GWYNNE, HOPKINS, JOHNS & WILLIAMS (General)

by jhopkins , Thursday, March 22, 2007, 10:43 (6457 days ago) @ monfamilies

Thank you monfamilies - that is our Hopkins family. My great great grandfather is the Thomas Hopkins, child of Philip Hopkins:
"Thomas Hopkins b: 1804 Hewelsfield, Glos.
... +Sarah Powell b: 1804 Awre, Glos. m: 18.12.1824 Alvington, Glos."

The records I have found thus far suggest Thomas was born in 1801, and that the spelling of Sarah's name had only one 'l', but those are minor details compared with all of the other matches. They are clearly my great great grandparents when all the facts are taken into account. The following was supplied to me by Slowhands I think:

2443 1851 CENSUS HO107/2443 FF.0593-0611 ED.4 LYDNEY 3
Piece: 2443 Folio: 0611Schedule: 109
Address: Aylburton

HOPKINS Thomas HD M 50 Ag Lab GLS St. Briavels (c1801)
HOPKINS Sarah WI M 46- GLS Awre (c1805)
HOPKINS Janetta DA U 24 Dress Maker GLS Aylburton (c1827)
HOPKINS Elizabeth DA U 18 GLS Aylburton (c1833)
HOPKINS William SO - 16 GLS Aylburton (c1835)
HOPKINS Thomas SO - 13 GLS Aylburton (c1838)
HOPKINS John SO - 11- GLS Aylburton (c1840)
HOPKINS Henry SO - 9- GLS Aylburton (c1842)
HOPKINS Philip SO - 8- GLS Aylburton (c1843)
HOPKINS Sarah DA -6- GLS Aylburton (c1845)
HOPKINS Alfred SO -4- GLS Aylburton (c1847)
BATH Charles VR U 25 Labourer GLS Lydney (c1826)

You have taken me back one generation - I had been stuck with my gggrandparents, partly because of lack of time to carry out more research and partly because I was concentrating on other branches.

My great grandparents are:
“. 3 William Hopkins b: 1834 Lydney, Glos.
..... +Sarah Ann Joseph m: 31.03.1858 Bream, Glos.”

The records I have seen show that my great grandfather William Hopkins was born 8 Mar 1835, Lydney (Glos), whereas your record says 1834. The following was supplied to me by a FoD source (probably Slowhands again!):

WILLIAM HOPKINS
Male
---------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 26 APR 1835 Lydney, Gloucester, England
Death:
Burial:
---------------
Parents:
Father: THOMAS HOPKINS Family
Mother: SARAH

Sarah Joseph was born 6 Mar 1837, Lidbrook. Their marriage took place on 31 Mar 1858, St James Church, Bream as you record.

An extract from a local NZ history says this of William Hopkins: "Mr Hopkins was born on the 8th March, 1835, in Gloucestershire, England, where his father was a farmer. He was brought up as a coal and iron miner, and came to Lyttelton by the ship Matoaka in 1860. (...) Mr Hopkins was married in 1858, to a daughter of the late Mr T. Joseph of Gloucestershire."

William died in NZ in 1918, having been predeceased by Sarah.

The family stories are that William was Welsh (he was at least a part speaker of Welsh) and his wife was Jewish (the name Joseph may be consistent with that). However, both of these stories are not proven yet. As far as the Hopkins family is concerned, thus far the records stay in the FoD. I would be interested if you could point me to further information about the “Llandogo Monmouthshire lot” that you mention. I was intrigued by an article posted on this site, which certainly shows Hopkins in the Hewelsfield area a long time ago:

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=4227#p4255

As far as the Joseph family/Jewish origin is concerned, this has been cast into very severe doubt by some correspondents on the Powys list - they say it is far more likely that the surname Joseph is a patronymic, not an indicator of ethnic origin.

Family sources here say that at least two sisters named Emma and Sarah (Emma married a Fletcher from the Forest of Dean) and a brother Alfred came out to NZ as well. Sarah is certainly a sister – she arrived as an unaccompanied female possibly aged 16. She is buried next to her brother William (my ggrandfather) – brother and sister have identical style headstones, and it was clearly a deliberate choice to bury them side by side. I have found Alfred’s grave as well, but have no further details of him. The family story that Emma was my ggrandfather’s sister must be a confusion. From your records it appears as though she was a niece. This needs following up. The Fletcher family are well known to a Hopkins cousin of mine, and we can pursue this further.

Thank you very much for responding, monfamilies. Let me know if you need any other information, and I will try to provide it. How do you connect to the Hopkins family?