Samuel Hopkins letter (RLC.Ms.564)

Biographical note

Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803) was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on September 17, 1721. He graduated from Yale in 1741 and later earned his Doctor of Divinity in 1802. Hopkins studied divinity in Northampton, Massachusetts, with Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and together, along with Joseph Bellamy (1719-1790), created a new form of Calvinist theology known as the New Divinity, Hopkinsianism, or Edwardseanism. From 1743 through 1769, Hopkins was the pastor of the New Parish of Sheffield in Housatonic, Massachusetts, but was dismissed due to a lack of funds. Hopkins next moved to Newport where he preached at the First Congregational Church for over thirty years. While in Newport, Hopkins became friends with Susanna Anthony (1726-1791), an unmarried diarist, whose entries were later excerpted by Hopkins in his book, The life and character of Miss Susanna Anthony. Samuel Hopkins died on December 20, 1803, in Newport.