When Hoppes Marries Hoppes by Harry Hoppes

WHEN HOPPES MARRIES HOPPES

 

          Am I serious?  Did I get my Egyptology hobby confused with my love of Hoppes Family history?  Well yes, I’m at least serious in part, and, no, if you’d like to learn more about interfamily marriages in Egypt’s Dynasty IV, please send me a separate e-mail. 

              Those of you who were born in an area where Hoppes/Hoppers families were original settlers or lived for generations will probably discover that as one traces one’s ancestors backward there’s a good chance that whole sections of a genealogical chart will collapse because in the past one of your ancestors married into the family line of another one of your ancestors and, therefore, duplication of data is the result.  Hopefully, things wouldn’t become as tragic (or comical) as related in that old ditty “I’m my own grandpaw”, whose lyrics continue: “It’s funny, I know, but it really is so. I’m my own grandpaw”.  Today it’s probably a good idea to identify one’s ancestors and their medical histories for several generations backward because medical science is uncovering the importance of heredity on health.  Certain families such as the Amish from Lancaster County, PA intermarried so often that today certain families living there (for example, Beiler, Fisher, Graber, Hostetler, King, Lapp, Stoltzfus, Wagler, and Yoder) have genetically related diseases including a type of anemia peculiar to the Amish or mental disorders. 

              Today many states have laws that do not allow first cousins to marry.   In the past, that often was not the case.   In any event, modern genetics has shown that certain dominant genes, once acquired, tend to be passed along from one generation to another.  When I was a young lad growing up in eastern Pennsylvania behind the Blue Mountain, I frequently heard my parents joke that they were second cousins.  Sure enough, my mother’s grandfather Pierce Troxell had married Emaline Longacre, the daughter of Mary Magdalena (Hoppes) Longacre, who was the daughter of my father’s great grandfather Solomon Hoppes.  “Big deal!”, I thought.  When I asked my parents about my scoliosis, they replied that it probably was inherited from Henrietta Franz, who married my mother’s other grandfather, Thompson McLean.  At the time, I didn’t consider this to be a big deal either but, as I learned more about my genealogy, I discovered that Henrietta Frantz’ grandparents were the John Lechleitner and Eva Happes mentioned in the 1785 will of my first American ancestor, Michael Happes (See Hoppesgenerations publication Wills, Estates, Property Settlements).  As I traced my lines backward, I began to realize that there were enough additional linkages to convince me I was very wise in deciding to ignore my parents’ advice to “marry some nice local girl”!

              To provide a detailed analysis of cousins who married cousins requires considerable information about the maternal lines of the Hoppes family, data that I never set out to collect except in my own case. An interesting, although risky, statistic is to count the number of times a member of the Hoppes family married a person having a given surname from the local area.  Using data available in Harry’s Summary File, Hoppeses that married individuals of another specific surname four or more times were:

 

SURNAME             # TIMES                  HOPPES                    DATE                       COUNTY

Stanley                           8                       11A Anne                        1795                      Surry, NC
                                                                    112A Leannah                   ?                          Meigs, OH
                                                                    11233 Jacob                  c1890                    Madison, IN
                                                                    1123F Rhoda                     ?                          Madison, IN
                                                                    112331 William A.       1890                     Madison, IN
                                                                    112333 Granville         1906                     Madison, IN
                                                                    112334 Quincy              1907                     Madison, IN
                                                                    1149 Albert                     1890                     Madison, IN
 

Brown                            7                        111 John                          1806                     Surry, NC
                                                                   11234 Isaac                    1868                     Madison, IN
                                                                    11236 Francis M.          1873                      Madison, IN
                                                                   112344 Jesse                1909                     Madison, IN
                                                                   11262 Marcus              1871                      Madison, IN
                                                                   11421 Joseph S.            c1880                    Madison, IN
                                                                   11422 San Francisco   1881                     Richardson, NE

 Clem                             7                       1126 Andrew J.             1845                     Madison, IN
                                                                  112D Susannah             1850                     Madison, IN
                                                                  112E Sophrona             c1865                   Madison, IN
                                                                  11221 Jasper                  1858                     Madison, IN
                                                                  11232 John H.                c1858                  Madison, IN
                                                                  1124E Mary Eliz.           1872                     Madison, IN
                                                                  1124F Emma                   1877                    Madison, IN

Hysell                          6                       113 George                      1807                      Gallia, OH
                                                                 113A Nancy                      1848                      Meigs, OH
                                                                 113C Catharine               1832                      Meigs, OH
                                                                 1131C Laura                     1865                      Meigs, OH
                                                                 1131E Jane                        1863                      Meigs, OH
                                                                 1133G Mary Eliz.           c1897                    Meigs, OH


McKinney                   6                       231F Nancy                      c1843                    NC
                                                                  234C Nancy                      1857                      McDowell, NC
                                                                  234D Sarah                       1856                       McDowell, NC
                                                                  234G Almena                   1861                       McDowell, NC
                                                                  2342 Joseph H.              1867                      Mitchell, NC
                                                                  2342C Jane                       1907                      McDowell, NC

Nothstein                   5                       212142B Luella             1918                        Schuylkill, PA
                                                                  2125B Rebecca             1875                        Schuylkill, PA
                                                                  214D Salome                     ?                             Schuylkill, PA
                                                                  214E Rebecca                 1845                        Schuylkill, PA
                                                                  2141A  Leah                      ?                              Schuylkill, PA

Aleshire                      4                       11G Elizabeth                 1816                        Gallia, OH
                                                                 114 Henry                           ?                                   ?
                                                                 112B Mariah                      ?                                    ?
                                                                 114A Maria                        ?                                    ?
 

Biddix                         4                       234F Lucinda                 1862                       McDowell, NC
                                                                 2341 Jonathan               c1862                    McDowell, NC
                                                                 23413 Calhoun             1896                       Mitchell, NC
                                                                 23421A Elizabeth         1923                       McDowell, NC
 

Poor                           4                         11B Catharine                  1806                      Gallia, OH
                                                                112321 Samuel                1888                      Madison, IN
                                                                1126B Frances                 1873                      Madison, IN
                                                                11421A Alva                     1898                      Madison, IN
 

Zettlemoyer           4                       2122A Mary M.                    ?                            Schuylkill, PA
                                                              21221 Solomon D.             c1874                   Schuylkill, PA
                                                              2122C Sarah                           ?                            Schuylkill, PA
                                                              241143 Clinton                   1908                      Berks, PA
 

           Of the ten surnames that Hoppes men and women married most frequently, six involve descendants of 11 George Hoppes, two pertain to descendants of 21 Michael Hoppes, and two to descendants of 23 Adam Hoppes.  This observation can be explained, in part, as resulting because the lines of 11 George Hoppes and 21 Michael Hoppes were relatively numerous compared to the other Hoppes/Hoppers lines.  But in addition, it appears that the preference of George’s line for certain surnames was the result of the pioneering nature of his descendants, where they often found themselves settling areas in which there were relatively few other families for their children to marry into.  The fact that Michael and Adam Hoppes’ descendants also made the list may be partially due to the confining nature of the mountains of Pennsylvania and North Carolina where they grew up.

              Some of the marriages listed above occurred quite early, such as the marriage of George Hoppes’ oldest daughter 11A Anne Hoppes to a Stanley.  Some occurred three generations later such as the marriages of the brothers 112331 William A., 112333 Granville, and 112334 Quincy Hoppes to Stanley girls.  As the number of generations between the various Hoppes marriages to a given surname increases, so does the probably that the later marriages are to an individual carrying Hoppes genes from some earlier marriage.

              “Interesting”, you may think, but to borrow the words of an old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?”  Well, on occasion, there were Hoppes – Hoppes unions.  Some of those that are documented in Harry’s Summary file or that rely on supplementary data are reported below:

              �  21241 Nathan Hoppes (1846 – 1921) and 2123B Elizabeth Hoppes (1852 – 1920)

              Nathan Henry Hoppes, born December 4, 1846 in Schuylkill County, PA, was the oldest son of 2124 Joseph Hoppes.  His first cousin Elizabeth W. Hoppes, born February 29, 1852 in Schuylkill County, was the second oldest daughter of 2123 Nathan Hoppes.  They were married about 1875 as is indicated in the 1900 Census of Buchanan County, IA.   (The death certificate of Nathan Henry Hoppes from Buchanan County specifies his date of death as September 26, 1921, and states that his wife was Elizabeth Hoppes.)  However, it is especially interesting that the fathers of Nathan Hoppes and Elizabeth Hoppes were more than just ordinary brothers; they were twin brothers!  Depending on whether the twins were maternal or paternal, the genes the children of Nathan and Elizabeth received could have been very similar, indeed.

              �     13341 John W. Hoppers (1862 – 1906) and 1333B Elzina Hoppers (1861 – 1920)

August 30, 1862, was a tragic day in the history of the Hoppers family.  Two sons of 133 Jacob Hoppers, namely 1333 Jacob J. Hoppers and 1334 John Hoppers, enlisted men in Company F, 22nd Regiment of the NC Infantry, fought in the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) for the Confederate States of America.  Corporal J. J. Hoppers received a thigh wound and later died of his wound at Upperville, VA on October 27, 1862.  Private John Hoppers received a single gunshot wound and died on the spot.  Both brothers had recently begun families prior to their deaths.  Jacob J. Hoppers and his wife Charlotte Wagoner had a daughter Amanda Jane born on December 18, 1858 in Alleghany County, NC and a second daughter Elzina born March 18, 1861.  John Hoppers and his wife Nancy Pruitt had a son John Washington Hoppers born March 11, 1862.  Elzina Hoppers never married, although she did have the following seven children: Florence Hoppers born August 1879; Amanda Hoppers born April 1882; Arthur J. Hoppers born October 1885; Myrtle Alice Hoppers born February 5, 1887/8; Robert John Hoppers born August 14, 1889; Laura E. Hoppers born October 1893; and Leva C. Hoppers born July 3, 1898. Her son Robert John Hoppers died on March 16, 1960 according to Alleghany County records.  His parents were listed as John Hoppers and Elvina Hoppers. Although they never married, it is clear that these two first cousins by the name of Hoppers had at least one child together. 

�     2426 Daniel Hoppes (1834 – c1910) and 2422.S Susannah Hoppes (1830 – 1864)

 

            This marriage between individuals named Hoppes is the kind that does not involve genetic consequences.  About 1847, 2422 Jacob Hoppes married 2422.S Susannah Dietz in Lycoming County, PA.  Jacob died on March 1, 1854, however, leaving his wife with three small daughters.  Shortly thereafter, Susannah Hoppes married Jacob’s younger brother 2426 Daniel T. Hoppes.  They had two children, George Howard Hoppes and Susan Dora Hoppes before Susannah died on February 12, 1864.

 By Harry Hoppes               February 15, 2002