family used to live. And oh how well she remembers things her mother told her! It has all helped the younger genealogists who keep asking her questions.