5^th generation

Littleton William Hopson

(1848-1919)

Delilia Musick

(1853-about 1910)

Photo courtesy of S. Stemp—Thanks!:

Delilia Music Hopson and Martha Bowe Baldridge taken at the Wedding of their Children

 Rose Ellen Hopson and Millard F. Baldridge 1902

Littleton W. Hopson was the fourth of at least nine children of John Jackson Hopson and Rebecca Freeman[1], born 14 August 1848 in Scott County, Virginia.  Sometime after the Civil War, he left Virginia and moved with his family to Johnson County, Kentucky[2] near the border between Floyd and Johnson Counties where Little Paint Creek empties into the Big Sandy.

Littleton was remembered as a Southern sympathizer, but there is no record that he actually served in the Confederate Army.  He was only 17 when the war ended, but it is possible that he saw some military service, as the Confederate records are far from complete.

            Delilia Musick was born in 1853 in Floyd County, Kentucky, the second of ten children of George Washington Music and his second wife, Rachel Minix[3], and one of a total of 17 children of her father. (see MUSICK) Delilia's name is spelled Dililah on her marriage certificate, but her son spelled it Delilia in his family Bible, which I have accepted as correct.

Littleton and Delilia were married in East Point, Floyd County, KY on 19 May 1870.[4]

They became the parents of ten children, and Delilia continued the Musick family tradition of naming most of her children after presidents and their wives:

            i.          James Madison   1873-1925[5], m. Laura Coffee[6]

            ii.          George Washington  Jun 1875- 6 Aug 1960[7], m. (1) 1898 Susan

Frazier (2) 1914 Sarah Ellen Wallen[8]

iii.         Martha Virginia 14 Feb 1876-21 Sep 1934 [9], m. 1892 James Moore

iv.         [Jasper] Winfield -  1877- d. 12 Mar1878 (11 mos. old)[10]

            v.         Thomas Jefferson (1879-1956) m. Sarah Margaret Walter

vi.         Mary b. 1881, m. Samuel DeLong

            vii.        Dollie   b. 1883, m. (1) 1902 Samuel Remfrey; (2) Grover Allen,  

(3) John Hyden, d. 26 Dec 1968[11]

            viii.       Rose Ellen b. 6 Feb 1886, m. 23 Jun 1902  Millard Fillmore Baldridge

                                    (b. 17 Apr 1882, d 1 Sep 1961), d. 4 Aug 1962[12]

            ix.         William A. 1888-1971[13] m. 24 June 1913 Edith Ruby Rader[14] (1891-

1972)[15]

            x.         Virgie b. 1893, m. Benjamin Fraley 13 Aug 1907, d. 29 Oct. 1942[16] [17]

            (See more detailed information on these ten children following this biography.)

          The 1880 Floyd County census shows:

                             Littleton Hobson, farmer, age 32

                             Delila, wife, age 27

                             James M., 7

                             Martha V., 4

                             George W., 2

                             Thomas J., 6 months.

       Martha was the first of the children to marry, in 1892, followed by the oldest son James Madison (called Mat) before 1896, then George W. in 1898.

            The 1900 Floyd County census shows the family as follows:

            Littleton b. Aug 1848, age 51 farmer (cannot read or write)

            Delila b. 1853, age 48 (cannot read or write)

            George W. b. 1876 age 23 farm laborer, married 2 years

            Thomas J. b. 1879 age 20 day laborer

            Mary b. 1881 age 18

            Dollie b. 1883 age 16

            Rosa b. 1886 age 14

            Willie A. b. 1888 age 10

            Virgie b. 1893 age 6

            The census indicated that Delilia had given birth to 10 children, of whom nine were living.  The oldest son, James Madison (called Matt) and the oldest daughter Martha Virginia had married and left home by 1900.  George apparently still lived at home, although he had been married to his first wife two years by that time.  Thomas' occupation was listed as day laborer, which he must have been doing during the summer while he was attending Morris Harvey College.  I suppose the occupation of "student" would have been unheard of in that place and time.

            On June 23, 1902, Dollie married her first husband Samuel Remfry[18] and Rose Ellen married Millard Filmore Baldridge.[19]  It was at this wedding that the only known photograph of Delilia was taken, beside Martha Baldridge, the mother of her new son-in-law.

Littleton farmed in East Point for forty years.  According to my grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Hopson, the Hopsons were quite a poor family in Floyd County, Kentucky, although they had some very prosperous relatives.  Delilia's half-sister Sarah Catherine Musick married her cousin Archibald Gobel Music, and the following profile of their lives, as recounted in the "Early Music Family History" by Dr. Chessmore, shows the sharp contrast with the Hopson family:

ARCHIBALD GOBEL MUSIC, the son of James C. Music, was born in 1841 in Washington County, Virginia. He died at Canute, Oklahoma. He married his first cousin, Sarah Catherine Music, on January 20, 1864. Sarah was born December 22, 1843, in Washington County, Virginia. She died at Canute, Oklahoma, in 1936. Her parents were George Washington and Catherine Hawk Music.

Archibald and Sarah Catherine were married in Kentucky and had eight children, including Grandma Nancy Margaret. They lived on a large farm near Prestonsburg, Kentucky. In addition to farming, they had a coal mine, excellent hardwood timber, sugar maples for making sugar, and a sorghum mill. They were considered wealthy for that time; however, they didn't want their children to work in the dangerous coal mines, so they decided to move to Beckham County, Oklahoma, where their son, "Trigg" and other Music families lived. Arch Spradlin, my wife's father, came with them in 1906 and worked with them and "Trigg" and (probably) for the James K. Polk Music family that had moved there in 1901.

In Loretta Lynn’s autobiography Coal Miner’s Daughter she writes of her childhood in Johnson County, Kentucky, where the only choices seemed to be “coal mine, moonshine, or move on down the line.”   The coal mines were apparently the only option for Matt and George, as well as Martha’s husband James Moore, Dolly’s husbands, and Virgie’s husband Ben Fraley.  They remained in the Prestonsburg area all their lives.  Moving away was the choice made by Rose and her husband Millard Baldridge (who tried farming for a few years in Oklahoma, then moved on to Washington state and found work once again in the mines).  But two of the Hopson sons followed another path entirely.

The church was the center of social life at the turn of the century, and Delilia Music Hopson was an active member of the Methodist Church.  Against all odds, she encouraged and influenced two of her sons to get a college education, to become Methodist ministers.  She named one son Thomas Jefferson after her brother who had become a minister, and he fulfilled his destiny by entering the ministry as well.  Thomas graduated from Morris Harvey College in Charleston, WV in 1904 and joined the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist Church that same year.[20]  (Whether Littleton was supportive of Delilia’s hopes for her sons isn’t known; their son Thomas gave full credit to his mother.)

            Rose Ellen married in 1902 and went to live in Oklahoma and then Washington a few years later; and the youngest son William also became a Methodist minister, serving numerous churches and circuits in West Virginia from 1912 until his retirement in 1953.[21]

            The 1910 Floyd County, KY census shows a very brief entry for this family:  "Litt" Hobson, age 70, and his son "Willie," age 20, are all that remain in that home.

            The family of James Madison (Mat) and Laura Hopson is found in the 1910, 1920, and 1930  Floyd County census.

            The family of James and Martha Virginia Hopson Moore is found in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 Floyd County census.

            The family of George W. and Susan Hopson is found in the 1910 Floyd County census.   George’s first wife Susan died in 1913; he married Sarah in 1914; George and Sarah appear in the 1920 census.

            Virgie, the youngest child of Littleton and Delilia, married in 1907.  The family of Ben and Virgie Fraley is found in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 Floyd Co., KY census.

            Delilia died in about 1910.  We do not know where her grave is located, only that "she was laid to rest in Prestonsburg." [22]

            Littleton’s granddaughter, Olive Hopson Browning, remembered that he lived in their home as far back as 1913 (when they were in Ashland, Kentucky).  Also, he spent some time living in his son William’s home.

            In 1917, Littleton’s son Thomas became minister of the Methodist church in Pikeville, Kentucky, and Littleton went to live with him there.  He died in his son’s home[23] on 28 March 1919[24], and is buried in Pikeville.  Cause of death on the death certificate is lobar pneumonia.  The name of the cemetery is illegible.

Additional sources of information:

            Letter from his granddaughter, Olive Hopson Browning  (1908-1991)

            Letters from his daughter-in-law, Sarah Margaret Walter Hopson (1884-1971)

            Conversations with his grandson, Thomas J. Hopson, Jr. (1915-1983)

Children of Littleton W. Hopson and Delilia Music

i.        James Madison (Mat) Hopson[25] was born in about 1873[26] in Prestonsburg,

            Floyd Co., Ky.  He married on 2 Aug 1894[27] in Greenup Co., KY Laura A. Coffee

            who was born October 1878[28] and died 5 Apr 1951[29], daughter of John W. Coffee

            (1843-1929)[30] and Mary Frances Meadows (1855-1880) of Greenup Co., KY.

            They had the following children:

            i.          Gracie Hopson, b. about 1896

            ii.          Virgie Hopson (29 Oct 1897-21 Mar 1898) m. William Whitaker[31]

            iii.         Thomas Jefferson Hopson, b. 17 Mar 1899 Prestonsburg, KY, d. 30 Nov.

                                    1963,   Dayton, OH; m. 6 Dec 1918 Mary Simmons (b. 10 Nov

                                    1902). 

            iv.         Samuel Hopson, b. 1903

            v.         Millard Hopson, b. 1905

            vi.         Darvin Hopson, b. 1906

            vii.        Ernest Hopson, b. 1913

            viii.       Bertha M. Hopson, b. 1915

            ix.         Junior b. 1918

            James is referred to in each census as "Mat," and my aunt Edith Hopson Epling mentioned him as "Uncle Mat," oldest brother of her father Thomas Jefferson Hopson. 

            Mat and his family appear in the Floyd County, KY census as follows:

            1900:  HOPSON, Mat 25, (b. May 1875) Laura 20, Gracie 4, Virgie 3, Thomas 1.

            1910:  HOBSON, Mat 35, Laura 35, Gracie 13, Virgie 12, Thomas 9, Samuel 7, Millard 5, Darvin nr.

            1920:  HOPSON, Mat 49, Laura 37, Sam 17, Millard 16, Darvin 14, Ernest 7, Bertha M. 5, Junior 2.  Occupation:  coal miner.

            Apparently, Mat and his family moved to Wolfpit, Pike County, KY, sometime after 1920.  There, on July 23, 1925[32], Mat died of pulmonary tuberculosis, probably due to his years of working in the coal mines.  He was about 52 years old.

            His widow returned to Floyd County, and they are found in the 1930 Floyd Co., KY census, p. 34B:  Hopson, Laura, widow 49 married first at 17, Darwin 22, Earnest 17, Bertha 15, Junior 10.

            According to a death notice in a Floyd Co. newspaper of Apr 12, 1951:  Mrs. Laura Hopson, age 71, formerly of this county, died Apr 5, 1951, in Dayton, Ohio.[33]  (She was living with her son Thomas Jefferson Hopson.)

ii.  George Washington Hopson[34], b. June 1875, d. Aug 6, 1960[35] at the age of 85. 

            He married (1) 30 Jun 1898 Susan Francis Frazier (1878-1913); married (2) 4 Nov 1914 Sarah Ellen Wallen (1876-1955).  George and Susan had the following children:

            i.          Josephine Hopson, b. 1900

            ii.          Virgie A. Hopson, b. 1901

            iii.         George (Buck) Hopson, b. 1905, d. 20 Mar 1999, m. Mary Ann Ward, b.1910,
                        d. 1998[36]

            iv.         Lizzie Hopson, b. 1908

            The family appears in the 1910 Floyd Co., KY census as follows:  Hopson,  George 32, Susan 32, Josephine 10, Virgie 9, George W. 5, and Lizzie 2.

            R. Belcher wrote on 13 Dec 1998:  "All four children were Susan's and she was his first wife.  From what George "Buck" Hopson always said about his stepmother, she was like a real mom to him.  His mother died when he was eight, so essentially she was his "mom."  He had nothing but good to say about her."

            George's first wife Susan died in 1913 and in November 1914 he married a widow, Sarah Wallen Rose, the mother of three children.  She appeared in the 1910 Floyd Co., KY census as follows:  Sarah E. Rose 33, Mary 12, Myrtle 10, Willie 5 (dtr), Darwin (infant).

            In the 1920  Floyd Co., KY census, the family appears as follows:  George Hobson 44, Sarah 43, George Jr. 16, Liza 12, and Darwin Rose, stepson, 11.

            According to George's death certificate, he was a retired coal miner.  He was listed as divorced, indicating he apparently had a brief third marriage after Sarah's death in 1955.

            George and Sarah are buried in the Old Mayo Cemetery, Lancer, Floyd Co., KY.

iii.  Martha Virginia Hopson[37], b. 14 Feb 1876 Johnson Co., KY, m. James Moore

            (1867-1946),   d. 21 Sept 1934, buried in Slone cemetery, Ligon, Floyd Co., KY. 

            James and Martha had the following children:

            i.          Bessie Moore, b. 1898, m. John Horn

            ii.          Winfield Moore (1900-1975)[38] m. California  Callie Boggs (1902-1982);

                                    their children were Winfield Moore, Jr., Opal Moore, Nellie

                                    Moore, James Moore, Elvie Moore, Norlene Moore, Bascom

                                    Moore, Mary Louise Moore m. Johnie Howell

            iii.         Bill Moore b. 1906, m. Pearle Wallen

iv.                 Johnnie Moore (1911[39]-1978, m. Myrtle Hall.

            The family is found in the Floyd Co., KY census as follows:

            1910:  James Moore 40, Martha 35, Bessie M. 12, Winfield 10, Willie 4.

            1920:  James Moore 53, Martha 39, Bessie 19, Willie 12, Johnnie 8.

            1930:  Moore, James 54 married first at 23, laborer coal mines; Martha wife 49 married first at 17;  Johnie son 18.

iv.  Jasper Winfield Hopson, 1877, d. 12 Mar 1878 (11 mos. old)[40].  The death

            record gives his name as Jasper W., but he is referred to as Winfield in the

            biography of his brother Thomas Jefferson Hopson.[41]

v.  Thomas Jefferson Hopson (1879-1956) m. Sarah Margaret Walter

      (see their biographies in the 6th generation)

vi.  Mary Hopson, b. 1881, m. Samuel DeLong after 1900, died before 1928.[42] 

            Samuel and Mary DeLong are not found in the 1910 Kentucky Soundex.

vii.  Dollie Hopson, b. 1883, m. (1) 1902 Samuel Remphrey[43], (2) Grover Allen, (3)

            John Pitts (?), (4) John Hyden[44] (1891-1971)[45]; she died 26 Dec 1968.[46]  No

            children. 

Photo, thanks to S. Stemp:

  Dollie Hopson Hyden 1967

            A photo of Dollie taken in 1967 is in her niece Dolly Gagne’s memoir[47]. Her death certificate names her surviving spouse as John Hyden.  The informant on her death certificate was William C. Allen, possibly a relative of her second husband Grover Allen.  No one knew her birth date and they guessed her age as 89.  She was 85.

            1910 Floyd Co., KY census:  Remphrey, Sam 34, Doll 25.

            1920 Floyd  Co., KY census:  Allen, Grover 29,  Dollie 32, Cornelius 5 (son of Grover by first marriage?)

            1930 Floyd Co., KY census, West Prestonsburg, p. 1A:  G.C. Allen head 36 married first at 18, meter reader power company; Dollie wife 35 married first at 19; W.C. son 15.

            Dolly Gagne, daughter of Dollie Hopson’s sister Rose, visited Kentucky in 1967 and included this in her memoir:  “I did find out that my mother’s sister Dollie (for whom I am named) was still living and in nearby Prestonsburg.  When I found Aunt Dollie, she was in her nineties [she was actually about 84 in 1867]  No one knew for sure her age.... She was sitting on the front porch as everyone else did, wearing a “dust cap” and an apron tied around her middle.  When I got my first look at her, she reminded me so of our mother, I could tell I had reached the right place.

            “She stood up as I approached and I asked her if she remembered her sister Rosie, she said, “Oh, yes, did you know her?”  I then told her who I was, and she remembered me, and said I was her “baby” and she had grieved so when we moved away.  She was bright as could be, full of questions, and filling me in with news of other siblings in the Hopson family.  She said she had been married three times, and still married to the third one, he was away someplace.  She had not had children.”

            Dolly Gagne’s aunt Dollie had a picture of Dolly as a child, which she promised to have someone send to Dolly after her death.  Dolly Gagne wrote that the picture was sent to her a couple of years later.

            During that 1967 trip to Kentucky, Dolly Gagne also met some of her mother’s other relatives, particularly children of George and Virgie.  She was told that her mother’s two brothers, “Tom and Willie were still living in West Virginia and still preaching (Methodist ministers).  They must have been pretty old by then.”  Actually, Tom had died in 1956 and Willie had been retired from the ministry since 1953.  Apparently, they hadn’t stayed in touch.

Photos-thanks to S. Stemp!

Millard F. Baldridge & Rose E. Hopson & Children

50th Wedding Anniversary 21 July 1952

 Millard F. Baldridge &  Rose E. Hopson-May 1961

Millard F. Baldridge & Rose E. Hopson Tombstone

See The Life Story of Rose Ellen Baldridge Hopson,

excerpted from the autobiography of her daughter

Dollie Baldridge Gagne

viii.  Rose Ellen Hopson, b. 6 Feb 1886, m. 23 June 1902 to Millard Fillmore

            Baldridge (1882-1961), d. 4 Aug 1962 in Aberdeen, WA.[48]  Photos of Rose and

            Millard are in their daughter Dolly Baldridge Gagne's memoir.  Their children

            were:

            i.          Dolly Louise Baldridge b. 8 Apr 1906, m.  18 Apr 1924 Walter C. Gagne

                        (1901-1966)

            ii.          Martha Edna Baldridge b. 1911

            iii.         Fred Latham  Baldridge (1913-1952)

            iv.         Clyde Baldridge (1918-1992)

            v.         James Harley Baldridge (1916-1925)

            vi.         Millard Fillmore II  "Mickey" Baldridge (1920-1944)

            1910 Washita Co., Oklahoma census:  Boldrige, Millard F. 26, Rosa 22, Dollie 4, all born KY.

            1920 Skagit Co., WA census:  Belridge, Millard F. 37, Rosa E. 31, Dollie 13, Edna 8, Fred 6, James A. 3, Clyde 1.

            1930 Grays Harbor, WA census, Aberdeen, p. 13B:  Baldridge, Mildred 47, Planer in a lumber mill; Rosie 44, Fred 17, Clyde 11, Millard 9.  On page 10A is Walter Gagne, 29, Dolly 23, and daughter Barbara 2 years 9 mos.

ix.  William Alphonse Hopson, b. 25 Sept 1888, m. 24 June 1913 Edith Ruby

            Rader (1891-17 Feb 1972) daughter of James B. Rader and Mary F. Sargent[49];

            d. 17 Oct 1971 in Parkersburg, Wood Co., WV.[50]  William and Ruby had the

            following children:

            i.          Florence Hopson, b. 1915

            ii.          William Hopson, b. 1917-d. 1998[51]

            iii.         Pearl D. Hopson, b. 9 July 1920-d. 12 June 1978, m. ________ Ball[52].

            From his memoir in the West Virginia United Methodist Church Conference Journal of 1972:  Reverend William A. Hopson was Received on Trial September 2, 1912.  Full Connection September 14, 1914. Served:  Sandyville Circuit 1912; Grantsville Circuit 1913; Hamlin Circuit 1914; So. Portsmouth  Circuit 1915; Elizabeth Circuit 1916-17; Hamlin Circuit 1918; Man Circuit 1919; Buffalo Circuit 1920-21; Ripley Circuit 1922; Parsons Circuit 1923; Davis and Parsons 1924; Point Pleasant 1925; Long Branch 1926; Madison 1927-28; Grayson 1929; Parkersburg Phelps Memorial 1930-32; Parkersburg Wesley 1933; Fairview 1934-35; Fairview Circuit 1936; Fairview 1937; Elkins 1938-40; Parkersburg Stephenson Memorial 1941-44; Belle 1945; Weston Memorial 1946-47; New Martinsburg St. John 1948; Mt. Olivet 1949-50; Pritchard Circuit 1951-52; retired 1953.

            1920 Wood Co., WV census:  William Hopson 32, Edith 28, Florence 5, William 3.

            This family was not found in the 1930 census.

x.  Virgie Hopson[53], b. 1893, m. 13 Aug 1907 Benjamin Fraley (1911-1986)[54], d. 29

            Oct. 1942.  Their children were:

            i.          Benjamin Fraley, Jr. (5 Jun 1917-22 Apr 1999), m.  Vida Wilson

            ii.          Evelyn Fraley m. Clay Spradlin

            iii.         Blevia Fraley m. Robert Crum

            iv.         Martella Fraley m. Elva Ratliff

            v.         Dolla May Fraley (18 Oct 1921-24 June 1998) m. Howard H. Hayden[55]

            vi.         Irene Fraley m. William Spradlin, Jr.

            The family is found in the Floyd County census as follows:

            1910:  Ben Fraley 23, wife Virgie, 17.

Photos-thanks to R. Ratliff

Martella Fraley Ratliff

who is said to look just like her mother

Virgie Hopson Fraley

            1920:   Ben Fraley 32, wife "Bird" 31, Ben Jr. 3. living in Prestonsburg.

            1930, Prestonsburg:  Ben Fraley head 43 married first at 21, farmer;  Virgie wife 36 married first at 14, Ben Jr. son 12, Dollie dau 8, Belvia dau 5, Martella dau 3, Elaine dau 1.

Photos-thanks to S. Houston

Photo of Virgie Hopson Fraley tombstone

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