My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM P. HOPKINS, General Manager of and principal stockholder in the Slatington Rolling Mill Company, was for twenty-five years General Superintendent of the Catasauqua Rolling Mills. He has the largest experience in this branch of business of any man in the country,and under his supervision the company turns out the finest grades of iron, such as boiler-rivet, stay-bolt, horseshoe, carriage-drop, forging and angle iron, etc.

Our subject was born in South Wales, near Neath, in Glamorganshire, March 24, 1832. His father, John Hopkins, was also born in the Vale of Neath, in South Wales, where he was engaged as a farmer. He died when our subject was quite young. His wife, Mrs. Anna (Powell) Hopkins, was also a native of that part of Wales, and departed this life after having reared six children, four of whom are living. William P., of this sketch, was reared in Monmouthshire until reaching his eighteenth year, and from eight years of age has spent his life in the rolling-mills.

Three years prior to attaining his. majority he went to Staffordshire, and afterward, in Workington, made the first sheet of tin ever manufactured out of puddled steel. For this he received a watch from his employer with this inscription: “Presented to William Hopkins for meritorious services, by James Spence, Workington, January 1, 1859.” In 1860 he emigrated to America on the sailing-vessel “Middlesex,” which consumed thirty-nine days in crossing the Atlantic. On landing on American shores Mr. Hopkins immediately went to Conshohocken, and for four years worked in the sheet-iron mills of the Allen Wood Company.

During the late war our subject enlisted, June 29, 1863, in Company F, Forty-third Pennsylvania Militia, and with his company was sent to join the Army of the Potomac. While away from home two of his children died, and although he did not receive word in time to reach home before they were buried, he obtained an honorable discharge, through the kindness of Governor Curtin, and returned August 13, 1863. After his discharge he resumed work with his former employer, and in April of the following year came to Catasauqua, where for a quarter of a century he was General Superintendent of the rolling-mills and had the honor of manufacturing the first plate and the first sheet ever rolled in the Lehigh Valley. In the spring of 1866, after having been appointed Superintendent, the company leased the mills in Ferndale, which they later purchased, and he was made General Superintendent of the two places.

In 1882 Mr. Hopkins built the large rolling-mill in Fullerton, of which he became Superintendent, and which under his management has greatly prospered. Since that time, however, he has been interested in the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company, in which he is one of the heavy stockholders, having been presented with his first share by the company. In February, 1890, he resigned in order to organize the Slatington Rolling Mills, which were built in that place, and which have a capital of $70,000. Walter Williams is President of the concern; S. DeLong, of Slatington, Secretary and Treasurer; and Edward Edwards Business Manager.

Our subject superintended the erection of all the machinery in the rolling-mill, whose capacity is one hundred and fifty tons of iron per week. They have nine furnaces and give employment to one hundred and thirty men. Mr. Hopkins is one of the most practical and thoroughly-posted men in iron-work in the United States, his experience being the result of fifty-four years spent in his own line of work. On his resignation from his employment at the rolling-mills he was presented with a gold-headed ebony cane and a valuable gold medal, and received from the same company in 1869 an elegant gold watch. Mr. Hopkins invented the water-shield for the cooling of the front of furnaces, for which, however, he has never applied for a patent. He was at one time a third owner of the Union Foundry and Machine Company, with which he remained for twenty-one years.

Our subject was married in Wales, in 1855, to Miss Eliza Thomas, who was also a native of that place, and the daughter of Thomas Thomas, a tailor by trade. Mrs. Hopkins departed this life in 1888, leaving a family of five children, namely: John W., Burgess during 1889-90; Louis P., engaged in business with his father; Winefred and Elizabeth, at home; and Samuel D., M. D., a practicing physician in Denver, Colo. The family occupy a beautiful residence on Front Street and are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Hopkins is a stanch Republican in politics, and enjoys a wide reputation among iron merchants all over the United States as one of the leading manufacturers.