Hopkins/Bettel Genealogy

John Hopkins (1614-1654) arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 from England and became one of the founders of Hartford, CT. As the family grew they spread into New York State and Vermont, fought in the War of the Revolution (against the British), amassed a small fortune in lands and lost it and then towards the end of the nineteenth century a small number of them returned to the UK where they were to become the Bettel arm of the family. A great many researchers have detailed the births, deaths and marriages of this line, what I would like to do is find out more about their individual lives and what they contributed to the world during their time; in other words make this genealogy a bit more colourful than just names and dates, Can you help?