Mary Underwood HOPKIRK & David L. BROWN
Mary Underwood HOPKIRK was born 25 February 1842 in Lockridge, Iowa or
West Virginia to William HOPKIRK & (Mary) Jane
REDPATH
From the biography of David L.
Brown, below, we learned the Hopkirk Family travelled from (West)
Virginia when Mary Underwood Hopkirk was 3 months old, so they arrived
permanently in Iowa around the end of May 1842.
From the 1855 Iowa census we find Mary U.
Hopkirk living with her parents William and Jane R Hopkirk (The R is
for Jane's maiden name of Redpath). Mary is listed as born in Virginia,
and is 14 years old. They are in Lockridge, Jefferson County,Iowa
From the 1860 census we find Mary, age 18, living with her parents. The Post Office is "Salina and Coal Port" Mary is a domestic.
Mary Underwood Hopkirk married David Llewellyn BROWN on 10 December 1867.
David was injured during the Civiil War and probably those war
injuries contributed to his early death on 29 April 1869. He is buried
in the Hopkirk Cemetery.
Mary and David had one child, Mary Jane BROWN, born 21 November 1868.
Mary Jane passed away in March of 1950. (See more about young Mary in
the David L Bron bio below)
From the 1870 census, Mary U and her daughter Mary J. are living with Mary U's father William
From the 1880 census, Mary U and her daughter are still living with her father William.
From the 1885 Iowa census we find Mary U
and Mary J living in Fairfield, Iowa Mary U is age 43, widowed and Mary
J is age 16. In the next residence, or possibly the same residence, is
Mary U's sister Elizabeth Stephenson and her family.The address on the
census appears to be "1st West Street" for both families. (question,
did First Street become Main Street?)
From the 1900 census we find Mary U.
Brown, age 58 and her daughter Mary J, age 31, living in Fairfield,
Jefferson County, Iowa. The younger Mary is a school teacher. A few
doors away is Mary's sister Elizabeth Stephenson and her husband Robert.
From the 1910 census we find Mary U
and daughter Mary J living at 404 North Main Street, Fairfield, Iowa.
Mary U is 68, widowed and Mary J is 40, single, a school teacher in the
public school.Both are able to read and write. Mary U is listed as
having one child born and one still living. Mary J has had no children.
From the 3 January 1920 census we find
Mary U Brown, 77, widowed and her daughter Mary J Brown, 51, single,
living at 404 North Main Street, Fairfield, Iowa. Mary J is a grade
school teacher.
From the 1925 Iowa census Mary U brown is
age 83, and her daughter is 56. Mary U owns her home, no
mortgage. The value of the home is $4,000. She has $2,000 in insurance
on the home.
From the 14 April 1930 census take by
Theresa March, we find Mary U Brown, age 88, widowed, and Mary J.
Brown, age 61, single, and a teacher in a public school. They are
still living at 404 North Main Street, Fairfield, Iowa. Mary U Brown
owns the home worth $5,000.
Our
thanks goes to Verda Baird for supplying us with this wonderful photo
of Mary Underwood Hopkirk Brown. In this photo we find Mary quilting on
her birthday. This would have been at her home at 404 North Main
Street, Fairfield, Iowa. Ben Taylor reported that she went out every
night and closed the shutters on her home.
Below is the backside of the above photo.
.
Below is an article about the 90 year
reflections of Mary U Brown, from a scrapbook held by the Daughters of
the American Revolution.
Mary Underwood HOPKIRK BROWN passed away on 17 April 1935 and was buried
20 April 1935 at Lockridge, Iowa. She was 93 years old. Mary was buried in the Lockridge Cemetery.
From the 1940 census we find daughter
Mary Jane Brown, age 71, single, highest grade attended is 2nd year of
college. Also in the ho9me is Fern Hopkirk, age 43, single, listed as a
lodger. Fern is a bookkeeper for an Ice Company. Fern's highest grade
completed was 8th grade. She worked 52 weeks and earned $720 for the
year. Fern is Mary Jane's 2nd cousin, a descendant of John
Hopkirk(1809-1875). John was Mary Jane's grandfather William Hopkirk's
brother.
Mary passed away on 16 March 1950 and is buried in tghe Lockridge cemetery like her mother.
Below is David L. Brown's gravestone
located in the Hopkirk Cemetery. Our thanks goes to Richard K. Thompson
for allowing us to use these cemetery photos below:
From
a History of Jefferson County, Iowa, A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Acheivement, Volumne II by Charles J.
Fulton, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Chicago 1912 we find the
following about David L. Brown:
It has often been
said that death is no respecter of persons, but when the aged are
called, although regret is often felt at their passing, it yet seems to
be in the course of nature. When the young are called, however, no such
feeling palliates the deep grief that comes to those who are left
behind and there must ever remain a feeling of sorrow that a career is
thus cut short. Many of the older citizens of Jefferson county remember
with pleasure their acquaintance with David L. Brown, who was
identified with the coal mining interests of Coalport before the Civil
war and again from the time he returned, a wounded soldier, until death
claimed him in 1869.
He was born in
Clinton, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1840, his parents being John B. and
Jane (Dalton) Brown, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of
the Keystone state. On coming to the new world John B. Brown settled in
Pennsylvania, where he resided until 1849, when, attracted by the
discovery of gold in California and the opportunities there offered, in
a business way, he went to the Pacific coast, where he remained until
1859. In that year he retraced his steps as far as Jefferson county,
Iowa, where he took up his abode, turning his attention to the coal
mining business at Comport. He was thus engaged throughout the
remainder of his life and both he and his wife passed away in this
county.
David L. Brown was
a little lad of eight years when the long journey was made to
California, and was a youth of nineteen when the family came to
Jefferson county. His education, which was begun in the schools of the
Golden state, was continued after he reached Iowa and his home training
stimulated in him habits of industry and resolute purpose. On August 9,
1862, he enlisted for service as a member of Company G, Thirtieth Iowa
Infantry, and served until the charge on Vicksburg, when he was
seriously wounded and because of his condition was forced to return
home. For a year thereafter he was obliged to go about on crutches. On
again coming to Jefferson county he reentered the coal business, in
which he had previously engaged, and on the death of his father in 1865
took charge of his coal interests at Coalport. He found, however, that
the heavy work was more than he could stand and the drain upon his
strength and vitality was such that his health became undermined and he
passed away on the 29th of April, 1869.
Mr. Brown left a
young widow, having been married on the 10th of December, 1867, to Miss
Mary U. Hopkirk, whose parents were William and Jane (Redpath) Hopkirk,
natives of Scotland. About 1834 they left the land of hills and heather
and came to the United States, settling first in New York, where the
father followed the trade of dyeing for several years, having
previously acquainted himself with the business when in Scotland. He
afterward went to Ohio but a few years later came to Jefferson county,
settling here in 1842. That the district was still sparsely settled is
indicated by the fact that there was land yet unclaimed and he entered
a tract from the government. The state, too, had not been admitted into
the Union and there were many evidences of frontier life on all sides.
Mr. Hopkirk took up the arduous task of developing a new farm and built
thereon a log house and barn and year by year continued the cultivation
of his place until it became one of the well improved farms of
Lockridge township. His labors enhanced its productiveness and
therefore its value and the excellent work which he did in the
cultivation of the fields furnished an object lesson that others might
well follow. Moreover, he became to a considerable extent a director of
public opinion and during his residence on the farm he was called to
represent his district in the fifteenth general assembly, where he made
such a creditable record that he received public indorsement in a
reelection to the sixteenth assembly. He gave careful consideration to
each question which came up for settlement and he at all times enjoyed
the confidence and respect of his colleagues in the assembly. He
likewise filled various local offices in the township and county and
acted as justice of the peace, holding court in his own home. His
official service was ever characterized by a loyal devotion to duty
that none questioned. Born in 1811, he was eighty one years of age,
when, in 1892, he was called to his final rest, and his wife, who was
born in 1813, reached the age of fifty six years, her death occurring
in 1869. In their family were eleven children, six of whom are
deceased. Of the others, two are residing in Fairfield, one in
Lockridge township, one in California, and another in the state of
Washington.
Of this family
Mrs. Brown was born in West Virginia, on the 25th of February, 1842,
and was brought to Iowa by her parents when three months old. Her
girlhood days were spent under the parental roof and she was carefully
trained in the work of the household, so that she was well qualified to
take care of a home of her own at the time of her marriage. To Mr. and
Mrs. Brown was born one child, Mary J., born November 21, 1868; she
graduated from the Fairfield high school in 1888 and has taught school
for twenty years; she is now a teacher in the Logan school at
Fairfield. Mr. Brown and his wife attended the Methodist church, but
Mrs. Brown later on joined the Baptist denomination in Lockridge and
about 1887 she and her daughter became members of the Methodist church
here. His political belief Mr. Brown accorded the republican party. His
was regarded as a most untimely death, for he had not yet passed the
twenty eighth milestone on life's journey. He was laid to rest with
full military honors and is yet remembered by many of the older
settlers as a young man of good business ability, whose sterling
qualities were such as to gain for him the admiration and the
friendship of many. His associates and friends all mourned his death
but the loss came with greatest force to his little family and though
more than forty years have come and gone since he was laid to rest, his
widow yet remains true to his memory.
This page was last updated on 11 February 2015