Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Hopkins, Roswell |
Date Born |
1757 |
Deceased |
1839 |
Spouse |
Roswell, Lydia Dewey |
Places of Residence |
Bennington, Vermont Vergennes, Vermont Hopkinton, New York |
Notes |
Roswell Hopkins (1757-1839) came to Bennington around 1778 and studied medicine with Dr. Jonas Fay. He served as a surgeon in his father's New York militia regiment in 1779 (stories of him participating in the Battle of Bennington appear apocryphal). After the Revolution he became the first apothecary in the State of Vermont. He married Lydia Dewey in 1780 and the couple had nine children before her death in 1816 (seven lived to adulthood). He kept a shop near the meeting house in what is now Old Bennington and sold dry goods as well as medicines. He was also active in politics. From 1778 to 1781 he was register of the probate court in Bennington County and he was Clerk of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1779 to 1788. He served Secretary of State from 1788 to 1801. The family moved to Vergennes in 1786 and in 1803 to St. Lawrence County, N.Y. where he founded the town of Hopkinton. |
