RootsChat.Com

I have just joined this site after a discussion with my father Eric Hopkins and a quick google search concerning our ancestors in Tullow County Carlow and the United States. Eric's father (my grandfather) was Benjamin Hopkins a cooper with the Guinness brewery, son of Robert also a cooper, and grandson of Nicholas by his first marriage. My dad was really surprised and delighted to see a post from Jack's daughter. We have old letters/correspondence between Jack and his older half brother Robert (my great grandfather) who Jack refers to in his letters as Bob . Jack was planning a trip to Ireland in 1947 to meet his half brother Bob Hopkins in County Dublin. Bob had arranged to meet Jack at a railway station and Jack was going to wear a red rose in his lapel, so they would recognise each other. However, a later letter arrived from Jack to say he had to abandon his trip to Ireland due to medical issues relating to his stomach. Contact was then lost as Robert Hopkins died in late 1947. Although we have found a subsequent letter addressed to my father's aunt Charlotte Hopkins, Robert's youngest daughter dated 1949. My father Eric did attempt to make contact with his relatives in the late 1970's in upstate New York (pre the internet age) via a phone book when he was visiting there but failed.
We would love to hear from Jack's relatives. My father has fond memories as a little boy of the excitement when letters and packages arrived, gifts from Uncle Jack to his half brother, cigars and tobacco in coloured canisters which were impossible to get in post war Ireland.
It would be lovely to hear from any of our relatives as my father has a keen interest in his ancestry.