Hopkins' life in Lower Canada differed greatly from the lives of her female counterparts in London, who were from wealthy English families. In London, these artists mostly led "quiet, uneventful lives largely within the limited precincts of the studio." Hopkins was able to live a more adventurous life in Canada. When she arrived at Lachine, the eastern station of the Montreal fur trade, with her husband and his sons, Hopkins began sketching and painting the environment that surrounded her new home without any delay. Some of her subjects included the Hopkins family's house and garden, which was on the shore of the St. Lawrence River, the house next door, the Lachine pier, and the nearby Dorval Island. The sketches she produced in her two years spent in Lachine were compiled into what is now known as the "Lachine Sketchbook" of 1858 to 1860, and the paintings she created in 1858 to 1859 are in the "Hopkins Album." In 1860, after the death of Sir George Simpson, Chief Factor Edward Hopkins was promoted to Superintendent of the Hudson's Bay Company's Montreal department, and as a result had to move his family from Lachine to the Côte-des-Neiges area of Montreal. By 1861 in Montreal, Hopkins had two sons of her own named Raymond and Wilfred, and had a daughter in 1863 named Olive. With three stepchildren and three of her own children to raise, a large home to maintain, and social obligations to tend to, she carried a large amount of responsibility, to which her husband Edward responded by hiring help to assist Hopkins with her domestic duties. Hopkins was active in Montreal's upper-class society. She was a prominent hostess to important English visitors who came on fur trade-related business, and had social ties with the patrons of the arts in Montreal, who at the time, were establishing art societies and building their own, individual art collections. She was involved in the social society of Lachine prior to her move to Montreal as well, which was exemplified by her presence at festivities that were held in honour of the Prince of Wales' visit to Canada in 1860. A local newspaper wrote about the festivities shortly after they took place, stating that there were only three women in attendance, and that two of them were Hopkins and her sister, Miss Beechey. Hopkins also took the opportunity to produce some sketches during the festivities, which she later developed into large watercolours at the request of the Prince of Wales (later known as King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) for hanging at Windsor Castle.