1813–78, American railroad builder and merchant, b. Henderson, N.Y. A clerk in a village store and later a commission merchant in New York City, he was more than 35 years old when he went to California. There he became (1853) a partner of Collis P. Huntington and was later one of the incorporators of the Central Pacific RR, of which he became treasurer.
See O. Lewis, The Big Four (1938, repr. 1963); E. C. Latta and M. L. Allison, Controversial Mark Hopkins (2d rev. ed. 1963).
