Bio-Hopwood, DellaGuyton

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Della (Hopwood) Guyton
(1879-1953)

Della (Hopwood) Guyton was born in 1879 in Hopwood, near Uniontown, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Joseph M. and Sarah "Annie" (White) Hopwood.

Della married Edward S. Guyton (1875-1955), a native of Maryland, in about 1896. They had two children, Mildred P. Stapleton and Robert C. Guyton.

Edward was a longtime butcher and operated his own shop. Circa 1910-1923, the Guytons lived on Connellsville Street in Uniontown, where they were members of the Asbury Methodist Church. Later, they moved back to the town of Hopwood, into the old home of Della's parents. By 1930, Edward focused his work on farming.

In August 1923, their married daughter Mildred and granddaughter Alma Jean Stapleton came from Brownsville, Fayette County for a visit, and remained until after Labor Day.

In July 1945, at the death of Della's first cousin Bertha (Ingles) Stone, Edward served as a pallbearer.

Della and Edward survived a freak accident in August 1947. While they were seated on the back porch of their century-old stone home along Route 40 in Hopwood, said the Morning Herald, "a runaway truck crashed into two other vehicles, struck a pole and a tree, and smashed the front of [their] large residence before coming to a stop in the yard of another home..." The brakes of the truck, operated by a McKenna Metals (Kennametal) employee of Latrobe, had failed while driving a load of stone down the steep mountain highway, and appeared to a bystander as "going 100 miles an hour." Della and Edward "fled across the lawn when the force of the impact from the truck caused them to believe their home had been struck by lightning. Mrs. Guyton, falling as she ran, suffered injuries to an ankle." She was treated for a shoulder injury at the local hospital and released. Grandson Joseph Guyton, age 14, safely ran out from the kitchen where he had been playing with a friend, Teddy Frantz. Quoted in the Morning Herald, Edward said "it was only an act of God" that saved them from sure death. In describing the situation, the newspaper said "For years it has been the family custom to retire to the living room after the evening meal, but yesterday, for some unknown reason, Mr. Guyton suggested that they sit on the back porch. Several huge pieces of cut stone that made up the load of the truck were hurled into the downstairs rooms of the house when the vehicle struck. Almost the entire east side of the house, two bedrooms, living room parlor and a hall were demolished." Edward's photograph appeared in the Aug. 27, 1947 edition of the newspaper in extensive photographic coverage of the accident.

Della passed away at the age of 74 on Dec. 9, 1953. In an obituary, the Uniontown Morning Herald said "She was the last surviving member of the Hopwood family which settled in Hopwood more than a century ago." Her funeral arrangements were handled by the Minerd Funeral Home, followed by interment in the Hopwood Cemetery, officiated by Dr. William Hogg. At her death, said the Morning Herald, she was survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Edward outlived his wife by two years. He died at home on Nov. 2, 1955. He was laid to rest in the Hopwood Cemetery.

~ Daughter Mildred (Guyton) Stapleton ~

Daughter Mildred Guyton (1897- ? ) married Howard B. Stapleton. They resided in Brownsville, Fayette County, and in Houghton, MI in 1955.

~ Son Robert E. Guyton ~

Son Robert E. Guyton (1904-1942) married Gladys Moore. They had three children, Wade Edward Guyton, Robert "Joseph" Guyton and Bessie Jean Riesenberg. Sadly, Robert died at home in Hopwood at the age of 38 on Dec. 5, 1942, leaving his wife and three young children. Following a funeral in his parents' home along the National Road, led by Dr. Frances E. Kearns of the Asbury Methodist Church, he was laid to rest in Hopwood Cemetery. Eventually the children went to live with their grandparents. Their son Robert Joseph, serving in the U.S. Navy in Europe during the Korean War, was pictured in a September 1952 issue of the Morning Herald, displaying a string of trout he caught in a small stream near Heidelberg, Germany.