Samuel Houston Hopkins, born August 12, 1870, in Hopkinsville, Gonzales County, Texas, was the son of Coleman Pendleman and Mary Ann Fry Hopkins. He was said to have had a brilliant mind and he made his first public speech at age fourteen on the subject of prohibition. At age nineteen, he graduated with honors from Texas A.&M. College and then enrolled in The University of Texas Law School. He graduated in 1892 and was judged the best speaker and debater in the university. That same year, he became a member of the law firm of Fly, McNeal and Hopkins. That partnership dissolved in 1894 when Fly became a judge. Sam went into partnership with G.W. Burgess who would eventually be elected to congress in 1902. On June 19, 1895, he married Frances Josephine Rainbolt in Luling, Texas, and they had four children. Frances was born in August, 1870, in Nebraska and came to Texas with her parents, John Welly and Elizabeth Teefey Rainbolt of Nebraska. In 1904 Hopkins moved to San Antonio and became a member of the law firm of Terrell, Hopkins and Terrell. Apparently, Frances remained in Gonzales. Sam died November 22, 1909, after a long illness.
Following Sam’s death his brother-in-law, J.W. Rainbolt, purchased the property where the house now stands from the D.S.H. Darst estate. He deeded some of the property to the city for streets and sold half of it to Charles Hoskins. It seems that it was Frances who had the house built and it was completed in 1911. It was designed by noted architect, Atlee B. Ayers, and has three full stories, five fireplaces and beautiful hardwood floors. The top floor was completely finished and used by the two Hopkins children. After they grew up, it was for a time used as a ballet studio. Sometime later, an elevator was installed. After the children moved away from home, Mrs. Hopkins moved to a house that she had built on the back corner of the lot. She died of pneumonia February 13, 1955, and is buried beside her husband in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery.
