Representative Stephen Tyng Hopkins

Stephen Tyng Hopkins (March 25, 1849 – March 3, 1892) was a U.S. Representative from New York. A member of the Republican Party, he represented his state for one term in the Fiftieth Congress, contributing to the legislative process during a significant period in American history and participating in the democratic process on behalf of his constituents.

Hopkins was born in New York City on March 25, 1849. He attended the Anthon Grammar School, a well-regarded preparatory institution in the city, which provided him with a foundational education suited to business and public life. After completing his schooling, he entered commercial pursuits in New York, becoming an iron merchant and broker. His early professional activities placed him within the expanding industrial and commercial networks of the late nineteenth century.

In the course of his business career, Hopkins later moved to Catskill, New York. From this base he became connected with several coal and iron syndicates operating in West Virginia and Tennessee, reflecting both his entrepreneurial ambitions and the broader national development of the coal and iron industries during this era. In addition to his business endeavors, he served in the New York Militia and held the position of adjutant of the 86th Infantry Regiment, gaining organizational and leadership experience in a military context.

Hopkins married Mary Warner Munn in 1871. The couple had several children, including a son, Louis Davis Hopkins, born January 24, 1874, who later became a businessman in New York City. Mary Warner Munn Hopkins died on January 28, 1887, a loss that would later be associated by contemporaries with changes in Hopkins’s behavior and health. His family life and the inheritance left to his children later figured in public controversy surrounding his political activities.

A Republican, Hopkins entered elective office as a member of the New York State Assembly, representing Greene County in 1885 and 1886. In Albany he was identified with the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, which was known for its adherence to traditional party organization and patronage practices. During his Assembly service he was accused of using some of his children’s inheritance to buy legislators’ votes for Levi P. Morton in the 1887 election to succeed Warner Miller in the United States Senate, a charge that reflected the intense factional and patronage-driven politics of the period.

Hopkins was elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth Congress and served from March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1889, representing New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. His single term in Congress coincided with a period of significant national debate over economic policy, industrial regulation, and political reform. During his congressional term, observers reported that he was behaving erratically, and it was widely presumed that he was suffering from mental illness or drinking excessively, possibly in response to the recent death of his wife. Nevertheless, he fulfilled his formal responsibilities as a Representative, taking part in the legislative work of the House and representing the interests of his New York constituents.

After leaving Congress, Hopkins did not return to high elective office. From April to August 1890 he was employed as a watchman in the New York Custom House, a federal facility in New York City that oversaw customs and revenue collection. This position, modest in rank compared to his earlier congressional service, reflected a period of personal and professional decline amid ongoing struggles with alcoholism and financial reverses.

In early 1892 Hopkins sought medical treatment for alcoholism at a facility in White Plains, New York. After leaving treatment, he apparently traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey. On March 3, 1892, he was found dead by a train crew alongside the railroad tracks near Pleasantville, adjacent to Atlantic City. The circumstances of his death were unclear. Contemporary reports noted that his body did not appear to show signs of having fallen or been thrown from a train, and he had not been robbed, nor were there indications that he had been murdered. Observers therefore presumed that he had committed suicide, likely by poison or drug overdose, attributing his death to a combination of business reverses and alcoholism. Stephen Tyng Hopkins was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, closing a life that had encompassed commercial enterprise, state and national political service, and significant personal tragedy.