Oliver Hopkinson Relic of the Old Bar with a Potent Pedigree

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver P Hopkinson (1812-1905), was a distinguished barrister, statesmen, and soldier. He was the son of Joseph Hopkinson and Emily Mifflin, d. of Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin and Sarah Morris. Grandson of Francis Hopkinson, (lawyer, writer, musician and patriot who signed the Declaration of Independence) and Nancy "Ann" Borden, d. of Joseph Borden and Elizabeth Rogers. Gr Grandson of  Thomas Hopkinson and Mary Johnson Photo from the collection of Scott Hann cited AOTW.ORG

Hokinson served in the Civil War as Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Delaware Volunteer Infantry, being commissioned on October 15, 1861. At the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam he was wounded in the knee, and he resigned his commission on December 14, 1862. On July 10, 1863 he was commissioned as Colonel and commander of the 51st Pennsylvania Militia, which was raised to counter the Confederate Invasion of Pennsylvania in June 1863. he was mustered in on July 10, 1863, and was mustered out on September 2, 1863. He resided in Philadelphia, but still retained the old Hopkinson mansion at Bordentown, New Jersey, where with his family usually spent the summer months.

The Delaware Troops named their theater Hopkinson Hall in honor of Oliver. According to Pirates and Patriots: Tales of the Delaware Coast the first event hosted by the regiment was a ball. The attendees were the officers of a French war-vessel anchored near Fort Monroe.   

A few of the fellows of the Delaware decided to stir up drama by inviting Confederate General John Magruder: "some of the wags amused themselves by nailing to a tree outside the picket line the invitation to Magruder and staff to attend ball." It was the troops response to Magruder's weekly demand to surrender the fort or remain in it under his peril. 

Oliver married Elisa Swaim (1826-1912) d, of Captain William Swaim and Elizabeth Wilson. Children: Edward (1850 - 1935) Emily Olivia (1855 - 1915) Oliver (1857 - 1943) Julius (1859 - 1906), James Swain (1860 - 1906). 

Edward Hopkinson, son of Oliver and Elisa married Abbie Woodruff Dale, d. of Richard Colgate Dale and Elizabeth Matilda Woodruff.

Death Certificate of James Swaim Hopkinson

Burial: Laurel Hill Cemetery Philadelphia Philadelphia County
Pennsylvania, USA Plot: Section 9, Lot 125

Francis Hopkinson was familiar with the sciences, skilled in painting and musical composition, often arranging the music of his own songs--the first native American composer of a secular song in 1759. When General Washington became President, he addressed to Judge Hopkinson a highly complimentary letter, enclosing a commission of United States District Judge for Pennsylvania. See George Washington's Mount Vernon

From Founding Fathers Blog Francis Hopkinson, Christian, Patriot and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Hopkinson was an intimate friend of Benjamin Franklin and was the first to see exhibited Franklin's experiment of silently drawing the electric fluid from the clouds by a pointed, instead of a blunt instrument.
He would help to establish the Philadelphia Library.

1834 Thomas Sully (1783-1872). Ann Biddle Hopkinson (Mrs. Francis Hopkinson). 

Above Ann Borden Hopkinson and and Mary Borden, elder sister and the first wife of Thomas McKean. Both women were "famously beautiful", according to Wives of the Signers: The Women Behind the Declaration of Independence, by Harry Clinton Green and Mary Wolcott Green, "the handsomest in girls in New Jersey." Below is a poem written by Francis Hopkinson for Mary:

Major-General Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800) son of John Mifflin and Elizabeth Bagnell, a member of the American Philosophical Society 1765-1799; member of the colonial legislature 1772-1774; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1775 and 1782-1784, and was its President in 1783; major and chief aide-de-camp to General Washington July 4, 1775; major and Quartermaster General of the Continental Army August 14, 1775, and promoted through the ranks to major general February 19, 1777; member of board of war November 7, 1777; resigned as major general February 25, 1779; trustee of the University of Pennsylvania 1778-1791; served as speaker of the State house of representatives 1785-1788; delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1787; president of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania October 1788 to October 1790; president of the State constitutional convention in 1790; Governor of Pennsylvania 1790-1799; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1799 and 1800; died in Lancaster, Pa., January 20, 1800; interment in the front yard of Trinity Lutheran Church.|Bibliography: Rossman, Kenneth R. Thomas Mifflin and the Politics of the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952.

Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin (Sarah Morris) Singleton Copley, American, 1738 - 1815 Accession Number:
EW1999-45-1Credit Line: 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Bequest of Mrs. Esther F. Wistar to The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1900, and acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art by mutual agreement with the Society through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr., and significant contributions from Stephanie S. Eglin, and other donors to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as the George W. Elkins Fund and the W. P. Wilstach Fund, and through the generosity of Maxine and Howard H. Lewis to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1999 Philadelphia Museum of Art

Emily Mifflin Hopkinson by Thomas Sully, 1808. The wife of Joseph Hopkinson, Emily "had a sharp wit and a talent for art and writing. " 

Family tree compiled by  The New Netherlands Ancestors of ANN BORDEN, the wife of FRANCIS HOPKINSON Ancestry.COM

		 __Benjamin Borden1,3,4
		|
	    __Joseph Borden1,4
	   |    |
	   |    |     __James Grover1,3,4
	   |    |    |
	   |    |__Abigail Grover1,3,4
	   |         |
	   |         |__Rebecca Jaspers1,3
	   |
       __Joseph Borden1,4
      |    |
      |    |          __James Grover1,3
      |    |         |
      |    |     __Joseph Grover1,3
      |    |    |    |
      |    |    |    |__Rebecca Jaspers1,3
      |    |    |
      |    |__Susannah Grover1,4
      |         |
      |         |     __William Lawrence1,2
      |         |    |
      |         |__Hannah Lawrence1,2
      |              |
      |              |__(__)2
      |
ANN BORDEN1,4
the wife of FRANCIS HOPKINSON
      |
      |     __Samuel Rogers4
      |    |
      |__Elizabeth Rogers1,4
	   |
	   |__Mary (__)4

• Find A Grave Photo
• Civil War letters are in the Hopkinson papers at the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia
• History of the First Regiment, Delaware Volunteers, from the Commencement of the "three Months' Service" to the Final Muster-out at the Close of the Rebellion William P Seville
• Joseph Hopkinson, Joseph Bonaparte’s great friend
• "The cornerstone of a copious work": loveand power in eighteenth-century courtship
• Genealogy of signers of the Declaration of Independence Frank Willing Leach, Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1951 
• Francis Hopkinson  article from The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 2.
• Historical and genealogical record of the descendants, as far as known, of Richard and Joan Borden, who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, May, 1638; with historical and biographical sketches of some of their descendants Hattie Lovisa Borden Weld
• 19th-Century American Women by Thomas Sully 1783-1872

James McCrea of Pennsylvania and Family

President of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1907 to 1913.

James McCrea (1845-1913) married Ada Jane Montgomery (1845-1926) in 1873, and the couple had three children.
One daughter, Ada Montgomery McCrea m.Richard Hayes Hawkins. Two sons---
Archibald Montgomery McCrea m. Mary Corling Johnston, widow of David Dunlop
The oldest son, James Alexander McCrea, followed his father in a career with the Pennsylvania Railroad. See Fathers of the Five Towns: James Alexander McCrea

James McCrea died March 28, 1913 at Ballyweather, his home at Haverford, Pennsylvania; Ada died October 20, 1926. Both are interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. James was son of Dr James McCrea and Anna B Foster, daughter of William Foster and Hetty Harker
Ada was d. of  William Montgomery and Eliza Moorhead

The Death Of James McCrea
Date: Monday, March 31, 1913
Paper: Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

       Opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station 1910 McCrea is 8th in front row

Dr. James A. McCrea, of this city, committed suicide on June 22, at his residence, No. 2004 Delancey Place, by severing the jugular vein and carotid artery with a razor, while taking a bath.

Dr. McCrea was born in this city in 1812. He was the son of John McCrea, for many years an East India merchant, who died leaving his son an ample fortune. At the age of 21 the Doctor was graduated at the Pennsylvania University, but he never practiced his profession, though lie was connected, when a young man, with the Friends' Insane ARylum, Frankford, and the Blockley Almshouse. In 1851) he was appointed a member of the Board of Health, by the Court, and he has been reappointed every three years since that time. His term would not have expired until 1882. He acted as President of the Board for some years. He was also one of the Commissioners appointed to superintend the erection of the municipal hospital, which was dedicated in 1865. In all his public life he was independent to a degree that made him a terror to his associates, though his integrity, which was of the strictest kind, was never questioned. The disease which it is believed caused the aberration of mind that led to his death was of some years' standing. He lately became very much depressed, and for some time had not attended to his official duties. Only a few days ago he complained to Clerk Troth, at the Board of Health office, that he felt himself gradually breaking down. This seemed to prey upon his mind and caused the deepest despondency. The act which ended his life is not thought to have been premeditated.From Medical and Surgical Reporter, Volume 43 

John McCrea alone owned ten square rigged vessels which were engaged in the China trade, and there were at least twenty more vessels owned by Philadelphia merchants, engaged in the same trade, so that the business of supplying these vessels with equipment and provisions was a very extensive one, and James Carstairs had the bulk of it. He was an upright business man of wide acquaintance and good repute, and a consistent Christian and useful citizen. He gave much of his time and means to benevolent objects, and was for many years president of the Southwark Benevolent Society. He served during the greater part of his adult life as a member of the board of directors of the public schools, and filled many other positions of public trust. He was one of the early members of St. Andrew’s Society, joining in 1813. He died in February, 1875, in his eighty-sixth year. From Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania: Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, Volume 2

John McCrea, 1816.—Was a merchant at 40 Dock street in 1816. The will of John McCrea, Jr., admitted to probate January 29, 1842, mentions his brothers, James A. McCrea and Thomas P. McCrea, and his three sisters, Anne, Mary and Hannah.

James McCrea, 1790.—Was a merchant . His will, dated August 13, 1814, and proved October 6, 1814, mentions his seven children, Elizabeth Jackson, and Jane, Mary, Hannah, Margaret, John and James McCrea. William Davidson (1802), broker, Thomas Hale and John McCrea were appointed trustees. From History of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and of the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland: March 17, 1771-March 17, 1892

See THE OLD MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK CITY

Obit June 22, 1887