THE HOOPES FAMILY, Our Yesterdays, Jefferson Co., MT USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. "List transcribed and organized by Ellen Rae Thiel, thieljl@aol.com All rights reserved." Copyright, 1998 by Ellen Rae Thiel. This file may be freely copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved. THE HOOPES FAMILY Benjamin Franklin Hoopes was born on the 8th day of February, 1828, in Newbrighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of David and Elizabeth (Townsend) Hoopes. He was the fifth of ten children. He married Marcella Rebecca Foster, who was born the 16th day of June, 1840, in Iowa City, Iowa, the fifth child of Silas R. Foster and Nancy (Bowen) Foster. The Fosters descend through the lineage of King Charles II of Great Britain and Alexander the Great. Benjamin and Marcella Hoopes had only one child, a son, William Penn Hoopes, born January 12, 1862, in Newbrighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. They moved to Montana, residing in the Boulder Valley on what is now known as the Paul Smith ranch. Benjamin Franklin Hoopes died in 1890 in Boulder and is buried on the family farm. Marcella (Grandma) Hoopes passed away January 19, 1918, residing on the ranch. Her son, William, took her remains back to Iowa City, the place of her birth, for burial. William Penn Hoopes married Clarinda B. (Claribel) Rhodes January 1, 1888. Claribel was born February 9, 1862 in Cinicinatti, Hamilton County, Ohio, one of several children born to William S. Rhodes and Phoebe Ann Linton, or (Williams). They had four children. William Penn Hoopes and Claribel ranched on the upper ranch known as the Paul Smith ranch. The four children, one Franklin Marcellus, born November 26, 1888, in Missoula, Montana, died in an accident, having froze to death while putting up power poles in the mountains in March of 1905. Their second son, Thomas Nelson, was born March 30, 1890 in Boulder, Montana. Tom, grandson of Benjamin F. Hoopes, now lives in California and he furnished the information for this story. He took care of his grandmother, Marcella, until she passed away. He married Lucile Hindley, the daughter of George Hindley, a Congregational Minister, and Mary Estelle (Pearl) Hindley, on November 13, 1915. They had three children; Thomas Nelson, Jr, and Helen Lucile, who passed away in Los Angeles, and one son living who is in California, William Wallace. Thomas Hoopes moved from the Boulder Valley to Los Angeles in 1920. William Penn's third son, William Linton Hoopes, was born December 23, 1891, in Boulder. He married Alice McDermott (Butler); they had two children, Douglas and "Little" Alice. Helen Claribel Hoopes was the only daughter of William Penn and Claribel Hoopes; she was born April 6, 1894, in Boulder. She married Blaine Ayers Montgomery on the 18th of February, 1930. They had one son, Blaine. The 1870 census of Jefferson County, Montana, lists David Hoopes, occupation farmer:, age 22 born in Pennsylvania. The records in the courthouse at Boulder, Montana, show that Benjamin F. Hoopes and David Hoopes each filed on 100 inches of water out of Elkhorn Creek to irrigate their farms at the mouth of Elkhorn Creek in the year 1865. These filings are the first on Elkhorn Creek, which would make the Hoopes family among the first to settle in the Boulder Valley. SUBMITTED BY THOMAS NELSON HOOPES The Age August 15, 1888 The Hoopes Rye Old residents of Montana will remember Hoopes Brothers, of Boulder Valley, and the history of a certain kind of rye which took their name. As we remember it, the seed was obtained from the craw of a wild goose which was killed on its southern flight about 1867 and 1868. The grain kernels were pure white and of immense size. The Hoopes Brothers saved every grain and planted them year after year until they had a large field of it. The seed and the grain became famous for its superior quality, heavy production and the immense size of its kernels. The Age April 16, 1890 Railroad Racket The station at Hoopes, on the Elkhorn branch of the Northern Pacific, has been named Finn, probably in honor of the present Superintendent of this division of the road.