William Jones Hoppin (1813-1895) was a successful New York attorney who for ten years served as First Secretary of the American legation to Great Britain. His grandfather Col. Benjamin Hoppin (1747-1809), of Providence, R.I., served as a commissioned officer during the American Revolution and later established himself as Providence's first auctioneer.
William kept his diary in 1821 when he was eight years old. He commented on the weather, schoolwork, playing ball, arrivals of ships at Newport, R. I., reports of shipwrecks, and accidents and fires in Providence. He also included references to moralizings of his father and a few political events of that era.
He wrote his diary in the back of his family auctioneer business account book.