Mary Hopkins Searles

Mary Frances Hopkins Searles (née Sherwood; March 8, 1818 – July 25, 1891) was an American millionaire.

The childless couple lived for most of their marriage in Sacramento, California, moving to San Francisco for the last four years of Hopkins' life.

She convinced her husband to build a grand estate in San Francisco to match those of the other railroad tycoons of the era.

[citation needed] The bulk of her estate passed to Searles, while her adopted son Timothy, who had married Sherwood's niece, received only a small portion, resulting in a prolonged dispute.

When Edward Searles died in 1920, he left his inherited estate to the Methuen Memorial Music Hall.