I have some more information about Nicholas Hopkins, cooper of Tullow, James' father that I pieced together when reconstructing all the Hopkins families around Clonegal. I used the St. Fiaac's parish registers (see
http://issuu.com/churchofireland/docs/clonegal_ferns) to trace all the baptisms, marriages and burials for Hopkins in the area and found the following evidence for Nicholas Hopkins [1826-1913]
Nicholas was baptised under his mother's maiden name on 27 AUG 1826 a week before his parents, Benjamin Hopkins of Garryhasten and Mary White married on 3 SEP 1826.
Nicholas was also linked to his father by a shared profession - cooper - and also by the fact that I believe one of Nicholas's daughters (with wife Margaret McWilliams), Mary Jane Hopkins born in Tullow 1858, died (probably whilst visiting her grandparents at Garryhasten) in 1861 as she was buried in St. Fiaac's graveyard in Clonegal.
Nicholas appeared to have moved to the parish of Tullow away from his Garryhasten siblings. There may have been other Hopkins family connections in this area as the name is prevalent in the parish registers and there was another man - James Hopkins - working as a cooper in Tullowbeg. It is possible that the Nicholas Hopkins I've found in Tullow could have been a sibling of this man, but for the time being, I'm persuaded by the other evidence I've found that there is a good connection between this man and the Garryhasten Hopkins.
Nicholas also appeared to have been a prolific sire - fathering 17 children with 2 different wives (1. Jane Gregg and 2. Margaret McWilliams) between the ages of 28 and 65(!) given his presumed 1826 birthdate. However, later evidence for him (censuses and presumed death certificate) has his birthdate wandering quite alarmingly over nearly a 20 year period!
- 1901 census has him aged 60 and ba 1841 in Co. Wexford - this record corroborates him being a widower and cooper living at the Course, Tullow with 2 of his children by 2nd wife, Margaret.
- 1911 census has him aged 89 and ba 1822 in Co, Carlow, yet still living at the Course and as a widower cooper with his youngest daughter, Barbara.
- 1913 death candidate has him aged 76 and ba 1837, widower cooper dying in Tullow.
It could of course be 2 different men named Nicholas Hopkins who happened to be coopers in the Tullow area but I think the other corroborating evidence makes it more likely it is one and the same man.
Given I think he was the son of Benjamin Hopkins and Mary White of Garryhasten, I have also gone back a few more generations as follows (full citations recorded but some of the evidence is circumstantial e.g. shared graves, as the records for St. Fiaac's only date from 1792.)
I think that his father Benjamin Hopkins [1801-1884] was the son of Robert Hopkins [1762-1839] and his wife Jane (no marriage found yet.) Benjamin was one of 7 siblings, two of whom had Gough as their middle name so this is perhaps a clue to their mother's maiden name - I haven't proved this yet? Benjamin, like his son, also married twice - secondly to Margaret Doyle in 1842. He had 3 sons with Mary White and 7 further children with Margaret Doyle.
Robert Hopkins was the son of Nicholas Hopkins [?-1787] and his wife, Sarah Brown [1735-1802] and was buried with them in St. Fiaac's churchyard. I descend from Robert's presumed sister, Susannah Hopkins [1773-1844] who married a William Hopkins [1768-1809] According to William's will, he had 2 brothers, Benjamin and Edward Hopkins both of Ballard Co. Wicklow, so perhaps she married a cousin?
