Stephen Hopkins
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Stephen Hopkins was born on March 7, either 1706 or 1707, in Providence, Rhode Island, to William and Ruth (Wilkinson) Hopkins. His paternal great-grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, came to Providence in 1641 from Plymouth, Massachusetts. He had followed Roger Williams there, and from Providence, he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1651. Hopkins’ maternal great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, had been a Lieutenant in Charles I’s army but was captured by the Scots in 1644. When he was finally released, he lost all his property and came to the colonies sometime between 1646 and 1647 and settled in Providence in 1652.
Like some of our other signers, little is known about his early life. We do know that he grew up on a farm but did not attend school. His education was limited to the basics; he was first taught by his mother, then by his grandfather and Uncle. It was said his penmanship was excellent, and he was particularly good in mathematics, but he was a largely self-taught man.
On October 9, 1726, he married Sarah Scott. She was the youngest daughter of Major Sylvanus Scott and Joanna Jenks. Her paternal grandfather, Richard Scott of Glensford, County Suffolk, England, was admitted to the church in Boston in 1635 and married Catherine Marbury after he moved to Providence. Catherine was the niece of Anne Hutchinson, who had been banished from Massachusetts for preaching. They would have seven children. Their first child was a boy, Rufus, who was born in 1728 and passed away in 1812. John came next in 1730, and then Ruth in 1731. Their next daughter, Lydia, was born in 1733 and died in 1793. A son, Sylvanus, was born in 1734 and passed away in 1753. He died after being a castaway in Nova Scotia. He and his crew were surprised by some Indians, and they were bound, carried ashore, and one by one they were murdered and left unburied. His next son, Simon, was born in 1736 and died in 1742. The last child, George, was born in 1739 and presumed dead in 1775. He dies while commanding a vessel that had stopped in Charleston. It left Charleston on August 29, 1775, and was never heard from again. In total, one son would die at seven years of age, and a daughter would die when she was 3. Few of his children would survive their father. Sarah passed away in 1753, and she was buried in the North Burying Ground in Providence, Rhode Island. Two years later, in 1755, Hopkins married for a second time to Ann Smith. Ann was his cousin, and they had no children, but she had four children from a previous marriage. She passed away in 1782
Hopkins’ first profession was farming, and he pursued this for several years before going on to other positions. His father had given him seventy acres of land, and his grandfather had given him ninety acres, but farming was not to be the path he followed. In 1731, he was selected to moderate town meetings in Scituate, Rhode Island, where he lived. And the following year, he became the town clerk. From 1732 to 1741, he would represent Scituate in the General Assembly and become its speaker in 1742. Before his Speakership in 1742, he moved to Providence and went into a partnership with his brother Esek Hopkins.
They opened a mercantile shipping business, which was involved in building and outfitting ships. During his time in Providence, he helped to transform it from a rural town into a major commercial city. He also worked to establish the current Rhode Island state boundaries. Despite his lack of education, he was very interested in and helped establish a public subscription library in Providence. He was also the first Chancellor of Rhode Island College, which is now known as Brown University. He would participate in the founding of the Providence Gazette and County Journal in 1762 and was a member of the American Philosophical Society. Next, he would help erect a telescope in 1769 to observe the movements of Venus. Additionally, he also found time to open an ironworks factory.
From 1744 through 1751, he served in the General Assembly as a representative from Providence. At the same time, he was an Assistant Justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court and later became Chief Justice in 1751. He will attend the Albany Congress in 1754 and meet Benjamin Franklin, who was promoting the Albany Plan. They would become lifelong friends.
In 1755 and until 1766, he would serve as Governor of Rhode Island, off and on. While he was Governor, he wrote and published a pamphlet in 1757 on an issue related to the French and Indian War. In this pamphlet, he defended the Committee of War and complained about the disposition of some men who were attempting to obstruct the execution of various measures. Ward responded with a bitter, personal reply. In his reply, he states, “I shall therefore conclude with observing, that when the Governor of a Colony had so little regard to his Character as to print absolute Falsehood, and is so fond of his Post as to stick at nothing to keep it, the world will judge what sense of duty he has of his Duty to God and his Country.”[1] Soon after Ward’s reply was printed, the Governor was defeated in the next election.
On June 20, 1757, Governor Hopkins filed suit for libel in Worcester County, Massachusetts, after he had previously thought of dueling with Ward, deciding death would be too good for Ward. In his suit, he states that Ward intentionally slandered him and knew his statements were false. He did it intentionally to “defame the plaintiff and deprive him of the good opinion of the said freeman and thereby caused him to be displaced from the office of Governor…”[2] The suit comes to trial in September of 1757, but the outcome is in favor of the defendant Ward. Governor Hopkins would appeal to the Superior Court of Judicature, but the suit was eventually dismissed as being unprepared, and paid Samuel Ward £22.13.9.[3]
By 1764, he wrote a pamphlet called The Rights of The Colonies Examined, in which he attacked the Sugar and Stamp Acts. He notes that “British subjects are to be governed only agreeable to laws which they themselves in some way consented.”[4] When John Hancock’s ship, the Liberty, was seized and brought to Rhode Island in 1768, the citizens burned it. The Royal Governor instructed Governor Hopkins to arrest the people involved, but he refused and would not order any officers to do so either.
1774 was a busy year for Hopkins, as he introduced a bill forbidding the importation of slaves into Rhode Island. This was the first anti-slavery law in America. There was some irony in his introducing this bill, as it was rumored that he may have dabbled in the slave trade and owned slaves, but around the time of the bill, he freed all of his slaves. There is an interesting story concerning a slave of his called Saint Jago. He freed this slave on October 28, 1772, and William Barker, a Quaker, witnessed the document he wrote. But 10 years prior to Hopkins freeing him, Saint Jago was on a private schooner named Blackbird, which Hopkins had commissioned during the French and Indian War. Saint Jago was a rigger who, in later life, employed him. He may have been detained at one point, with the other crew members, but his name was not noted by William Metcalf, who swore an affidavit about the events that occurred in September of 1762. Saint Jago lived for 40 years as a freeman in Rhode Island, working in shipyards. He married Rose King at the Congregationalist Church in Providence on July 10, 1778, and then, in October of that year, would purchase a house from John Dawson.[5] He would free his other slaves, depending on which book or article one reads, either before his death or in his will. There is some evidence that at least one slave might not have been freed due to his name being stricken from the rolls of Friends of the Smithfield Monthly Meeting.
Hopkins was then selected as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. He signed the Olive Branch Petition and secured a position for his brother, Esek Hopkins, who was appointed the first Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy.
In June of 1776, he was appointed to the Committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation, and on July 2, he voted for independence. During the first debates on July 1, he allegedly provided some unintentional humor. There was a thunderstorm raging while John Dickinson was speaking, and at one point a large thunderclap interrupted him. Hopkins, who used a cane at this time and appeared to have fallen asleep, dropped it upon hearing the thunder and looked around. John Penn, from North Carolina, jumped to his aid, thinking he had been frightened, whispering to him that there was nothing to be alarmed about, “There is a rod atop the State House – one of Dr. Franklin’s inventions – the celebrated lightning rod. If by chance a bolt of lightning should strike the belfry, the same rod would run the bolt into the ground.” Hopkins turned to Penn and said, “I don’t give a dam about any rod or lightning bolt. I’m just tired of Dickinson’s long winded harangue.”[6] He would sign the engrossed copy of the Declaration on August 2, 1776. While his handwriting appears shaky, it should be noted that it was because Hopkins had palsy and not because he was nervous or scared. He had to guide his right hand with his left when writing and said at the time, “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”[7] In 1778, he returned to Rhode Island due to health issues.
Once he was back in Rhode Island, he served for several more years as a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly. He passed away on July 13, 1785, and was buried near his first wife, Sarah, in the North Burying Ground. His funeral was large and attended by an assortment of important people. The Rhode Island Legislature dedicated a monument at his gravesite, which reads:
“Sacred to the memory of the illustrious Stephen Hopkins, of revolutionary fame, attested by his signature to the Declaration of our National Independence, Great in Council from sagacity of mind; Magnanimous in sentiment, firm in purpose, and good, as great, from benevolence of heart; He stood in the front rank of statesmen and patriots. Self-educated, yet among the most learned of men; His vast treasury of useful knowledge, his great retentive and reflective powers, combined with his social nature, made him the most interesting of companions in private life.”[8]
His home is still standing in Providence, Rhode Island, but it is no longer in its original location. The home is the oldest structure in the city, built in 1707 and expanded in 1743. It was nearly torn down in 1927, but was saved by the local DAR chapter. It is located near Brown University, and his descendent, Alden Hopkins, designed the gardens surrounding the home.
Tidbits John Adams wrote that Hopkins’ humor “kept us all alive” and “Hopkins never drank to excess, but all he drank was immediately not only converted into wit, sense, knowledge, and good humor, but inspired us with similar qualities.” He was known as “Old Grape and Guts” as he liked to drink, and Jamaican rum was his favorite. He was the 2nd oldest signer. He was described as being a good public speaker with a powerful voice. |
[1] “Hopkins V. Ward, ‑‑An Ante‑Revolutionary Lawsuit” The Monthly Law Reporter (1848‑1866) 22, no. 6 (10, 1859): 327.
[2] “Hopkins V. Ward, ‑‑An Ante‑Revolutionary Lawsuit” 327.
[3] For those unfamiliar with how the British write monetary amounts, the stated amount reads as 22 pounds, 13 shillings, and 9 pence.
[5] Hopkins, Donald R. “A Slave Called Saint Jago” Rhode Island History 69, no. 1 (Spring2011 2011): 29‑39.
[7] Barthelmas, Della Gray. The Signers of The Declaration of Independence: A Biographical and Genealogical Reference (Jefferson, NC, London, McFarland, 2003) 126
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