My dad, Lloyd G. Hoppes, was born on August 15, 1886, on a farm near
      South Haven, Kansas, where he grew to manhood. His parents were Marcus
      and Isabell Brown Hoppes.
        He married my mother, Rethie Yost, who lived in the same community,
      on November 4, 1906. They established their own home on a farm in that
      neighborhood.
        Their first child, mys sister Opal (Curtis), born in 1907, now lives
      in Bluff City. My sister Fern (Crow), born in 1910, now lives in Harper.
      I was one of identical twins born in 1912. My twin brother, Alvin, was
      killed on June 11, 1944, during WWII. In 1920 Dad bought the Bill Maddox
      farm on Sand Creek near Hazelton in Barber County. We children attended
      Sand Creek School, where our second teacher was Opal Bloom Parr.
        In the spring of 1920 Dad bought eight head of milk cows near Kiowa.
      We all got up early to go to Kiowa in the wagon. One cow was broken to
      lead and was tied behind the wagon. We kids followed barefoot (carrying
      our shoes to save them) to keep the cows out of the corn fields. We were
      all very happy to get home, completely played out. Dad was quite prosperous,
      also knew how to keep kids at work so they would be tired at night.
        Dad was a stockman, raising hogs, horses, and mules. Our barn would
      hold 24 head of horses. We raised over 200 acres of corn a year. The land
      was so fertile that we raised 12 years of crops in a row. The drouth of
      the 1930's caused us to change our crop to wheat.
        Mother raised chickens and turkeys, with sometimes as many as 500
      turkeys to sell in the fall. We raised alfalfa and let the turkeys eat the 
      grasshoppers. Dad and Mother took turns checking the incubators throughout
      the wee hours.
        Dad was a genius, always trying to figure out new ways to save time and
      steps. He found fault with incubators, thinking that a larger percentage
      of eggs should hatch. He went to town one day and came home with copper,
      tin, and tin snips, and built an incubator that would mechanically turn
      the eggs over. We used the incubator for a number of years. It always
      outhatched all others.
        Dad invented an accurate fertilizer attachment, made to fit any grain
      drill and planter. Insul-Wool Manufacturing Co. built it, and it bore the
      name "Hoppes." It could be set from 0 to 500 pounds per acre. The "Hoppes"
      attachment was sold in every state in the Union.
        Our land is sub-irrigated and produces extra well. The Hoppes kids really
      knew how to swing a hoe, since there were six acres or more of watermelons
      and cataloupes. With one trip a day through the season, two-thirds of the
      melons were sold in Medicine Lodge. People came to the house, too, to buy
      melons and sweet potatoes.
        I married Doris White in 1932. Our daughter, Darlene (Ross) born in 1933,
      lives in Idaho, and our daughter, Jeanni (Brown), born in 1943, lives in
      Wichita. My twin brother, Alvin, married Crum, and their son, Dwight, was
      born in 1934.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 237
     Submitted by: Alfred Hoppes