General Hopkins is buried in a small cemetery on the site of his farm in Henderson County called "Spring Garden."

Following the Revolutionary War, he married Elizabeth Branch Bugg in Mecklenburg County. In 1788, he was chosen to represent Mecklenburg County at the Virginia Convention on Ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  Like many Virginians , he felt the proposed Constitution gave too much power to the federal government and that rights of the individuals should be more clearly defined. That convention appointed him as a member of a committee to write proposed amendments to the Constitution, which Virginia would recommend with her vote for ratification.  The Virginia Bill of Rights, written by this committee, was among those documents considered in the writing of the U.S. Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to our Constitution.

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The Transylvania Land Company, or Henderson Land Company which was founded by Colonel Richard Henderson of North Carolina, had originally made a treaty with Native Americans to purchase millions of acres in what is now Kentucky and Tennessee. Following the Revolutionary War, Virginia and North Carolina realized they needed these lands to repay their soldiers with land bounties. So they revoked Henderson’s treaty and offered Henderson a grant of several thousand acres lying between the Green and Ohio Rivers, located in Northwestern Kentucky.

 

In 1797, long after Colonel Henderson’s death, the surviving members of the Henderson Land Company hired Samuel Hopkins to represent them as their lawyer and agent in platting a city on the banks of the Ohio, then known as “Redbanks.” Hopkins and his surveyor, Captain Thomas Allin, came to Henderson in 1797.

 

They did an extraordinary job of laying out Henderson. Hopkins provided wide streets in the downtown area to help prevent the spread of fire across streets. He provided large areas of “green space” to the public domain, including the riverbank itself, and a large community park in the heart of the city on which now stands our Henderson County Courthouse and our central park. At its origins, this park contained a church that could be used by all denominations. Hopkins, himself often gave lessons of the Episcopal persuasion in this house of worship. It should be noted that these areas of public lands are still in use to this day as gathering sites for our community festivals and recreation, and our town is most fortunate to have such a well-planned downtown area in which to conduct our business and daily living.

 

Hopkins induced nearly all of his siblings and spouses to move to Kentucky with him and his family in 1798-1799. He settled his own family on several thousand acres east of town on an estate that he named “Spring Garden.” In addition, he continued to promote Henderson to “would-be” settlers and it was through his efforts that Henderson grew well in the early 1800s.

 

Hopkins served as the first judge of Henderson County, as a state legislator (1801-1806) and a state Senator (1809-1813), representing this area in Frankfort. He was instrumental in helping to create Hopkins County. He also served as a United States Representative from 1813-1815.

 

In the War of 1812, Hopkins was commissioned a Major General by President Madison and he led men against the warring Indian tribes in Indiana and Illinois.  His first foray, in October of 1812, did not go well and his men began to desert; a second campaign in November of 1812 resulted in the destruction of several Indian villages and the Indians later sued for peace.

 

Hopkins continued to serve his community and state until his death on September 16, 1819.  He left behind a legacy of descendants who have served our community well in all walks of life: judges, lawyers, community servants, educators, etc.  The settlers that he attracted to Henderson have formed the nucleus of leaders who truly established our community.