Francis Hopkinson was born on September 21st, 1737 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  His father was Thomas Hopkinson, who was born in England, in 1709 and educated there. Thomas, while still in England, wedded Mary Johnson the cousin of the Bishop of Worcester. Following the marriage, the Hopkinson’s moved to Philadelphia, that city becoming their life-long home. Thomas Hopkinson was an intimate friend of Benjamin Franklin and was instrumental in Mr. Franklin’s discoveries regarding electricity. Thomas would help to establish the Philadelphia Library, and would be a trustee of the newest college in that city.

It was from this noted and intelligent family that Francis proceeded through childhood with uneventful days, clearly living a good Christian life ordered by his mother; many of his letters to her contained references to God, prayer, family and friends. It is evident that young Francis was greatly influenced by his parents’ wit and their bright and clever minds; inheriting from his father a curious and insightful intellect with a penchant for mechanics, mathematics and chemistry; from his mother, taste and skill in music and poetry with industry to accomplish in all.

On the first Monday of January of 1751 the College of Philadelphia (formally known as the Academy of Philadelphia) opened its doors and Francis Hopkinson became the schools’ first student. By that autumn, he had gained the heart of the Rector and Latin instructor, David Martin. On November 5th of 1751 the death of Francis’ father, Thomas Hopkinson, had to be a hard blow upon the young man and the entire family. The strength, ingenuity and love, known so well of Thomas Hopkinson, would have to be something passed on, as a special treasure for a large family. However, what was left behind monetarily was small.

By July of 1753 Francis had obviously developed into an excellent writer and orator, for he was afforded the privilege of speaking at the special “charter ceremonies” celebrating the official establishment of the College, on the 13th of that month. On that August day, at the age of just sixteen years, Francis had this to say about our nation and education: “Upon the whole then, it appears, that whether the Design be to preserve a good Constitution civil and religious, and transmit its Spirit, uncorrupted, down thro' the Ages; or whether the Design be to mend a bad One, and secure it against all Dangers from without, it is only to be done effectually by the slow, but sure Means of a proper Education of Youth.” In 1754 while at college, Francis began his study of the Harpsichord. On May 17th, 1757 Francis graduated from the College of Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

Francis Hopkinson chose law as his field of endeavor; studying in the office of Benjamin Chew (Chew was the Attorney General for Pennsylvania). Francis remained with Mr. Chew for quite a few years and in 1761, he became an attorney in Pennsylvania. That same year Mr. Hopkinson served as secretary to an Indian commission made up of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Benjamin Chew of the Provincial Council, who went to Easton, on the banks of the Lehigh, and made a treaty with the, Onandagoes, Cayugas, Oneidas, Mohickons, Nanticokes, Delawares, Tutiloes, and Conoys tribes. Francis commemorated his experience on that commission in his poem “The Treaty; a Poem”, which he penned, while on said commission, in his leisure hours upon the banks of the Lehigh River.

 

In November of 1763, the Surveyor General appointed Francis to be the Collector of the King's Customs at the Port of Salem, in New Jersey. Mr. Hopkinson was ever busy, when not working he spent much of his spare time in service to the Philadelphia Library as secretary from 1759 through 1766 and as Librarian for just a littler more than a year from 1764 to 1765, in his service to God, he taught the children music and Psalms and was appointed church-secretary at Christ Church in 1763. In 1766 Mr. Hopkinson continuing his good work at Christ Church in Philadelphia, along with Edward Duffield took over the responsibilities of overseeing and testing the education of black students both free and slave (William Sturgeon was the originator of the program); the boys were taught the catechism and to read while the girls were instructed in the catechism, reading, sewing, knitting and marking.

 

Francis Hopkinson, as early as December of 1765 was debating a trip to England for he wrote to Benjamin Franklin: “I have finished the Translation of the Psalms of David, to the great Satisfaction of the Dutch Congregation at New York, & they have paid me £145 their Currency which I intend to keep as a Body Reserve in Case I should go to England.” Finally, on May 22, 1766, he went on board the 'Hayfield' a ship owned by Mr. Redmond Conyngham, (a friend of the family, who was about to return to England), having offered Hopkinson passage.

He met his relatives (the Bishop of Worcester, in particular), and although he had spent his year in a very pleasant England, he must have been significantly disappointed with the results of his visit. Doubtless he had gone with bright hopes of acquiring an important position with the government; he returned without any appointment and apparently without any probability of receiving one.

As he had left, so he returned. He still lived with his mother, and he had yet to embark into any material business. In London, he most likely had studied art under Benjamin West. Francis, no doubt, improved his musical education, but neither music nor art was a consideration as a profession. While Mr. Hopkinson was abroad, his literary work remained for all practical purposes at a standstill; producing nothing but insignificant verses, which complimented fair ladies and praised his benefactors. In one way, however, his experience had been of enormous gain to him; finding that he could not depend upon the patronage of friends and family for his advancement in life, Francis realized the inevitability of beginning immediately at hard work to fashion a career. Francis Hopkinson stayed but a year in England, leaving for America on August 1, 1767 and arriving on October 23, 1767.

Upon his return, he set up shop as a retail merchant offering such imported items as, linen, cotton, silk, and woolen fabrics, itemized as follows: "humhums," "bed-bunts," and "oznabrigs"; "table carpets cunningly dyed"; "a variety of silks, consisting of padusoys, ducapes, mantuas, taffeties and Persians," and as well, he made available, choice Port wine. Surely, this new business (which brought him in £1500 in just four months) added to his conveyancing (the branch of law practice which consists of examining titles, checking as to their validity, drawing of deeds, for the conveyance of property from one person to another) enterprise Mr. Hopkinson was indeed reaping the benefits of his recent trip abroad and his new found career strategy of hard work.

It was with this increase of confidence that Francis met and fell deeply in love with Ms. Ann Borden of Bordentown, New Jersey. Joseph Borden grandfather of Ann was a man of considerable wealth and influence; upon his passing, he left his property, his numerous businesses, and accumulated monies to his son, Joseph, who was the father of Ann Borden, his second daughter.  Ann was considered to be an amiable, accomplished, and beautiful girl. On Thursday, September 1, 1768 Mr. Francis Hopkinson and Ms. Ann Borden were wed. They had five children, their sons Joseph and Francis, and their daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Ann.

Though Francis was now a successful businessman, a new father, he still had the yearning for public service. During the next three and a half years he did not give up his pursuit of a government appointment and finally, on May 1, 1772, Hopkinson was given the position of Collector of his Majesty's Customs for the Port of New Castle upon Delaware. This added to his already growing wealth, to the extent that he could purchase one thousand and sixty acres of land known as Putney Common, from John Penn, in October of 1772.

By early 1774 Francis and family moved to Bordentown, New Jersey, most likely for the political opportunities that the area afforded; his father-in-law being a man of substantial influence and his friend William Franklin. There, across the street from his father-in-law, Joseph Borden, he built his house, which was referred to as a mansion.  There in the new home, Francis continued his writing, and his musical pursuits, refining his abilities; such was the grace with which Francis played the spinet that Bordentown residents would congregate near his windows to listen in rapt attention to his skilful fingers rendering those familiar songs and Psalms. 

Clearly, his musical acumen enraptured many hearts and minds, and his writing accomplishing the same. Mr. Hopkinson’s first pamphlet of any renown was “A Pretty Story” which was a political allegory. In September, 1774, which was about the same time the First Continental Congress convened, he published his pamphlet with the full title of: A PRETTY STORY, written in the YEAR OF OUR LORD 1774.  By PETER GRIEVOUS, Esq., A.B.C.D.E. The tale was a history of the events that provoked that important Congressional assembly. The story’s Preface is so cheerful and charming in tenor that the reader would never suspect the solemn purpose of the author.

In his work “On Mottos” Hopkinson revealed himself a man well studied in the Bible; having a clear vision of Scriptural authority, and seeing the human interference and misinterpretation of the Bible. He further demonstrated his knowledge of God’s Word in his piece entitled, “On Adversity”, by writing, “When we find that the pleasures of the world cannot give solid, permanent satisfaction-cannot gratify all our desires, we are induced to turn to that only Being who is the source of true felicity, and in whom alone there is fullness of joy. In the time of distress, we feel and know what we only had, perhaps, a transient idea of before, that the Christian graces and virtues are the only true sources of happiness.” Mr. Hopkinson further wrote in “On Adversity” that, “Thus it is that the calamities of life may become real blessings, if a right use be made of them. If the smiles of prosperity do not fill the soul with gratitude, love and religious joy; they will produce arrogance, self-sufficiency and pride: if pain, distress, and disappointment, the loss of those we love, and injuries from those who love not us, no not wean the hear from too strong an attachment to the transitory pleasures of life, and direct our views to better hopes; they will either plunge us in the giddy eddies of vicious enjoyments, to drown every painful sensibility, or will throw the mind into a wicked despondency, and occasion profane murmurings against the Author of our existence, or fix us in a gross and sinful infidelity.”

It seems that Francis Hopkinson thought much on varied topics, as seen in the following from his article for the Pennsylvania Packet: “Few men at first see the danger of littler changes in fundamentals; and those who design them usually act with such craft, as, besides giving specious reasons, they take great care that the true reason shall not appear. Every design, therefore, of changing the constitution, ought to be most warily observed, and strictly opposed.

On June 21, 1776, Francis Hopkinson was chosen as one of the delegates to Congress. On Friday, June 28, Francis, accompanied by Richard Stockton and Dr. Witherspoon, appeared in the Continental Congress and presented the credentials of the New Jersey delegation. During this time Francis in earnest, battled the enemy, complacency and apathy with weapons made of words. Such works as “a Prophecy,” “Battle of the Kegs,” and “a Political Catechism.”

Francis Hopkinson signed the Declaration of Independence, and soon after was appointed Judge of Admiralty, for Pennsylvania. When the Constitution was put before the people, Francis gave his full support, with both his voice and his pen. In 1790 President George Washington appointed Mr. Hopkinson judge of the United States court, for the district of Pennsylvania. He did not hold the position long, for he died on May 9, 1791.

Upon his passing, his mother Mary Hopkinson wrote "My Dear Son Francis Hopkinson departed this life May the 9th 1791. O my God grant that he and all that I have lost may be happy in the arms of thy Redeeming Love." Following the custom of the times, Ann, Hopkinson's wife, prepared a mourning brooch which she made to commemorate her bereavement. A lock of Hopkinson's hair is contained on this brooch, with these engraved words: "Francis Hopkinson Departed this Life 9th of May 1791. Forgive the wish that would have kept you here." Dr. Benjamin Rush penned that “He had been subject to frequent attacks of the gout in his head, but for some time before his death, he had enjoyed a considerable respite from them. On Sunday evening, May the 8th, he was somewhat indisposed, and passed a restless night after he went to bed. He rose on Monday morning at his usual hour, and breakfasted with his family. At seven o'clock he was seized with an apoplectic fit, which in two hours put a period to his existence, in the 53d year of his age.” Mr. Hopkinson was buried in the Christ Church Cemetery.

Francis Hopkinson was never known to use a profane word; such was his Christianity and refinement that it was never recounted that he said anything that would have caused a lady to blush. He was quite versatile in his talents, being proficient in mechanics, chemistry, mathematics, music and writing. Beloved son, adoring husband, loving father, a flawed but dependable and service minded Christian, patriot to a young nation; truly, a Founding Father of this country was Francis Hopkinson.

Resources used for this biography of Francis Hopkinson:

·       The Life and Works of Francis Hopkinson by George Everett Hastings, 1926

·       The Lives of the Presidents of the United States with Biographical Notice of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Robert W. Lincoln, 1850

·       The Lives of Celebrated Americans: Comprising Biographies of Three Hundred and Forty Eminent Persons by Benson J. Lossing, 1869

·       The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased by Henry Simpson, 1859

·       Cyclopedia of American Literature by Evert A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck, 1856

·       Heralds of American Literature by Annie Russell Marble, 1907

·       The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of Francis Hopkinson, 1792

·       Christ Church, Philadelphia: The Nation’s Church in a Changing City by Deborah Mathias Gough, 1995