The Hopwood Family, South Union, Pennsylvania 1900's

The writing on the back reads:
"Hudson Hopwood
Mother Hopwood
Your grandmother, Pat
Verda Hopwood
George took picture"

In this small photo, three members of the Hopwood family sit around a table. Each person is reading or at least pretending to, almost as if the photographer told them to look busy with something in their hands.

The Hopwoods lived in South Union Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. George Hopwood was a farmer and member of the Pennsylvania State Assembly. The Hopwoods were a prominent family and had lived in the area for several generations. In fact, the town of Hopwood in Fayette County was named for one of George's ancestors, John Hopwood, who according to family lore was a friend of George Washington. George Hopwood's wife, Alverda (née Black), was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and came from an equally distinguished family. Together they had 8 children: George, Verda, William Hudson, Julia, Margaret, Jane, Walter Monroe, and Mary Katherine. In September 1898, just a few months after finishing his second term in the Pennsylvania State Assembly, George Hopwood died of heart trouble. Though the family had lived in Pennsylvania for generations, Alverda decided to relocate to West Virginia with her daughters a few years after his death. They remained there until 1911 when they moved to California. I believe this photo may have been taken in the time before the initial move, while the family was still together in Pennsylvania in the "old Hopwood home."

George Black Hopwood, who took this photo, was the eldest of the Hopwood children. As a young man, he worked as a reporter for the News Standard, a local paper. In 1902 he left his job at the paper and went to Philadelphia with his brother, Hudson, the young man in this photo reading a newspaper (I wonder if he's reading the News Standard?). Together they enrolled in Jefferson Medical College. Hudson graduated in 1906, after which he worked in Grindstone, Pennsylvania as a physician for the Pittsburgh Coal Company. In 1909 Hudson became ill with tuberculosis. He spent the winter of that year in Mexico and Arizona, hoping to improve his health in a drier climate. Sadly he never recovered and died in July 1910 at the age of 28.

The young woman in this photo is Verda, the eldest Hopwood sister. She attended the California State Normal School, graduated in 1904, and became a schoolteacher. She mainly taught the 4th grade. In August 1919, Verda began showing signs of severe mental illness. According to hospital records, she suffered from hallucinations and became violent. She believed her doctor was a German spy and threatened to kill him, and at times imagined she was on fire. The record also suggested her illness may have been caused by a head injury she suffered as a young girl after falling off a horse. Her mother admitted her to Stockton State Hospital in Stockton, California a few weeks later. Verda remained there for the rest of her life. She died in 1947.

Alverda, or "Mother Hopwood," continued to live in California with her daughters Julia and Jane, Jane's husband Charles Rice, and Alverda's sister-in-law Julia. Alverda suddenly became ill after attending a Women's Christian Temperance Union convention in September 1921. She passed away 2 months later at age 68.

George Hopwood's life turned out somewhat happier. After graduating from medical school, he went on to practice medicine for nearly 50 years. He married Mary Reed, with whom he had two daughters, Dorothy and Myrtle. He died at age 77 in 1955.

I think the "Pat" referenced on the back of the photo may be Patricia Rice, a daughter of Jane Hopwood. She was born in 1922, the year after her grandmother passed away. I wonder if Jane wrote the inscription?

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Mattie Holmes, New Lisbon, Wisconsin 1889

"To my dear friend Edna
with loving remembrance
from Mattie Holmes.
April 17- 1889"

This young woman, Martha "Mattie" Holmes, was born in Biment, Iowa in October 1869. She was the daughter of Henry P. Holmes, a farmer, and Rebecca Carrier, who passed away not long after Mattie was born. When Mattie was still only a few months old, the family moved to New Lisbon, Juneau County, Wisconsin. Her father soon remarried, this time to Emma Van Hiesen, a woman 27 years younger than he was. Mattie already had 7 older siblings by her mother- Lucy, Andrew, George, Phoebe, Freeman, Volney, and Frank- when she gained 3 younger half-brothers, Winfield, Henry, and Elmer. Mattie's father died in 1883 of "consumption," or what we would now call tuberculosis.

This photograph was taken in 1889 when Mattie was 19 years old. Two years later, in 1891, she married Peter M. George. Peter worked as a drayman, someone who delivers beer for a brewery, and later as a teamster. Mattie and Peter had three children, Otis, Rena, and Chester, as well as two other children who did not live past infancy.  The eldest, Otis, was granted a registered pharmacist certificate in 1916 and became a druggist in Sparta, Wisconsin.

Mattie passed away the next year, 1917, at age 48.

Otis went on to become President of the Sparta community commission and in 1928 was elected mayor. Rena married Carl Reinhardt, a carpenter from Norway. Chester became a chauffeur and married Elizabeth Manzeck, with whom he had one son, Chester Jr.

If you know who this woman may be, let us know in the comments!

Mary Madzin Pidich, Scranton, Pennsylvania 1910's

Mary Madzin was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on June 26th, 1900. She was the 2nd child of Helen Yanochko and Michael Madzin, both Czech immigrants. When Mary was born her family was living in a house with other Czech immigrants, many of whom were day laborers like her father. She had one older sister, Helen, and 2 younger brothers, John and George. As a teenager, Mary worked as a weaver in a silk mill. Her brother John worked as well, in a button mill.

There's nothing in this photograph that explains who all of these kids are or what group they're a part of, but I have a guess. The Madzins were Roman Catholic and were a part of St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church.  According to the Scranton Republican newspaper, Mary's brother George was a member of the St. Mary's Choral Club. I think it's very likely that Mary was too and is photographed here with the club on the steps of the church. In fact, I think that may be one of her brothers sitting to her left with his hand around her arm.

In 1922, Mary married a coal miner named Nicholas Pidich. According to his WWI registration card, Nicholas was tall and slender with brown eyes and dark hair. They had two daughters, Minerva (born 1923) and Evelyn (born 1925). Soon after her mother's death in 1938, Mary's father Michael moved in with them. In 1940, Nicholas is working as a laborer in a machine shop while Mary stayed at home with their daughters, who were now teenagers. Mary's husband and both brothers all served in WWII. Sadly, her brother George died while serving on December 25th, 1943. He was buried in his hometown of Scranton.

Minerva worked as a nurse before marrying Frank Sempa, a reporter for the Scrantonian Tribune. Evelyn was a secretary until she married Thomas Evanko, who served in the Navy.

Mary Madzin Pidich died in 1999, just shy of her 99th birthday.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Elizabeth Havens, Marion, Indiana 1890s

"Aunt Beth Havens"

Elizabeth Barley was born October 3rd, 1843 in Bedford, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Mary Stuckey and David Barley, a farmer, and was one of 8 children. Her father died in 1854 when she was only 11. After his death, her uncle Daniel became her guardian and much of the family's land was sold, including their home, described in the newspaper as a "good log house, cased with brick."

From Pennsylvania, Elizabeth moved to Grant, Indiana, where in 1866 she married Samuel B. Havens. Samuel served in the 34th Regiment, Indiana Infantry of the Union army during the Civil War and had been mustered out earlier that year. After the war, he worked as a plasterer. Elizabeth and Samuel had 8 children: Van Rancelier,  Carolyn Effie, Clyde, Gertrude, Margaret Mary, Laura, Charles, and Grover Cleveland.

In 1899, the same year her son Van was married, Elizabeth's daughter Effie died. It was the beginning of a difficult period in Elizabeth's life. In April 1901, she lost her son Clyde to tuberculosis. Later that month, she lost her daughter Laura. She was 20 years old and unmarried when she died in childbirth. During this time, Samuel's health had begun to decline. He suffered from chronic rheumatism, pain from an injury in his left hip, and scurvy, which resulted in the loss of his teeth. He had also lost his left eye and had limited vision in his right. Elizabeth decided to admit him to a home for disabled soldiers in 1904. He died of tuberculosis there in 1907.

In her old age, Elizabeth was cared for by two of her sons, Charles and Grover. Grover worked in a motor factory to help support them.  Elizabeth passed away in 1932, at age 88. Though she faced many hardships in her life, she must have been remembered fondly as "Aunt Beth" by her nieces and nephews.

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Nettie Follett, Oberlin, Ohio 1870's

Henrietta Jeanette "Nettie" Follett was born in Licking County, Ohio in 1848 to dairy farmers Katharine Vansickle and Eliphalet Follett. She had 3 older brothers- Dwight, Lewis, and Howard- and 3 younger siblings- twins Fanny and Frank, and Will. Nettie was 13 when the Civil War began. All 3 of her older brothers enlisted with the Union army as soon as they could. Her oldest brother Dwight joined the 22nd Regiment, Ohio Infantry in September 1861, though tragically he died in a St. Louis Military Hospital in 1862. Lewis and Howard both survived the war.

Source: A History of Cleveland, Ohio 
by Samuel Peter Orth, 1910

The Follets believed in a good education for their children, not only for their sons but for their daughters as well. Nettie, along with Frank, Fanny, and Will, attended Oberlin College. Oberlin was the first co-educational college in the United States, admitting its first female students in 1837. Nettie attended Oberlin between 1865 and 1870 in the "Ladies' Department," where she would have earned an education equal to her brothers'. At Oberlin, Nettie met Carlos M. Stone, a law student. They were married in 1872.

The couple soon relocated to Cleveland, where Stone started a private law practice. He later became a common pleas court judge and in 1879 was elected prosecutor of Cuyahoga County. In 1899 he ran for the Republican nomination for Mayorality of Cleveland, though he lost to Bob McKisson. He is described in the History of Strongsville, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, as being an honorable man with a strong sense of character. Nettie is mentioned only briefly in the book, along with their two children, Ruth and Katherine.

Map of Euclid Heights
Source: Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Their first daughter, Ruth, was born in 1875. Their second, Katherine, was born in 1883. The Stones had a very comfortable life in Cleveland. In 1900 they were living in Euclid Heights, a fashionable, upper-class neighborhood (which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places). When Carlos Stone died of pneumonia in 1908, he left everything to Nettie. Her daughters were still unmarried and living at home at the time, though Ruth had taken up a job as an editor for a magazine. In fact, Ruth would never marry and instead worked many different jobs, including as a secretary and the manager of an office building, until she retired. In 1920, 68-year-old Nettie was still living in Euclid Heights at 2820 Edgehill Road, along with Ruth, Katherine, Katherine's husband Frank Ray Walker (an important architect in Cleveland), their son Richard, Fannie Writner (Nettie's personal nurse), and John and Elizabeth Fehon (a Hungarian couple who served as the family's butler and maid).

It is likely Nettie died sometime in her 70's, as she does not appear in the 1930 census. Unfortunately, I could not find an exact year.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Kate Kennard, St. Louis, Missouri 1881

Kate Kennard was born in 1863 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of Edmonia Cates and Dr. Thomas Kennard. Dr. Kennard was a prominent physician from Maryland and the Treasurer of the St. Louis Medical Society. He was the son of Dr. Thomas Kennard Sr, also a prominent Maryland physician. Edmonia was the daughter of a lawyer.

Kate had one sibling, an older brother named Bates, who was born in 1862. In 1879, when Kate was 16, her father died of cirrhosis of the liver caused by Hepatitis C. Just a month after the death of her husband, Kate's mother, Edmonia, was admitted to the Missouri State Lunatic Asylum, where she would remain until her death. It is unclear exactly why she was admitted. During this period in history, it was unfortunately common for women to be diagnosed with "hysteria", a type of mental illness that we might diagnose today as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or any number of other conditions. An 1854 document from the Missouri State Lunatic Asylum lists "loss of husband" as a possible cause of insanity.

While Bates stayed in St. Louis, Katie went away to Kennedyville, Kent, Maryland to live with her grandmother, Jane Kennard, her aunts Kate and Virginia, her uncle Frank, and their many servants. In Kent County, the Kennards owned multiple large properties. It's possible that Kate stayed at "Elmwood," or the "Home Farm," which was "especially noticeable for the size and excellence of its residence and outbuildings and the beauty of the size of its lawn, yard, and garden." The house there was a brick building with 15 rooms and had "an unusually large and well-arranged vegetable and flower garden," an apple orchard, and a peach orchard, as well as a large barn. This is all described in an 1883 newspaper advertisement written by Kate's uncle, Henry C. Kennard when the family was trying to sell the properties.

The last few times I can find mention of Kate is in the 1890s, when she is visiting friends in Winfield, Kansas for their weddings. She visits Winfield again in 1915, still unmarried at 53, for another wedding. After this, I'm not sure what happened to Kate Kennard. It's possible she finally married and changed her name, or moved somewhere completely different. Maybe I can find her family one day and they can tell me!

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Theodore Philip Starke, Norfolk, England 1890's

"Faithfully yours
Theodore Philip Starke"

Theodore Philip Starke was born in 1865 in Buxton, Norfolk, England to parents Robert and Frances Sarah Starke. Robert and Frances had 5 children, of which Theodore was the youngest. Robert Starke was a police sergeant and later, a superintendent of police. Frances Starke also worked, making and selling straw bonnets. Theodore's oldest brother, Henry, followed in their father's footsteps and became a police constable. Theodore, however, had different ideas for his future. At age 16, he was already working as a pupil teacher (or student teacher), though I can't find that he ever actually became a teacher. Instead, he seemed to find his calling in reform movements and organizations.

In 1891, at age 26, Theodore is living in St. Peter Mancroft at the boarding house of Sarah Hughes. During this time he is working as a secretary for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Also known as the NSPCC, the Society was founded in 1884 to address child abuse and neglect and successfully campaigned for Parliament to pass the first UK law to protect children in 1889. The NSPCC still exists today.

Later that year, in the summer of 1891, Theodore married Sarah Anna Warren. They had 3 children but their daughter, Dorothy May, born in 1896, was the only one to survive past infancy. In 1911 the Starkes are living in Buxton at 10 Queen's Crescent with Mary Ann Warren, Sarah's mother. Theodore was now working as the organizing secretary of a temperance society, the United Kingdom Alliance.

His daughter Dorothy married Ernest H. Clark in 1925. After Theodore died in 1939, his wife Sarah went to live with Dorothy and Ernest on their farm in Shropshire until her death in 1959.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!