Gov. Stephen Hopkins b.7 Mar 1707 Providence, Providence, Rhode
Island d.13 Jul 1785 Providence, Providence, Rhode Island,
United States Facts and Events Stephen Hopkins (1707 – 1785) was
a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court,
and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. From a
prominent Rhode Island family, Hopkins was a grandson of William
Hopkins who served the colony for 40 years as Deputy, Assistant,
Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His great
grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, was an original settler of
Providence, sailing from England in 1635 with his first cousin,
Benedict Arnold, who became the first governor of the Rhode
Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663. As a child
Stephen Hopkins was a voracious reader, becoming a serious
student of the sciences, mathematics, and literature. He became
a surveyor and astronomer, and was involved in taking
measurements during the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun