Arthur Francis Hopkins (October 18, 1794 – November 10, 1865) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1836 to 1837.

Biography

Born in

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

, Arthur Francis Hopkins was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1814. Two years later, he settled in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

, which was then

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the western half of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Mississippi. T ...

, to practice law. In 1819, he moved to Lawrence County and launched his public service career. He first as a member of the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1819 and then as his county's delegate to the State Senate (1822–24). After practicing law in Huntsville for several years, Hopkins was elected to the legislature in 1833 as a representative of Madison County. Hopkins was elected associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1836. In 1837, Governor

Hugh McVay Hugh McVay (April 29, 1766 – May 9, 1851) was the ninth governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from July 17 to November 30, 1837. He was born in South Carolina. Early career McVay moved to the Territory of Mississippi and represented Madis ...

chose him to succeed

Henry Hitchcock Henry Hitchcock (September 11, 1792 – August 11, 1839) was the first Attorney General of Alabama, having been elected by the Alabama General Assembly in December 1819 in its initial session. He was also the Secretary of the Alabama Territor ...

as chief justice. After serving nearly a year in that capacity, he resigned in June and resumed his law practice. He served as temporary chairman of the Whig National Convention in 1844. In 1845, Hopkins went to St. Louis for about a year, then returned to Alabama to settle in Mobile, where he established a successful law practice. He became president of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in 1855 and continued in that position for several years. Hopkins was married in 1815 to Pamela Mosely. After Pamela Hopkins's death, he remarried, to Juliet Opie, in 1854 until his own death. Mississippi librarian and suffragist Nannie Herndon Rice was Hopkins's great-granddaughter.

Death

Arthur Hopkins died on November 10, 1865, in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, aged 71.

References

, - 1794 births 1865 deaths Alabama lawyers Virginia lawyers People from Danville, Virginia Politicians from Huntsville, Alabama Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Lawyers from Huntsville, Alabama Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers {{Alabama-state-judge-stub