California Biographies Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919) History By Paul E. Vandor Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919 Notes: Missing+page1185-1186 Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm CAPTAIN SAMUEL D. HOPPER.� A well-preserved octogenarian and a veteran of the great Civil War, in which he distinguished himself for bravery and the faithful performance of duty, is Captain Samuel D. Hopper. He is now enjoying the pleasures of retired, quiet life at 442 Calaveras Avenue. Fresno. He was born at Somerton, Belmont County, Ohio, on December 4, 1838, and grew up in his native State. His father was William Hopper, of Belmont County, and his grandfather, Robert Hopper, a native of Ireland who settled in Ohio in very early days. William Hopper was a tanner who later became a farmer, and for seventeen years he served his township as Justice of the Peace. He was a strong Abolitionist and took a hand in running the "underground railroad ;" while in religious faith he was a Universalist. He was married in Ohio to Miss Phoebe Lewis, who had been born in Pennsylvania of English ancestry, and by her he had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Five boys grew up, and each of them served in the Union Army ; while all four of the girls who grew up were married in Ohio. The ninth child in the order of birth, Samuel D. Hopper is the only one of the family living in California. The Hoppers made their living by very hard work, raising tobacco for the most part; and as there were only four months of district school in the winter, Samuel got about sixty or seventy days of schooling a year. But he applied himself so diligently to his school books that at the age of nineteen he obtained a certificate to teach. He enlisted as a private in Company E of the Sixty-second Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, October 17, 1861, at Camp Goddard, Zanesville, Ohio, and when the company was organized, he was appointed first or orderly sergeant ; at the end of six months he received his commission as second lieutenant, and three months thereafter his commission as first lieutenant ; while after the siege and battle of Fort Wagner, S. C, he was commissioned captain to fill a vacancy. As captain he served until the end of his enlistment. Part of his service as captain was in Virginia under Gen. Benj. F. Butler. Finally, on November 10, 1864, he was mustered out. At the battle of Fort Wagner, a bullet struck and wounded his left foot ; and at the battle of Deep Run, Va., a bullet struck the scabbard of his saber, the impact of the bullet ruined his sword but did no harm otherwise. Then he came home to Malaga, Monroe County, Ohio, whither his father had removed during the war. Wishing to reenter the service after reaching home, he wrote to President Lincoln and also to Secretary Stanton, and they gave him a recruiting commission as major under full pay to raise a regiment of volunteers for Hancock's Veteran Corps ; and he was thus engaged when the war closed. In Belmont County, Ohio, in January, 1872, Mr. Hopper was married to Miss Rachel L. Foster, a native of Ohio, by whom he had five children: Leona M. is single and resides at Fresno, having formerly been a teacher; Bernal M. is a vineyardist and orchardist, resides at Fresno and owns 2,000 acres ; Max D. is a vineyardist and orchardist, now living at Palo Alto, and has a ranch twelve miles east of Fresno ; Shirley M., who became Mrs. Lawrence Russell and is a widow, teaches in the San Francisco high school. Zulema E. Hopper is the fourth child, who after graduating from high school, married W. Morford. The first four of the children mentioned above graduated from Leland Stanford University. On the occasion of his second marriage, his first wife having died, Mr. Hopper took for his companion Mrs. Emma E. Neptune, a native of Ohio and a sister of the first Mrs. Hopper, and they have one son, Stanley R. Hopper, twelve years of age, living at home. A stepson, John R. Neptune, who was a soldier in the recent war, attends the University of Southern California, but makes his home with Mr. and Mrs. Hopper. After the Civil War Mr. Hopper taught school in Monroe, Belmont and Noble counties, Ohio, and for a while kept a store at Malaga, Ohio. Then, selling out, he came West, stopped for six months at Hastings, Nebr., and went on to Eastern Oregon, where he taught school for twelve months and had a half interest in a band of cattle, later buying a half interest in a band of sheep. When he sold out, he moved back to Nebraska, bought out a store at Kearney, ran it eight months, sold out and came to California, and in October, 1880, came to Fresno County. He took up a homestead three-quarters of a mile northwest of Del Rey, and taught the first school in the Prairie school district. He proved up on his homestead of 160 acres, and planted it to Muscat and Thompson grapes, and peaches and apricots. He planted the 160 acres, and in 1915 sold the northern half, still retaining the southern half. For ten years he never missed a day's work. His main work in Fresno County has been the improvement of his land, in which he is assisted by his sons, and in this hard work, he may truly claim to have borne the heat and burden of the day. He has taken an active part in scientific raisin growing and in horticulture generally. He has been interested in all the movements for securing better marketing conditions and prices. He was chosen president of the old cooperative packing house at Fowler, and served for one year about twenty-five years ago ; this was before the advent of the present Raisin Growers Association, in which he is signed up and holds stock, and also before the Peach Growers Association. Inc. Mr. Hopper is a member of Atlanta Post of the G. A. R. at Fresno, and in national politics is a Republican.