Saturday, December 6, 2008

My great grandma Helen Ruby Hunsicker Lloyd on my father's side next to my father and my father's mom Martha Lloyd Hopper
Marriage of Anna Huber and John Alfred Hopper
Gravestone of my great-grandpa John Hopper
Gravestone for my great-grandmother Anna Huber Hopper
My father's favorite photo of my great-grandmother Hopper - was always kept on her mantel

Collage of photos of my great grandmother Anna Huber Hopper

My great-grandma Anna Huber as a girl
My great-grandmother Anna Huber as a young lady

My great-grandmother Anna Huber Hopper
My great-great Grandpa and Grandma Hopper (sitting) with my great Grandpa Hopper standing (middle) with his brothers and sisters

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

My grandfather Louis James Hopper as a baby held by his mother Anna Huber Hopper


My grandpa Louis James Hopper as a boy

My grandpa Louis James Hopper as a boy with with his sister (Aunt Martha) and his parents - my great grandma Anna Huber Hopper and my great grandpa John Hopper

My grandfather was Louis James Hopper. He was born on October 15, 1917. As an infant, he almost died from the flu influenza of 1917. Prior to World War II, he was hired as a fireman on the Pennyslvania Railroad. During World War II, he was a master sergeant and served in North Africa, France and Germany. After the war, he returned to working on the Pennsylvania Railroad and married my grandmother, whom he had known from high school. He became an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad (which later became Penn Central) running primarily passenger trains, and especially a PRR passenger train from Cincinnati to Indianapolis known as "Old 40", and head of the local union chapter of the Brotherhood of Locomative Firemen. For a number of years, he became a general organizer of the United Transportation Union (UTU), then returned to being an engineer. At this point, passenger service had been discontinued and he ran all freight trains. He died on May 24, 1984. His name is on a monument at Philadelphia's 30th Street Pennsylvania train station as one of Pennsylvania Railroad employees who fought in World War II. Louis James Hopper was a 33rd degree Mason.
Following are photos of my grandfather Louis James Hopper as a staff sergeant in the army in WWII where he served in Morocoo, Africa, Egypt, Italy (including invasion of Anzio), France and Germany - following by photos of the type of trains he later ran as a railroad engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad.





































Above is a picture of my father (on the left) with my Great-Grandma Anna Huber Hopper and my Uncle Mike. Grandma Hopper's maiden name was Anna Huber. Her parents were Louis John Huber and Lulu Menze. She was born on August 9, 1898 and died on August 25, 1984 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She initially married Robert E. Lee Modlin, who was a conductor on the Pennyslvania Railroad. She divorced him, however, soon after my grandfather was born. She then remarried to John Hopper and had a daughter, Martha Hopper (my Great-Aunt Martha) who subsequently married Maurice Perkins.
My great-great-grandfather Louis John Huber was born on December 22, 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died on July 19, 1959. He initially was a street motorman, but went on to own several German saloons and a bowling alley and to build several homes. He married Lulu Menze, daughter of Henry and Louisa Menze. He and his wife Luella (Lulu) Menze are shown above with my great-grandmother, Anna May Huber.
Andrew Huber

Susanna Schwab Huber

My great-great-grandfather on my Huber side was Andrew Huber. He was born on May 2, 1843 in the southern or "high country" of Germany. He died on July 22, 1907 in Cincinnati. He married Susanna Schwab. He was a ham canvaser or sewer.
_________ Modlin/Hudson Ancestors__________
My great great grandfather James Hiram Modlin was born on February 22, 1863 in Nashville, Tennessee. He died on October 9, 1949 in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. His father was William S. Modlin, who was drafted and thus served in the Confederate Army in the Civil War, and Cinthia A. Sledge. His great-grandfather was Samuel Modlin who was from Greensboro/Perquimans County, North Carolina and who enlisted in May 1777 in the North Carolina Continental line in the Revolutionary War. This was despite the fact that he was a Quaker. His ancestor was Ezekial Maudlin who was a Quaker from England who migrated to America and died on May 16, 1705 in Perquimans County, North Carolina.
Mary Alice Hudson was the wife of James Hiram Modlin. She was born on August 16, 1865 in Russell County, Kentucky. Her parents were James Hudson and Susan Rucker.
James Hudson was born in 1815 and died in 1897 in Russell County, Kentucky. He was married to Susan Rucker. He was the son of "Old" James Hudson and Louisa Owen.
Our ancestor "Old" James Hudson was born on January 13, 1776 in Bedford County, Virginia. He was the son of Major Joel Hudson and was descended from one of the first Jamestown settlers (see below). He was married to Louisa Owen. He died on August 7, 1861 in Russell County, Kentucky.
Our ancestor, Joel Hudson, was a Major in the Revolutionary War under the command of George Rogers Clark. His parents were Martha Hudson, Jr. and Martha Hancock. He was born in 1728 in Chesterfield, Virginia in 1811 in Bedford County, Virginia.
Our earliest known Hopper/Modlin/Hudson ancestor was Robert Hudson who arrived in Jamestown on the ship "James" in 1622. This was documented by the "Muster of the Inhabitants of Chaplains Choyse and the Trueloves Company taken on January 21, 1624 by Ensigne Isack Chaplaine that was sent to England in 1625 by Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor. His son was Richard Hudson who founded Roxdale Plantation and married Mary Bowman - and who died in 1669.