Welcome to Ulster Worldly, a blog about the history of Presbyterianism. Many of these stories come from my own family, many others come from my own denomination.
June 1, 1892: Joseph Hopper born in Stanford, Kentucky to George Dunlap Hopper and Katherine Elizabeth Higgens Hopper.1
1914: Joseph Hopper graduates magna cum laude from Centre College.2
1917: Joseph Hopper graduates from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary with Bachelor of Divinity.1
April 24, 1917: Joseph Hopper licensed to preach by Transylvania Presbytery of the PCUS.1
October 9, 1917: Joseph Hopper ordained by West Lexington Presbytery.1
December 18, 1919: Joseph Hopper marries Annis Barron of Rock Hill, South Carolina.2
February 1920: Joseph and Annis Hopper depart for Korea as PCUS missionaries, assigned to Mokpo.2
May 17, 1921: Joseph Barron Hopper born in Kwangju, Korea.3
April 1920: Joseph Hopper preaches his first sermon to Korean congregation at Kwangju leper church.2
1928: Joseph Hopper earns ThM from Union Presbyterian Seminary.1
1931: Joseph Hopper teaches at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang; Joe B. attends fifth grade at Pyongyang Foreign School.4
1934: Joe B. begins high school at Pyongyang Foreign School.4
Summer 1935: Hopper family takes furlough trip around the world via Japan, Singapore, Palestine, and England.5
June 7, 1938: Joe B. graduates from Pyongyang Foreign School as valedictorian.4
1939: Joseph Hopper earns ThD from Union Presbyterian Seminary.1
1939: Joe B. received under care as candidate for ministry by Concord Presbytery of the PCUS.3
1940: Pyongyang Foreign School closes; most missionaries evacuate Korea before Pearl Harbor.4
1941-1945: Joseph Hopper serves as stated supply at Emory Church in Decatur, Georgia (1941-1942) and Royal Oak Church in Marion, Virginia (1942-1945) during wartime evacuation.1
1942: Joe B. graduates magna cum laude from Davidson College; member of Phi Beta Kappa.3
July 19, 1945: Joe B. Hopper marries Dorothy “Dot” Longenecker at Blackstone Presbyterian Church in Virginia.6
August 12, 1945: Joe B. Hopper ordained by Montgomery Presbytery of the PCUS.3
1945: Joe B. graduates from Union Presbyterian Seminary with Bachelor of Divinity.3
1945-1947: Joe B. serves as pastor of Blackwater and Piedmont Presbyterian Churches in Callaway, Virginia.3
Summer 1946: Joe B. and Dot commissioned as missionaries to Korea at Montreat Missions Conference.6
1947-1948: Joe B. and Dot attend Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages while awaiting permission to enter Korea.6
1948: Joe B. and Dot arrive in Korea; Joseph and Annis Hopper on dock to greet them.6
December 23, 1948: Barron Hopper born in Chonju, delivered by Dr. Paul Crane.6
June 25, 1950: Korean War begins; missionaries evacuate from Chonju following midnight phone call to American Embassy.6
1950: Joe B. and Dot evacuate to Japan then Seattle; David Hopper born in Richmond two months after evacuation.6
1950: Joe B. earns ThM from Union Presbyterian Seminary.3
September 1951: Joe B. returns alone to Korea to replace Dr. W.A. Linton in Chonju; Dot and children remain in Quitman, Georgia with her parents for 19 months.6
Easter 1954: Dot and children reunited with Joe B. in Korea after families permitted to re-enter.6
1954: Margaret Lois Hopper born in Chonju, delivered by Dr. Paul Crane.6
1956: Joseph Hopper retires from Korea after 36 years of missionary service.1
1965: Joe B. receives Doctor of Divinity degree from Davidson College.3
1966: OPC Committee to Confer with Representatives of the Christian Reformed Church proposes working toward organic union with CRC.1
March 19, 1969: Joint OPC-RPCES gathering at Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church, Willow Grove. Edmund Clowney (OPC) and Robert Rayburn (RPCES) speak on “The Urgency of Our Times and the Question of Union."2
1972: Formal committee planning begins for OPC-RPCES merger.3
April 24, 1973: OPC Presbytery of the Midwest and RPCES Midwestern Presbytery meet in St. Louis to discuss proposed union.4
June 1973: Both OPC and RPCES assemblies approve sending Plan of Union to presbyteries for discussion.5
December 4-7, 1973: First general assembly of the PCA.6
January 21, 1975: OPC Committee on Ecumenicity and RPCES Committee on Fraternal Relations finalize proposed Plan of Union to form “Reformed Presbyterian Church."7
June 5, 1975: OPC votes 95-42 in favor of union with RPCES; RPCES votes against merger.8
1975: North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) formed with PCA, OPC, RPCNA, RPCES, and CRC as charter members.9
Examination of how influential Christian leaders like Martin Luther, Abraham Kuyper, J. Gresham Machen, and R.C. Sproul effectively used emerging media technologies of their times to spread their theological messages and the gospel Read More
I have served as a deacon in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) since 2014. On the Hopper side, I’m a 5th generation Presbyterian officer. Here are my ancestors who served as officers.
Father
My father, David Hopper, is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He was previously a ruling elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).
Grandfather
My grandfather Joe Barron Hopper (1921–1992) was ordained by the Montgomery Presbytery of the PCUS in 1945. He served as a PCUS (and later PCUSA) missionary to Korea for 38 years.
Great Grandfathers
Joseph Hopper (1892–1971), father of Joe Barron, was ordained by the West Lexington Presbytery (PCUS) in 1917. He served as a missionary to Korea.
Hershey Longenecker (1889-1978) was ordained by the Presbytery of Transylvania (PCUS) in 1916. Hershey was a first-generation Presbyterian (coming from an anabaptist family), as was his wife (coming from a Methodist family). He served as a missionary in the Congo.
Great Great Grandfathers
George Dunlap Hopper (1848–1913), a farmer and businessman, served as a deacon for 11 years and then a ruling elder at Stanford Presbyterian (PCUS) in Kentucky, where he was a member for 45 years.
George may have been the first Presbyterian Hopper; his grandfather, Blackgrove Hopper (1759–1831), was a Baptist minister.
The Barron line almost certainly includes more elders and deacons, though I do not have records. According to family legend, the Barrons have been Presbyterian since the beginning in 1560.
In April 1972, my dad, a senior at King College, spent a weekend in Montreat, North Carolina. After worshipping at Montreat Presbyterian, Mrs. Ruth Bell Graham–who was a member at MPC–invited dad to Billy and Ruth’s house on Mississippi Road for lunch. In a letter to his parents (who were serving as missionaries in Korea), dad recounts watching the Apollo 16 launch with the Graham’s after lunch:
“Mrs Graham invited (my 2 friends) and me up for lunch. It was the first time I had been up (to the Graham house), and it was quite interesting. Dr. Graham was there and we watched the space shot go off during lunch.
He said that NBC has asked him to narrate the shot with John Chancellor but he had turned them down. It was very interesting talking to him. He really does know the Bible inside out. I got away a little later than planned….
My dad David Hopper, his brother Barron Hopper, his sisters Alice Dokter and Margaret Faircloth grew up in Jeonju, South Korea where their parents were missionaries with the southern presbyterian church (PCUS). On January 5, 2023, I got them all in a room together to share memories of their childhood.
You can listen to the four parts of the interview below.
You can also search for “Ulster Worldly” in your podcast app of choice or subscribe to the feed directly.
Here are links to some things mentioned in the interview:
My friend Matthew Ezzell and I taught a Sunday school class on American Presbyterian History at Shiloh Presbyterian Church.
Here was the overview we wrote for the course:
This class provides an understanding of the historical foundations of modern presbyterianism in America. We cover the breadth of the streams contributing to the presbyterian churches and denominations of our country. In the course, we learn about the controversies and conflicts and also spread of the gospel and the propagation churches throughout the United States. We specially emphasize the origin and development of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the establishment of presbyterianism in central North Carolina.
