Individual Narrative of John Hopkins
John Hopkins was born in 1769 at Anson, NC. From the Lambeth Hopkins Age Book:
"John Hopkins Seign was bornd in the 1769 [sic] and died Dec. 12 th 1813." 1
Link to Lambeth Hopkins of Washington, Greene and Jackson counties in Georgia
New information has been discovered that proves that John Hopkins of Bedford County, Tennessee is the son of Lambeth Hopkins of Georgia and North Carolina. Estate papers were found and copied by Dawn Gore from microfilm at the Gerogia Archives. In those estate papers John Hopkins receives a share of the estate of Lambeth Hopkins. A deed dated 1813 clearly establishes the connection of John Hopkins of Jackson County to Bedford County, TN.
Priscilla Bankston is the presumed wife of Lambeth Hopkins and thus she would be the mother of John Hopkins. Lambeth Hopkins wrote his will in 1798 in Jackson County GA in which he leaves provision for one year's schooling for his youngest children -- Samuel, Solomon, David and Joseph. Presumably he has given either land or personal property as a legacy to older children. A William Hopkins is known to be a son of Lambeth Hopkins from family Bible records; other presumed sons of Lambeth are John, Lambeth Jr. and Richard. (This from the notes of Harold Hopkins.) A daughter of Lambeth and Priscilla may have married Joseph Clarkston and another daughter may have married Sherwood Hodges.
Two land records in Washington/Green County Georgia do tie William and John Hopkins to Lambeth Hopkins and are the most definite evidence that we have that John is likely the second son of Lambeth Hopkins:
A 230 acre tract of land was surveyed for Lambeth Hopkins in Washington County on March 7, 1786. The tract was bounded on one side by Greenbriar Creek, on one side by "Phillip's land", and on two sides by "Tennnill's land." "Georgia: Washington County Surveyed by virtue of a warnt from under the hand of the honable Robert Christmas, esquire, Sr. Justice Presiding at a land Court held in sd County dated 5th Feb. Survey 7th of March 1786. by W. Briston (?) Sca 20 ch P Inch. No: 772. The notations on the survey are: from the left (SW?) corner of the land the direction is S 60 W 48.00 to a Hickory tree, then at nearly a right angle the direction is S 30 E 48.00 to a Blk Ok, then at nearly right angles to a stake on the corner of the surveyed land and Greenbriar Creek and then down the creek to the beginning corner. (The notation inside the boundaries of the property read: Lambert Hopkins 230 Acres of good land.")
(Georgia Archives location: Surveyor General Plats : Colonial and Headright. Drawer 51 Box 19)
The following deed of sale (p.1) (p.2) is from p. 31, Deed Book BB. Greene Co., State of Georgia. William and John Hopkins of Clarke Co. sold to James Fielder of Greene Co. on 18 Jan 1808 for hie sum of $575, 230 acres of land in Greene Co. Wit.: William Crocker and D.Sims. Rec. 12 Sep 1808. (Georgia Archives reference information: Greene County Superior Court. Deeds and Mortgages. Drawer 34, Box 15, vol 5. SLC source No. RH 45-46.) The deed was reacorded the 12 of september 1808. Both John and william signed the deed without a mark.
Know all men by these presents that we William Hopkins & John Hopkins of the State of Georgia and County of Clark of the one part and James Fielder of the County of Greene & state aforesaid of the other part. Witnesseth that we William & John Hopkins for and in Consideration of the Sum of five hundred and seventy five dollars to us in hand paid by James Fielder the receipt whereof I do herbey acknowledge do give grant bargain sell & convey unto the said James Fielder his heirs and assigns forever a certain tract or parcel of Land Containing two hundred and thirty acres more or less being in the County of Grene and state aforesd and the waters of Greenbrier Creek beginning at a Red oak on said Creek thence S 60 w 48 chs to a Corner Hickory thence S 30 E 48 chs to a corner B. Oak thence N 60 E 48 chs to a stake Corner on the Creek thence up the Said Creek to the beginning Corner....we the said William & John Hopkins...that we are lawfully seized in fee simple of the premises that they are free of all encumbrances that we have a good right to sell and convey the land to the sd James Fielder.....as witnesseth our hands this eighteenth day of Jany 1808.
Early Life of John Hopkins
There is nothing recorded of the life of John Hopkins but we can infer a number of things about his life from the movements of his family as given in the records for his father Lambeth. Lambeth and his wife Priscilla were in Anson County in 1769 when John was born. They were almost certainly in Anson County in 1764 when their oldest son was born. Lambeth was in the process of acquiring land through royal grants during that time so he was establishing an economic base for his young and growing family. The Piedmont region of North Carolina where the Hopkins lived was a land of small holdings--farmers, merchants, and those who provided services to them such as blacksmiths and wagonmakers. Roads through the fields and woods needed to be laid out and maintained. Obviously, the farmers of which John's father, Lambeth was one, had to be fairly self-sufficient in providing food and clothing for their families, but they also understood the necessity of the protection, cooperation and social life with those around them. As they moved frequently in their search for more fertile land (John Hopkins moved with his family four times during his life) families and groups of families moved together. Hopkins are found with Allreads, Bankstons, Duncans and Elliotts in Anson County and with Autreys, Bankstons, Clarkstsons, and others in Georgia.
These upland farmers were also an independent lot and apparently John's father Lambeth not only was willing to fight for American independence as witnessed by his presence in a company of militia in Wilkes County Georgia in 1778, but he was willing to maintain his loyalties to the Revolutionary ideals and move his family from Georgia to Montgomery County, North Carolina ahead of the advancing British sometime around 1780. Once the British were defeated he returned to Georgia and received a land grant from that state for his service to American independence. In 1778 John was nine and probably the second oldest son while his father was fighting with the Georgia militia. In 1780 he was eleven when his father moved his family to North Carolina to escape the British, and he was about seventeen when his family returned to Georgia. During this time of growing up, he certainly learned to farm, to be a woodsman, to shoot, to hunt. All of these he had to know before he could expect to establish a family of his own.
Nothing is recorded of John Hopkins from his birth in 1769 until 1792 in Greene Co. GA where his name appears on a legal document. A John Hopkins is witness to a deed in Greene County GA in 1792. in which Alexander Autrey is the grantor. Alexander Autrey may have been John Hopkins' father-in-law. Since Lambeth is shown on the tax list of Greene County in 1789 that puts both Lambeth and John Hopkins in Greene County along with Alexander Autrey in the same time frame. Earlier, in 1778, Lambeth was associated with John, Jacob and Alexander Autrey in a Wilkes County militia company.
Alexander Autrey of Greene Co. to Nathan Barnett Senr. of same, for 175 pds. lawful money of Ga., 300 acres in Greene Co. on Sandy Creek, part of a grant for 387 1/2 acres to the said Awtrey 14 Aug. 1786. Signed: Alexr. Autrey. Wit: Jno Barnitt, Jno. Hopkins, Nathan (X) Barnett, Michael (X) Cup. Proved by John Barnitt 26 Jan 1796 before John Armour J. P. Eliz. (X) Awtrey relinquished dower 10 Nov. 1792. Reg. 30 Jan. 1796.
John Hopkins and his wife Elizabeth Autrey
According to the Hopkins family history Elizabeth Autrey was the wife of John Hopkins. It is possible that they were married by 1792 or it is possible that John had a close association with his future father-in-law before their marriage that is demonstrated by his witnessing a legal document for him. In looking at the birth of their first recorded child, it is more likely that they proabably were married about 1795. 2,3,4 Lambeth Hopkins was born in1800, a date which he recorded himself in his Age Book. He is the third child of John and Elizabeth. Counting back two children -- estimating two years per child would put the marriage at about 1795. In that case John would have been twenty-five years old and Elizabeth twenty-three, since in Lambeth Hopkins' Age Book John Hopkins is listed as having been born in 1769 and the birth date for Elizabeth Hopkins is listed as 1771. If Alexander Autrey is Elizabeth Hopkins' father, her grandfather is Cornelius Autrey of Edgecomb County NC. In addition to the event in which John Hopkins witnessed the deed of Alexander Autrey. another reason for thinking that Alexander Autrey is the father of Elizabeth Autrey is that the name Alexander was a name used for Hopkins sons for several generations after John and Elizabeth .
Below is a quote from a letter from Leila M Wooley whose mother was Priscilla Hopkins, granddaughter of John and Elizabeth Hopkins. The quote is undated but it must have been in the 1920's for Priscilla Hopkins to have been alive.
"Your letter came only yesterday and replying thereto will say that Mama does not know much about the ancestry, it seems, tho, she says that great grandfather Hopkins was named John and possibly John S. but not sure about the S. He lived in Tennessee on Duck Creek which is near Shelbyville, in fact owned a place there which he sold a short time prior to the time he volunteered. He was wonded in Talladega, Ala., seems only a flesh wound, and he bled to death soon after his return home in or near Shelbyville, Tennessee, on December 12, not sure of the year, but quite likely 1812. This trip was made on horseback. She does not know who his mother was but he married a Miss Elizabeth Autrey, they had eight children, six girls and two boys." Signed Leila Wooley
Elizabeth Autrey Hopkins appears to have been a very strong woman. Though her husband died in 1813 she never remarried and appears from her land transactions to be willing to move wherever she felt there would be a better life for her family. She was with her son Lambeth in Hale County and Green County AL about 1825 and probably in Marengo County AL before that because her daughter Nancy was married to John Fisher in Marengo County in 1818. She purchased land from the St. Stephens land office in 1823 in Hale County and sold this land to Mary D. Cox of Tuscaloosa County in 1826 and then purchased land in Perry County AL in 1833 where she remained until her death in 1847.5,6 I checked the pension applications for the War of 1812.There is no record that Elizabeth Hopkins ever applied for a pension.
John Hopkins in Jackson County
John Hopkins is first found on a tax list in 1799 -- the 1799 tax list for Jackson County GA. 7 Lambeth Hopkins had died in 1798 and his wife Persilla [sic] is listed on the 1799 tax list. Wm (probably John's older brother), Dennis , Lambeth and Richard, and possibly Samuel were John's brothers, sons of Lambeth who were also living in Jackson County and are also on the tax list as well. Wm and John were in Hopkins district; Dennis, Richard and Samuel were in Moore's district, and Persilla and Lambeth Jr. were in Reynolds district. (Priscilla later married Reynolds as her second husband. ) The following is from an email from Harold Hopkins to Judy Voran on 02 Dec. 2000:
From the Jackson County, Georgia tax list of 1798, it appears that there were four sons of Lambeth Hopkins in Jackson County, Georgia at the time that Lambeth died: Willliam, John, Richard and Lambeth Jr. Richard might have been the third oldest son and Lambeth Jr. fourth oldest.
John is found on the 1801 Jackson County tax list in Hopkins district along with William. John's brother William is probably listed as Wm and William's son may be the William found in Lloyd's district with his father and Uncle John. Richard, Dennis and Samuel are in Phillip's district and Priscilla has presumably remarried by this time since she no longer appears on any Georgia tax list after 1799. In 1802 Wm is found on the Clarke County list in Greer's district (Clarke County was cut off from Jackson County in 1802.) John is not listed in Clarke County tax list so presumably he did not live in that portion of Jackson County which was cut off to form Clarke.8
A John Hopkins of Clarke County
A John Hopkins appears in the Clarke County tax lists for the years for 1806, 1807, 1808, and 1811. However each of these entries is for a poll tax only which indicates that this man did not own any land. This John Hopkins could possibly have been a son of Samuel, Dennis, or Elijah who was not married and had no land, but that was a long time for a young man of taxable age to stay in one spot unmarried and without land. Whoever he is he does not appear to be John, son of Lambeth. Note: After further investigation, the John Hopkins of Clarke County was the Sherrif there and is listed in the Deed Books of Clarke County selling land as "power of attorney in fact." Exactly how this John Hopkins might relate to the other Hopkins family members is not known. He may relate to the following record:
From the Early Records of Georgia, p. 241 there is a note:
HOPKINS, JOHN. Receipt as agent for Jas. Gray, admr John Hopkins, dec'd. May 26, 1802.
John Hopkins in Jackson County (cont.)
John Hopkins appears on Jackson County tax lists in 1801, 1804 and 1810.
There are also several records of land transactions for John Hopkins in Jackson County:
Deed from Micajah Benge & Ebenezer Folsom to John Hopkins of the State and County of Jackson for $400. Benge and Folsom agree to sell Hopkins 250 acres of land on the Apolatchee River near land of Richard Hopkins. 25th of June 1805. Jackson County Deed Book D, p. 257. 10
On May 1, 1810 John Hopkins of Jackson County Georgia sells to George Evans for $300, 123 acres in Clarke County on McNutt's Creek. This was land originally patented to Joseph Wagnon and conveyed by Wagnon to John Coles and conveyed by Coles to John Hopkins. Wit: Thomas Smith and Walter Evans.
John Hopkins sold land in Jackson County on the 20th of November 1811 to Benj. Fuller . This was a "tract of land lying on Barbery Creek being the old plantation on which the said Hopkins formerly lived; also the adjoining place whereon Thomas Smith lived containing by survey two hundred & seventy five acres. This land was part of a tract of land granted to Marbury.
The following is from the Greene Co. GA Land Records - Deeds 1785-1810:
p. 137. Deed Book BB. Greene Co. State of Georgia. John Hopkins of Jackson Co. sold to George Shaw of Greene Co. on 28 Oct 1799 for the sum of 15 pounds sterling, 80 acres of land in Greene Co. lying on Harris Creek and bounded by the Greensborough Road, upon Georgia Harris line, Harper, and by the meeting house. Wit. George Dally, William Shaw. Rec. 15 Feb 1805. (p.405).
I do not have a record of any purchase of land by John Hopkins in Greene County, but there is a deed for land in Greene County in which Lambeth purchased 200 acres of land. The deed was witnessed and proved by William Hopkins (son of Lambeth). This land may have been Lambeth's gift to William and John may have received some share in it.
John Hopkins is on the 1810 tax list for Jackson County GA.11
Move to Bedford County TN.
At some point and for some reason John decided to move his family from Jackson County Georgia to Bedford County Tennessee,most likely around 1810. John had lived in Jackson County near his mother and brothers and among his neighbors for twenty-five years. However, the fact tthat three uncles: Elijah, Samuel and Dennis had left Georgia in about 1808 may be one sign that economic conditions there were not as they once had been. 11a The 1810 Jackson County tax list is the last tax list on which he appears in Jackson County GA.12
There is one deed dated 1813 which clearly establishes the connection of John Hopkins of Jackson County to Bedford County, TN:
John Hopkins "of the state of Tennsee and the County of Bedford" sells100 acres of land for $50 to James Greer of Clarke County Georgia. The land was originally granted to H Brooks. This is land on which James Greer currently lives. The deed is witnessed by T Rainey Sr. and Aguila Greer. July 16, 1813. Jackson County, GA deed book F. (LDS microfilm no. 326695)
John Hopkins is listed on a muster roll for Tennessessee; his term of service was from the 24th of Sept to the 25th of Dec. 1813.
Moving was a fateful decision for John. Shortly after he moved to Bedford County Tennessee he joined a company of mounted riflemen and fought with them against the Indian adersaries at the Battle of Talledega where he was wounded. He rode home to his family but died shortly after he arrived home from loss of blood due to the wound. Like his father he maintained his loyalty to and fought for the new country--a country which was born during his lifetime. He was forty-four years old when he died.
"Muster Roll of a Company of mounted riflemen under the Command of Isaac Williams in the Service of the United States Commanded by Colnel N Cameron (?) from 24th of Sept to 25th dec 1813 when discharged."
John Hopkins is listed as the 13th man on the muster roll. His enlistment date is listed as 24th Sept. 1813. Under the column "to what time Engaged" the date of 22nd dec is written. The space beside his name under the column "Names Present" is blank while under the column "Remarks" is noted: "died 22nd Dec 1813 of wounds recd at the battle of Talledega."
On line 11 just above the entry for John Hopkins is an entry for a William Hopkins who apparently survived the battle. What relationship does he have to John Hopkins?13 John Hopkins death is listed as 12 Dec 1812 by Lambeth Hopkins in his Age Book. The Muster Roll for the company of mounted riflemen with whom John Hopkins served his death is listed as having occurred on Dec. 22 1813.14,15
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