Football in the Family

Winding Gulf High School - 1927
Collins High School – 1927 – See Story Below

Several years ago, my mother-in-law gathered photos of her sons’ grandfathers (with their football teams) and had them professionally cleaned up and enlarged, suitable for framing. My husband and I were inspired to expand on the idea by assembling a collection of photos (portraits and sports both) of grandparents on both sides of the family. I was able to find the football photos for my grandfathers (and a fabulous 1923 photo of my grandmother in her high school basketball uniform – that’s worthy of a separate story coming later). Below are those four photos, and a couple others of related family from roughly the same era. They represent participation in a variety of roles – player, manager, coach. You can click on any photo to bring up a larger version.


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Middle Name of Henry H. Hopkins

Henry H. Hopkins was born 09 January 1809 in Caroline County, Virginia, and died 12 June 1874 in Boone County, WV of an ulcer as reported by his wife Julia Ann Hill Hopkins (1827-1902). Henry was a notorious slave owner in Boone County (that’s a story for another day); he also was one of the most prosperous citizens of the county and father to nine children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Henry was my 3rd great-grandfather.

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Wedding Book of Grace Campbell

Wedding Portrait of Grace Lavenia Campbell in 1903
Wedding Portrait of Grace Lavenia Campbell in 1903

Grace Lavenia Campbell married Carl DeWitt Hopkins on 25 July 1904 in Galipolis, Ohio. Grace and Carl were my great-grandparents, and my mother remembers them well.

Grace was born in 1883, the daughter of Samuel Henry (S. H.) Campbell and Nancy Jane Meadows. She was 21 at the time of her marriage to Carl. They had two sons (Keith Campbell Hopkins, my grandfather, and Henry Frederick Hopkins), and a daughter who did not live past infancy.

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