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- Came in the "Mayflower" [4]
- Stephen Hopkins sailed in the "Mayflower" in 1620. He was among the "strangers" recruited for the voyage, and was one of only three free men called "Master."
He was possibly a son of John Hopkins of Winchester. Stephen had a brother in England who provided nails to the Pilgrims. A man named William Hopkins, probably son of John Hopkins of Winchester, married in Winchester, on 16 April 1591, Constance Marline. The given name Constance was extremely rare in Hampshire, and was given to Stephen's second daughter.
Stephen Hopkins served as minister's clerk in the "Sea Venture," which sailed from London on 2 June 1609, bound for Virginia. The ship was severely damaged in a hurricane, and the company was washed ashore on the Burmudan "Ile of Divels" on 28 July 1609. The 150 survivors were marooned on the island for nine months, during which time Hopkins encouraged an uprising, on grounds that the Governor's authority did not pertain to the forced existence in Bermuda. Hopkins was placed under guard, brought before the company in manacles and sentenced to death by court-martial. "But so penitent hee was and made so much moane, alleadging the ruine of his Wife and Children in this his trespass," according to William Strachey's record of the voyage, that Hopkins' friends procured a pardon from the Governor. The company built two vessels, the "Patience" and the "Deliverance," which arrived at Jamestown on 24 May 1610, and Hopkins may have remained in Virginia for a time. Strachey noted that though Hopkins was very religious, he was contentious and defiant of authority and possessed enough learning to undertake to wrest leadership from others.
Hopkins was not in England on 9 May 1613, when his first wife, Mary, was buried. The next day, when inventory was taken of Mary's estate, she was referred to as "widow." The property listing mentions a shop and counter, indicating that Mary was a shopkeeper. Administration was granted on 12 May 1613 to Roberto Lyte and Thome Syms during the minority of children Elizabeth, Constance and Giles.
The later home in England of Stephen Hopkins and his second wife, Elizabeth, was just outside of London Wall on the high road entering the city at Aldgate in the vicinity of Heneage House. In this neighborhood lived John Carver and William Bradford of the "Mayflower" company; Robert Cushman, the London agent for the Pilgrims; and Edward Southworth, whose widow and sons later came to New England.
At the time of the "Mayflower" voyage, Hopkins was called a tanner or leathermaker. He came with his wife, Elizabeth; their daughter, Damaris; children by his first wife, Constance and Giles; and men servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister. Son Oceanus was born at sea. Upon their arrival at Cape Cod on 11 November 1620, Hopkins was among the signers of the Mayflower Compact. He was one of three men designated to provide counsel and advice to Captain Myles Standish on the first land expedition of the Pilgrims in the New World. During the third day out, the company encountered an Indian deer trap, and Hopkins was able to identify its function and danger. In February of 1620/21, when Indians appeared on a neighboring hilltop, Captain Standish took Hopkins with him to negotiate. Thereafter, Hopkins was invariably deputized to meet the Indians and act as an interpreter. In July of 1621 he served as envoy to Chief Massasoit. He made a friend for the colonists of Samoset, another Indian whom Hopkins entertained in his home.
Hopkins' household of eight people was one of only four Pilgrim households that escaped death during the first winter in New England. Hopkins was referred to as merchant and planter in Plymouth records, also as "Gentleman" and "Master." He received a six-acre lot in the division of land in 1623, indicating five others in his household, and later had additional plots by grant or purchase. It is stated that he kept for his home throughout his life at Plymouth the lot on the easterly corner of Main and Leyden Streets that had been assigned to him upon arrival. He built and owned the first wharf in Plymouth Colony of which there is record, selling it in July of 1637. He built a house at Yarmouth on Cape Cod but returned to Plymouth and gave the Yarmouth house to his son Giles, who remained there.
Stephen Hopkins was made freeman by 1633. He served with his sons Giles and Caleb and son-in-law Jacob Cooke as "Voluntary" in the Pequot War of 1637. He held the position of Assistant in the Colony from at least 1633 to 1636. In June of 1636, while serving as Assistant, he was fined for battery of John Tisdale, whom he "dangerously wounded." On 2 October 1637 Hopkins was fined for allowing drinking and the playing of "shovell board" on the Lord's Day. On 2 January 1637/38 he was "presented for suffering excessive drinking in his house," and on 5 June 1638 he was "presented for selling beer for 2d. the quart, not worth 1d. the quart." For such infractions he was fined five pounds on 4 September 1638. He was thereafter found in contempt of court for refusing to deal fairly with Dorothy Temple, an apprentice girl, and in December of 1639 he was charged with selling a looking glass for 16d. when a similar glass could be bought in the bay for 9d.
The will of Stephen Hopkins, dated 6 June 1644, was proved upon testimony of William Bradford and Captain Myles Standish at a General Court at Plymouth on 20 August 1644. Calling himself of Plymouth in New England and "weake yet in good and prfect memory," he directed that his body be "buryed as neare as convenyently may be to my wyfe, Deceased." [3]
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Abt 1582 - 1644
[3]