St Philip and St Jacob Bristol, Gloucestershire - HOPKINS 1821 & 1842

[jonwicken]

Hi Rootschat,

I wonder if anyone might please have access to the folllowing baptism and burial for the additional information of occupation and residences please:

Elizabeth Martha Johnson Hopkins dau of Samuel & Elizabeth bapt 18 Feb 1821

Rhoda Johnson bur 14 Jan 1842 aged 19 years

I believe Rhoda was a sister of Elizabeth who was baptised in 1823 as Rhoda Maria Hullet Hopkins in the London area.

If anyone can help me that would be great.

Many thanks,
Jon

[Victor Harvey]

Hi Jon,
I can confirm, from Bristol & Avon FHS, that your data for the Baptism of Elisabeth Martha Johnson HOPKINS, dau of Samuel & Elisabeth HOPKINS, was baptised at St St Philip & Jacob, 18th February 1821.
The actual record is held at Bristol Records Office. I doubt any extra data is available apart from the witnesses.
Victor

[ColC]

Rhoda’s burial is on FindMyPast but only what you know. I did stumble across the following which might just be a coincidence?

Victoria Rhoda   Hopkins
Baptism date   25 Dec 1841
Baptism place   Bristol, St Mary Redcliffe, Gloucestershire
Father Samuel   Mother Elizabeth

Colin

[jonwicken]

Thanks very much to you both!

I am trying to unravel my Hopkins line and it is not easy.

Samuel Hopkins was baptised in Curry Rivel in Somerset in 1795 as the son of Thomas Hopkins and Martha Hewlett who married in 1773 at Compton Dundon.

They had the following children all baptised in Curry Rivel:

William Hopkins 1776–
John Hopkins 1779–
Maria Hopkins\Hector 1781–1839
Thomas Hopkins 1784–
James Hopkins 1787–
George Hopkins 1790–
Charles Hopkins 1792–
Samuel Hopkins 1795–1858 

Other than my Samuel, the only other child I have traced beyond the baptisms is Maria. She married William Hector in Curry Rivel in 1804 before moving to Bristol where all her children were born between 1806 and 1824.

My Samuel Hopkins married Elizabeth Johnson in Islington, Middlesex, in 1817 and then went on to have four children in very different locations:

Elizabeth Martha Johnson Hopkins - born Bristol 1821, died after 1858 when she was an executor of her father's will
Rhoda Maria Hullett Hopkins - born Southwark, Surrey 1823, died Bristol 1842. Hullett is evidently an alternative spelling of Hewlett, her paternal grandmother's maiden name
Samuel Thomas Hopkins - born Liverpool c1825/7, died Camberwell, London, 1895. His baptism has not been found.
William Johnson George Hopkins - born Isle of Man 1828, died 1901/11
Victoria Rhoda Hopkins - born Bristol 1841, died Walworth, Surrey, 1844

The family ended up in Bristol where the Victoria you found was baptised in 1841. I think given the gap in children from 1828 to 1841 and also the age of the mother at the time (the census indicate Elizabeth johnson/Hopkins was born c1793/6), Victoria might in fact be the illegitimate daughter of one of their daughters Elizabeth or Rhoda.

Anyway I am trying to track down what happened to Samuel's parents Thomas and Martha Hopkins who must have died after Samuel's conception and birth in 1794/5. I rather suspect that as two of their children moved to and had their own children in Bristol that they may have moved there.

Martha's burial does not appear at Curry Rivel and while there is a Thomas Hopkins buried in Rivel in 1799, this is perhaps his probable father. 

It would help if I could trace the children born in Curry Rivel listed above between 1776 and 1795 but so far I have not traced any other than Samuel and Maria.

The searching continues!

Thanks again,
Jon   

[jonwicken]

Hi I have had a breakthrough with the Hopkins.

I found the will of the brother of my Samuel Hopkins born in 1795.

George Hopkins born in Curry Rivel in 1790 was in the Royal Navy and his 1811 will proved in 1813 names his parents Thomas and Martha and his brother Samuel.

It also shows that as I suspected Thomas Hopkins and Martha came to the London area with their family.

Probate of the will shows Martha Hewlett/Hopkins died in c1811-1813 but I can't find her burial.

Thomas appears to have remarried another Martha (widowed Martha Kettle) in 1814 in Walworth and died in 1820 being buried in Locks Fields Chapel that year.

What is intriguing is that George names his grandfather Thomas Hopkins senior (born in Curry Rivel in 1720) as having left him a legacy of three hundred pounds.

Now this is an extraordinary amount of money and so Thomas Hopkins senior must have been quite wealthy. He is evidently the Thomas who died in 1799 in Curry Rivel, or so I assume.

The executor of the will was a Samuel Maitland though who was of Walworth. I have tried to find out about him as I assume he was a relative who also moved to London, but I can not find anything out about him! Feel free to have a look.

It is all rather surprising as George's father Thomas I now know to have been a day labourer in Curry Rivel in 1772 when he applied for settlement in Compton Dundon.

So how was Thomas senior 1720 so wealthy with Thomas junior 1751 being so poor?

A mystery to be solved.

I suspect that Thomas Hopkins junior born in Curry Rivel in 1751 was not reliable or the black sheep.

In his marine son's will, George Hopkins leaves the £300 left to him in his grandfather Thomas senior's will to his mother Martha, not his father. And if she died then to his younger brother Samuel, not his father.

It is very interesting. George's ships are also listed in his will and he was on the Mindon and died on a hospital ship. I rather assume that he was injured in the July 1811 event. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Minden_(1810)

£300 is worth £10,000 today but we know Thomas had at least four grandchildren alive at his death.

There were Maria, George, Samuel and one of the elder brothers.

I do not know for sure which one was alive but George refers to Samuel as his youngest brother in his will so there must have been at least one other alive at that time.

Presumably Thomas would have left all of his grandchildren this amount as they were all underage at the time, so he presumably had at least £40,000.

Sadly the Somerset wills are lost in the main thanks to a bombing in 1942 so we may never know

All for now and thanks again for the replies,
Jon