O. D. Hopkins, farmer and
stock-grower, and one of the pioneer settlers of Clayton
County, was born in Lamoille County, Vt., Sept. 10, 1828.
His parents, Hiram and Mary (Reynolds) Hopkins, were
married in Canada about 1822, and had a family of seven
children, five of whom lived to be adults, viz.: Chauncey
S., who died in California; Cordelia, who married Judge
Harry Stowell (now deceased); O. D., Ransom, Eliza, wife
of J. F. Brown, and Mary B., wife of Wm. Gay, of
Claifornia. Mr. Hopkins in early life followed farming,
and came to Clayton County in 1852, and from here went to
California, where he died in 1878. He was a soldier in
the war of 1812, and an ardent supporter of the
Republican party. O. D. was reared on a farm, and
received a common-school education, and when twenty-one
years of age started out for himself. In 1852 he married
Phoebe, daughter of Jonathan and Prudence (Chase) Wells.
She was born in Franklin County, Vt., Sept. 6, 1833. In
May, 1852, Mr. Hopkins left Vermont and emigrated to
Clayton County, arriving June 1 of that year. As they
were in very limited circumstances, their furnture was of
the rudest kind, consisting of stools, tables and
bedsteads made by Mr. Hopkins. Their first home was a
small frame house, in which they lived for some time,
without any floor or door. Mr. Hopkins taught the first
school in the district where they now live, and, while
teaching, in the mornings and evenings used to lead an ox
to plow corn, which Mrs. Hopkins would hoe through the
day. Thus they started out, and by judicious management
have accumulated a fine property and home. He owns a
beautiful farm of 148 acres, under a high state of
cultivation, valued at $50 per acre. Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins
have had three children, viz.: Lizzie, wife of W.H.
Russell, of Oxford, Neb.; Clara May and Marian, who died
at the age of four years. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 1043-1044 |