The second settler in the southeastern portion of White Lake township was the subject of this sketch. He was born in the town of Paris, Oneida county. New York, August 16, 1804. His father, Mark Hopkins, removed in March 1807, to Prattsburg, Steuben county. New York, where, on the 31st of January, 1828, Erastus was married to Lydia Ann Parker, of Sangerfield, Oneida county. He had been to Michigan in July, 1833, and located three hundred and twenty acres of land in White Lake township, on sections 22 and 27, and in October, 1834, emigrated with his family from New York, coming by team through Canada. Mr. Hopkins was a skilled deer hunter, and during the close times following his settlement was obliged to rely greatly on his marksmanship for a supply of meat.

At the first town meeting, held April 4, 1836, Mr. Hopkins was elected to the office of assessor, and afterwards held other township offices. Was also chosen one of the first elders of the First Presbyterian church of White Lake at its organization, August 1, 1835.

He followed the occupation of a farmer during his entire active life. He was naturally an adept in the use of carpenters tools, and erected most of his own buildings. He died July 9, 1876, aged nearly seventy-two years. He was three times married ; his first wife died February 28, 1838, and was the mother of five children, of whom three grew to manhood.

His second marriage was with Climene Clark, a native of Westhampton, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and was consummated in May, 1839, at Prattsburg, Steuben county, New York. His second wife became the mother of three chil- dren, all of whom are now living. She died November 1, 1864, and on the 1st day of January, 1867, he was married to Mrs. Abigail C. Dole, of New Haven, Connecticut. She was a sister of his second wife, and he married her in Oakland County.

Of Mr. Hopkins children, one son, Daniel G. Hopkins, was wounded at the battle of South Mountain, Maryland, September 14, 1862, and died at the Lutheran church hospital at Frederick, Maryland, on the 8th of the following November. He was a member of Company E, Seventeenth Michigan Infantry, the famous "Stonewall" regiment. Another son, George H. Hopkins, was in the same company, and is now engaged in the practice of law at Detroit. William W. Hopkins, the oldest of Mr. Hopkins' children, was a member of the Fifth Micbigan Cavalry, and was discharged with the regiment at Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, whither it had been sent for the purpose of quieting some troublesome Indians, in 1866, after having served two years. He died at Frankfort, Benzie county, Michigan, of the typhoid fever, probably induced by the effect of an accidental gunshot wound he had received some time previously. All of Mr. Hopkins' children who are living reside in Detroit, except his son Kalph W., who is in business at Oxbow. Those living in Detroit are the children of his second wife, and are George W., Charles C, and Lydia C. Hopkins. Charles C. Hopkins is a recent graduate of the law department of the State university at Ann Arbor, and has lately begun practice in Detroit.