John William Hopson

Back to the Railroad Organizers index

Identity confidence: Verified.

The South Georgia Railroad's first vice president was John William Hopson, a Quitman merchant and hotelkeeper who later moved to Florida. He was born in Georgia on March 5, 1855, married Mary E. "Mollie" Creech in Quitman on December 6, 1883, and died at Safety Harbor, Florida, on April 6, 1927. Six federal census schedules, the original marriage register, his son's passport application, a city directory, contemporary newspapers, the Florida death index, and his cemetery marker follow the same man.[1-13]

That clear identity does not settle every family claim. The records disagree about his father's name, several business arrangements are known only in outline, and the disposition of a reported 1903 criminal presentment has not been found.

Childhood and the parent-name problem

The 1860 census places five-year-old John W. Hopson in Decatur County, Georgia, with John J. Hopson, Martha Hopson, Alberta, and Isaac. In 1870, fifteen-year-old Jno. W. Hopson was in Bainbridge with Jno. S. Hopson, a retired merchant, Mary, and six younger Hopsons. Census schedules before 1880 did not state relationships. The two households make Martha a probable mother and Isaac a probable brother, but they do not prove the compiled maiden name Edmondson or the middle name Brooks for Isaac.[1-2]

The father's name is genuinely conflicted. The two census indexes read John J. in 1860 and Jno. S. in 1870. A related memorial calls him John Sidney Hopson. Huxford and a later family-history post call the father John W. Hopson Sr. None of the original records inspected here resolves those forms. This dossier therefore leaves the father's full name unresolved rather than forcing a junior designation onto the railroad officer.[1-2][14][31]

A merchant in Quitman

By 1880, Hopson was a twenty-six-year-old retail grocer living alone on Screven Street in Quitman. That same summer, Hopson & Wooten shipped Quitman's first bale of new cotton. A December hotel register places J. W. Hopson and J. B. Wooten together, so the cotton-firm identification is strong probable.[3][17]

The 1881-82 Georgia business directory is more precise. It identifies Hopson & Alsobrook as Quitman grocers and expands the partners as John W. Hopson and Peter B. Alsobrook. Huxford's 1889 business list later names Hopson & Brother in dry goods and shoes, but the partner is not identified in an inspected partnership record.[14][16]

In 1890, Hopson & Brother were building two two-story brick stores in Quitman. Both had tenants before completion, including C. S. Hawks, a merchant from New York. The report supports property development as well as retail trade, though no deed index was available to reconstruct Hopson's holdings lot by lot.[19]

Marriage and children

The original Brooks County marriage register records J. W. Hopson's marriage to Mary E. Creech on December 6, 1883. A Savannah newspaper described the Methodist Church wedding three days later and called the groom William Hopson and the bride Mollie Creech. The two records together establish both the marriage and the expanded middle name William.[4-5]

The 1900 census records John, born in March 1855, with Mollie E. and seven children: Mollie A., Lillian P., John W., James B., Lucy M., Frances E., and Charles B. Edmonia Hopson, born in Florida in October 1883, is explicitly John's sister, not his daughter. Mollie's mother, Nancy Creech, and three servants were also in the household.[6]

Sidney M. and Howell C. joined the household later. The 1927 death notice says all nine children survived John. James Bryan Hopson's 1920 passport application prints his own full name and identifies his father as John Wm. Hopson of Leesburg. Lucy appears in the 1920 household as John's married daughter, Lucy M. Helvenston.[7-9][13]

The complete supported child list is therefore Mollie A., Lillian P., John W., James Bryan, Lucy M., Frances E., Charles B., Sidney M., and Howell C. Later family sources expand several of those middle initials, but the inspected records cited here do not. The dossier keeps the record forms.

Public office

Georgia's official register lists J. W. Hopson as Brooks County's representative for the 1884-85 adjourned legislative session. An April 1885 newspaper reference to "Representative Hopson, of Brooks county" agrees with that roster. The evidence does not support stretching one listed term into an uninterrupted 1884-86 tenure.[15][18]

Huxford's municipal roster places Hopson on Quitman's board of aldermen from 1889-90 through 1900-01. Contemporary newspapers independently confirm that he was a sitting councilman in 1896 and that he won an independent aldermanic campaign against Joseph Mabbett by sixteen votes in March 1900. The full run remains based mainly on Huxford because the city minutes were not available online.[14][27]

The dates 1894, 1898, and 1900 appear in Huxford's roster of Brooks County grand-jury foremen, not a Masonic list. No controlled source establishing a Masonic office was found.[14]

Hotel Marie and the liquor businesses

Hopson joined the first board of the Quitman Hotel Company in June 1889. By April 1896, a national newspaper profile called him an alderman, farm-implement dealer, large real-estate owner, and recent purchaser of Hotel Marie. Huxford dates the purchase to February 1896, gives a price of about $20,000, and describes improvements that included steam heat, sewerage, electric lights, and an electric call system. The purchase and ownership are well supported; the exact price and improvement list still rest on Huxford's reconstruction of the local record.[14][18][21]

Hopson managed Hotel Marie for several years. In January 1901, a Savannah dispatch reported that he had leased it to J. C. Coffee effective February 1. The same report said Hopson planned to rebuild a handsome residence destroyed by fire.[22]

A December 1893 advertisement resolves part of the saloon question. It names J. W. Hopson as proprietor of both the Centennial and Palace Bars and offers to ship liquor orders by rail. Huxford's separate 1889 list names I. B. Hopson as Centennial proprietor. The two sources support different dated findings. The 1893 advertisement proves John's proprietorship at that date. It does not justify merging every I. B. Hopson reference into his biography.[14][20]

South Georgia Railroad

Hopson had backed an earlier Quitman-to-Moultrie railroad proposal. In June 1892, he joined its subscription committee and pledged $2,000. That venture was separate from the South Georgia Railroad organized four years later.[23]

Huxford places Hopson on the January 29, 1896 Quitman subscription committee and among the charter petitioners for the South Georgia Railroad. The original local meeting report and charter petition were not located online, so those two roles remain strong probable.[14]

His board seat and executive office are direct facts. Reports published March 24 and 25, 1896 list J. W. Hopson among the first nine directors. The Atlanta Constitution identifies him as vice president. The Savannah Morning News prints J. H. Hopson in its officer line, but its own director list says J. W. Hopson, as does the Constitution. The J. H. form is an internal newspaper error.[24]

The Georgia Railroad Commission's 1898 and 1900 reports verify the South Georgia Railroad as an operating common carrier between Quitman and Heartpine. They do not list Hopson's office. Newspapers place him on the board again in 1899. On February 23, 1900, the Atlanta Constitution reported that R. C. McIntosh had been elected to the board and vice presidency in Hopson's place after Hopson disposed of his holdings. This fixes the end of Hopson's railroad office in February 1900, although the report does not say that he formally resigned.[25-26]

Telephone company and other investments

Huxford says Hopson was one of fourteen incorporators of the Quitman Telephone Company on December 7, 1896. The system was built in 1896-97 and later extended into the county. The original charter act or corporate filing was not found online, so Hopson's participation is strong secondary evidence rather than a primary-source fact.[14]

In February 1901, the Macon Telegraph reported that Hopson bought land west of Moultrie for a large sawmill and dry kiln. Damaged OCR leaves the ownership structure unclear. The purchase can be attributed to Hopson; any unnamed partnership cannot.[28]

Bankruptcy, guardianship, and the unresolved 1903 case

Hopson's finances broke sharply after 1901. In June 1902, the Tifton Gazette, reprinting a Valdosta report, said he had been placed in bankruptcy. A deputy marshal served papers on Hopson and on Raynor, his assignee, who was enjoined from disposing of property.[29]

A February 1904 Thomasville report explains the connection to family litigation. Conoly and Wesley W. Wade had served as bondsmen for Hopson in his guardianship of a nephew. After Hopson's bankruptcy, they filed their own petitions and scheduled only debts arising from the Hopson matter. The report ties the bondsmen's scheduled debts to the guardianship. It does not show that the guardianship caused Hopson's bankruptcy, establish an amount due, or prove criminal conduct.[30]

A 2009 family-history post cites Brooks County court books and says Hopson faced an embezzlement presentment in November 1903. It also reports an unrelated or separately styled misdemeanor sentence earlier that year. The cited original pages were not available in the accessible online collections, and documented newspaper searches found no disposition. No evidence located here establishes acquittal, dismissal, conviction, or the ultimate guardianship accounting. The allegations remain unverified leads, and the outcome is unknown.[31]

Florida years

By 1910, John and Mollie were in Lakeland, Florida. He was a hotel proprietor working on his own account, and the household included five children, Mollie's mother, boarders, and hotel workers.[8]

The 1920 census places the couple in Leesburg. John owned the home free of mortgage and worked as a farm operator on an estate. Lucy Helvenston and her two children, along with Sidney and Howell, lived with them. A 1924 Eustis directory lists John W. Hopson, wife Mary E., at 106 South Palmetto and calls him a citrus grower.[9-10]

The newspapers found in this investigation do not fix the date or reason for the move from Georgia. The record supports residence in Lakeland by 1910, Leesburg by 1920, and Eustis by 1924.

Death and burial

The Florida death index records John W. Hopson's death in Pinellas County in 1927. His Lone Oak Cemetery marker gives March 5, 1855, and April 6, 1927. A Macon Telegraph notice published April 16 says Quitman had received news of his death at Safety Harbor. It identifies him as Mollie Creech's husband, the former owner and operator of Hotel Marie, and the father of nine surviving children.[11-13]

The notice calls him a native of Brooks County, but Brooks County did not exist when he was born in 1855. The earlier censuses place his childhood in Decatur County. The safest birthplace statement is Georgia; the precise county remains unresolved.[1-2][13]

An Ancestry obituary index incorrectly treats the April 15 Quitman dateline as the date of death. The photographed marker supplies April 6. He was buried in Lone Oak Cemetery at Leesburg, Florida.[12-13]

Confidence summary

Sources

1. 1860 U.S. census, Decatur County, Georgia, John W. Hopson, Ancestry collection 7667, record 11001049, image 4212550_00240.
2. 1870 U.S. census, Bainbridge, Decatur County, Jno. W. Hopson, Ancestry collection 7163, record 14089641, image 4263442_00400.
3. 1880 U.S. census, Quitman, Brooks County, J. W. Hopson, Ancestry collection 6742, record 40729290, image 4240127-00215.
4. Brooks County marriage register, J. W. Hopson and Mary E. Creech, December 6, 1883, Ancestry collection 4766, record 281507, image 40951_294516-00079.
5. Savannah Morning News, December 9, 1883, GHN page.
6. 1900 U.S. census, Quitman, John W. Hopson indexed as Hofeson, Ancestry collection 7602, record 52866858, image 4119687_00588.
7. U.S. passport application of James Bryan Hopson, July 1920, naming father John Wm. Hopson, Ancestry collection 1174, record 600601468, image USM1490_1320-0435.
8. 1910 U.S. census, Lakeland, Polk County, Florida, John W. Hopson, Ancestry collection 7884, record 3085258, image 31111_4327453-00325.
9. 1920 U.S. census, Leesburg, Lake County, Florida, John W. Hopson, Ancestry collection 6061, record 7064079, image 4295792-00500.
10. Eustis, Florida, city directory, 1924, John W. and Mary E. Hopson, Ancestry collection 2469, record 662709156, image 11819636.
11. Florida Death Index, John W. Hopson, Pinellas County, 1927, Ancestry collection 7338, record 5004022.
12. Lone Oak Cemetery marker, John William Hopson, Find a Grave memorial 30546566, photographs 111216909 and 111216939.
13. "J. W. Hopson," Macon Telegraph, April 16, 1927, Newspapers.com image 826294087.
14. Folks Huxford, The History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858-1948 (1948), especially pp. 193-198, 203, 373, 385, 403-404, and 456.
15. Georgia Department of Archives and History, Georgia's Official Register 1925, Brooks County House roster, Internet Archive item GeorgiasOfficialRegister1925.
16. Georgia State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1881-82, Quitman entry, Internet Archive item georgiastategaze1881821atla.
17. Savannah Morning News, July 26 and December 17, 1880, cotton report and hotel register.
18. Valdosta Times, April 18, 1885, Newspapers.com image 889715426; Atlanta Constitution, June 13, 1889, image 26886152.
19. Savannah Morning News, February 24, 1890, Newspapers.com image 852596841.
20. Waycross Weekly Herald, December 2, 1893, GHN page.
21. New York Herald, April 12, 1896, Newspapers.com image 163775650.
22. Savannah Morning News, January 18, 1901, Newspapers.com image 879554754.
23. Atlanta Constitution, June 6, 1892, Newspapers.com image 26952196.
24. Savannah Morning News, March 24, 1896, image 852573116; Atlanta Constitution, March 25, 1896, image 26796218.
25. Georgia Railroad Commission, 1898 report, p. 104, Internet Archive item reportrailroadc00georgoogreportrailroadc02unkngoog.
26. Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1899, Newspapers.com image 26826945; Valdosta Times, April 4, 1899, image 889670566; Atlanta Constitution, February 23, 1900, image 26827477.
27. Atlanta Constitution, March 20, 1896, Newspapers.com image 26794870; Savannah Morning News, March 29, 1900, image 852603993.
28. Macon Telegraph, February 20, 1901, GHN page.
29. Tifton Gazette, June 13, 1902, GHN page.
30. Thomasville Times-Enterprise and South Georgia Progress, February 26, 1904, GHN page.
31. Stephen W. Edmondson, "Hopsons in Brooks County Georgia," Genealogy.com forum topic 792, November 14, 2009, derivative family account.

Remaining record work

• Inspect the Brooks County guardianship, superior-court, and indictment-book pages cited in the derivative family account, then locate the bankruptcy schedule, final guardianship accounting, and discharge.
• Locate the original South Georgia Railroad charter petition, subscription ledger, and board minutes.
• Obtain the Florida death certificate and target-specific Florida probate file.
• Search Quitman council minutes, telephone-company records, hotel deeds, bar licenses, and Brooks tax books for exact dates, ownership shares, and property descriptions.
• Identify the unnamed partner in the 1901 Moultrie sawmill report and establish the outcome of that investment.