Cool and rainy weather has kept us from doing some of the needed outside work but we were able to get the Halloween display in the Pioneer Village courtyard ready for the little ghosts and goblins who will be visiting soon. We also hope you enjoy our seasonal window display in the archives (library) building.

After the long hours spent finishing Vol. 7 of the Veteran’s book, you would think it was time for some rest (smile) but we have many more publications that we want to finish so work is continuing on them. We hope to have some more new material in print soon.

One of our main areas of work is helping visitors to our library who are in search of their ancestors. Of course we don’t consider this "work" as it is almost always a pleasure to be able to help someone with their genealogy. A very nice couple from Lafayette, Indiana, Mary Jo and Robert L. Pickett, were here this week having heard about us from other visitors as well as the Internet.

Mary Jo’s maternal ancestors are William Brian Hopkins b. 1896 Floyd Co. KY d. 1975 in Silver Lake, IN. His wife, whom he married 28 Feb 1918 was Vicie England b. 1903 d. 1980 Silver Lake, IN. William Brian Hopkins was a son of William "Wiley" Hopkins b. 1869 Floyd Co. KY and died in 1958 in Indiana. Wiley’s wife was Delilah "Illant" Richardson. Wiley and Illant are found in the 1900 Floyd Co. KY Census; he was age 30 and Illant was age 26. They had been married 10 years and the 5 children born were living. They were (1) Oscar Smith Hopkins b. 1891 m. Samantha "Sissy" Crace; (2) Silas Hopkins b. 1892 m. Berta Wireman; (3) Hargis Hopkins b. 1894 m. Nettie Carpenter; (4) William Hopkins b. 1896 m. Vicie England; and (5) George Hopkins b. 1899 m. Pearl -?-. Also in their household was Wiley’s 28 year-old brother, Smith Hopkins.

Wiley’s first wife Illant Hopkins’ death record is found in the Vital Statistics. She died 6 Nov 1900 at the age of 27, the daughter of William Richardson and Elizabeth Howard.

William "Wiley" Hopkins was married secondly to Mary Arnett (b. 1873 d. 1930), the daughter of Roland Arnett and Evaline Marshall. Children born to this marriage were (6) Bessie Hopkins b. 1903; (7) Lessie Hopkins m. Ashland Waddle; (8) John C. M. Hopkins m. Susana Whitaker; (9) Martha Mae Hopkins m. Wiley Bailey; (10) Grace M. Hopkins m. Kernie Barnett; (11) Joseph "Joe" Hopkins m. Sadie Poe; (12) Alice Hopkins m. Sy Hughes; (13) Thomas Hopkins m. Ossie Shepherd; (14) Bessie Hopkins m. Brooks "B. H." England; (15) Glen Hopkins; (16) Virgie Lee Hopkins m. Woodrow Salyer; and (17) Samuel T. "Sam" Hopkins m. Goldia Reed.

William "Wiley" Hopkins and Mary lived in Floyd Co. KY in 1920 and her widowed mother Evaline Arnett, age 64, lived with them.

William "Wiley" Hopkins was a son of George Hopkins b. about 1836 in Virginia and married in 1867 Floyd Co. KY to Sarah Jane Adams, a daughter of William Adams and Margaret Bays. This William Adams was a son of Daniel Adams and Jane Stone. Daniel was a brother to "Uncle Billy" Adams; both sons of Stephen Adams and Mary "Polly" Webb.

Continuing with Mary Jo’s maternal grandmother, Vicie England, Vicie’s parents were William "Bill" England (b. 19 Nov 1867 and died 21 Oct 1936) and Sara Elizabeth "Lizzie" Holbrook.

Bill England’s wife Lizzie was born in 1867, a daughter of Benjamin "Preacher Ben" Holbrook and Rhoda Spradlin. Benjamin and Rhoda were married in Floyd Co. KY on 16 Mar 1850.

William "Bill" and Elizabeth England are found in the 1900 Magoffin Co. KY Census: William was age 31; his wife was age 33. They had been married for 16 years and all six of the children born to them by 1900 were living. They were: (1) Henderson England b. 1886 m. Minerva Arnett; (2) Silas England b. 1888 m. Cynthia Hale; (3) Benjamin ("Brooks" or "B. H.") England b. 1891 m. Bessie Hopkins; (4) Maudie England b. 1894 m. Hatcher Allen; (5) Nancy England b. 1896 m. Lee Arnett and (6) Evey England b. 1899 m. John Slone. Other children were (7) Vicie England m. William Hopkins; (8) Clora Hopkins m. Ray Miller and (9) Hattie Hopkins m. George Music.

Lizzie’s father Benjamin Holbrook was a son of Randolph Holbrook and Zelphia Adams. Zelphia was a daughter of Stephen Adams and Sarah Webb.

In working on this family we found a typographical error as well as an omission in the Spring 2014 Journal. On page 11 of that Journal, we listed the children of "Oscar" and Illant Hopkins, which should have read William Wiley and Illant Hopkins. We thank Eugene Salyer, son of Virgie (Hopkins) and Woodrow Salyer, for alerting us to that error and also for letting us know that we had left out his ancestor Virgie Hopkins Salyer and her brother Sam as children of William Wiley Hopkins in that article.

This was an interesting family to research and we want to thank Judy Wireman Salyer for her research on the England family. Judy lodged an England family booklet of info for our library files. We remember also, the late Paul Aaron Bailey of Wheatfield, IN who helped greatly with the research on the Hopkins/Arnett branch of the family.