Hopkins, Samuel 1807-1887
Author; born in Hadley, Mass., April 11, 1807; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1827. His publications include The youth of the old Dominion; The Puritans and Queen Elizabeth, etc. He died in Northampton, Mass, Feb. 10, 1887. Clergyman; born in Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 17, 1721; graduated at Yale College in 1741; studied divinity with Jonathan Edwards; and became a pastor in 1743. He settled in Newport in 1770, but, during the British occupation of that place, his parish was so much impoverished that he was compelled to live on weekly contributions and the voluntary aid of a few friends the remainder of his life. Newport was a great slave-mart, and Dr. Hopkins powerfully opposed the traffic. As early as 1773 he formed a plan for evangelizing Africa and colonizing it with free negroes from America. He exerted such influence against slavery that, in 1774, Rhode Island passed a law forbidding the importation of negroes into the colony, and, early in 1784, the legislature declared that all children born after the following March should be free. He was one of the most toted theologians of his day, and many of his sermons and other writings have been published. He died in Newport, R. I., Dec. 20, 1803. Hopkins, Stephen
