Hopkins, Mark

HOPKINS, ALBERT: American Congregationalist, brother of Mark Hopkins (q.v.); b. at Stockbridge, Mass., July 14, 1807; d. at Williamstown, Mass., May 24, 1872. He was graduated from Williams in 1826, was elected a tutor there in 1827, and professor of mathematics and natural science in 1829, and retained his professorship till his death. In 1838 he was licensed to preach, and for many years thereafter he was stated supply to churches in and around Williamstown. He was a corresponding fellow of the Royal Society, London, and contributed to its transactions. He is known chiefly as an astronomer. By his discoveries in this field he aided in establishing a high reputation for American scientists.

Bibliography: A. C. Sewall, Life of Prof. Albert Hopkins, New York, 1879.

HOPKINS, MARK: Congregationalist; b. at Stockbridge, Mass., Feb. 4, 1802; d. at Williamstown, Mass., June 17, 1887. He was educated at Williams College (B.A., 1824), where he was a tutor in 1825-27; he then studied medicine and was graduated from the Berkshire Medical School in 1829. He engaged in practise in New York City, but in 1830 accepted the professorship of moral philosophy and rhetoric in Williams College, a position which he held six years (1830-36). In 1836 he was chosen president of the same college, and for thirty-six years (1836-72) he exercised the duties of that office. In 1872 he resigned the presidency, and from that year until his death was professor of intellectual and moral philosophy, He was also pastor of the college church from 1836 to 1883, and in 1857 was elected president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. His fame as teacher, preacher, and philosopher was almost world-wide. President Garfield's remark expresses his significance: "A log cabin in Ohio, with a wooden bench in it, Mark Hopkins on one end and I on the other, would be college enough for me." He wrote Evidences of Christianity (Boston, 1846); Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses (1847); Leotures on Moral Science (1862); Baccalaureate Sermons and Occasional Discourses (1863); The Law of Love, and Love as a Law (a friendly controversy with President James MeCosh; New York, 1869); An Outline Study of Man (1873); Strength and Beauty (1874); and The Scriptural Idea of Man (1883).