Person Page - 582

     
     Elias married Melvina (?).¹      Elias Russell Jr, son of Elias Russell and Elizabeth Clark, was born circa 1824 in Kentucky.¹

     
     Melvina married Elias Russell Jr, son of Elias Russell and Elizabeth Clark.¹

          Elias Russell, son of Charles Russell and Jane Mattingly, was born on 22 November 1792 in Kentucky.¹
     Elias married Elizabeth Clark on 19 April 1817.¹
     Elias died on 27 January 1872 at age 79.¹

          Elizabeth Clark was born on 1 November 1797 in Kentucky.¹
     Elizabeth married Elias Russell, son of Charles Russell and Jane Mattingly, on 19 April 1817.¹
     Elizabeth died on 11 March 1878 in Kentucky at age 80.¹

          Charles Russell, son of William Russell and Ann (?), was born on 12 October 1759 in St. Mary's County, Maryland Colony.¹
     Charles married Jane Mattingly on 19 November 1788 at Nelson County, Kentucky.¹
     Charles died on 7 October 1813 in Washington County, Kentucky, at age 53.¹

          Jane Mattingly was born circa 1760 in St. Mary's County, Maryland Colony.¹
     Jane married Charles Russell, son of William Russell and Ann (?), on 19 November 1788 at Nelson County, Kentucky.¹
     Jane died in 1844 in Kentucky.¹

     
     William married Ann (?).¹

     
     Ann married William Russell.¹

     
     James Whitcomb Riley’s story began on October 7, 1849 in the sleepy town of Greenfield, Indiana. Born the second son and third out of six children to Reuben and Elizabeth Riley, James inherited gifts from both parents that would later contribute to making him Indiana’s most beloved poet.

Reuben Riley – civil war veteran, lawyer and politician – was in great demand for his extraordinary political speeches. Elizabeth, a poet and storyteller, often entertained her young children with fairy tales and funny stories. These combined talents would later contribute to their son’s successful career as both a poet and orator.

Like his contemporary Mark Twain, some of Mr. Riley’s best-loved writing recalled the rich texture childhood in a growing Indiana town – a time where boys spent their days swimming, fishing, stealing watermelons and playing Indians in the woods.

By the age 16, Riley gave up his struggle with arithmetic and history and quit school. He and some friends started traveling Indiana’s countryside painting signs, houses and ornamental pictures. The crew dubbed themselves "The Graphic Company."

Riley left the short lived sign painting company when he published one of his poems and then started traveling with a medicine show, painting and reciting his poems.

When the tour ended, Riley returned to Greenfield and took a position editing the local paper.

Over the years, Riley had developed the "genius known to fame" theory. He was convinced a poem could become popular only if an already-famous writer wrote it. To test this, he wrote a poem following Edgar Allen Poe’s style and called it Leonainie. It printed in the Kokomo Dispatch. Once Riley revealed he was the author, backlash from rival newspapers resulted in his loss of position.

This proved only a minor detour. In 1878, he came to Indianapolis, was hired by the Indianapolis Journal and remained there until his first book of poetry was published in 1883.

Riley’s work skyrocketed in popularity. Soon after his book published, he began touring with the likes of Mark Twain and Bill Nye. It was a time when authors were greeted with rock concert style crowds clamoring to hear the poems and stories.

When Riley finally stopped touring and settled down, he did so at 528 Lockerbie Street. The Nickum and Holstein families invited him to become a houseguest and he spent the remaining 23 years of his life there.

On July 22, 1916, Mr. Riley passed away from complications of a stroke. He was laid to rest first at the state house where 35,000 people came to pay their last respects over a six-hour period and was later moved to Crown Hill Cemetery. His tomb sits on one of the highest points in Marion County, leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come.¹

     WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here-
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock-
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the rossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries-kind' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermons to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below-the clover overhead!-
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin' 's over, and your wimmern-foks is through

I don't know how to tell it-but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me-
I'd want to 'commodate 'em-all the whole-indurin' flock-
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!¹

     THE RAGGEDY MAN

O The Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;
An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!
He comes to our house every day,
An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;
An' he opens the shed-an' we all ist laugh
When he drives out our little old wobbly calf;
An' nen-ef our hired girl says he can-
He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.-
Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

Wy, The Raggedy Man-he's ist so good,
He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood;
An' nen he spades in our garden, too,
An' does most things 'at boys can't do.-
He clumbed clean up in our big tree
An' shooked a' apple down fer me-
An' 'nother 'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann-
Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

An' The Raggedy Man on time say he
Pick' roast' rambos from a' orchurd-tree,
An' et 'em-all ist roast'an'hot!-
An' it's so, too!-'cause a corn-crib got
A fire one time an' all burn' down
On "The Smoot Farm," bout four mile from town-
On "The Smoot Farm"! Yes-an' the hired han'
'At worked there nen 'uz The Raggedy Man!-
Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

The Raggedy Man's so good an' kind
He'll be our "horsey," an' "haw" an' mind
Ever'thing 'at you make him do-
An' won't run off-"less you want him to!
I drived him wunst way down our land
An' he got skeered, when it 'menced to rain,
An' ist rared up an' squealed and run
Purt' night away! - an' it's all in fun!
Nen he skeered ag'in at a' old tin can...
Whoa! Y' old runaway Raggedy Man!
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhynmes,
An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes:
Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves,
An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers the'rselves:
An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,
He showed me the hold 'at the Wunks is got,
'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can
Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann!
Er Ma, er Pa, er The Raggedy Man!
Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

An' wunst, when The Raggedy Many come late,
An' pigs ist root' thue the garden-gate,
He 'tend like the pigs 'uz bears an' said,
"Old Bear-shooter'll shoot 'em dead!"
'an' race' an' chase' 'em, an' they'd ist run
When he pint his hoe at 'em like it's a gun
an' go "Bang!-Bang!" nen 'tend he stan'
An' load up his gun ag'in! Raggedy Man!
He's an old Bear-Shooter Raggedy Man!
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

An' sometimes The Raggedy Man lets on
We're little prince-children, an' old King's gone
To git more money, an' lef' us there-
And Robbers is ist thick ever'where;
an' nen-ef we all won't cry, fer shore-
The Raggedy Man he'll come and "splore
The Castul-Hall," an' steal the "gold"-
An' steal us, too, an' grab an' hold
An pack us off to his old "Cave"!-
An' haymow's the "cave" l' The Raggedy Man!-
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

The Raggedy Man-one time, when he
Wuz makin' a little boy-"n"-orry fer me,
Says "When you're big like your Pa is,
Air you go' to keep a fine store like his-
An' be a rich merchunt-an' wear fine clothes?-
Er what air you go' to be good knows?"
An' nen he laughed at "Lizabuth ann,
An' I says "M go' to be a Raggedy Man!-
I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!"
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!¹


     James Whitcomb Riley: The Hoosier Poet
EARLY LIFE

One of the most popular poets in American history, James Whitcomb Riley was born in Greenfield, Indiana, the second son and third of six children raised by Reuben A.--a Civil War veteran and lawyer--and Elizabeth (Marine) Riley. At an early age Riley discovered that he disliked the "iron discipline" of school life but enjoyed books. As a child, Riley often accompanied his father (a noted political orator) on trips to the Hancock County courthouse, where he observed the manners and mores of country society, as well as the countrified dialect he later used in his poetry.



RESTLESS YOUTH

"In my dreamy way I did a little of a number of things fairly well--sang, played the guitar and violin, acted, painted signs and wrote poetry. My father did not encourage my verse-making for he thought it too visionary, and being a visionary himself, he believed he understood the dangers of following the promptings of the poetic temperament. I doubted if anything would come of the verse-writing myself."

James Whitcomb Riley on his younger days
Leaving school at age 16, Riley first attempted to read law in his father's office. Possessed of a wanderlust, however, Riley turned to another pursuit--art. He and some other youths, which he dubbed "the Graphics," traveled the Indiana countryside as sign, house and ornamental painters. He later joined a traveling wagon show as an advance agent. In 1873, Riley returned to Greenfield and worked for the town's newspaper. A year earlier, his poetry, under the name "Jay Whit," had first appeared in the Indianapolis Saturday Mirror.



THE HOAX

In April 1877, Riley joined the staff of the Anderson Democrat as associate editor. He continued to write poems, which were printed in other newspapers throughout central Indiana. Frustrated, however, at his poems being rejected by eastern periodicals, Riley concocted a scheme to prove that for a poem to become popular it had to be written by "a genius known to fame." He wrote a poem, "Leonainie," styled after Edgar Allan Poe, and convinced the editor of the Kokomo Dispatch to print it in his newspaper as a long-lost Poe poem. Unmasked as the poem's true author, Riley was lambasted by rival newspapers and eventually fired from his Anderson job.



FAME AND FORTUNE

Despite the notoriety he earned from the Poe poem hoax, Riley managed to find employment with another newspaper, the Indianapolis Journal. It was while on the Journal staff that he first won acclaim for his work, especially "When the Frost Is on the Punkin," part of a series he signed "Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone." The series was published in book form in 1883 and met with popular success. Riley's characters--Old Aunt Mary, Little Orphant Annie, The Raggedy Man, Doc Sifers and Uncle Sidney--along with his sentimental style that harkened back to simpler times, struck a chord with a reading public struggling to come to grips with the industrial age. Riley increased his fame as a poet and helped himself financially through his appearances on the lecture circuit with, among others, Edgar W. (Bill) Nye.



THE HOOSIER POET

Riley, whose books were regularly published by Indianapolis's Bobbs-Merrill Company, became one of the best-loved poets in America. A lifelong bachelor, Riley spent most of his days of fame as the paying guest in a Lockerbie Street home owned by the Nickum and Holstein families, residing there from 1893 until his death in 1916. The home became a regular visiting place for Indiana schoolchildren and famous figures like perennial Socialist presidential candidate and labor organizer Eugene Debs (who enjoyed raising a glass of spirits with Riley whenever possible). Riley's fame grew so great that his birthday was celebrated by students across the country. Upon his death on July 22, 1916, more than 35,000 people filed past his casket as it lay in state under the dome at the Indiana State Capitol.²


     James Whitcomb Riley, son of Reuben A. Riley and Elizabeth Marine, was born on 7 October 1849.²
     James died on 22 July 1916 at age 66.²

     
     Elizabeth married Reuben A. Riley.

     
     Reuben married Elizabeth Marine.

     
     (?) married Jane (?).

     
     Jane married (?) Kennerk, son of Clarence Kennerk.

      Ora Louise Hopkins was also known as Ora E. B. (in 1930 census).²      Ora Louise Hopkins, daughter of Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins and Ora Evaden Crum, was born on 6 November 1916 in Rader, Maries County, Missouri.¹ Conflicting evidence placed her birth in 1918 (1930 census).²
     She lived with her parents, Mamie and Thomas, in 1930 at Jackson Township, Maries County, Missouri.²
     Ora was enumerated as the daughter of Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins on the 1930 U.S. Census at Jackson Township, Missouri, listed as a 12-year-old girl born in Missouri as were her parents. She was attending school.²
     Ora married Virgil Cecil Copeland, son of John Burton Copeland and Missouri S. Bishop, on 6 January 1938 at St. Louis, Missouri.¹
     Ora Louise was a cafeteria worker for District 9 of the Granite City School System from 1954 to 1975.¹ Her husband, Virgil Cecil Copeland, died on 5 August 1986 at age 76.¹ Ora Louise Hopkins was a member of Little Flock Baptist Church, Vienna, Maries County, Missouri in 1994 .¹
     Ora died on 14 July 1994 at St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights, St. Louis County, Missouri, at age 77.¹ Her obituary was published in the Dixon Pilot Newspaper on 28 July 1994 at Dixon, Pulaski County, Missouri.¹ Her obituary stated:

¹
     Her wake was held at Vienna Chapel of the Birmingham-Martin Funeral Homes, Vienna, Maries County, Missouri.¹
     Her funeral service was held on 17 July 1994 at Little Flock Baptist Church, Vienna, Maries County, Missouri, the service was performed by Reverend Cellis Alfred Crum.¹ Ora Louise Hopkins was buried on 17 July 1994 in Vienna Public Cemetery in Vienna, Maries County, Missouri, pallbearers were Joe Clay Crum, Ellis Crum Jr, Darrell Davis, Bill Baxter, Johnson Davis and Henry Davis.¹

          Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins, son of Oliver Columbus "Lumber" Hopkins Sr and Nettie Jane Breeding, was born on 21 August 1894 in Missouri.^3,2
     Thomas (his first marriage) married Ora Evaden Crum (her first marriage), daughter of Joseph Peter Crum and Vivia Evaden Gillispie, circa 1915.¹ His wife, Ora Evaden Crum, died in 1919.¹
     Thomas (his second marriage) married Mamie Orilla Honse, daughter of John Wesley Honse and Mary Ann Bade, in 1923.³
In 1930 Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins farmed at Jackson Township in Maries County, Missouri.³
     Mamie and Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins lived in 1930 at Jackson Township in Missouri. Residing with them were, their children Ora.³
     Thomas is a head of household on the 1930 U. S. Census for Jackson Township, Missouri, listed as a 35-year-old man born in Missouri as were his parents, he was married for the first time at the age of 28 and was not a veteran. He owned a farm which was listed as item 69 on the farm schedule. Enumerated with him were: his wife, Mamie Orilla, his daughters Ora Louise.³ Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins, Calvin Breeding and Thurman Crider were neighbors according to the 1930 census. They were living in Jackson Township, Missouri.^3,4,5
     Thomas died on 3 August 1972 at age 77.¹

          Ora Evaden Crum, daughter of Joseph Peter Crum and Vivia Evaden Gillispie, was born after 1886.
     Ora (her first marriage)married Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" Hopkins (his first marriage) , son of Oliver Columbus "Lumber" Hopkins Sr and Nettie Jane Breeding, circa 1915.¹
     Ora died in 1919.¹

     
     Mary married Paul Gregory Heilig, son of Charles Frederick Heilig and Margaret Mary Coe.¹

     
     Paul married Mary Ann Russell, daughter of Claude Elias "Eli" Russell and Mary "Mae" Meier.¹      Paul Gregory Heilig, son of Charles Frederick Heilig and Margaret Mary Coe, was born on 16 November 1927 in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois.
     Paul died on 24 June 1982 in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois.¹

          Richard Donald Russell, son of Claude Elias "Eli" Russell and Mary "Mae" Meier, was born on 31 July 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri.¹
     Richard died on 25 September 1929 in Missouri at age 0.¹

     
     (?) married (?) Schlechte.¹

     
     (?) married (?) Heilig, daughter of Paul Gregory Heilig and Mary Ann Russell.¹

     
     Charles married Margaret Mary Coe.

     
     Margaret married Charles Frederick Heilig.

     
     George married Martha A. "Mattie" Copeland, daughter of John Burton Copeland and Missouri S. Bishop.¹

     
     Lawrence married Bertha P. Copeland, daughter of John Burton Copeland and Missouri S. Bishop.¹

     
     Garrett married Dulcie Copeland, daughter of John Burton Copeland and Missouri S. Bishop.¹

     
     Virden married Lucille "Lettie" Copeland, daughter of John Burton Copeland and Missouri S. Bishop.¹