1. Thomas Hopkinson was a lawyer, public official, and prominent figure in colonial Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
11 Facts About Thomas Hopkinson
1. 2.
Thomas Hopkinson was educated there, attending Oxford University and then studying law at London.
3.
Thomas Hopkinson then immigrated about 1731 to Pennsylvania, where he became a merchant, lawyer, judge, and natural philosopher, as well as a friend of Benjamin Franklin.
4.
Thomas Hopkinson worked with Franklin on several of his experiments on electricity and was a member of the Junto.
5.
Thomas Hopkinson was a member of the Provincial, and Common Councils.
6.
Thomas Hopkinson was a founder of both the Library Company of Philadelphia, as well as an original trustee of the College of Philadelphia, and served as first president of the American Philosophical Society.
7.
Thomas Hopkinson married Mary Johnson in 1736, and together they had eight children.
8.
Thomas Hopkinson enrolled his son Francis Hopkinson, later a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, in the first classes at the Academy.
9.
Franklin wrote about him: "The power of points to throw off electrical fire was first communicated to me by my ingenious friend, Thomas Hopkinson, since deceased, whose virtue and integrity in every station of life, public and private, will ever make his memory dear to those who knew him and knew how to value him".
10.
Thomas Hopkinson was a member of St John's Lodge and served as Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1736.
11.
Thomas Hopkinson was the father of Judge Francis Hopkinson and Mary Hopkinson, who became the wife of Dr John Morgan, Surgeon General of the Continental Army.