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Hopkins (JOHNS an American)

JOHNS, an American philanthropist; born in Anne Arundel co., Md., May 19, 1795. His parents, Quakers, gave him a fair education and the training of a farmer. At the age of 17, however, he went to Baltimore, there became a grocer, and in 1822 founded the house of Hopkins and Brothers.

From the grocer's business he retired in 1847 with a large fortune, which he employed in banking and railway operations. In 1873 he gave property worth $4,500,000 to found a free hospital; he presented Baltimore with a public park, and he also gave over $3,000,000 to found the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

He died Dec. 24, 1873.