Hoppin

HOPPIN, AUGUSTUS (July 13,
I, 1896), illustrator, born in Providence, R. L,
was descended from Thomas Hoppin who came
to Massachusetts early in the history of that col-
ony, through his son Stephen, who married Han-
nah Makepeace in Boston in 1647. The son of
Thomas Coles Hoppin, a merchant engaged in
the China trade, and of Harriet D. (Jones) Hop-
pin, Augustus was one of the younger members
of a family of fourteen children, several of whom
became prominent. Among his first cousins were
William Warner Hoppin and James Mason Hop-
pin [qq.v.~\. He received his early education in
the schools of Providence, and entered Brown
University in the class of 1848. He then studied
at the Harvard Law School, 1848-50, and was
admitted to the bar of Rhode Island, but after a
short time devoted to the practice of his profes-
sion in Providence, he abandoned the law and
turned his attention to making illustrations. His
work in this line met with immediate success.
Early in the fifties his drawings began to appear
frequently in several periodicals, among them
Putnam's Magazine, the Illustrated American
News, Yankee Notions, and Yankee Doodle or
Young America. He also furnished illustrations
for several books of a satirical or humorous char-
acter, notably George William Curtis1 Potiphar
Papers (1853), Benjamin P. Shillaber's Life and
Sayings of Mrs. Partington (1854), William Al-
lenEutler's Nothing to Wear (1857), Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes's Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
(1858). An extensive tour in Europe and Egypt
in 1854 and 1855 provided material for several
entertaining books of travel with original illus-
trations by the author—Ups and Downs on Land
and Water (1871), Crossing the Atlantic (1872),
and On the Nile (1874). In addition to these
amusing sketches, his original publications in-
cluded a brochure entitled Carrot-Pomade, with
his own illustrations, published in 1864; an illus-
trated volume called Hay Fever (1873) ; ^ Fash-
ionable Sufferer (1883); an(i Two Compton
Boys (1885). He was also the author of an
anonymous romance, Married for Fun (1885).
He was one of the illustrators of an edition of
Washington Irving's Sketch Book which was
published in 1852, and illustrated an edition of
Old Grimes, published in Providence in 1867.
In 1870-71 he contributed some drawings to
Punchinello.

Something as to the character and quality of
Hoppin's drawings may be inferred from the
titles and subjects. His sarcastic vein was al-
ways in conformity with good taste and good
nature, never going beyond the bounds of amen-
ity. The humor was not of an extravagant sort,

Hoppin

and much of it might be called mild and obvious.
His draftsmanship was facile and expressive,
giving, with economy of line, characteristic form
and action. His illustrative work carried out
faithfully and often amplified the conceptions of
his authors, with more than ordinary sympathy
and understanding, while his light and signifi-
cant touch was peculiarly adapted to bring out
the humorous phases of the subject in hand. He
died at Flushing, L. L, in the sixty-eighth year
of his age.

[N. Y. Tribune, Apr. 3, 1896; F. Weitenkampf, Am.
Graphic Art (1912); C. E. Clement and Laurence Hut-
ton, Artists of the Nineteenth Century (1880) ; Repre-
sentative Men and Old Families of R. I. (1908), I, 10;
G. F. Jones, Family Record of the Jones Family of Mil-
ford, Mass, and Providence, R. L (1884) ; Hist. Cat.
Brown Univ. (1905); Quinquennial Cat. of the Law
School of Harvard Univ. (1920).] W H D

HOPPIN, JAMES MASON (Jan. 17, 1820-
Nov. 15, 1906), teacher of religion and of art,
was born in Providence, R. L, the youngest son
of Colonel Benjamin Hoppin and Esther Phil-
lips (Warner) Hoppin. His grandfather, Ben-
jamin Hoppin, served as a commissioned officer
in the Revolutionary Army. A brother, William
Warner Hoppin [q.vJ], graduated from Yale Col-
lege in 1828 and became governor of Rhode
Island; and a first cousin, Augustus Hoppin
[q.v.]f attained some note as an illustrator. James
Mason Hoppin prepared for Yale College and
took his degree with the class of 1840. He was
first attracted to law and received the degree of
bachelor of laws from the Harvard Law School
in 1842. More and more, however, he had found
himself drawn toward the ministry; and, turn-
ing aside from a calling in which he might have
had a brilliant career, he spent two years at the
Union Theological Seminary in New York City,
a third at Andover Seminary, and a fourth at
the University of Berlin. Here he won the es-
teem of his instructors, notably that of Professor
Neander. His account of some of his experi-
ences of this period was published as Notes of a
Theological Student (1854). His years of study
were followed by extensive travels, especially in
Germany, Palestine, and Greece. He was fasci-
nated by the realm of art but did not permit him-
self to be distracted from his main interest Re-
turning to America, he was ordained to the
Christian ministry, Mar. 27, 1850, and installed
as pastor of the Crombie Street Congregational
Church in Salem, Mass., which he served until
May 1859. On June 13, 1850, he married Mary
Deming Perkins, daughter of Charles and Cla-
rissa (Deming) Perkins of Litchfield, Conn,
Two sons were born to them. On leaving Salem,
Hoppin spent fifteen more happy months in Eu-
rope. In 1861 he returned to accept the chair of

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