Stephen A. Hopkins

Stephen A. Hopkins
Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives
In office
1813–1814
Preceded byPierre Bauchet St. Martin
Succeeded byMagloire Guichard
Personal details
Died(1815-10-21)October 21, 1815
Thibodaux, Louisiana
PartyDemocratic-Republican

Stephen A. Hopkins (d. October 21, 1815) was an American politician of Louisiana. He was a lawyer by trade, and seems to have been involved in the founding of Donaldsville, Louisiana. He married into an influential Acadian family. He served as the second Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, a presidential elector from Louisiana, and a brigadier general of Louisiana militia organized in anticipation of the British attack on New Orleans during the War of 1812. Hopkins was involved in a duel with a former United States Attorney in 1810. He was shot and killed in Lafourche in 1815.

Life and career

He was originally from New England, the son of Huldah Brown and David Hopkins of Bennington, Vermont.[1][2] He owned two slaves at the time of the 1810 U.S. census.[3] On September 25, 1810, he dueled former U.S. attorney for the District of Louisiana Philip Grymes at Manchac, West Florida, and Grymes took a bullet through the chest but lived.[4][5] Circa 1812 Hopkins was "agent on the premises" for William Donaldson, founder of Donaldsonville, Louisiana.[6] He was a presidential elector from Louisiana in 1812, with Julien Poydras, and Philemon Thomas, all for James Madison.[7] On September 28, 1813, he married Marie Arthémise Landry, daughter of Joseph Landry, a leader of the Acadian exiles who had migrated from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.[8][9][10]

He was the second speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, a position he held from 1813 to 1814.[11] He represented Acadia Parish in Louisiana in 1812 and 1814, with no meetings of the legislature in 1813 due to the War of 1812.[12][13] He was a brigadier general of the 2nd brigade of Louisiana militia, derived from the populations of St. James Parish and Ascension Parish, from December 22, 1814 to March 20, 1815, including at the time of the Battle of New Orleans, based at the "Post on the Lafourche."[14][15]

He was shot and killed at the Lafourche Parish courthouse in Thibodaux on October 21, 1815, by Pierre Valet, a man whom he had sued and won a judgment against.[16][17] Little is known about Valet; he had acquired some land from William Donaldson, founder of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, prior to the latter's death in 1813.[18]

Darby's map of Louisiana (1816)

Hopkins was buried in Ascension Catholic Cemetery in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.[19][20]

Hopkins was a "subscriber" to William Darby's geography of Louisiana, published 1816.[21]

References

  1. ↑ WCHS. "1816 Gleaner". Wyoming County Historical Society. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  2. ↑ Jehn, Janet B. (1972). Acadian Descendants: The descendants of Jeam Gaudet and his two wives, beginning with 1575. J. Jehn. p. 118.
  3. ↑ Beauchamp (2009), p. 50.
  4. ↑ "Duels". Richmond Enquirer. October 2, 1810. p. 2. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Duel". Martinsburg Gazette. October 26, 1810. p. 3. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  6. ↑ Marchand (1943), p. 103.
  7. ↑ Louisiana State Library (May 1886). Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of Louisiana. p. 52.
  8. ↑ Boudreaux (1983), p. 465.
  9. ↑ Marchand (1943), p. 66.
  10. ↑ "Acadian Marriages in Louisiana". Acadians in Gray. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  11. ↑ "House Membership: Historical Listing" (PDF). house.louisiana.gov. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Volume Information". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 28 (4): 440–458. 1987. JSTOR 4232604. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  13. ↑ Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812–2028. David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library. March 24, 2026. p. 7.
  14. ↑ "Andrew Jackson to Stephen A. Hopkins, February 18, 1815". Andrew Jackson Papers: Series 1, General Correspondence and Related Items, 1775 to 1885. Library of Congress Manuscript Division. February 18, 1815.
  15. ↑ Midkiff, Donald Keith (April 25, 2019). "2013.005.070: War of 1812 Muster Rolls for Louisiana Militia in Federal Service Finding Aid" (PDF). Louisiana National Guard Museums. p. 4.
  16. ↑ "Communication: Died at La Fouche". Louisiana State Gazette. October 31, 1815. p. 2. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Lafourche Parish". American Courthouses. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  18. ↑ "The history of Donaldsville". The Donaldsonville Chief. June 16, 1988. p. 1. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  19. ↑ "The History of Donaldsville". The Donaldsonville Chief. August 17, 1972. p. 21. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  20. ↑ Puneky, Claire (October 19, 1958). "Memories Haunt Bayou Area". The Times-Picayune. p. 11. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
  21. ↑ Darby, William; Homann, Johann Baptist (1816). A geographical description of the state of Louisiana ... with an account of the character and manners of the inhabitants. Being an accompaniment to the map of Louisiana. Philadelphia: J. Bioren, Printer. p. 326.

Sources

Further reading

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