Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Hopper, James A. 1831 - December 11, 1900
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com September 10, 2009, 3:48 pm

Source: The Story of the Builders of Hawaii. Published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

JAMES A. HOPPER, Pioneer Honolulu Manufacturer. The life history of the late 
James A. Hopper, early mill owner and manufacturer, dates back to that 
romantic period in the development of Honolulu when the whaling industry 
flourished, with hundreds of the ships engaged in it making this port their 
winter base for provisioning and repairs.
  When Mr. Hopper arrived here in 1860, one of a courageous group who made the 
114-day journey from Boston around Cape Horn to Hawaii on the clipper 
ship “Syren,” whaling was the backbone of Honolulu’s commercial life. A lock 
and gunsmith by trade, at which he had worked in New York City before coming 
to the islands, Mr. Hopper upon his arrival here opened a small repair shop.
  His business expanded rapidly and he was soon engaged in general repairing 
and metal work, especially for whalers, and the manufacture of whaling guns.
  With the decline of the whaling industry in the late 60’s and early 70’s, 
Mr. Hopper converted his plant into a rice mill, then the largest in the 
Territory. He also operated a machine shop, planing and sawmill and brass 
foundry, and manufactured sugar kegs.
  Early in his career in Honolulu he became interested in rice growing and 
was, in fact, a pioneer in that business, extending financial aid to many who 
desired to become rice planters and thereby developing the industry to its 
greatest extent. In 1877 Mr. Hopper’s plant, then valued at $50,000, was 
destroyed by fire, but he rebuilt a three-story brick rice mill, planing mill 
and brass foundry, where his business was conducted and flourished for several 
decades. He was also largely interested in a number of sugar plantations.
  Born in New York City in 1831, Mr. Hopper’s education was received in the 
public schools of that city. He married Ellen Lewers, daughter of William 
Lewers of New York, in 1853, and they had four children, William Lewers 
Hopper, Mrs. E. W. Peterson and Miss Margaret Hopper of Honolulu, and Mrs. W. 
E. Brown of Piedmont, Calif. Mr. Hopper died in San Francisco, Dec. 11, 1900.


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