Hopkins & Bros., 1838–1964

A Guide to the Hopkins & Bros., Onancock, Va., Records, 1838-1964
Call Number Mss3H7777a


Abstract

Main Entry:Hopkins & Bros., Onancock, Va.
Title: Records, 1838-1964
Size:454 items
Scope Note:

Includes correspondence, accounts, day books, ledgers, cash books, invoice books, inventory books, money letterbooks, and freight books concerning the general merchandise operations (i.e., hardware, lumber, fertilizer, and grain) of Hopkins & Bro. and Stephen Hopkins & Son, Onancock, Va., and T. S. Hopkins & Company, Tasley, Va.

Also, includes the log, 1839, of the ship, "Patrick Henry"; barrel books, 1879-1921, and day book, 1904-1907, of the Eastern Shore Barrel Company, Onancock, Va.; and an account book, 1915-1921, of Thomas S. Hopkins concerning the estate of John Parker Lee Hopkins.

Provenance:Gift of Addison Finney Hopkins, Onancock, Va., in 1966 and 1967.
Restrictions:None.

Collection Description

On January 1, 1842, Captain Stephen Hopkins (1793?-1868) opened a store, wharf and warehouse in Onancock, Va. Operating first under the name Stephen Hopkins & Son and later as Hopkins & Bro., the store was a center for commercial activity on the Eastern Shore for 125 years, run successively by William H. A. Hopkins and John P. L. Hopkins, Edward W. Hopkins, Robert S. Hopkins, William S. Hopkins, Thomas S. Hopkins, and Addison F. Hopkins.

The store was located on Onancock Creek, one of the two deep water creeks on the Eastern Shore. At first the store’s chief business was to purchase and transport by water grains and other agricultural products grown on the Eastern Shore to the ports of Baltimore, New York, and Charleston, and to import for sale the necessities of daily life not locally available. Also available for purchase were coal and other fuels, fertilizers, hardware and agricultural tools. In addition, the company loaned money and served as the community’s first bank. The company owned its own fleet of cargo ships until it signed an agreement with the Eastern Shore Steamboat Company in 1878, leasing the wharf to and serving as an agent of the steamboat company and its successor, the Baltimore and Virginia Steamboat Company, until service was discontinued in 1935.

Also included are records of T. S. Hopkins & Co., a branch store established in Tasley, Va., by Thomas S. Hopkins (1866?-1942), grandson of Stephen Hopkins; and of the Eastern Shore Barrel Company, 1879-1921. The Tasley store was dissolved ca. 1923.

Hopkins & Bro. ceased operation in 1966, and with the death in 1970 of the last owner of the property, it was given to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The company’s records were in turn given to the Virginia Historical Society for preservation.


Guide

The records of Hopkins & Bro. begin with correspondence, 1858-1948 (40 items) and loose accounts, 1852-1950 (64 items). However, the bulk of the collection consists of account books as follows:

Day books:

  • n.d.
  • 1870-1871
  • 1876
  • 1877-1879
  • 1879
  • 1879-1881
  • 1881-1882
  • 1881-1883
  • 1882-1883
  • 1883-1884
  • 1884-1886
  • 1886-1888
  • 1888
  • 1888-1889
  • 1889
  • 1889-1890
  • 1890-1891
  • 1891-1893
  • 1894-1895
  • 1895-1897
  • 1897-1898
  • 1898-1900
  • 1900-1902
  • 1900-1906
  • 1902-1903
  • 1903-1904
  • 1903-1906
  • 1904-1905
  • 1906-1907
  • 1907-1909
  • 1907-1911
  • 1909-1911
  • 1911-1913
  • 1912-1916
  • 1913-1914
  • 1914-1916
  • 1916-1918
  • 1916-1922
  • 1917-1922
  • 1918-1920
  • 1920-1922
  • 1920-1922
  • 1922-1923
  • 1923-1925
  • 1923-1933
  • 1925-1927
  • 1927-1928
  • 1928-1930
  • 1930-1931
  • 1931-1934
  • 1934-1936
  • 1934-1945
  • 1936-1939
  • 1939-1940
  • 1940-1942
  • 1942-1945
  • 1945-1947
  • 1947-1949
  • 1949-1952
  • 1952-1953
  • 1953-1955
  • 1955-1957
  • 1957-1959
  • 1959-1961
  • 1961-1964

Cash books:

  • 1881-1889
  • 1888-1889
  • 1889-1899
  • 1895-1897
  • 1897-1899
  • 1900
  • 1902-1903
  • 1903-1906
  • 1906-1908
  • 1906-1909
  • 1908-1912
  • 1909-1911
  • 1911-1914
  • 1913-1915
  • 1914-1916
  • 1916-1919
  • 1916-1922
  • 1916-1923
  • 1919-1921
  • 1921-1924
  • 1924-1927
  • 1927-1929
  • 1929-1932
  • 1932-1935
  • 1935-1938
  • 1938-1940
  • 1940-1941
  • 1945-1955

Ledger books:

  • n.d. (1 of 2)
  • n.d. (2 of 2)
  • 1862-1863
  • 1864-1877
  • 1867-1875 (includes Cash book)
  • 1868-1869
  • 1870-1871
  • 1871-1872
  • 1871-1873
  • 1872-1878
  • 1872-1875
  • 1873-1876
  • 1874-1877
  • 1874-1886
  • 1875
  • 1875-1877
  • 1875-1882
  • 1877
  • 1878-1881
  • 1879
  • 1879-1880
  • 1879-1913
  • 1882-1884
  • 1884-1885
  • 1886
  • 1888
  • 1889-1893
  • 1893-1896
  • 1897-1903
  • 1900
  • 1903-1905
  • 1905-1907
  • 1906-1910
  • 1906-1911
  • 1908-1911
  • 1912-1913
  • 1920-1921
  • 1936-1937

Invoice books:

  • 1872-1873
  • 1873-1876
  • 1882-1884
  • 1884-1887
  • 1887-1889
  • 1891-1893
  • 1893-1896
  • 1896-1897
  • 1897-1899
  • 1900-1903
  • 1904-1906
  • 1907-1909

Money letterbooks:

  • 1854-1864
  • 1866-1870
  • 1870-1871
  • 1872-1874
  • 1874-1876
  • 1876-1893
  • 1878-1879
  • 1879-1880
  • 1880-1881
  • 1881
  • 1881-1882
  • 1882-1883
  • 1883
  • 1883-1884
  • 1884-1885
  • 1885-1886
  • 1886-1887
  • 1887
  • 1887-1889
  • 1889
  • 1889-1893
  • 1890
  • 1890-1893
  • 1893
  • 1893-1894
  • 1893-1908
  • 1895-1896
  • 1896-1898
  • 1898-1900
  • 1901-1912

Accounts receivable book, 1937-1944

Accounts payable books:

  • 1890-1895
  • 1896-1899
  • 1900-1904
  • 1905-1911
  • 1912-1920
  • 1920-1930
  • 1930-1942

Notes due books:

  • 1859-1860
  • 1866-1870
  • 1870-1881
  • 1871-1878
  • 1873-1879
  • 1876-1893
  • 1912-1913
  • 1915-1926

Inventory books:

  • n.d. (1 of 4)
  • n.d. (2 of 4)
  • n.d. (3 of 4)
  • n.d. (4 of 4)
  • 1861
  • 1861-1862
  • 1866-1872
  • 1875
  • 1875-1876
  • 1878-1879
  • 1879-1884
  • 1881-1882
  • 1891-1895
  • 1900-1903
  • 1905
  • 1918
  • 1919
  • 1920
  • 1926
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1933
  • 1934
  • 1935
  • 1936
  • 1937
  • 1938
  • 1939
  • 1940
  • 1941
  • 1943
  • 1944
  • 1945

Fertilizer books:

  • 1924-1932
  • 1931-1933
  • 1933-1937
  • 1936-1937
  • 1938
  • 1939
  • 1940
  • 1941
  • 1942 (1 of 3)
  • 1942 (2 of 3)
  • 1942 (3 of 3)
  • 1943
  • 1944-1948
  • 1946-1950

Guano books:

  • 1875 February 25-March 15
  • 1875 March 17-March 27
  • 1880
  • 1887
  • 1888
  • 1889
  • 1890

Beer book, 1880-1884

Beer & Pop book, 1884-1885

Beer book, 1884-1886

Ice books:

  • 1886-1890
  • 1890-1893

Sweet Potato books:

  • n.d. (1 of 2)
  • n.d. (2 of 2)
  • 1865
  • 1872
  • 1876
  • 1877-1879
  • 1878
  • 1888
  • 1890-1895

Oil book, 1895-1904

Freight books:

  • 1838-1850 (includes log book, 1839, for the ship, “Patrick Henry”)
  • 1874
  • 1875-1878
  • 1877-1882
  • 1912-1929

Register of Interstate Shipments of Ardent Spirits, 1916-1917

Coal Delivery book, 1945

Truck Mileage & Hauling book, 1938

Farm Rental book, 1883-1896

Index books, n.d. (4 v.)

Stephen Hopkins & Son, Onancock, Va.

Day book, 1853-1869

Cash book, 1857-1863

Ledger books:

  • 1842-1849
  • 1848-1852
  • 1850-1855
  • 1852-1857
  • 1855-1857
  • 1855-1861
  • 1856-1860
  • 1857-1860
  • 1859
  • 1859-1863
  • 1859-1871
  • 1860-1862
  • 1861-1863
  • 1863-1866
  • 1866-1869
  • 1868-1873
  • 1869-1876

Notes due book, 1848-1867

Money letterbooks:

  • 1880-1884
  • 1884-1887
  • 1887-1889

Grain books:

  • 1850-1855
  • 1853-1862
  • 1863-1866
  • 1866-1873

Register of Wharf Rents and Freight Rates with Steamboat Companies, 1873-1928

T.S. Hopkins & Company, Tasley, Va.

Day books:

  • 1893-1894
  • 1898-1900
  • 1900-1901
  • 1902-1903
  • 1906-1908
  • 1908-1909
  • 1909-1910
  • 1910-1912
  • 1912-1913
  • 1913-1914
  • 1914-1915
  • 1915-1916
  • 1916-1917
  • 1917-1918
  • 1918-1919
  • 1919
  • 1919-1920
  • 1920
  • 1921
  • 1921-1922

Cash books:

  • 1910-1912
  • 1922-1915
  • 1914-1915
  • 1917-1918
  • 1918-1920
  • 1920-1923

Ledger books:

  • 1898-1902
  • 1901-1904
  • 1905-1907
  • 1908-1909
  • 1911-1912

Accounts Payable book, 1913-1923

Inventory books:

  • 1897
  • 1919-1921

Account book, 1915-1921, of Thomas S. Hopkins concerning the estate of John Parker Lee Hopkins (1830-1913).

Eastern Shore Barrel Company, Onancock, Va.

Day book, 1904-1907

Barrel books:

  • 1879-1880
  • 1913
  • 1913-1915
  • 1913-1916
  • 1916
  • 1916-1918
  • 1917-1919
  • 1919
  • 1919-1920
  • 1920-1921
  • 1921


Last updated: July 13, 2001