Hopping - John
Source: History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: AW Bowen, 1913, pp. 1013-15.
John B. Hopping is one of the later generation of farmers and stock raisers of Montgomery county, native and to the manor born, who form an important element in the maintenance of the prosperity of the county and are helping greatly to extend its wealth. He is a son of an early pioneer of this part of Indiana who played an important part in developing the agricultural resources of this famous Wabash region. He is a man who keeps himself thoroughly posted upon leading events, political, religious, business and scientific, and is a man of decided views, adhering to his convictions with the natural strength of his character.
Mr. Hopping was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, on October 26, 1874, and he is a son of Joseph and Mary J. (Berkshire) Hopping. The father was a native of New York state and the mother was born in Kentucky. Joseph Hopping was a farmer and he came to Montgomery county in 1837 when the country was practically a wilderness and only a small portion of the land had been put under cultivation. He worked at common labor here until 1849 when he joined the large train of gold-seekers across the western plains to California, and he remained on the Pacific coast until 1852 when he returned to Indiana and purchased a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Ripley township, Montgomery county, which place is now owned and operated by the subject of this sketch. Here he carried on general farming and stock raising the rest of his life, becoming one of the well known farmers of the western part of the county, and he was highly respected by his neighbors and acquaintances. Here he spent the rest of his life, reaching the advanced age of eighty-one years, dying in 1901. His wife preceded him to the grave in 1899 at the age of sixty-two years. They were the parents of three children, namely: Benjamin, John B. (our subject), and Bettie F.
Our subject received his education in the common schools of his native locality and he grew to manhood on the home farm. He began life for himself by teaching school which he followed for a period of eleven years, meeting with pronounced success, his services being in great demand, for he pleased both patron and pupil, being not only an instructor but an entertainer in the school room. Finally, tiring of this vocation, he took up farming on the old homestead which he has operated to the present time, keeping the place well improved and well cultivated so that it has retained its original fertility, and he has met with much success as a general farmer and stock raiser.
Mr. Hopping has remained unmarried. He is active and influential in fraternal affairs, being a member of the Free and Accepted Masons at Alamo, the Knights of Phythias at Waynetown; and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Alamo. He is trustee of Ripley township, having assumed the duties of this office on January 1, 1909. His term will expire in 1915. -- typed by kbz