Tag Archives: Charles HOPKINS

Oct 21 2018

“If Hurt, Notify. . .” A 16 Year Old’s Request

The first year Georgia mandated a driver’s license was 1937 but a driving exam was not required.  1937 is the same year Charles Hopkins created this I.D. card for himself.

Charles Hopkins ID Card

Charles Hopkins ID Card

The advent of the automobile in the first decade of the 20th Century created a lot of problems especially with accidents.  60% of motorized vehicle fatalities involved children in the street.  There were no traffic laws and cars were the newcomers onto the street full of animal powered vehicles.  ‘Serious debate was held in courtrooms and in editorials over whether the automobile was inherently evil. The state of Georgia’s Court of Appeals wrote: “Automobiles are to be classed with ferocious animals and … the law relating to the duty of owners of such animals is to be applied … . However, they are not to be classed with bad dogs, vicious bulls, evil disposed mules, and the like.”‘ from an article in the Detroit News.

 

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Feb 16 2014

DNA Revelations

Crystal Ball Image Courtesy of Dan FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Dan FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It would be really cool to have a crystal ball to tell us what we don’t know about our heritage.  DNA testing is probably as close as we’ll come.

What can you learn by sending spit and money to a laboratory?  The first thing is finding out where your ancestors originated from, about 500 years ago before the age of travel.  The second is to find clues to certain health predispositions that are happily waiting for an opportunity to show themselves in your body.  There is more to learn from DNA testing but it may take a degree in DNAology to understand it.

The science of knowing about ourselves through genetic composition continues to develop.

Recently two kindred family members sent DNA to be tested by the company ’23And Me’.

If you descend from Charles Eugene HOPKINS you will share a bit of what a  grandchild learned from the testing.

Basically, you are 99% European.  Within that percentage, you are about 28% British & Irish, 1.2% French & German, about 60% Northern European, and about 9.8% Nonspecific European.

The remaining 1% that is not European interestingly enough has .4% West Africa, .1% Oceanian (Australia area), and .4% unassigned.  There was no American Indian found in this DNA.

If you descend from Evelyn Roberta Barker DEAN and Brad DEAN:

You are 99.7% European.  The other .3% is unassigned.  The breakdown on your mostly European heritage is 22.7% British & Irish, 1.2% French & German, .5% Scandinavian, 46.7% Nonspecific North European, 11.3% Ashkenazi, 17.2% Nonspecific European.  Again, no American Indian.

Apr 24 2013
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Just a Match Book, or More?

It’s just a matchbook cover but when I spotted it in a tin full of assorted matchbooks at a garage sale, it stood up and shouted to me “HERE I AM !!!!!!!”

 This is a matchbook that Charles HOPKINS‘ place of employment, “The Independent Life & Accident Insurance Company” used for years.  They must have made a few gazillion of them with half of that gazillion in our house.

It’s amazing how strong memories develop from childhood.  Smells and visual icons are like time machines for me, traversing years in mere seconds.

I’d never seen the Statue of Liberty but that was no reason for me not to know who she was.  Everyone knows her.  And even though the company was headquartered in Jacksonville Florida instead of New York, that was no reason not to use her as the main icon for the company.

Paper matchbook with scalloped edges, yellow with gold and black Statue of Liberty in center with gold surround of Independent Life Insurance Company.