John Hopton (1748-1831)
of Powell, Hopton & Co., Slave Traders, of Charleston, South Carolina
He was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Robert Powell, and theirs was one of the five largest slave trading firms in South Carolina in the colonial period. Unlike Powell, "neither his manner nor address was at all conciliating, which his friends imputed to the severe apprenticeship he served under Mr. Laurens" - Austin & Laurens was another of the five largest slave trading firms. Hopton's losses during the Revolution were extensive and he was pensioned by the British government.