Joseph Spottiswoode HOPKIRK was the second son of Alexander(6) HOPKIRK and Agnes SPOTTISWOODE.
Joseph was born on 31 January 1858, or 31 October 1858 in Gattonside.
Joe was a keeper of the family genealogy records. He kept a book
of birth, marraige and deaths of the Hopkirk family, and there is also
some Spottiswoode records. Some of the information goes back to the
1700's in Scotland. He undoubtedly was able to quiz his grandfather,
Alexander Hopkirk(1823-1907), for family information, and who knows if
Alexander brought family information with him from Scotland. In
any case, Alexander would have been able to have talked to his
grandfather, James Hopkirk(1756-1841) and have gotten information from
him, since Alexander was 18 years old when his grandfather James passed
away, so he could easily have received family information from the
1700's.
Go to this page to see some of the most important of Joe's genealogical records
Joseph corresponded for
many years with his cousin Agnes Alexander Spottiswoode in Gattonside,
Scotland, the daughter born to his Uncle Robert Spottiswoode
in 1872. There is a family picture of Robert Spottiswoode's family in
1898, which includes cousin Agnes. Go to Robert's link to view the
photo. Click on these links to view the two page letter sent to cousin
Agnes Alexander Spottiswoode in Gattonside, Scotland from Joseph in New
Zealand. We are forever grateful to the Southern Reporter Newspaper in
the Borders of Scotland. Read this article from 30 December 2008.
To summarize, in the mid 1990's Donna Thompson was cleaning out
her gradparents house in Biggar and came across a large collection old
photos and letters. The letters were addressed to Miss Agnes
Spottiswoode, at the Melrose Post Office, and they came from a Joe
Hopkirk in New Zealand.. She approached the Southern Reporter hoping to
find an ancestor. Here is the related article dated 10 March 2009 telling the rest of the story.
n 1891 Agnes was a Telegraph clerk. Here is a membership card from the United Kingdom Postal Clerks' Association for A. A. Spottiswoode, dated 31 December 1908.
In 1911 Agnes married Thomas Carter GRIEVE and they had two daughters,
Mary(1912-1999) and Jesse(1918-1919) Agnes passed away on 6 July
1963.Mary's second marriage was to Alexander Lyal. His ancestor, Peter
Lyal, is now in possession of all the old letters and photos. Go
to this page to see all the old Spottiswoode and Hopkirk photos from the late 1800's through the early 1910's.
Here the wonderful people involved in the saving of these photos, Peter Lyal and Donna Thompson. At this LINK is a photo of the Eildon Hills as of 2009, sent by Peter's brother David Lyal.
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This page last updated on 15 April 2015