Jefferson County Historical Society

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John Hopson, carpenter, De Soto, was born in Floyd County, Ind., in
1882, and is a son of Thomas F. and Jane (Linder) Hopson.  Thomas F.
Hopson is of English descent, and was born in Kentucky in 1803.  In 
his youth he removed to Floyd County, Ind., with his parents, John
and Polly Hopson, who were pioneer settlers of that county.  Here
Thomas F. married and passed the remainder of his life, a farmer by
occupation.  His wife was born in North Carolina in 1812, and died 
in De Soto, Mo., in 1878, whither she had moved in 1870, her husband
dying two years previous.  They were the parents of fourteen children,
only two of whom now survive: John and James.  John Hopson came to
Jefferson County, Mo., in 1851, and settled on a farm of thirty acres,
six miles north of Hillsboro, removing the following year within three
quarters of a mile of where De Soto is now located.  In 1862 he went
to Washington County, but remained only one year, when he returned to
Jefferson County, where he has since resided.  He owns eighty-six 
acres one-half mile from De Soto.  In 1858 he commenced working at the
carpenter's trade, and the first house he erected is still standing in
De Soto, on the corner of Miller and East Main Streets.  He has combined 
farming with his trade, and has been a resident of Jefferson County for 
the past thirty-seven years.  In 1851 he married Miss Mary Gowin, who 
was born in the State of New York in 1832.  They are the parents of seven 
children, viz.: James T., Charles E., and John H., all following the 
carpenter's trade in De Soto; Sarah Ann, wife of George Hodson, a 
carpenter, of Staten Island, N. Y.; Mary J., wife of William Paul, a 
carpenter, of De Soto; Florence and Hester.  Mr. Hopson is a Republican 
in politics, and is Past Grand of the I. O. O. F. He and wife are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is steward.