Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/366

 H0PK1>^S

HOPKINS

1818, and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. He joined Trinity Protestant Episcopal churcli and was chosen a vestryman of the i)arish. During a vacancv in the rectorsliip he was elected rector of the cluirch, altliough he was ignorant of the con- templated purpose of the parish. He accejtted the wishes of the parish, considering it to be a call from God, and became a candidate for holy onlers in October. 1823. He was ordained a deacon, Dec. 24, 18'2:i. and priest in May, 182-4. In taking this stej) he gave up an income of over ^oOOO per year derived from his law practice and accepted one of $500 from the parish. He designed and built a new church edifice for Trinity parish, and on the visita- tion of Bishop White in 1825 presented 137 candi- dates for confirmation. In 1826 liis own vote would have elected liim assistant to Bishop White, but he positively refused to cast it. During seven years as rector of Trin- ity church. Pitts- burg, he found- ed seven other churches and brought seven young men into tlie ministry. His scheme to found a theolog- ical seminary in Pittsburg was not approved by Bishop White, and he there- upon accepted the place as assistant rector of Trinity churcli, Bos- ton, Mass., as that diocese wished his assistance in founding a theological seminary there. He was as- sistant rector of Trinity, 1831-32, and in 1832 was elected bisliop of the newly-created diocese of Ver- mont. He was consecrated by Bisliops Provoost, Griswoldand Bowen, Oct. 31, 1832. He founded the Vermont Episcopal institute at Burlington, which experiment ended in disaster in 1839, owing to the financial panic of the previous j'ears which deprived the school of patronage. The scliool was very successful at the start, but just before the panic it was extensively enlarged, and the bishop borrowed lieavily to make the necessary improve- ments. He allowed no vacations and no play or relaxation from study and manual labor excejjton Saturday afternoons, and cliurcli attendance was obligatory. The teachers were the theological stu- dents studying under the bishop, the ]>nncipal ob- ject of the scliool being to train up clergymen for the church. The misfortunes of the panic and the resultant failure left liim penniless, and lie borrow- ed from a Pennsylvania friend sufficient money to secure a farm of 100 acres at Pock Point. Vt., where he removed his family and found eniploy-

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ment for his boys in building the house and barns, in clearing the fields and in cultivating the scanty soil. He combined with his duties as bishop those of rector of St. Paul's church, Burlington, and held the rectorship for twenty-seven years. In lb54 he revived the Vermont Episcopal institute, raising the money by personal solicitation, and placing it under his son, the Rev. Theodore Austin Hopkins, under whose able leadership it became a strong and iiermanent church school for boj'S. In 1867, as seventh presiding bishop of the American church, he attended the first Lam- beth conference, an assembly he had suggested as early as 1851. While aiding the bishop of New York in visiting ])arishes in the northern part of the state he contracted a cold, and died after two days' illness. He was an arcliitect. and one of the first to introduce Gothic architecture in the United States. He was also an excellent painter in oils and water colors, a musician and com- poser, and a powerful extemporaneous speaker. He was married in 1820 to Melusina Muller, a native of Germany, who had come to the United States with her father, an impoverished shipping merchant, in 1812. They had thii'teen children, and their .sons, John Henry, Jr., Edward Au- gustus, Caspar Thomas, Theodore Austin, William Cyprian, Charles Jerome and Frederick Vincent, became prominent in various callings and profes- sions, three of them entering the priesthood of the Episcopal church. Caspar Thomas (q.v. ) went to California in 1849 ; and Charles Jerome (q.v.), a musician and composer, died in 1898. Bisliop Hopkins received the degree of D.D. from the Uni- versity of Vermont in 1832, and thatof J.C.D. from Oxford in 1867. His published works include : Christianity Vindicated (1833) ; The Primitive. Creed (1834) ; Essay on Gothic Architecture ( 1836) ; The Churchof Rome (1837) ; Ticelve Songs (1839) ; Letters to Bishop Kenrick (1843) ; The Aovctties ichieh disturb our Peace (1844) ; The History of the Coiifcssioual (IS'yQ) ; The End of Controversy Con- troverted (3 vols., 1854) ; The American Citizen (1857) ; A Scriptural, Historical and Ecclesiastical Vieto of Slavery (ISQA) ; The Law of Ritualism {\H- 66) ; The History of the Church in Verse (1867) ; The Popenot the Anti-Christ(lSG8). Hediedat the Epis- copal residence, near Burlington, Vt., Jan. 9, 18Cy. HOPKINS, John Henry, clergyman, was born in Pittsburg, Pa., Oct. 2s. 1820; son of the Rt. Rev. John Henry and Melusina (^liillor) Hopkins, lie was graduated at the University of Vermont, A.B.. 1839; A.M., 1845. He was a tutor in the family of Bi.shop Elliott, of Savannah. Ga., 1842- 44 ; was graduated at the General Theological seminary in 1850 ; and was ordained deacon the .same year. He was founder of the Church Journal in February, 18.53, and its editor and pro- .nrietor, 1853-08. He was ordained a i)riest in