Hopson Cemetery

In 1998, Mother and I visited several members of extended family lines (Ritters) in Washburn, TN, and they were very helpful in telling us details and stories of family history. They also showed us where specific cemeteries were for our Rucker, Kitts, and Hopson families, and that same year, we went to the Hopson Cemetery for a reunion.

My great-great grandfather, David Ross Hopson, was born December 25, 1825, in Dutch Valley to Carolyn (Lively) and Jesse Hopson. David’s father Jesse was born in 1800 in Wake County, North Carolina, to Sara (Bunch, daughter of Ann and Martin Bunch) and Harrod Hopson. Harrod, the son of Richard Hopson, was born in North Carolina in 1778 and died before 1870 in Claiborne County. Sara divorced Harrod in 1835, and he later married Prudence (Henderson) Cunningham, the daughter of Elizabeth (Maples) and Isaac Henderson.

Oral history states that the Hopsons were traveling in a covered wagon with all their belongings, looking for a place to start a living but not knowing where to stop, when the old man Hopson died of pneumonia fever. His wife buried him and never continued their intended journey, settling nearby the cemetery that became the Hopson Cemetery we know today.

Hopsons and more Hopsons?

The photo of the two couples includes William and Mary (Rucker) Hopson (standing), but who is the older couple? One way that William and Mary are easily identifiable in photographs is that she was just a little bit taller than he was!

Is the seated couple the same couple that's pictured in the this old tin type photo that's disintegrating? I believe it is. See how the the height of the man and woman is the same in relation to one another. Look at the shapes of the faces and the hair lines.

Personally, I think this is probably William's parents instead of Mary's, because neither of the seated individuals looks anything like the other Ruckers. If I'm correct, then the names of the seated couple are David and Eliza Jane (Rosenbalm) Hopson. They lived in the Dutch Valley area of Washburn, TN.

Eliza Jane (Rosenbalm) and David Ross Hopson were married in about 1851 in Claiborne County and lived and farmed in that Dutch area of Grainger County. David fought in the Civil War and is listed in the Civil War veterans census of 1890.