HOPKINS, Stephen, a Delegate from Rhode Island; born in Providence, R.I., March 7, 1707; attended the public schools; was raised on a farm in the town of Scituate, Providence County; member of the general assembly 1732-1752 and 1770-1775; served as speaker 1738-1744 and 1749; chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1739; moved to Providence in 1742 and engaged in surveying and mercantile pursuits; chief justice of the superior court 1751-1754; delegate to the Colonial Congress which met in Albany in 1754; Colonial Governor of Rhode Island in 1755, 1756, 1758-1761, 1763, 1764, and 1767; again appointed chief justice of the superior court in 1773; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; died in Providence, R.I., July 13, 1785; interment in the North Burial Ground.