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- (Research):Stephen Hopkins was one of only a few passengers on the Mayflower to have made a prior trip to America. He came in 1609 on the Sea Venture headed for Jamestown, Virginia. But instead, they were marooned on an island following a hurricane, and the 150 passengers were stranded for nine months. Hopkins led an uprising, challenging the governor's authority, and was sentenced to death. But he begged and moaned about the ruin of his wife and children, and so was pardoned out of sympathy. The company eventually managed to build a ship, and escaped the island. After spending several years in Jamestown, Hopkins returned to England sometime between 1613 and 1617.
He most likely was the Stephen Hopkins who sailed on the Seaventure to Virginia in 1609, but was shipwrecked in Bermuda, where he was almost hanged for mutiny. He spent two years in Jamestown, where he learned much of later use to the Plymouth colonists (Adventurers of Purse and Person '97 Virginia 1607-1625, ed. by Annie Lash Jester with Martha Woodroof Hiden, 2nd ed. (1964), p. 213-17). See also the excellent account of his family in Dawes-Gates 2:443-51, which includes the reasoning for believing that the Stephen Hopkins of Virginia was identical with the one of Plymouth.
Hopkins arrived at Plymouth on the 1620 Mayflower accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, and his sons Giles and Oceanus, and daughters Constance and Damaris, Oceanus having been born at sea on the Mayflower, plus two servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister. Damaris died during the early years, and Hopkins and his wife later had a second daughter Damaris. He was probably also one of the dissenters at Plymouth whose actions led to the necessity for drafting the Mayflower Compact. Bradford (Ford) 1:219, and Mourt's Relation, p. 40, tell how in 1621 the colonists sent Mr. Edward Winslow and Mr. Stephen Hopkins on a mission to visit Massasoit. Mourt's Relation, pp. 7-8, also shows how Hopkins warned colonists on an early expedition about an Indian trap to catch deer, and how Bradford, not hearing the warning, stepped on the trap and was immediately caught by his leg. When Samoset first came to the settlement on 16 February 1620/21, the Englishmen were suspicious of him, and they "lodged him that night at Steven Hopkins house, and watched him" (Mourt's Relation, p. 33). Hopkins was an Assistant at least as early as 1633, and he continued in 1634, 1635, and 1636. He was on the original freeman list, and he was a volunteer in the Pequot War (PCR 1:61).
Keeping in mind the delicate balance in Plymouth between "covenant" and "noncovenant" colonists, it is reasonable to assume that Hopkins must have been a leader of the non-Separatist settlers, and in his career at Plymouth can be seen some of the ambiguity that attached to the non-Separatists living in a Separatist colony. On 7 June 1636, at a time when Hopkins was an Assistant, the General Court found him guilty of battery against John Tisdale, and he was fined £5, and ordered to pay Tisdale forty shillings, the court observing that he had broken the King's peace, "wch [p.309] he ought after a speciall manner to have kept" (PCR 1:42). On 2 October 1637 he was presented twice, first for suffering men to drink in his house on the Lord's day before meeting ended, and for allowing servants and others to drink more than proper for ordinary refreshing, and second for suffering servants and others to sit drinking in his house contrary to orders of the court, and to play at shovel board and like misdemeanors (PCR 1:68). On 2 January 1637/38 Hopkins was presented for suffering excessive drinking in his house "as old Palmer, James Coale, & William Renolds" (PCR 1:75). On 5 June 1638 he was presented for selling beer for two pence a quart which was not worth a penny a quart, and for selling wine at excessive rates "to the oppressing & impovishing of the colony"; he was fined £5 for some of these offenses, including selling strong waters and nutmegs at excessive rates (PCR 1:87, 97). In the Dorothy Temple case (see text) he was "committed to ward for his contempt to the Court, and shall so remayne comitted untill hee shall either receive his servant Dorothy Temple, or els pvide for her elsewhere at his owne charge during the terme shee hath yet to serve him" (PCR 1:112). On 3 December 1639 he was presented for selling a looking glass for sixteen pence which could be bought in the Bay Colony for nine pence, and he was also fined £3 for selling strong water without license" (PCR 1:137). Jonathan Hatch, who from the records seems to have been a recurring disciplinary problem in the colony, on 5 April 1642 was ordered by the court to dwell with Mr. Stephen Hopkins, "& the said Mr Hopkins to have a speciall care of him" (PCR 2:38).
xxx He dated his will 6 June 1644, inventory 17 July 1644, and mentioned his deceased wife; sons Giles and Caleb; daughter Constance, wife of Nicholas Snow; daughters Deborah, Damaris, Ruth and Elizabeth; and grandson Stephen, son of his son Giles (MD 2:12). Ralph D. Phillips, "Hopkins Family of Wortley, Gloucestershire'97 Possible Ancestry of Stephen Hopkins," TAG 39:95, suggests that he might have come from the parish of Wotten-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, but the evidence is not sufficient to say positively. Some writers, such as Banks in English Ancestry, pp. 61-64, and Jacobus in Waterman Family, 1:86, have felt that his wife, Elizabeth, may have been Elizabeth Fisher, whom a Stephen Hopkins married at London 19 February 1617/18'97 Mourt's Relation, p. 15, states that he was of London. If so, she would have been a second wife, for the births of some of his children would predate this marriage. Dawes-Gates 2:443, citing the London marriage record, states that his wife was "undoubtedly" Elizabeth Fisher. Timothy Hopkins, "Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower and Some of His Descendants," NEHGR 102:46, 98, 197, 257, 103:24, 85, 166, 304, 104:52, 123, 213, 296, 105:32, 100, covers some of his early generations, but it is not documented. George E. Bowman wrote an article in MD 5:47 to consolidate much of the early information known about his family. A popularized biography of Stephen Hopkins was written by Margaret Hodges, Hopkins of the Mayflower'97 Portrait of a Dissenter (New York, 1972). Claims that a John Hopkins of Hartford, Connecticut, was his son are baseless. By his first wife he had Constance, who married Nicholas Snow, and [p.310] Giles, who married Catherine Wheldon. By Elizabeth Fisher he had the Damaris, who died young; Oceanus, who died young; Caleb, who died at Barbados as an adult without issue; Deborah, who married Andrew Ring; the second Damaris, who married Jacob Cooke, son of Francis; Ruth, who died without issue; and Elizabeth, who died without issue (Dawes-Gates, 2:449).
The last Will and Testament of Mr. Stephen Hopkins exhibited upon the Oathes of mr Willm Bradford and Captaine Miles Standish at the generall Court holden at Plymouth the xxth of August Anno dm 1644 as it followeth in these wordes vizt.
The sixt of June 1644 I Stephen Hopkins of Plymouth in New England being weake yet in good and prfect memory blessed be God yet considering the fraile estate of all men I do ordaine and make this to be my last will and testament in manner and forme following and first I do committ my body to the earth from whence it was taken, and my soule to the Lord who gave it, my body to b eburyed as neare as convenyently may be to my wyfe Deceased And first my will is that out of my whole estate my funerall expences be discharged secondly that out of the remayneing part of my said estate that all my lawfull Debts be payd thirdly I do bequeath by this my will to my sonn Giles Hopkins my great Bull wch is now in the hands of Mris Warren. Also I do give to Stephen Hopkins my sonn Giles his sonne twenty shillings in Mris Warrens hands for the hire of the said Bull Also I give and bequeath to my daughter Constanc Snow the wyfe of Nicholas Snow my mare also I give unto my daughter Deborah Hopkins the brodhorned black cowe and her calf and half the Cowe called Motley Also I doe give and bequeath unto my daughter Damaris Hopkins the Cowe called Damaris heiffer and the white faced calf and half the cowe called Mottley Also I give to my daughter Ruth the Cowe called Red Cole and her calfe and a Bull at Yarmouth wch is in the keepeing of Giles Hopkins wch is an yeare and advantage old and half the curld Cowe Also I give and bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth the Cowe called Smykins and her calf and thother half of the Curld Cowe wth Ruth and an yearelinge heiffer wth out a tayle in the keeping of Gyles Hopkins at Yarmouth Also I do give and bequeath unto my foure daughters that is to say Deborah Hopkins Damaris Hopkins Ruth Hopkins and Elizabeth Hopkins all the mooveable goods the wch do belong to my house as linnen wollen beds bedcloathes pott kettles pewter or whatsoevr are moveable belonging to my said house of what kynd soever and not named by their prticular names all wch said mooveables to be equally devided amongst my said daughters foure silver spoones that is to say to eich of them one, And in case any of my said daughters should be taken away by death before they be marryed that then the part of their division to be equally devided amongst the Survivors. I do also by this my will make Caleb Hopkins my sonn and heire apparent giveing and bequeathing unto my said sonn aforesaid all my Right title and interrest to my house and lands at Plymouth wth all the Right title and interrest wch doth might or of Right doth or may hereafter belong unto mee, as also I give unto my saide heire all such land wch of Right is Rightly due unto me and not at prsent in my reall possession wch belongs unto me by right of my first comeing into this land or by any other due Right, as by such freedome or otherwise giveing unto my said heire my full & whole and entire Right in all divisions allottments appoyntments or distributions whatsoever to all or any pt of the said lande at any tyme or tymes so to be disposed Also I do give moreover unto my foresaid heire one paire or yooke of oxen and the hyer of them wch are in the hands of Richard Church as may appeare by bill under his hand Also I do give unto my said heire Caleb Hopkins all my debts wch are now oweing unto me, or at the day of my death may be oweing unto mee either by booke bill or bills or any other way rightfully due unto mee ffurthermore my will is that my daughters aforesaid shall have free recourse to my house in Plymouth upon any occation there to abide and remayne for such tyme as any of them shall thinke meete and convenyent & they single persons And for the faythfull prformance of this my will I do make and ordayne my aforesaid sonn and heire Caleb Hopkins my true and lawfull Executor ffurther I do by this my will appoynt and make my said sonn and Captaine Miles Standish joyntly supervisors of this my will according to the true meaneing of the same that is to say that my Executor & supervisor shall make the severall divisions parts or porcons legacies or whatsoever doth appertaine to the fullfilling of this my will It is also my will that my Executr & Supervisor shall advise devise and dispose by the best wayes & meanes they cann for the disposeing in marriage or other wise for the best advancnt of the estate of the forenamed Deborah Damaris Ruth and Elizabeth Hopkins Thus trusting in the Lord my will shalbe truly prformed according to the true meaneing of the same I committ the whole Disposeing hereof to the Lord that hee may direct you herein
June 6th 1644
Witnesses hereof By me Steven Hopkins
Myles Standish
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Abt 1578 - 1644 (66 years)