David Hopkins Sr. connection to David Hopkins Jr. Working Summary September 2021
This sequence of documents/events is an example of how a series of items can be strung together to get a connection between a father and son.
This is a work in progress compiled by descendant Christine Burgoyne, ancestry.com EGGETT tree 48325956, Ancestry member name burgoyn, email burgoyn@yahoo.com. All docs mentioned as “in hand” are in my possession and also attached to my Ancestry tree. I hope you will contact me with any additional information or discussion you may have. Special thanks to the T. Elmer Cox Historical and Genealogical Library and to researchers LeAnn Cryts Kelley and Sharon Ann Hinshaw-Payne.
18 Nov 1779. David Hopkins Sr. receives property in Guilford County NC (this property comes into play in a significant way in 1797). [Guilford Co Land Record #655, grant #646, entry #1847. 18 Nov 1779. Book 48 page 147. Document in hand]
1783 Abt. Undocumented presumed birth of son David Hopkins Jr. Location either NC or what is now TN. 1850 census says born TN, but he may have been born in Guilford NC just before the family moved to Greene Co. [There was no TN in 1783, although Greene Co became official in that year. Greene Co was in the short-lived State of Franklin in 1784 and part of TN when TN became a state in 1796. It is not surprising that families and others would be uncertain as to where the boundaries were when.]
9 Apr 1789. Greene County TN. David Hopkins Sr’s Will. Names wife Agnes, daughter Mary, unnamed 2nd daughter, 3rd daughter Rebecca, daughter Mary White (presumably all adults), and "the remainder of our minor children" who will live with Agnes until of age or married. (Sons James and David would have been minors, ages 14 and 6). Witnessed by George Hopkins [Presumably his brother]. [document in hand]
1788. Greene County TN. Widow Hopkins was billed retroactively for unpaid 1788 taxes for 100 acres, no residents on land. David Hopkins Sr. died 1789.[document in hand]
1790. Greene County TN. George Hopkins [presumably David Sr’s brother] and David’s widow Agnes Hopkins file David's will. [Greene Co TN Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas 1783-1796. Document in hand]
1790. Greene County TN. Agnes Hopkins and neighbor William Bingham file David's property inventory. [Document in hand]
1793. Greene County TN. James Hopkins 18 (so born 1775), is apprenticed to George Hopkins to learn the trade of chair making until the age of 21. [Greene Co TN Guardians and Orphans Court Records 1793 November Term page 316. Document in hand]
1795. Greene County TN. David Hopkins 13 (so born 1782-83), is apprenticed to George Hopkins to learn the trade of chair making and to read, write, and cypher until the age of 21. [Greene Co Guardians and Orphans Court Records 1795 August Term page 407. document in hand]
Related clue: Hopkins descendant LeAnn Cryts Kelley has a chair that her family says was made by a Hopkins ancestor.
1795. Greene County TN. Agnes Hopkins receives a land grant for 300 acres on the Nolichucky River. [Early Greene Co Land Grants #1604 grant 1321 book 84 pg 106. document in hand]. So before her marriage to 2nd husband David Copeland.
1797. David Copeland and his wife Agnes, formerly Agnes Hopkins, both of Greene County TN, convey to David and James Hopkins, sons of deceased David Hopkins, land in Guilford County NC located on Rock Creek between the properties of Robert Peasely and Matthew Brown. Signed with marks, witnessed by James Veatch [presumably the one who married David Sr's daughter Mary Hopkins] and David Copeland Jr. [his son] [Filed in Greene Co TN. document in hand]
[Note: also working on -- a correspondent says that George Hopkins, presumably David Sr’s brother, had a son William; she is looking for the backup. That would explain the William that young David enlisted with: a cousin, not a brother.]
