Los Angeles County
Biographies
HARRY C.
HOPKINS
Although
he has practiced in San Diego for a comparatively short time, H. C. Hopkins is
well known in legal circles of southern California, for previous to locating
here he had won prestige in his profession as a member of the bar of Los
Angeles, in which city he maintained a law office for fifteen years. He was
born in Atlanta, Georgia, March 28, 1878, a son of
D. R. and Kate (Mitchell) Hopkins, who were also natives of that state, and
both are now deceased.
As
a youth he went to New Orleans,
making the long journey on foot. For three and a half years he served on an
old-time merchant vessel, which called at the leading ports of the world, and
during this period he was intensely interested in mathematics, geography and
history. He returned to his native land in 1894. For a time he was a student in
Baylor University
at Waco, Texas.
For three years he was in the military service of his country, participating in
the Spanish-American war, in the operations against the Boxers in China, and in the campaign in the Philippines.
On
resuming the status of a civilian Mr. Hopkins came to San
Diego but after a time went east to take up the study of law in New York University,
which awarded him the LL.B. degree in 1906, and a year later he received the
same degree from Indiana University at Bloomington.
In 1907 he returned to San Diego and in the same
year was admitted to the California
bar. He spent four years in the district attorney’s office in San Diego and three years in the office of
the city attorney. In 1914 he removed to Los Angeles, joining its legal
fraternity, with which he was identified for a decade and a half, and was
regarded as one of the leading representatives of his profession in that city.
Since 1929 he has practiced continuously in San Diego with gratifying success, due to his
clear understanding of the basic principles of jurisprudence and his ability to
present his contention in the strongest possible light. In 1928 his legal
acumen received public recognition in his appointment as special counsel for
the harbor department of San Diego.
He is a member of the law firm of Clark & Hopkins, which maintains a suite
of offices in the Southern Trust & Savings building and has a large and
desirable clientele.
On
the 26th of June, 1907, Mr. Hopkins was married in La Fayette,
Indiana, to Miss Leota Jackson, a native of the
Hoosier state, and they have two children, Jack and Jean, aged respectively
seventeen and nine years. The son is attending high school and the daughter is
a grammar school pupil.
Mr.
Hopkins’ study of politics has led him to support the platform and candidates
of the republican party. He belongs to the California
Bar Association and conforms his practice to the
highest ethical standards of the profession. He has literary as well as legal
ability and is the author of a widely read volume entitled “History of San
Diego, its Pueblo
Lands and Water,” an
authoritative book on the subject.
Transcribed
2-18-12 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
119-120, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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