Sacramento County
Biographies
OWEN G. HOPKINS, A. M.
No life is more useful to a city or of greater service to the
commonwealth than that which, through forceful and unaided efforts,
rises out of obscurity, triumphs over
difficulties and emerges into usefulness through the narrow path of self-denial
and self-
reliance. Such in brief is the history of O. G.
Hopkins, a native Californian, whose early years were filled with privations
and
whose
unusual educational attainments are the result of his own determined
efforts. It is the good fortune of Sacramento
to
have attracted to its professional coterie
a man so eminently qualified to benefit civic enterprises by personal interest
and to
adorn the bar by his thorough
knowledge of jurisprudence. As city trustee,
to which office he was elected in 1907, he showed
a disposition to willingly serve the
people and also displayed the ability to bring that service to a successful
conclusion. By
education,
training and experience he is qualified for important work and successful
association with professional affairs.
Eldorado county
is the native locality of Mr. Hopkins and May 21, 1866, the date of his birth. The paternal genealogy shows a long line of
Welsh ancestors. His father, Griffith
Hopkins, was born in Wales
September 28, 1829, and at
the age of three years was brought to the United
States by his parents, who settled at Carbondale,
Pa.
The advantages of free-school education in the east aided him in the
preparation for life’s duties. During
1853 he became a resident of Coalport, Meigs county, Pa. The year 1855 found him joining the pioneers
of California, coming via Panama,
and from San Fran-cisco he went to Eldorado county and tried his luck
in the mines. Like the majority who
follow that occupation he had his good fortune and his ill luck, but he earned
a livelihood at the work, so he con-tinued for many years to give much attention to prospecting
and mining. Eventually, in 1886, he
retired from business and came to Sacramento,
where in 1900 his death occurred.
After having completed his studies of
the common schools O. G. Hopkins
came to Sacramento in 1884, without
money or friends, but with an abundance of hope and ambition. The first position offered was that of clerk
in John Riley’s grocery and there he worked for three months. Next for two months he worked for A. A. Van Voor-hies & Co., sadlery
manufacturers. During the ensuing two
months he worked for John Eitel, manufacturer of candy, and for a month was employed by Siller
Bros., constructors and builders. With
them he gained his first knowledge of carpentering and in order to com-plete the trade he entered the employ of J. H. Moon, a
building con-tractor, with whom he continued for two and one-half years. On starting out to work for wages he secured
employment as a bench hand with the Telegraph Planing
Mill Company and there he re-mained for three
years. These various positions had
brought him enough to pay for his board and clothing, but had enabled him to
save up little for other expenses, and always he had been ambitious to secure
an education beyond that of the public schools.
With that purpose in view he entered the Atkinson
Business College
and studied for three months.
With only $35 in his pocket as his total capital, Mr.
Hopkins left Sacramento for San
Jose and entered the preparatory department of the
University of the Pacific. By working
for others during his leisure hours he was able to pay his expenses for the one
year of his study in the institution, and he adopted a similar course in order
to earn his way through Stanford University. When he was gradu-ated
from that institution in 1895, the pioneer class with the degree of A. B., it
was with the satisfaction of knowing that his unaided efforts had given him a
splendid education and yet left him without debt. After his graduation he remained at Stanford
for one year in order to complete the course of law. In 1896 he received the degree of A. M. from
his alma mater. Upon returning to Sacramento
he began the practice of law, which he has continued on a growing scale up to
the present. Besides his professional
work he has served as a director in the Fort Sutter Bank and as a director of
the Roseville Banking & Trust Co., at Roseville,
Placer county.
The marriage of Mr. Hopkins and Miss Jennie S. DeMerritt took place in Sacramento
October 12, 1899, and has
been blessed with two children. The
daughter, Evelyn E., and the son, Marshall G., are both students in the Sacramento
schools. The family
are communicants of the Congregational Church and contributed to the
missionary and benevolent measures under the auspices of the denomination. The Republican party
has received the support of Mr. Hopkins ever since he attained his majority,
and in 1912 was nominated at the primary for State senator of the Seventh
district, embracing Sacramento
county. Various fraternities have had
the benefit of his active cooperation.
In the Independent Order of Foresters he is officiating as past high
chief ranger of
the High Court of California, an office which he has filled for the past six
years. A believer in the splendid
principles for which Masonry stands, he has been staunch in his association
with its lodge at Sacramento, being
a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is a member of Islam
Temple, N. M. S., of San
Francisco.
Other fraternal connections include membership in the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, Knights of Pythias, Loyal Order of Moose and Improved Order of Red Men.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis, William
L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 491-493. Historic Record Company,
Los
Angeles,
CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sally Kaleta.