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-
^^^1^ ^t
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{TV CHURCH — BOST
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
