Rash's Surname Index


Notes for William Henry HOOPES

William H. Hoopes was born November 19, 1840, at Warrior's Mark, Huntingdon county, Pa., and was the oldest son in the family of nine children His early education was under the tutorship of Bishop John H. Vincent of Chautauqua fame. He afterwards attended school in Muscatine. When he attained his majority he left the farm and earned his own way through a two years' course in Greenwood academy, in Muscatine. He afterwards engaged in the building business, was principal of the First ward school in Muscatine two years, and for a number of years was in the grocery and pork packing business. In 1874 he commenced the Muscatine Island gardening business, and with various partners has been engaged in that important enterprise ever since. He now has associated with him his two sons. They have 900 acres of land under cultivation there and produce the finest sweet potatoes, melons, cabbages, peas, beans, tomatoes and onions. He also has a vegetable and dairy farm in St. Louis Park, one of the suburbs of Minneapolis. During his farming career he has introduced many laborsaving implements. Among them is one which sets plants of all kinds and saves labor and expense. Outside of his own immediate business Mr. Hoopes has helped promote the organization of other industries, among them a canning factory, street railway, electric light plant, high bridge over the Mississippi river, and in real estate operations. In public affairs Mr. Hoopes has worked with the republican party on account of its championship of temperance principles, in which he is deeply interested and to which he has given much of his best efforts. He was elected alderman as a republican in a ward usually democratic, and helped to inaugurate some of the most important public improvements in Muscatine, including the building of Riverside Park, which turned an unsightly river front into a beautiful spot. He was [p.426] one of the most zealous supporters of the prohibitory law and had an important part in the prosecution of those who violated it. He has been prominently identified with the Musserville M. E. church and has been trustee and superintendent of the Sunday school for more than twenty years, making him one of the oldest Sunday school superintendents in the state. He is also an active member of the Y. M. C. A. and the Muscatine Commercial club. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Maccabees and Woodmen of the World. On the 12th of August, 1869, Mr. Hoopes was married to Phena Thompson, daughter of Philip Thompson, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Louisa county. Two children were born to them: Frank Everett, born April 29, 1870, and Fred Philip, born November 11, 1872. They assist their father in the management of the farms and the conducting of their large shipping and commission business.
The family has a beautiful home on Beach Grove avenue, a mile and threequarters below the postoffice, on the west bank of the Mississippi river.
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