Joseph Hopkins' Home

Joseph Hopkins came to Waterbury in 1754 as a silversmith and watchmaker. He was elected a representative to the General Assembly beginning in 1764. In 1779 Hopkins became Waterbury's first judge of probate.

Hopkins was a highly respected member of the Waterbury community and dined with Washington and Lafayette during the Revolutionary War.

Hopkins was also a slave owner; he purchased a woman named Silence Will in Middletown at an unknown date. He freed her from slavery shortly before his death in 1801.