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Johns Hopkins Biography

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HOPKINS, Johns (1795–1873). An American financier and philanthropist. He was born of Quaker parentage in Anne Arundel Co., Md., where he lived on a farm until he was 17, when he went to Baltimore and worked for a time in his uncle's grocery. Afterward he became a merchant, with wide connections in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. His credit and counsel were highly valued in financial and mercantile affairs, and he became one of the leading financial men in Baltimore. His services to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were of great value. Towards the end of his life, having no children, he determined to devote his fortune to the service of the public. Accordingly he founded and endowed two great institutions which perpetuate his name—Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Johns Hopkins Medical School, founded in 1893, is part of the university and closely allied with the hospital. The total gift for these two purposes was more than $7,000,000.