Menra Hopewell (1821–81) was a United States physician and author. He was best known as the author of a biography of

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

, and co-author of a biographical history of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

but these have fallen from favour and he is most notable for the mixture of fiction and distorted facts that he published as ''Legends of the Missouri''. According to the New York City Directory for 1857–58 he was a physician at 204 Monroe Street. Early in 1858 he moved to Missouri, and his ''Legends of the Missouri'' series of articles appeared anonymously in the ''Missouri Republican'' from April 12, 1858. The St. Louis City Directory shows him practicing as a physician at 290 Chestnut Street, in 1859 and 1860. ''Edward's Great West And Her Commercial Metropolis, Embracing A General View of the West, And A Complete History of St. Louis, From The Landing of Ligueste, In 1764, To The Present Time'' was a history of St. Louis containing portraits and biographies of some of the old settlers, and many of the most prominent business men. Hopewell collaborated with the eponymous Richard Edwards on this work. Edwards was the publisher of the magazine ''Edwards Monthly'' and the book was published out of his offices. Soon after he emigrated to England. His daughter, Margaret, was born in Kent in 1862. She was living with him at 79 Lansdown Road, Croydon when he died, aged 60, in the second quarter of 1881.Civil Death Index: Croydon, 2a, 143

Bibliography

*'Legends of the Missouri' series, ''Missouri Republican'' (1859) *''Report of the Annual Fair of St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association 1859'' (St. Louis, 1859) *with Richard Edwards, ''The Great West and Her Commercial Metropolis'' (St. Louis: Trubner, 1860) *''Report of the Annual Fair of St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association 1860'' (St. Louis, 1860) *''History of the Missouri Volunteer Militia'' (St. Louis: 1861) *''Report of the Annual Fair of St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association 1861'' (St. Louis, 1861) *''Legends of the Missouri and Mississippi'' in three booklets (London: Beadle & Adams, 1862-3) *''Legends of the Missouri and Mississippi'' (London: Ward Locke & Taylor, 1874)

Notes

References

Johanssen, Albert. 'Menra Hopewell, MD', ''The House of Beadle & Adams'' (University of Oklahoma)
Retrieved June 15, 2005. *Edwards, Richard; Hopewell, Menra. ''Edward's Great West And Her Commercial Metropolis, Embracing A General View of the West, And A Complete History of St. Louis, From The Landing of Ligueste, In 1764, To The Present Time'' (St. Louis: Trubner, 1860) *Sampson, F. A. ''A Bibliography of Missouri Authors'', (Sedalia, Missouri, 1901) 22 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopewell, Menra 1821 births 1881 deaths American biographers American male biographers Writers from St. Louis