John Henry Hopkins
Encyclopedia
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont
Episcopal Diocese of Vermont
The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the state of Vermont. It was the first diocese in the Episcopal Church to elect a woman, Mary Adelia McLeod, as diocesan bishop....
and was the eighth Presiding Bishop
Presiding Bishop
The Presiding Bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America :The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the...
of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Early life and career
John Henry Hopkins was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1792, the son of Thomas Hopkins and his wife, Elizabeth Fitzakerly. and came to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1801, where he later became an iron manufacturer in Westmoreland County, PA with Quartermaster Gen James O'Hara. ( Historic Pittsburgh ) The War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
having proved disastrous to his business, he studied law, and began practice in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
Ministry
In 1823, Hopkins entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in response to the call of Trinity Church in Pittsburgh, PA in which he was a vestryman. He also served as organist/choirmaster of Trinity Church from 1824-1830. In 1831, he accepted the charge of Trinity ChurchTrinity Church, Boston
Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 3,000 households, was founded in 1733. The current rector is The Reverend Anne Bonnyman...
, Boston, and the next year was elected the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont
Episcopal Diocese of Vermont
The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the state of Vermont. It was the first diocese in the Episcopal Church to elect a woman, Mary Adelia McLeod, as diocesan bishop....
, taking also the rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
ship of a church in Burlington
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. He took great interest in education and made heavy economic sacrifices for its promotion. After 1856, he devoted his whole time to the care of the diocese.
Presiding Bishop
John Henry Hopkins was the eighth presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and served from January 13, 1865 to January 9, 1868. Largely through the efforts of Presiding Bishop Hopkins and his friend Bishop Stephen ElliottStephen Elliott (bishop)
The Right Reverend Stephen Elliott was the 37th bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was the first Bishop of Georgia and Provisional Bishop of Florida...
of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, who was the presiding bishop of the breakaway Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, the Northern and Southern branches of the Church were reunited after the end of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Both men considered this crucial to the survival of the Church and the nation.
Later life
Bishop Hopkins served for a time as the Chancellor of the University of Vermont and was later prominent in the Lambeth ConferenceLambeth Conferences
The Lambeth Conferences are decennial assemblies of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place in 1867....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1867. He died the next January at Rock Point and was buried there at Bishop’s House, Rock Point, Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
.
Family
On May 8, 1816, John Henry Hopkins married Melusina Muller and they had 13 children. In the year 1866 most of their large family gathered at the family home at Rock Point to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary. A book was published by their daughter-in-law, Alice Leavenworth Hopkins (married to Theodore, see below), to commemorate the event. One on their sons was John Henry Hopkins, Jr.John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
John Henry Hopkins, Jr. was an American clergyman and hymnist, most famous for composing the song "We Three Kings of Orient Are" in 1857.-Life:...
, born on October 28, 1820, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, who became an Episcopal priest and hymn writer, and delivered the eulogy at the Funeral of President Ulyesses S Grant in 1885. He died on August 14, 1891, in Hudson, New York
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
and is buried with his father at Bishop’s House, Rock Point.
Many of the Bishop's children were multi-talented and multi-disciplined. One of the elder sons, Theodore Austin Hopkins, took over at Rock Point as Headmaster for many years before entering local politics as a town auditor in South Burlington. He was also a gifted musician and architect, having designed a lovely Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
Victorian home for his family to reside in that stands to this day in Vermont. Another son, Charles Jerome Hopkins
Charles Jerome Hopkins
Charles Jerome Hopkins was a nineteenth century musician, composer and educator. He is often mistakenly referred to in some texts as Edward Jerome Hopkins or Charles Edward Hopkins, possibly due to the presence of a similarly named British musical peer, Edward Hopkins.-Early life and...
, known commonly as "Jerome" or "C.J." Hopkins in musical circles, was a composer and fierce advocate of public support for American musical composition and for free education in the musical arts. One of Jerome's best known pieces was "The Wind Demon", though he composed over 700 pieces over the course of his lifetime, including the sacred opera "Samuel". One of Bishop Hopkins' great-grandchildren was the illustrious Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Dorothy Canfield Fisher was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the twentieth century. She was named by Eleanor Roosevelt as one of the ten most influential women in the United States...
, renowned for being the namesake of the prestigious literary award in children's publishing. Teachers, pioneers, scientists, medical doctors, artists, musicians, men and women of holy orders... Bishop Hopkins' children continued a long and proud legacy of academia and creativity. Annually, until the mid-1980s, the "Hopkinsfolk" would travel to Vermont to have a reunion. When time, energy, and the sheer numbers of people prohibited this reunion, the gatherings ceased. Many of the Hopkins descendants live far and wide across the United States today.
One Hopkins descendant appeared on the popular television show Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...
with a family portrait painted by Bishop Hopkins, accompanied by photographs of Rev. Hopkins and his wife, and a letter describing the portrait and the family. Members of the Vermont Historical Society in the 1800s, the Bishop, his wife and children knew the value of preserving family memorabilia. Many of their family letters are annotated with dates and relative data so as to tell future generations the story of their lives. Hopkins family records are available at the University of Vermont and Harvard University.
Works
- Christianity Vindicated (1833)
- The Primitive Creed Examined and Explained (1834)
- The Novelties which Disturb our Peace (1844)
- History of the Confessional (1850)
- The American Citizen: His Rights and Duties (1857)
- A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of SlaveryA Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of SlaveryA Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery was a pamphlet written in 1861 by John Henry Hopkins, and addressed to the Reverend Alonzo Potter of Pennsylvania....
(1861)
Hopkins was also a fine painter and left several family portraits and a book of prints filled with his botanical observations of flowers and other plant life. Three of his botanical lithographs are on display at the Passavant House Museum in Zelienople, Pennsylvania. His architectural legacy has been mostly erased, unfortunately, as his beautiful gothic St. Paul's Cathedral in Burlington, Vermont was destroyed by fire in 1972. However, one of his first Gothic designs still stands today. The church is St. Paul Lutheran in Zelienople, PA. It was built in 1826. The family of Hopkin's wife were members of St. Pauls. Many plates of his designs for the cathedral and other studies made of Gothic architecture also survive.Many are in the University of Vermont Historical Archives.
See also
- Succession of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (U.S.) Bishop Hopkins was No. 26.
- List of Presiding Bishops in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
External links
- Documents by and about Hopkins from Project CanterburyProject CanterburyProject Canterbury is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999, and is hosted by the non-profit Society of Archbishop Justus...
- Inventory of the John H. Hopkins Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library