When Joseph Janney Hopkins was born on October 28, 1793, in Anne Arundel county, his father, Samuel Hopkins, was 34 and his mother, Hannah (Janney) Hopkins, was just 19 years old. Joseph J. was their first child and Johns Hopkins' older brother. 

When Samuel died in 1814, Joseph J. Hopkins became the man of the house, effectively the head of White's Hall. He was only 21 years old and yet would have been expected to direct the operations of a large household and plantation. For the next 19 years he managed White Hall as a bachelor. That changed in 1833 when Joseph married Elizabeth Scofield. Together they would have four children, all boys.

Joseph J. Hopkins' first appearance on a federal census occurs in 1820 when we was 27 years old and still unmarried.[1] There are no enslaved people in his household, but there are seven free "colored persons" listed. Joseph J. Hopkins' next and last appearance on a federal census occurs in 1840 when we was 47 years old and married to Elizabeth (Scofield) Hopkins. Again, there are no enslaved people in his household.

Joseph J. Hopkins died in 1845, but his wife Elizabeth lived another 45 years! She eventually moved north of White Hall to Montgomery county with her son Samuel Hopkins (1838-1893) and his wife Martha Tyson Hopkins (1852-1915). 

It has been difficult to locate additional details of Joseph's life, beyond the fact that he was manumitted two women named Minty and Louisa Wells in 1832 for $100. In that year Joseph would have been 39 years old. Where did Minty and Louisa come from? Why did he free them in 1832? I don't know but I have a couple leads I am exploring.

Joseph's estate inventory does not list any enslaved people as property and there are no enslaved people enumerated at White's Hall in 1830. And his will, for which Johns Hopkins was a witness, is a curious document. It says little more than than that Joseph's estate will be dissolved and divided three ways. 

I do not know where Joseph J. Hopkins was buried, but his will provides a clue: "I will and direct that my said executors as soon as may in their judgment be best sell all of my real estate except the family burial ground on the farm on which I reside in Anne Arundel county."

_______________________

[1] White's Hall appeared as a place of residence on the first federal census in 1790.The home, led by Joseph's grandmother Elizabeth Hopkins, included ten enslaved people. In 1800, there are entries for Elizabeth Hopkins and Samuel Hopkins, Joseph's father. The two households include 16 free persons of color but no enslaved people. Elizabeth Hopkins died in 1804 so by the census of 1810 there is only an entry for Samuel Hopkins; there were eight free Blacks living at White's Hall in that year, the same number in Samuel's home in 1800.