The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

AUNT CATHERINE'S FATHER’S ANCESTORS
THE HOOPES FAMILY
William Penn, Revolutionary War and a Gun Shot
The Hoopes’ ancestral home was the village
of Great Moorshol, Yorkshire, England. Because of
religious persecution by the British Crown, Joshua
Hoopes (Aunt Catherine’s six-times great-grandfather)
and his family set sail for the New World on The
Providence of Scarborough, the 13th and last of
William Penn’s ships. After weeks at sea, they arrived
at the mouth of the Delaware River on Nov. 9, 1683.
The family settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
where Joshua obtained 100 acres of prime farmland.
He went on to serve in the Pennsylvania General
Assembly, which, along with the House of Burgesses
in Virginia, was one of the first attempts in America to
form a representative government.
Despite being Quakers, Aunt Catherine’s
Great-great-great-Grandfather Nathan Hoopes (Joshua
Hoopes’ great-grandson) and his brother Thomas
fought in the American Revolution. Thomas was the
second and Nathan the third of eight brothers. They
both served as privates in the Chester County Militia,
which included 16 battalions and 130 companies
organized by community, with brothers and neighbors
fighting in the same company. Nathan and Thomas
were in the 4th Battalion, Goshen Township 3rd
Company.
Aunt Catherine’s paternal grandfather,
Jefferson Hoopes, was the second-youngest of nine
children. By age 16, he was already working as a
weaver in the Kiamensi Wool Mill in Newport, Del.,
with his older brother John and sister Margaret. We
have a copy of a letter of recommendation written for
Jefferson Hoopes by the president of the Kiamensi
mill, Thomas Pilling. It calls him a “sober, honest and
industrious man” and “cheerfully recommends him to
anyone needing his services.”
Jefferson Hoopes was first married at age 22
on Feb. 13, 1879, to Miriam “Mame” Baldwin. The
family lived in Kiamensi, where the wool mill was one
of the largest employers in the Mill Creek Hundred.
Jefferson and Miriam had one son, Roy, born
in 1880. He was killed by an accidental gun shot on
Sept. 13, 1893. The accident occurred while he was
playing with a friend, William Briggs, outside the
Hoopes’ home. They had an old revolver, which was in
Aunt Catherine’s paternal grandparents Jefferson
Hoopes and Jane Clementine Eastburn at their
wedding in 1894 at St. Ann’s in Wilmington.
disrepair. Roy was resetting the target when Briggs’
hand slipped on the hammer and the gun discharged.
The bullet struck Roy in his right side, passed along
the breast and entered his heart. He died immediately.
The Evening Journal reported he had the largest
funeral the area had ever seen, with all of the public
school children attending. His mother died that Dec.
20, after being stricken with paralysis five days earlier.
Jefferson Hoopes was re-married, to Jane Eastburn, the
following year.
THE EASTBURN FAMILY
Continental Congress, Civil War and Bible Riots
The Eastburns also came from Yorkshire.
Robert Eastburn (Aunt Catherine’s seventh greatgrandfather)
married Sarah Presto, on March 10, 1693.
The couple had nine children -- including their third
son, Samuel, on Feb. 20, 1702 -- and immigrated to
America in 1713. They settled in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. Samuel traveled widely in Pennsylvania
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