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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Col. John W. Hopkins, a prominent real-estate dealer and farmer, of Mabelvale, was born in Rowan County, N. C., in 1820, and is a son of James F. and Lucy (Henly) Hopkins, both natives of the same State, who moved to Tennessee when John was but five years old, and from there to Tippah County, Miss., where the father died about the year 1841, at the age of fifty-five years, his wife following him in 1877. James F. was the son of Richard Hopkins of Scotch and Irish descent. The maternal grandfather of Col. John W. was Darby Henley, of Scotch, Irish and English descent, who died in Rowan County. Col. John W. Hopkins was the third son of four sons and three daughters, and received a somewhat limited education in his youth, almost all of his schooling being had by his own efforts, owing to the poor school facilities to be found at that time. He was married in 1840, in Tippah County, Miss., to Elizabeth Craig, a daughter of John and Susan Craig. Mrs. Craig died in Tennessee when her daughter was very young, and the father married again and removed to Tippah County, Miss., where he resided until his death. He was a soldier in the Creek War, and fought with Gen. Jackson at New Orleans. His father was James Craig, of Scotch and Irish descent, who was also in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Hopkins was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., and has been the mother of five children, of whom two are still living: James Franklin and John T. (the latter is one of the leading lawyers of Little Rock.) Col. Hopkins resided in Tippah County, Miss., and carried on a successful real-estate business until 1855, when he moved to Memphis, Tenn., and continued in the same business, as well as merchandising. In 1862 he gave up his business at that point and moved to Little Rock, where he opened up a large produce and grocery store, but his main business was dealing in real estate. In 1874 he settled on his present farm at Mabelvale, where he owns 500 acres of valuable land, with about 200 acres under cultivation. Altogether he owns between 20,000 and 30,000 acres of land in Mississippi and Arkansas, and before the war his prosperity was even greater, owning at that time about 125,000 acres, and being worth probably half a million dollars, all of it being made by his own tact, shrewdness and enterprise. The Colonel was sheriff of Tippah County, Miss., for two years, and held the office of mayor of Little Rock for fourteen months, when the office was taken charge of by military authority in 1867. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but since the war has always voted the Democratic ticket. He was a Union man and strongly opposed to secession. Col. Hopkins has been a member of the A. F. & A. M. for a great many years, belonging to the Royal Arch Chapter, and with his wife attends the Christian Church. His son, James F. Hopkins, by profession a civil engineer, was born in Tippah County, Miss., in 1845, and was educated at the public schools of Memphis, Tenn., until the outbreak of the war, when he was then instructed by his father. In 1864 he joined Capt. Nowland’s company of Anderson’s battalion, and served until the end of the war, being paroled at Little Rock in June, 1865. He took part in the fight at Pilot Knob, and operated through a good portion of Missouri (the Trans-Mississippi Department), also accompanying Price in his raid through Missouri. In October, 1866, he entered the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, Va., and graduated captain of Company B, in 1870, and after leaving the college he went into the real-estate business with his father, continuing with him ever since. He has also done considerable surveying in Pulaski and adjoining counties, and in 1872 was elected county surveyor of Pulaski County, but failed to get the office. He is a Democrat politically, and in secret orders is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and a college fraternity called E. N., which he organized while attending college, in 1869, and which has extended to various colleges in the North and South, and now has a membership of over 2,000. He is also a member of the Agricultural Wheel, and in religious faith is a Presbyterian, as is also his wife. He was married, in 1870, to Miss Jennie A., daughter of John W. and Elizabeth Barclay, of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively, but who have resided in Lexington, Va., for the past forty-five years, where Mr. Barclay is a prominent merchant.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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