silas hopkins - Putnam

"Silas Hopkins, if tradition may be credited, was a native of the city of Baltimore, and a supposed relative of the late millionaire merchant and philanthropist, Johns Hopkins, whose name will go down to posterity in connection with the great university his beneficence endowed. Silas Hopkins was the father of the somewhat noted John Deroysha Hopkins, whose eccentric characteristics will be well remembered by many who are present. He was also the father of the late Mrs. Thomas Gorham, with whom he made his home. Patriot Hopkins was in some particulars not unlike his eccentric son. His death occurred near the close of the fourth decade of this century. How long or when and at what period of the revolutionary struggle and in what branch of the service, or under what command these patriots served, is perhaps unknown to living mortals ; but that they were revolutionary soldiers there is not a shadow of doubt. Jacob Stobaugh, son of Abraham, was a veteran of the war of 1812, and some of the descendants of Silas Hopkins laid down their lives to preserve that government to the establishment of which he gave his best years. Even his eccentric son, John D., was for a time a Union soldier in the war of the Rebellion. Although at the time he was beyond the age of military service, he enlisted in Company C, Seventieth Indiana Regiment, and served part of the second year of the war as a member of that regiment, which was commanded by the only living ex-President of the United States. At least four grandsons also served in the Union army, two of whom, Silas and Thomas Gorham, laid down their lives in their country's service, and now rest side by side in the village cemetery at Fillmore. There is something sadly pathetic in the story of the death of these patriotic grandsons of Silas Hopkins. They had survived the mishaps of the war from 1861 to 1865, when one of the brothers began to decline in health. The war was over, and they were really no longer needed at the front. So the sick brother was given a furlough to his home, and for company the well one was sent with him. On the Vandalia train while halting at the Greencastle station, and within six miles of home and friends, the invalid brother quietly breathed his last. The survivor tenderly supported the lifeless form of his brother in his arms until the train reached Fillmore, where kind and loving friends performed the last sad rites. But one month elapsed until the remaining brother was gently laid by his side "in the shadow of the stone." In those early days almost every farm had its private burial place, in which members of the family were interred. The Gorham farm was not an exception to this general rule. On the north end of this farm, known to the older residents as the Judge Smith, or Gorham farm, and now owned by Albert 0. Lockridge of this city, and the first land in the township conveyed by the government to a private individual, is one of these neglected burial places. The location is obscure, and but for a few rough stones, one of which bears the inscription "W. B.", there is naught to indicate that it is a pioneer cemetery in which many of the early settlers sleep their long sleep. Here rest the mortal remains of Abraham Stobaugh and Silas Hopkins of Revolutionary memory. But a few fleeting years will elapse until this graveyard will be entirely unknown and forgotten, and posterity will then have naught but tradition as a guide to this sacred spot where lie two of the founders of our republic. "Samuel Denny resided in the southern part of Floyd township, on what is now known as the Gravel Pit farm, which is owned by the Big Four rail- . way. His home was with an adopted daughter, Mrs. Isaac Yeates, he having had no children of his own. Mr. Denny first settled in Warren township, where, his wife died and was buried. He was the great uncle of our fellow- townsman, James T. Denny, Esq. Patriot Denny had long predicted that his death would occur on the Fourth of July, which prediction was verified by the fact. In the early summer of 1843, his rapid decline was noted, and on the nation's sixty-seventh birthday - his gentle spirit took leave of earth. I well remember Mr. Denny, and have him pictured in my mind as a most venerable personage. Indeed, he was highly respected and honored by all who knew him. I have already referred to the fact that he raised no children of his own. It is, however, a well verified tradition that he raised thirteen orphan -children by adoption, thus showing the great benevolence of his character. He was buried in Warren township at what is known as Deer Creek Baptist cemetery -by the side of his deceased wife, and I have no doubt with the honors of war so well befitting the day and the occasion.