Isaac Hopkinson

Isaac Hopkinson (1862 to 1937) was an East Billerica farmer who served the town as a field driver around the turn of the century, as a member of the Bowers Fund Committee and, during the 1910s, as a water commissioner. The town's records give England as his birthplace. He married Mary A. Graham, who was born in Malden, and the directories from 1901 to 1916 place his farm on Salem Road near Baldwin Road in East Billerica; the town in those years kept a guide board "at Mr. Hopkinson's, leading to Wilmington and Silver Lake." He is named as a later owner of the Patten Homestead, the old Patten family farmhouse at 308 Salem Road, which remained with his daughter and son-in-law after him.

Like many farmers with teams, he did work for the town. From 1891 on the town reports pay him for "breaking out roads" and other snow work, and in 1915 the water department paid him for "teaming pipe at $1.25 per ton." Town meeting chose him a field driver, the officer responsible for impounding stray animals, with Freeman Smith, Martin Conway Jr. and John Murphy in the mid-1890s, and he was chosen each year until 1903. In 1909 he was put forward for the Bowers Fund Committee; after the meeting voted 22 to 2 to reconsider, James J. Campbell was given the five-year term and Hopkinson the unexpired term ending in 1910, and in 1911 he was chosen for five years. He appears on the town's jury lists as a farmer.

By 1914 he was one of the three water commissioners, with Edgar F. Twombly and Josiah C. Evans, and signed the board's annual report; in April of that year a spark from a locomotive set fire to brush on his land. He lost his seat in 1916 to Warren Holden, 299 votes to 248, and ran for the board again in most of the following years: in 1917 he lost to Frank L. Day, 321 to 265, in 1918 to John Franklin Roome, 281 to 196, in 1919 to Holden again, 318 to 272, in 1920 to Day, 403 to 293, and in 1922 to Holden, 744 to 436.

He died in Billerica on October 14, 1937, at the age of 75 years, 4 months and 26 days. His children included Raymond Frederick, born on January 7, 1890, who married Mina Cornelia Thoresen in 1915, worked on his father's farm, and was later one of the town's special police officers; Sara May, born on January 3, 1895; and Doris Evelyn, born on June 4, 1905, who graduated from Howe High School in 1921.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1895, town meeting: field drivers chosen, Freeman Smith, Isaac Hopkinson, Martin Conway Jr., John Murphy
2. Billerica Town Report 1895, births: Sara May Hopkinson, Jan. 3, daughter of Isaac and Mary A. (Graham), father a farmer born in England, mother born in Malden
3. Billerica Town Report 1896, guide boards: one at Mr. Hopkinsons, leading to Wilmington and Silver Lake
4. Billerica Town Report 1900, town meeting: Isaac Hopkinson among those chosen field drivers
5. Billerica Town Report 1909, town meeting: Isaac Hopkinson appointed to the Bowers Fund Committee for the unexpired term ending 1910
6. Billerica Town Report 1911, town meeting: Isaac Hopkinson chosen a member of the Bowers Fund Committee for five years
7. Billerica Town Report 1914, town officers: Water Commissioners Isaac Hopkinson, Josiah Evans, Edgar F. Twombley
8. Billerica Town Report 1914, fire department: April 22, brush land of I. Hopkinson, spark from locomotive
9. Billerica Town Report 1914, report of the Water Commissioners signed by Edgar F. Twombly, Isaac Hopkinson, Josiah C. Evans
10. Billerica Town Reports 1915-1919 volume: marriages 1915, July 30, Raymond F. Hopkinson and Mina Cornelia Thoresen
11. Billerica Town Reports 1915-1919 volume: water department payments, Isaac Hopkinson, teaming pipe at $1.25 per ton
12. Billerica Town Reports 1915-1919 volume, election of 1917: Water Commissioner (3 years), Frank L. Day 321, Isaac Hopkinson 265
13. Billerica Town Reports 1915-1919 volume, election of 1918: Water Commissioner, John Franklin Roome 281, Isaac Hopkinson 196
14. Billerica Town Reports 1920-1924 volume: Water Commissioner elections, Frank L. Day 403 to Isaac Hopkinson 293 (1920), Warren Holden 744 to 436 (1922); Doris Evelyn Hopkinson among the Howe High School graduates of 1921
15. Billerica Town Reports 1935-1939 volume, births previous to 1937 recorded in 1937: Raymond Frederick Hopkinson, Jan. 7, 1890, son of Isaac and Mary
16. Billerica Town Reports 1935-1939 volume, deaths 1937: Oct. 14, Isaac Hopkinson, aged 75 years 4 months 26 days