Jonathan Hopkinson Jr. (abt. 1779 - 1846)

Born about Jan 1779 in Exeter, Rockingham Co NH

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Tufts) Hopkinson — married 12 Dec 1805 (to 9 Sep 1846) in Farmington, Maine, United States

Descendants

Died 9 Sep 1846 at about age 67 in Maineville, Warren Co OH

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This person was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.

Note

Note: @N5382@

@N5382@ NOTE

From Elsie Behrens at Ancestry.com: JONATHAN HOPKINSON, the second son of Jonathan and Lydia (Smith) Hopkinson, was born in January, 1779, in Exeter NH. We do not know just when he moved from New Hampshire to Farmington, Maine, but he was married in Farmington on Dec 12, l8O5, to Sarah Tufts, who was born Apr. 12, 1783, the daughter of Francis and Sarah (Blunt) Tufts.

The town of Farmington, Maine, was started in 1780, and in 1782 there were eight families in the town and twelve new settlers came that year. They soon had a grist mill and a sawmill. In l805 we find that "Hopkinson and Baker" erected commodius buildings, with a large tan yard, on River lot, A-46, East side. Mr. Baker soon sold out his interest in the tannery and removed to Wilton, but Jonathan Hopkinson continued the business with success, and also engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Jonathan continued his business in Farmington until lglg when he decided to move

to a newer part of the country and he and Sarah, with their family, went from Farmington to Maineville, Ohio.

Many of the farmers in Maine had become discouraged as they had been unable to grow crops during the year of l8l6, which is known as the "year without a summer", and l8l7 which was also cold. The five years succeeding l8l7 are known as the years of the Ohio fever. During this period a constant stream of immigration flowed from Maine into the "Buckeye" state. Farmington did not lose as many of her citizens as the neighboring and smaller towns of Phillips and New Sharon. Nevertheless several of the most enterprising farmers sold their farms and left Maine to follow the western Star of Empire. The journey was made in covered wagons and occupied six weeks. Few who left their Eastern homes expected to look again upon their birthplace, and the separation from friends thus made, was looked upon as the final separation for this world. Friends came from far and near to bid the travelers good-bye and shake their hands for the last time; little thinking that some of those thus leaving their native state, would live to return to it in three days time from the far Ohio. The History of Farmington, Maine, tells of this time and says: "When Jonathan Hopkinson, a much esteemed citizen, stood by the side of his wagon, whip in hand, saying the last words to his weeping friends, his wife's step-mother, Mrs. Francis Tufts, tried to cheer their hearts by saying 'Well I suppose Hopkinson may as well go to heaven by way of Ohio as any other way', and this was the general feeling that when friends left for the great West, the next meeting with them would be in the other world. Jonathan did go to heaven by way of Ohio, for he is buried in the cemetery at Maineville, Ohio.

Maineville is located in Warren County, Ohio. This county was formed from Hamilton County, May 1, l8O3, and named in honor of Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. The first permanent settlers in Maineville came from Maine in l8l5 and Jonathan Hopkinson came just three

years later tc a part of the country which was real frontier. These were but the forerunners of many other immigrants from that far distant state. They started churches and other industries came. A cemetery was started, probably in l8l9, as there is a stone with that date on it. The village was incorporated in 1850 and a post office was established in l854. The town was for a long time called "Yankeetown", but the name was afterward changed to Maineville because so many of its citizens came from Maine.

l850 was also remembered as the "cholera year". Within a radius of two miles more than fifty persons died; many of the best citizens were victims.

Some time after Jonathan and Sarah arrived in Ohio they settled in a small village called Hopkinsville, which was about five miles from Maineville.

Their son John Tufts Hopkinson came with his father, Jonathan Hopkinson, from Farmington, Maine, to Maineville, Ohio, when he was but a boy of about ten years, but he remembered the trip across the country and how the men and boys walked most of the time, while the women and girls rode in the wagons. Family tradition says the wagons were drawn by oxen.

In the spring of 1854, John Tufts and his family, with other relatives, moved from Ohio to Iowa. They moved by boat, by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The boat was a new one just built the winter before and named the "Galena". They embarked at Cincinnati, Ohio, with their household goods, and landed at Muscatine, Iowa. Relatives who came with them were: John's brothers, William and Francis; his sister, Lydia (Hopkinson) Dudley, and his wife's brother, Josiah Greely. There may have been others.

They settled in Muscatine, but soon John and his brother Francis bought land north of Muscatine, and John built a house to which he and his family moved in the fall of 1854.

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Data Changed:

Date: 1 AUG 2008

Prior to import, this record was last changed 1 AUG 2008.