Going back a generation to the parents of Francis Xavier and his siblings, we meet William Henry Hopkins and Catherine (Lundy) Hopkins. William was born in Sligo, Ireland in the 1850s and came to America in 1864 aboard the Ship Excelsior (below) alongside his parents, Peter & Margaret, and his sister Maria. Abraham Lincoln was president and the country was in the final years of the Civil War when they arrived on American soil.
(The American Ship Excelsior Arriving at Liverpool at Sunset, English, circa 1850 by Duncan McFarlane)
William worked in iron and steel for most of his life, variously as a puddler and a hooker, helping to produce the iron and steel to forge many of the railroads that served to connect our country in the late 1800s, and aided in Westward Expansion. The puddler was one of the most skilled and respectable jobs among the laborers in the iron & steel industry, but was also incredibly taxing:
(from: The Irish Are Coming – Sligo To Scranton 1850 – 1900, by Jim Dolan, 2008)
South siders might be interested to know that William boarded on Orchard Street when he was first starting out in Scranton. After he and Catherine married, they lived at 830 Moosic Street, before moving to 1216 Cedar Ave. It appears that William got out of the strenuous iron & steel industry in 1890 to open and run a grocery at 1216 Cedar Ave for the couple of years before his death in February 1892.
As mentioned in an earlier post, he never met his youngest sons, Frank & Leo, as they were born in September 1892. Catherine was likely only about a month pregnant when he died, so he may not have even known there were more kids on the way, and certainly didn’t know there would be twins coming. He is buried in Hyde Park Catholic Cemetery. Below is his Last Will & Testament.
Catherine Lundy was born in the 1850s, daughter of “pioneer residents” of Scranton, Daniel and Bridget (Hilly) Lundy. In addition to birthing nine children, including two sets of twins, she worked as a dressmaker and later as a grocer, taking over the family store after William’s death. The family moved from Cedar Ave to 839 Orchard St around 1915, where she spent the rest of her life. Her obituary from 1926 shows the esteem and admiration that was held for her by the Scranton community at large, in addition to her full and active life:
William Henry was a mystery to me for a while in my early ancestry research, so if anyone has any stories about him that have been passed down, I would love to hear them!
Hopkins Family Reunion 