| Obituary | Mrs. Mary Malinda Hopper, widow of John Henry Hopper, died this morning at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence W. Kelly of North Midland Avenue, Upper Nyack, with whom she had made her home for many years. Mrs. Hopper was in her 98th year, having marked her 97th birthday on Jan. 21. She had been bed-ridden for the past six years. Mrs. Hopper grandchild was ten years old at the height of the Civil War and lived through six wars, in all.
She was a descendant of two the oldest families in Rockland County, the Van Blarcums and the Bogerts, and a member of a third, the Hoppers, by marriage.
Mrs. Hopper was born on Jan 21, 1854, in the Van Blarcum homestead at the corner of West Washington and North Serven Street, Pearl River. The house is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Marcussen. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Van Blarcum. Mrs. Van Blarcum was the former Catherine Ann Bogert, who was born in the Bogert homestead, which once stood on Middletown Road where an apartment building today stands.
The Andrew Van Blarcums had one other child, Rachel Jane, who married Edwin Benson, and was a well-known resident of Nyack until her death several years ago.
Mary Malinda Van Blarcum married John Henry Hopper on May 31, 1873. The couple had nine children, five boys and four girls. Four of them are still living, Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Charles J. Blauvelt of Nyack, and LaForest and Lloyd L. Hopper of Pearl River.
The Hoppers made their home in the first house on the north side of Washington Avenue, Pearl River, going west from Pearl Street. In those days the surrounding property was farmland.
Mr. Hopper died on May 13, 1911, and in 1921, Mrs. Hopper left Pearl River to make her home in the Nyacks and for a time in Valley Cottage, living for many years with Mrs. Blauvelt and for many years with Mrs. Kelly.
She liked to talk about the early years in Pearl River, when the hamlet was known as Muddy Brook and Middletown, and about the events of those early years. Although not a frequent visitor in Pearl River, she kept in touch with the happenings in the lives of oldtime friends.
She was very proud of the fact that members of the Van Blarcum, Bogert, and Hopper families fought in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
Her greatest joy was in her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren of whom there are nine, and her great-great-grandchildren of whom there are five. Her grandchildren include: Mrs. Milton Tromm, Woodside, L. I.; Raymond Towt, Miami, Fla.; Russell Towt, Rockland Lake; George Hopper, the Bronx; Arthur D. Hopper, Pearl River; Mrs. Edward Russell, Jr., Blauvelt; Lloyd W. Hopper, Pearl River; Mrs. James Maloney, Valley Cottage. A nephew, Clyde A. Benson of Nyack also survives.
The funeral will be held at the Wyman Funeral Home, 100 Franklin Avenue, Pearl River. The day and arrangements for the funeral will be announced later. Interment will be in Pearl River Cemetery.Journal News , February 2, 1951 |
