Biography - SALMON TUTTLE HOPSON

As early as 1847 Salmon Tuttle Hopson, now living retired in Girard township, first cast his eyes on Macoupin county. He has spent all the intervening years in Illinois and is one of the honored pioneers of the state. A native of Herkimer county, New York, he was born November 17, 1824, a son of James and Lucy (Tuttle) Hopson. The father was born in Connecticut in 1789 and the mother was also a native of that state. The grandparents on the paternal and maternal sides were Alvarus Hopson and Zopher Tuttle respectively.

Mr. Hopson of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of Herkimer county and later attended Fairfield Academy, from which he w4s graduated in 1842. After leaving this institution he went to Akron, Ohio, and engaged in the manufacture of wooden pails. In 1844 he returned to Herkimer county and, being desirous of pursuing his studies further, became a student in the Little Falls Academy. He went to Maryland in 1845 with two brothers and in 1847 taught school in that state. Believing that the great west contained inviting possibilities for an ambitious young man, he came to Macoupin county, Illinois, after closing his school in 1847 and began farming at Chesterfield. He had learned cheese making in his old home in New York state and for some years he devoted his attention largely to that business, hauling the products of his dairy by wagon to St. Louis, a distance of fifty-four miles. In 1849 he purchased land east of Chesterfield, to which he moved. In 1856 he took up his residence in Jersey county and engaged in the mercantile business, but four years later, having decided that farming was more to his taste, he purchased land in Girard township, east of Girard, and there established his homestead. He retired from active labor in 1895 and his son Byron is now in charge of the farm. He has been one of the active factors in the development of Girard township and was an organizer and officer of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. He also organized the Grange store at Girard and conducted its affairs with such ability that a dividend of forty-three per cent was divided among the stockholders as a result of his first year’s operations.

In 1855, at Chesterfield, Mr. Hopson was married to Miss Susan R. Cundall, a daughter of John and Mary A. (Gelder) Cundall, both of whom were natives of England. Three children were born to this union: John, who lives at Sorento, Illinois, and has one son and one daughter; Mamie, who married A. Vanatta, of St. Louis, and has one daughter; and Carrie, who is the wife of James Rice, of Hillsboro, Illinois, and has one son. The mother of these children died in 1864 and in 1866 Mr. Hopson was married, in Carlinville, to Miss Elizabeth Vanarsdale, a daughter of Harrison Vanarsdale, a native of Tennessee, who settled in Macoupin county, Illinois. By his second marriage Mr. Hopson had seven children, namely: Katie, who married Daniel Bell, of Mount Vernon, Illinois, and has four children; Albertus, a farmer of Girard township, who married Cora Cramp and also has four children; Byron, who has charge of the home farm; Charles T., of St. Louis, who married Stella Cramp and has four children; Cora, now Mrs. Jacob Slater, of Iowa; Herbert, of Girard township, who married Lena Jennings, by whom he has two children; and Lotta, who became the wife of Alvin Warner and has one son. Mr. Hopson is justly proud of his descendants and is the father of ten children, grandfather of nineteen children and can also claim one great-grandchild.

Politically he has ever since he arrived at manhood been a supporter of the democratic party. He is an earnest friend of education and served for seventeen years as member of the school board. Although he has reached the advanced age of eighty-six years, he enjoys a goodly measure of health and strength and takes an active interest in local and world affairs. He has been a witness of great changes in the west and for more than sixty years has been personally identified with the development of Macoupin county. His life has been active, busy and useful and has been characterized by a spirit of helpfulness and progressiveness that very materially enhanced the happiness of those with whom he associated. It is to men of this class that the country owes the blessings of peace and prosperity so abundantly in evidence today.

Extracted 15 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 452-455.