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.
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Samuel Hopkins letter, RLC.Ms.564, Redwood Library and Athenaeum.
This collection consists of one letter from Samuel Hopkins while away in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to his friend, Susanna Anthony, in Newport, Rhode Island, on April 24, 1770. In this letter, Hopkins describes how he misses Newport and should be back by the middle of May.
This collection is arranged in chronological order.
Gift of Helen Lanier, May 8, 1968
Prior to processing in 2014, this document was framed and found within the Steel Cabinet collection: Drawer 15. This document was removed from its frame on June 25, 2013.
The donor purchased this document from the Charles E. Feinberg sale at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York on April 2, 1968.