Stephen Hopkins (settler)
Stephen Hopkins (about 1582 - between 6 June 1644 and 17 July 1644),[1] was a tanner and merchant who was one of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, settling in Plymouth Colony. Hopkins was recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide governance for the colony as well as assist with the colony's ventures. He was a member of a group of passengers known to the Pilgrims as "The Strangers" since they were not part of the Pilgrims' religious congregation. Hopkins was one of forty-one signatories of the Mayflower Compact and was an assistant to the governor of the colony through 1636.
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[edit] Sea Venture shipwreck and Mutiny
There is some evidence that the Stephen Hopkins who arrived on the Mayflower was the man of that name who had arrived in Virginia in 1609 aboard the new flagship of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture, on which Sir George Somers took the helm.[citation needed] That Stephen Hopkins had embarked as a Minister's Clerk on the "Sea Venture", the Admiral of the Fleet. The ship was on the way to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia with much needed supplies when it was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent its foundering as a result of the damage it had sustained during a severe storm. All aboard, 150 passengers and crew and a dog, survived. The ship's longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to Virginia for help, but it and its crew were never seen again. Hopkins attempted to start a mutiny while stranded on the island. He was sentenced to death when this was discovered but was eventually set free after complaining of the "ruin of his wife and children". Hopkins and the remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience, from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. He and the other castaways eventually made their way to Jamestown, where Hopkins appears to have stayed for (some say) two years before returning to England. The Hopkins family is considered one of the First Families of Virginia. The story of the Sea Venture shipwreck (and Hopkins' mutiny) is said to be the inspiration for The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
[edit] Marriage
1. Mary: (Some old, undocumented sources have claimed Stephen Hopkins, father to Constance and Giles, married Constance Dudley but there is no record to support that claim. The records supporting his being married to Mary do exist- see references.) Mary died in 1613 in Hursley, England while Hopkins was away, perhaps in Virginia.
2. Elizabeth Fisher: married Hopkins at St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, London, on 19 February 1617/8, and was a Mayflower passenger who died in Plymouth, 1639.
[edit] Children
Stephen and Mary had three children:
- Elizabeth Hopkins, b. abt. 13 Mar 1605, Hursley, Hampshire, England; she more than likely died before the Mayflower voyage.
- Constance Hopkins, b. abt. 11 May 1606, Hursley, Hampshire, England; Mayflower passenger; married Nicholas Snow, who came to Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623; died in Plymouth Colony, 1677.
- Giles Hopkins, b. abt. 30 Jan 1608, Hursley, Hampshire, England Mayflower passenger, married Catherine Whelden, daughter of Gabriel Whelden of Malden and Yarmouth
Stephen and Elizabeth had seven children:
- Damaris Hopkins, b.abt. 1618; London, England; Mayflower passenger. Died before 1627 Division of Land.
- Oceanus Hopkins, b. fall 1620, en route to Plymouth onboard the Mayflower. Died before 1627 Division of Land.
- Caleb Hopkins, b. abt. 1623, Plymouth; dead by spring 1651.
- Deborah Hopkins, b. abt. 1625, Plymouth, married Andrew Ring, son of William and Mary Ring
- Damaris Hopkins, b. abt. 1627, Plymouth, married Jacob Cooke, son of Pilgrim, Francis Cooke and Hester Mayhieu (Cooke)
- Ruth Hopkins, b. abt. 1629, Plymouth
- Elizabeth Hopkins, b. abt. 1631, Plymouth.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Anderson, Robert (1995). The Great Migration Begins : Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. p. 987. ISBN 0880820438.
- Caleb Johnson, Here Shall I Die Ashore: Stephen Hopkins, Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim (Xlibris, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4257-9638-9.
- Caleb Johnson, The American Genealogist 73:161-171, “The True English Origins of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower”, July 1998. His first wife was not Constance Dudley, though this erroneous name is given by older references.
- Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Six, Third Edition, Stephen Hopkins ISBN 0-930270-03-7
[edit] External links
- 1580s births
- 1644 deaths
- Mayflower passengers
- American people of English descent
- Massachusetts colonial people
- Kingdom of England emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
- Tanners
- English merchants
- 17th-century merchants
- 16th-century English people
- 17th-century English people
- 17th-century American people
- People of the Tudor period
- People of the Stuart period
