Benjamin Franklin Hopkins

Benjamin Franklin Hopkins (April 22, 1829 – January 1, 1870) was an American politician and telegraph operator who represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives during the final three years of his life, from 1867 to 1870. He was born in Granville, New York, where he attended the local common schools as a child. Little is recorded about his family background, but his early education in the common schools provided the basic training that enabled him to enter clerical and technical work at a young age. As a young man he learned telegraphy, a rapidly developing field in the mid-nineteenth century, and became a telegraph operator, a profession that brought him into contact with political and commercial networks in the expanding American West.

In 1849 Hopkins moved west to Wisconsin, first settling in Fond du Lac. As the state was still in the early stages of its development, opportunities were available for ambitious young men, and Hopkins soon relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital, later in 1849. In Madison he continued his work and built connections within Republican political circles as the party emerged in the 1850s. His skills and reliability led to his appointment as a private secretary to Governor Coles Bashford, a position he held in 1856 and 1857. In this role he was closely involved in the day-to-day operations of the governor’s office during a politically contentious period in Wisconsin’s history.

Hopkins’s association with Governor Bashford drew him into the controversy known as the Bashford railroad scandal, which involved allegations of corruption in the granting of railroad land and contracts. Hopkins’s name arose in the course of the investigation, but in 1860 he was formally exonerated of any involvement in wrongdoing. This exoneration cleared the way for his continued public service and helped preserve his standing within the Republican Party at a time when questions of integrity and public trust were central issues in state politics.

Following his work in the executive branch, Hopkins entered elective office in Wisconsin. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate, where he served one term during the 1862 and 1863 sessions, representing his district during the Civil War. His legislative work in the Senate contributed to the state’s wartime governance and Republican policymaking. After a brief interval out of office, he returned to the legislature and served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1866. These successive roles in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature established him as an experienced lawmaker and positioned him for higher office.

In 1866 Hopkins was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives as part of the 40th United States Congress, representing Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district. He took his seat in March 1867 and was reelected to the 41st Congress, serving continuously from 1867 until his death in 1870. In Congress he aligned with the Republican majority during the Reconstruction era and participated in debates over national policy in the aftermath of the Civil War. His colleagues recognized his administrative abilities, and from 1869 to 1870 he served as chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. In that capacity he had oversight of federal public building projects and grounds, an important portfolio at a time of expanding federal infrastructure and the rebuilding of national institutions.

Hopkins remained in office until he was stricken by illness near the close of the first session of the 41st Congress. He died in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 1, 1870, following what contemporary accounts described as an attack of paralysis. His death in office created a vacancy in Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district, which was subsequently filled by David Atwood for the remainder of the 41st Congress. Benjamin Franklin Hopkins was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin, where his grave marks the resting place of a mid-nineteenth-century Republican legislator who rose from telegraph operator to state lawmaker and member of the United States House of Representatives.