Twinkle and Binkle, The Starr News: Elmer Bryce Hopkins, born January 5, 1884

We are trying to choose at least one ancestor who was born in the month we are working on. We have chosen Elmer Bryce Hopkins, Nola's father. It would take too much room to write everything he has written, so have condensed it and only covered a portion of his autobiography.

"It was a cold wintry day when old Doctor Bryce rode to the Hopkins home in Tilton, Fleming County in Kentucky. I was born Elmer Bryce Hopkins on Jan. 5, 1884, to William Hopkins and Ann Field Jones Hopkins. My mother gave me my middle name, Bryce, in remembrance of that kindly old country doctor who traveled so far to assist in my birth... .
My father's first wife had died and my mother had the responsibility of caring for Dad's children. As I recall, they caused a lot of trouble and Mother had some difficulty controlling them. One day she got fed up with the whole matter and a quarrel ensued between Mother and Father. As a result she took me and moved out of the family home to a small home across the field. Mother was a strict disciplinarian and though life was difficult for her and her young son, she preferred that to tolerating Father's unruly family. Yes, indeed, she taught me to obey...!
One time she asked me to go fetch a pail of water from the brook near our home so she could finish the laundry. I was busy playing and did not go to the brook right then. When I looked up from my playing I saw Mother with pail in hand heading for the brook. I ran to take the pail from her but she held firmly to the handle and walked the distance to the brook with me running at her side trying to take the pail from her. She would not relent; she filled the pail herself and returned to the house with the full pail of water. She did not spank nor even scold me...she did not have to. Carrying that pail of water all by herself on such a hot day hurt my feelings much more than any spanking would have. My mother was not well and I knew it. While we were living in that little house I spent a lot of time down by the brook. I liked to watch the frogs jumping about. When the weather was bad and I could not be outside I amused myself playing with corncobs, spools, and string. In the evening Mother and I would sit by the fireplace and Mother would read from the Bible... .
A very short time later my ailing mother became even more ill. Daniel Call, known as the "Old Man" Call sent his son, Marion, with a buggy to take mother to the Call home where she could be cared for. "Old Man" Call followed with a wagon to transport me; a little mongrel dog Marion Call had given me, and all the family's belongings. I did not know it then, but when I climbed up to the seat of that wagon I was leaving my home never to return... .
While living with the Calls I met the first playmate of my life. They had a six-year-old son, Floyd. We became like brothers and our friendship lasted the length of our lives. The Call family cared for my mother for several months. She was totally bedridden from the time we arrived at the Call home. My good mother, Ann Field Jones Hopkins, achieved peaceful rest July 28, 1892... .
As I got older I hired out to farmers around the area. I saved all the money I could because I had heard about Utah from some of the Calls who had joined the Mormon Church and moved to Utah. I wanted to go West...! I made the decision to go west and left my home state April 24, 1904... .The train trip from Kentucky to Brigham City, Utah was a big thrill for a Kentucky boy. I was met at the station by Thomas Call. He took me to his home... .
I came into Brigham City one winter and worked for the Telephone Company as a lineman. It was during that winter I met Rena Baird. I did not know it then, but she would one day become my wife. Rena worked as a telephone operator. One day I went into the office shivering and almost blue from the cold. Rena looked at me, turned to the other operator and said, "Look what the wind blew in." Despite that comment I stayed and talked to the girls awhile after I had warmed myself and was once again comfortable. I ended up asking Rena for a date to go to a Ward social in nearby Perry, Utah. From that time on, she was my girlfriend... .
I joined the L.D.S. church October 11, 1908 and was baptized by Elder Thomas Call at Perry, Utah... . I married my sweetheart, Alexanderina Baird, June 28, 1911 in the Logan L.D.S. Temple... ."