- John Henry Hopkins
John Henry Hopkins (
January 30 ,1792 –January 9 ,1868 ) was the firstbishop of theEpiscopal Diocese of Vermont and was the eighthPresiding Bishop of theEpiscopal 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.Who Was Who in America, vol. 1, 1897-1942, (1943) Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, p. 259] and came to the
United States in 1801, where he later became an iron manufacturer inPennsylvania . TheWar of 1812 having proved disastrous to his business, he studied law, and began practice in Pittsburgh.Ministry
In 1823, Hopkins entered the ministry of the
Episcopal Church in the United States of America , in response to the call of the church in which he was a vestryman. In 1831, he accepted the charge of Trinity Church, Boston, and the next year was elected the first bishop of theEpiscopal Diocese of Vermont , taking also therector ship of a church in Burlington. 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 toJanuary 9 ,1868 . Largely through the efforts of Presiding Bishop Hopkins and his friend Bishop Stephen Elliott of Georgia, 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. 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 Conference in
London in 1867. He died the next January at Rock Point and was buried there at Bishop’s House, Rock Point,Burlington, Vermont .Family
Works
Hopkins was a prolific writer, leaving nearly 20 published works, among which are:
* "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 ofSlavery " (1864)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. 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. Many plates of his designs for the cathedral and other studies made of Gothic architecture survive, however, and are in the University of Vermont Historical Archives.ee also
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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 References
*John Henry Hopkins, Jr. (his son), "Biography" (New York, 1873)
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