Jopling Family, Papers, 1810-1991 (C3927)
.5 linear feet, 1 volume
INTRODUCTION
Papers of the Jopling family from Pettis County, Missouri. The bulk of the papers date from the 1810s through the 1940s and consist of personal papers and business records and correspondence, including genealogical information, financial and legal papers, cattle records, patent records, and medical recipes.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Jopling Family Papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Harvey M. Jopling on 18 August 1994 (Accession No. 3024).
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
The Jopling Family, originally from England, settled in Virginia, moved to Tennessee, and thence to Pettis County, Missouri. Members of the family were involved in milling from the 1840s through the 1910s. The collection focuses primarily on the activities of three members of the Jopling family: Thomas J. Jopling (1782-1848), Jesse Jopling (1810-1883), and Monroe Jopling (1842-1903).
Thomas J. Jopling was born 19 August 1782, probably in Virginia, and died on 25 March 1848, in Pettis County. He fought in the War of 1812 under Major General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans and received a government land grant in 1815. He moved from Virginia to Smith County, Tennessee, in December 1818, then to Wilson County, Tennessee, ca 1820. He emigrated to Longwood Township, Pettis County, ca 1829. In 1837 Thomas J. Jopling served as associate justice of the Pettis County circuit court. In 1840 he had a mill built, beginning the family involvement in the business of milling.
Thomas J. Jopling's siblings included Hannah (b. 1767), William (b. 1774), Holman, Edward W., and James W. Jopling. He married twice: his first wife, named Williamson, bore him four children, all born in Virginia: Jesse (1810-1883), William (b. 1814), Josiah (ca 1820-ca 1900), and James, who died at an early age. He married a second time, to Charlotte Powell (1808-1874), a native of Virginia; there appears to have been no children from this marriage.
It should be noted that James W. Jopling, brother of Thomas J. Jopling, also had a son named Jesse Jopling, who emigrated to Pettis County, from Virginia in 1834. He died in Pettis County at the home of his uncle Thomas J. Jopling in 1835, leaving behind two daughters, Elizabeth and Virginia Jopling. Edward W. Jopling, brother of Thomas J. Jopling, had a son named Thomas M. Jopling, who also moved to Missouri. Thomas M. Jopling would become the guardian of Elizabeth and Virginia Jopling in 1835.
Jesse Jopling, the son of Thomas J. Jopling, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on 16 April 1810 and died in Pettis County, on 17 October 1883. He is thought to have settled in Longwood Township, Pettis County, ca 1829. He owned a water mill, perhaps inherited from his father. He returned to Tennessee and Virginia on business for his father in 1835, when he entered for 5000 acres of land in Fentress County, Tennessee. He was a surveyor for Pettis County in 1835 and 1836. Jesse Jopling went to Venezuela after the Civil War. He took out patents for a torpedo boat in 1883.
Jesse Jopling married Dorothy Houx (1812-1886) of Kentucky in Cooper County, Missouri, on 23 June 1834. They had five children: Milton (b. 1838), married Ellen; Monroe (1840-1903); John T. (b. 1843), married Sallie Oldham; Theodore (b. 1848); and Rogene (b. 1848). Rogene married M.J. Amick (d. 1873) on 17 October 1867; married H.L. King on 28 December 1875; they divorced 20 May 1878.
The second son of Jesse Jopling, Monroe Jopling, was born in 1842 in Pettis County and died there in 1903. He built a three-story mill on Long Grove Creek, using for power the engine of a steamboat wrecked near Boonville. Monroe Jopling fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy and, afraid to return to Missouri, stayed in Georgia for a short time after the war. He died on 16 October 1903.
Monroe Jopling married Nancy (d. 1939), together they had six children: Maud, who married a man named Kemp, Nellie, Mary, Minnie, Richard Henry, and Harley S. (ca 1884-1902).
Richard Henry Jopling, the eldest son of Monroe Jopling, sold the Jopling Mill (the Valley Roller Mills) and the family moved to California and then back to Nelson, Missouri. At some point he lived in El Reno, Oklahoma. He married Rose Allison (b. 1873), of Pettis County, and appears to have had one son, Harvey Monroe (b. 1906).
Harvey Monroe Jopling, donor of the papers, attended Missouri Valley College, Central College, and West Point Military Academy, and received his degree at a polytechnical school in Santa Ana, California. Attached to the 332nd Engineers Regiment at Camp Claiborne, Missouri, he married Letha O. Knight on 27 June 1942. There appears to have been no children from this marriage.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Jopling Family Papers consist of personal papers and business records and correspondence, including genealogical information, financial and legal papers, cattle records, patent records, and medical recipes. The papers are arranged into three series: Family Papers, Business Records, and Miscellaneous.
The Family Papers comprise three folders of mainly correspondence arranged chronologically. Contained in the series is the correspondence, dating from 1819 through 1847, of members of the Jopling family with Thomas J. Jopling, while he was in Tennessee and after his move to Pettis County, Missouri. The series also contains the papers of Monroe Jopling and correspondence of members of the Jopling family with him and with one another, dating from 1861 through 1906. This latter group includes letters from John T. Jopling in California trying to earn a living while doing missionary work, 1875-1903, Harley S. Jopling in Pueblo, Colorado, working for the railroad, 1902, and Luis Rodriguez Jopling from Madrid, Spain, 1906. A reminiscence by Fred A. Stockman concerning the history of Laynesville, Missouri, is also present, 1959. The series also contains a number of newspaper clippings compiled by Rose Jopling (Mrs. R.H.) concerning the Jopling and Allison families. The main emphasis of this series is the attempt of members of a widely dispersed family to communicate matters of family interest to one another.
The Business Records series consists of nine folders of materials, arranged chronologically, dealing with Jopling family business in both Tennessee and Pettis County from 1818 through 1938. Included in the series is: correspondence, bills of sale, account records, tax records, land transfers, quitclaims, chattel mortgages, indentures, receipts, wills, property sales, court records, legal papers, and a "daybook" , 1893-1910, and "journal" , 1893-November 1905, probably from the Jopling milling business, probably Valley Roller Mills.
The Miscellaneous series consists of five folders dealing with recovery of family property in Tennessee, 1887-1912, submarine patents, 1873-1888, 1991, cattle ranching, 1877-1935, 1964 , and medical recipes. The first group, arranged chronologically, includes letters from lawyers and members of the Jopling family, Monroe and Richard Henry in particular, attempting to lay claim to land bought by a Jesse Jopling in Tennessee; the emphasis in this group of records is primarily genealogical. The second group of records, arranged chronologically, concerns the patenting of submarine parts by Jesse Jopling. The third group of records documents the Jopling family cattle business and includes breeding records and material relating to the American Shorthorn Breeders' Association. The last group includes remedies for sickness (including a receipt for the cure of Negro Poison) as well as instructions for care of mechanical items, such as tempering mill picks. The majority of items in this group deal, however, with remedies for human illness.
FOLDER LIST
| f. 1 | 1819-1847, primarily Thomas Jopling |
| f. 2 | 1865-1959, Jopling Family |
| f. 3 | Newspaper clippings |
| f. 4 | 1818-1836, primarily Thomas Jopling |
| f. 5 | 1836-1844 |
| f. 6 | 1845-1872 |
| f. 7 | 1873-1881 |
| f. 8 | 1883-1891 |
| f. 9 | 1892-1903 |
| f. 10 | 1904-1906 |
| f. 11 | 1910-1938 |
| f. 12 | Undated |
| v. 1 | Daybook, Milling records, 1893-1910 |
| v. 2 | Journal, Milling records, 1893-November 1905 |
| f. 13-14 | Tennessee property, genealogical notes, 1887-1912 |
| f. 15 | Submarine patents, Jesse Jopling, 1873-1888, 1991 |
| f. 16 | Cattle ranching, 1877-1935, 1964 |
| f. 17 | Medical recipes |
INDEX TERMS
These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available
indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index
term, please contact the reference staff
| Allison family | f. 2, 3, 11 |
| Business records | f. 4-12, 16, v. 1,2 |
| Cattle breeding--Missouri, Pettis County | f. 16 |
| Folk medicine | f. 17 |
| Genealogy | f. 13, 14 |
| Jopling family--Missouri, Pettis County | f. 1-17 |
| Jopling family--Tennessee | f. 1 |
| Jopling family--Virginia | f. 1 |
| Jopling, Dorothy Houx (1812-1886) | f. 2 |
| Jopling, Harley S. (1884-1902) | f. 2, 3 |
| Jopling, Harvey Monroe (1906- ) | f. 2, 3 |
| Jopling, Jesse (1810-1883) | f. 5-7 |
| Jopling, John Theodore (1843- ) | f. 2, 6, 7, 10 |
| Jopling, Monroe (1842-1903) | f. 2, 6-10 |
| Jopling, Richard Henry | f. 2, 9-11 |
| Jopling, Rose Allison | f. 2, 11 |
| Jopling, Thomas J. (1782-1848) | f. 1, 4-6, 11 |
| Medical care, 19th century | f. 17 |
| Mills & millwork, Missouri, Pettis County | f. 5, v. 1-2 |
| Mills & millwork--Business records | f. , v. 1-2 |
| Missouri, Laynesville | f. 2 |
| Missouri, Pettis County | f. 2-16 |
| Missouri, Pettis County--Land records | f. 4-11 |
| Slaves, Medical care |
|
| Slaves--Purchase and sale records |
|
| Stockman, Fred A. | f. 2 |