Hopper, Samuel D.

Born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1838, Samuel D. Hopper worked as a schoolteacher before enlisting in the Sixty-Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Rising through the ranks to become captain, he saw active service in major engagements across Virginia and South Carolina, including the Battle of Fort Wagner where he was wounded. Following the war, he continued teaching and mercantile work in Ohio, Nebraska, and Oregon before permanently relocating to Fresno County, California, in October 1880.

Upon settling near Del Rey, Hopper took up a 160-acre homestead, taught the area’s first school in the Prairie district, and developed his land into a thriving vineyard and fruit orchard. He took an active leadership role in early agricultural organization, serving as president of the cooperative packing house at Fowler and later supporting the California Associated Raisin Company and the Peach Growers Association. Residing in Fresno with his family, Hopper maintained strong ties to the community through the Grand Army of the Republic and was widely esteemed as a pioneering veteran and progressive horticulturist.