The story of Asaph Perry

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ENTREPRENEUR STORY LINE
Opening Cohutta Springs Hopkins and Company Loan Family Business Barber Shop

By 1900, Asaph had established a professional relationship with Dr. J.R. Hopkins who was the proprietor of his own medicine company in Atlanta. Hopkins assumed a mentoring role over the young, enterprising Asaph and connected him with the Hopkins and Loan Company in Charleston, S.C. This company was gaining a foothold on America's ballooning habit of buying on credit which would lead to disaster, thirty years later. Asaph took leave of his young bride, Ethel, and their children to learn the new business. The 1900 Census established Asaph to be a collector. For whatever reason, be it the work, the location, or separation from family, Asaph, in May of 1900, he returned home to Canton.

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Learning the story

Asaph's relationship with Dr. J. R. Hopkins conjures up images of a classical mentor mentee relationship. Whether Asaph was a formal apprentice is questionable, but we know he was, most certainly, in indebted to Dr. J. R. Hopkins. A comparison of Asaph's experience, as entry level work, to more modern examples might help students understand what it means to break into a business. Students could compare Asaph's experience with that of other people, maybe even students know.